DEW TOUR Race Report and Thank Yous!
Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 2:38 pm
First of all, the biggest thing I want to get across in this race report is that I want everyone to know that I am alright and that I dearly appreciate your support while I was racing not only this weekend, but support you graciously gave in Reno for my first pro race. It truly means much to me! Thank you!
As most of you know, I raced in the Dew Tour this last weekend. While I did not make it out of the quarterfinals, after a crazy wreck that you can watch on bnd's thread -round 2--moto 4--I had a great time. Heck, I told my parents after practice on Thursday, that I would be happy if the weekend ended there, because I made it over every jump, and that was worth the cost to race it.
On Friday, I put a complete lap together just before time trials and ended up qualifying 30th--only 1.5sec off of Mike Day's 1st place time, that is how close it was. My second lap, I ended up cutting almost a full second off of my first lap time! One of the coolest parts of the weekend was when I got to go into the 6th floor of the ESA. In the suites, they had an athlete's lounge and catering! All of the skateboard guys were there as well as a few of the dirt jumpers! My mom didn't realize who she saw until we watched the show on USA and it ended up being the boarder Greg Lutzka. I saw Mike Aitken and another boarder. Pretty sweet!
I was pleasantly surprised on my first moto on Saturday, how many people were cheering for me. When they called my name over the PA, I'm sitting in the gate and the next thing I know, there is a huge roar--loud even on top of the hill! Unfortunately, because of how the format works based upon results from the time trials--better times means first lane choice--so I was stuck with whatever was left, and I chose lane 7. Lee Lewis had broken his bike on the first jump just before the race started, so he did not get in the gate. It was really cool to be getting in the gate with guys like Damien Godet (FRA), Donny Robinson, Joey Bradford, Mike Brabant (it has been a very long time since I raced him), Aaron Johnson, and Tyler Brown... Going down the hill in the first moto, I did not get quality pedals near the bottom of the ramp, and after that lap, I felt like that cost me the moto as I ended up with 7th. So going into the second moto, I knew I had to really lay down the power if I was to have a chance to qualify for the semis. Now the Utah crowd is really cheering for me when they call my name, and then I knew what I had to do. The gate drops, I dig down the hill, but I completely missed the transition from ramp to dirt--which if you have gone down the hill, you will know that if you don't pump it really hard, you can collapse into your bike--and that is exactly what I did. As soon as that happened, I knew I was done for, I launched up the lip of the first jump and had no control of my bike. When I first saw the video of me over the top of the riders next to...err beneath me, I burst out in laughter. Luckily, once my front tire hit the space in between the first and second jump, I sort of just fell to the side hitting my left buttocks hard on the ground. As that was happening, I was held onto the handlebars for dear life, because I knew if I put a hand out something would break while sliding to a stop on the ground after going 40mph. So my bike took the brunt of the fall, and I walked away with a bruised and swollen butt cheek and scrape on my arm.
The doc said I could ride when the swelling goes down and I regain full motion. With how the healing has gone, I expect to be fully back by Thursday. Heck if I'm feeling up to it, I might hop on tonight!
Personally I would like to thank Rob Hargis and Greg Frei (Zero Gravity/X Insurance) for their support this weekend and Heather and Ian for their help on my bike and for bringing some gear for me to borrow after some of mine got stolen.
I would like to say congrats to my bud Christian Martinez on his great effort this last weekend. Even though he didn't make it out of time trials, I was impressed with how he did with the track for riding a SX track for the first time. Like I said earlier, just getting around that thing is an accomplishment in itself! I do think that if both Christian and I had more time on a track like this, both of us would have done much better.
Thanks for reading!
As most of you know, I raced in the Dew Tour this last weekend. While I did not make it out of the quarterfinals, after a crazy wreck that you can watch on bnd's thread -round 2--moto 4--I had a great time. Heck, I told my parents after practice on Thursday, that I would be happy if the weekend ended there, because I made it over every jump, and that was worth the cost to race it.
On Friday, I put a complete lap together just before time trials and ended up qualifying 30th--only 1.5sec off of Mike Day's 1st place time, that is how close it was. My second lap, I ended up cutting almost a full second off of my first lap time! One of the coolest parts of the weekend was when I got to go into the 6th floor of the ESA. In the suites, they had an athlete's lounge and catering! All of the skateboard guys were there as well as a few of the dirt jumpers! My mom didn't realize who she saw until we watched the show on USA and it ended up being the boarder Greg Lutzka. I saw Mike Aitken and another boarder. Pretty sweet!
I was pleasantly surprised on my first moto on Saturday, how many people were cheering for me. When they called my name over the PA, I'm sitting in the gate and the next thing I know, there is a huge roar--loud even on top of the hill! Unfortunately, because of how the format works based upon results from the time trials--better times means first lane choice--so I was stuck with whatever was left, and I chose lane 7. Lee Lewis had broken his bike on the first jump just before the race started, so he did not get in the gate. It was really cool to be getting in the gate with guys like Damien Godet (FRA), Donny Robinson, Joey Bradford, Mike Brabant (it has been a very long time since I raced him), Aaron Johnson, and Tyler Brown... Going down the hill in the first moto, I did not get quality pedals near the bottom of the ramp, and after that lap, I felt like that cost me the moto as I ended up with 7th. So going into the second moto, I knew I had to really lay down the power if I was to have a chance to qualify for the semis. Now the Utah crowd is really cheering for me when they call my name, and then I knew what I had to do. The gate drops, I dig down the hill, but I completely missed the transition from ramp to dirt--which if you have gone down the hill, you will know that if you don't pump it really hard, you can collapse into your bike--and that is exactly what I did. As soon as that happened, I knew I was done for, I launched up the lip of the first jump and had no control of my bike. When I first saw the video of me over the top of the riders next to...err beneath me, I burst out in laughter. Luckily, once my front tire hit the space in between the first and second jump, I sort of just fell to the side hitting my left buttocks hard on the ground. As that was happening, I was held onto the handlebars for dear life, because I knew if I put a hand out something would break while sliding to a stop on the ground after going 40mph. So my bike took the brunt of the fall, and I walked away with a bruised and swollen butt cheek and scrape on my arm.
The doc said I could ride when the swelling goes down and I regain full motion. With how the healing has gone, I expect to be fully back by Thursday. Heck if I'm feeling up to it, I might hop on tonight!
Personally I would like to thank Rob Hargis and Greg Frei (Zero Gravity/X Insurance) for their support this weekend and Heather and Ian for their help on my bike and for bringing some gear for me to borrow after some of mine got stolen.
I would like to say congrats to my bud Christian Martinez on his great effort this last weekend. Even though he didn't make it out of time trials, I was impressed with how he did with the track for riding a SX track for the first time. Like I said earlier, just getting around that thing is an accomplishment in itself! I do think that if both Christian and I had more time on a track like this, both of us would have done much better.
Thanks for reading!