Sparta GNCC Race Report
This week will definitely go down as one of the biggest so far in my life. I graduated high school, which will let me now focus 100% of my time on my racing. For the past two years I’ve been going to real school, not homeschool, and we all know what a significant chunk of time school and homework can take out of your day. On top of graduation, I had probably the biggest achievement of my racing career so far—winning the XC2 Pro Lites class at the Sparta, KY GNCC!
The start of the race for me was pretty lousy. I didn’t get a very good jump and was mid-pack heading into the woods. With a few miles of virgin trail ahead of me I knew it was going to be tough to work my way through the very fast XC2 pack. By the end of the first lap, I had moved my way into 4th but was nearly a minute behind the leader, Dustin Gibson.
I hooked up with my buddy Andrew Matusek and we rode together for a couple of laps. I was feeling really smooth, and not pushing too hard. I made my way around Andrew and got the pit board from my mechanic Hollywood telling me I was 40 seconds down. I kept riding well and the next lap I was 42 seconds down! At that point I wasn’t too sure if it was going to be my day! Somehow though, I slowly began to start reeling Dustin in, and was able to get past him.
With 2 laps to go I really put my head down and charged. I rode my fastest lap on lap 5, and my 2nd fastest lap on the last lap (lap 6). I think this is a great testament to the training program that Steve Hatch has created for me. Mentally I felt really tough, and once I was in the lead I knew that the race was mine to win.
As I rounded the final few turns before the finish, I finally took a look back and realized I was all by myself. My last lap charge was too much for Dustin and I ended up winning by 1 minute and 2 seconds. What an awesome feeling!
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September 9th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
Nice man.Good luck with the rest of the season.