Photos courtesy of the incomparable Vince DeLaughder
I had a good ride today and landed on the podium in 2nd. At the gun it was 35 degrees...brrrrrrrrr!!! I was toasty while racing so I got that right. No JP or Michael today which made me happy but the other guys I have been doing battle with were there, so I knew it would be a hard race and it was!!
We take off, I hit the pedal on the second try and start winding it up on the forever long start straight, I soon realize that the pace I wanted to go and what the others wanted to do was not the same, so I pick up the pace and settle into 2nd at the first turn behind an SKC rider by the name of Prayuth Sirisudhi. The course was pretty fast and not very technical, especially the first half. Prayuth drills it hard out of every turn and soon we have a gap. I was hitting my lines through the turns and showing him a wheel almost every turn, I finally got around him and started riding my pace, which had me out front solo on the 2nd lap.
Rolling into the 3rd lap I slowed a bit because the gap I had wasn't big enough to keep going solo. At this point the BC series leader Richard Hu, and Josh Taylor join me and we set sail. On the next lap Josh rolls by me and says Richard is suffering so he and I take turns on the front keeping the pace high. About a half lap later, Josh and I rode away from him. For the next 3 laps Josh and I trade off and increase our lead over 3rd.
On the final lap I sat on Josh's wheel for the entire lap with the idea of jumping him with a few turns to go. With about 1/4 lap to go we encounter soon to be lapped traffic, so Josh calls out we are coming by on the left, the lapper moves to the right, Josh starts to move by and as soon as they were shoulder to shoulder the lapper moved to his left and they came together...the lapper goes down in front of me. Fortunately I gave some room because we were on the fastest part of the track and I managed to skirt by. I did have to slow a bit to avoid the carnage, which created a gap of about 50 feet, so I jump out of the saddle and sprint to his wheel, about the time I was almost to his wheel he looked back and saw that the carnage slowed me so he eased up a bit and I got there.
Now on to the last long straight, which was equally as long as the start/finish, that lead to a right and a series of lefts that spit you out on the start/finish straight. Every time we got to this part Josh drilled it at the beginning and I had an answer, except the last time...I think in the melee with the lapped traffic I burned my last match getting back to his wheel. When he jumped, I stood to go with him and the tank was empty...He was definitely the stronger rider today.
I was wondering how I was gonna do today after having 2 weeks off. I felt pretty good overall, but was missing that last little bit of top end that you get from racing...no worries though it will come back. I'm getting closer!
Boss Cross 4
Courtesy of the Great Roger Harrison!!
Finally....THE TOP STEP!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooo!!!!
I felt better today and the guys I had to race yesterday weren't there today, but some other racers picked up where Josh and Richard left off. The course was more or less the same but run reverse of Saturday, we had 2 stretches of sand and 2 sets of barriers. I got another good start and settle into 2nd behind Kelly Ricke from 360 racing. I knew he was a strong rider from previous races and he was out for redemption from rolling his tubie off the rim yesterday for a big fat DNF. He decided to drill it for the first 2 laps and try to ride away. It sort of worked but I managed to stay with him and we rode away from the field. I thought I was going to go blind during these 2 laps, but finally punched through the pain and life was good!!
On the 4th lap, Steve Songer, a 50+ teammate of Kelly who, as far as I can tell, wins every race he lines up in, catches up to us and sits on. It was about this time I decided to go to the front and drive for a while. As we cross the line to start the 5th lap Kelly comes around me with good speed and tries to ride away. He got a good gap initially but I was not having it today. I get to his wheel and tell him "all day long"!! At that point Steve comes around and starts driving our train...I'm thinking, great, these 2 are gonna work together to drop me, I decided it would be a good idea to not go around again while the 3 of us were together. About a half a lap later Steve finally rode away. Kelly Tried a few digs here and there but as I said, I wasn't having it today!!
On the last lap we slowed quite a bit, Kelly was setting the pace and was recovering for the finish. I was good with it, my plan was to sprint him for the win. That plan got changed when we hit the sand on the last lap. We were both riding it one way and having to run the other section due to course layout. The established line through the sand had a slower rider trying to ride it and Kelly was lining up to take the same line. About the time Kelly hit the sand, the slower rider stopped about halfway across, I see this and decide to make my own line to the left, Kelly plowed into him and flipped. I go blazin by, ride to the next section, run it, remount and drill it. I go as hard as I can go the rest of the lap and cross the line in 1st!!!
I love riding my bike!!!!!
E
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