The Wick

Here we are only one race away from the year being finished and I must say I have a bit of mixed emotion. When we started at Glen Helen it seemed like it would take a little longer to get to the end of the series but now after getting Southwick out of the way we only have one round remaining.

Like I had wrote last week I was not happy with how Millville had gone for not only myself but also for those that helped me during the break, like I said, we worked really hard and it just didn’t work out at Millville unfortunately. I don’t know why it clicked at Southwick really. After last week I knew that I needed to ride everyday that I was home so that’s what Wil, Ryan and I did, with Tuesday being the hardest and then slowing down towards the end of the week on Thursday. I had 3 days of really great riding that got me physically and mentally better than the week prior.

Saturday we tried some different things right off the bat for first practice that gave me an alright time, I ended up 11th out of the first session but wasn’t too happy with how the bike felt for me, so we went back to some more normal settings and it helped quite a bit but I was still off a bit with my times, I had a long night to think about what I wanted to do Sunday.

First practice Sunday morning I knew that my first session was going to be the one to get my fast lap in so as soon as the green flag came out I put one hot lap in that put me 8th and I stayed there even after the 2nd practice was over, I was alright with that gate pick going into the Motos.

For the first Moto I lined up on the inside knowing that most of the pack gets pushed wide going into turn one. I came out about 10th or so and had a good flow right away and started going towards the front but not without inhaling a ton of sand along the way. With 2 laps to go I was feeling a bit spent from how hard I had pushed early on and had Goerke right on me, we had a cool little battle on the last lap passing each other back and forth but in the end he got me at the checkers.

Going into Moto 2 I knew that I needed a good start again if I was going to be in the top5 overall, I rounded the first turn about 9 or so and instantly felt better than the first Moto. I had DeReuver in front of me for a few laps until he made a mistake and went down, then I moved past Alessi and Byrner, that put me around 6th or so, but I could see that I was catching Dowdy a bit so I started to push a bit harder and that’s when things just quit working well for me, I was getting buried in the corners and making stupid mistakes. I ended up staying in 6th until the checkers and ended the day with 5th overall, sure it was the best finish of the season but I still want better from myself. At the end of the day it felt great knowing that the hard work from the off weeks and the week prior had paid off huge especially in the second Moto.

I am now on a flight back home (not in first class) to get ready for Steel City and wrap up the year with a great finish, thanks to all of those who support not only me but all of us in general out there every weekend, it does not go unnoticed. Thanks again!!



SH 105