Matt Ware Photo

I turned up at the mountain on Friday morning. It was the first time in the three years that I had been there that the sun was shining enough to wear shirt and shorts. After a little bit Shane (Charlie’s mechanic), Hooper (GNCC video man) and I decided to cycle down to the bottom and cycle back to the top. We took it easy and I felt good and was ready for a good weekend.

Sunday morning came and with the big purse for this race came the hype of how ‘gnarly’ it was going to be. After walking some of the track and hearing some rumors of the conditions, it sounded like it was going to be tough. I was on the front row and after getting pushed wide on the first corner I moved into second spot. The first half a lap I was taking it pretty easy and once the two guys in front got stuck I managed to move into the lead and pull a little gap on them. By the end of the first lap, Knight had caught me. I decided to try and follow Knight for a little bit as I knew he would be fast and could help me gap the rest of the field. The second lap was a newer course and with neither of us knowing where to go I was able to keep up for the whole lap. On the third lap I went around one mud hole and moved back into the lead. I was having a lot of fun racing with him and we were pulling away from the rest of the guys in the process.

On the second to last lap I made a mistake and slid off the bank which allowed him to get away. Going into the last lap I was 40 seconds down on Knight and 4 minutes up on third place so I stayed at a steady pace and tried not to do anything stupid. The next thing I kind of remember is waking up with two other riders talking to me. I’m not sure who they were, but thanks to them they got me back on the bike and going again. I was having trouble riding and a hill that would normally be a piece of cake managed to be harder then what I thought. I was crashed on the hill and the four guys behind me had caught up and then made the pass. I got going and managed to get to the finish in 6^th place.

I was super happy with how I was riding and I think the different training and going back to the WORCS race helped me a lot. I’m still not 100% sure what happened on that last lap, but rumors were I had hit a deer that ran across the track and I crashed and got knocked out. My Shoei now needs replacing, but I feel that if I was wearing a cheaper made helmet the results could have been worse so I thank those guys for helping me out. The track was actually pretty fun. This was the race that I was least looking forward to and to be up front until the last lap makes me feel good even though I didn’t get the points I was after.

I’m now on summer break so I’m gearing up to go back to Australia to compete in two of the Aussie MX nationals.

Thanks to the guys that helped me up, the spectators and fans at that race and all my sponsors.