DESOTO, TEXAS | SUPER NATIONALS
It was my 2nd race of this year in USA and at one of my local tracks that I practice at over here. I was feeling fast leading up to the race so had a good feeling about this race. Friday practice went well and left me feeling positive for the weekends racing.
I turned up to the track on Saturday to probably about 9 or 10 degrees and rain, something everyone had said happens at this race but with it being 20-25 degrees the last 3 weeks didn’t believe them. But it was freezing. Racing started off well with a 3rd, then 6th and a 4th with snuck me into quarter finals. I had been having trouble relaxing all day to get out of the gate well so decided to just try and switch off and relax. I had an awesome start in the Quarter but from Lane 8 you needed more than that and just couldn’t get across, ending up 5th after charging at the line finishing inside the top 20 for the day.
Sunday was a brutal day. It was a 5:30 am wake up and arrive to the track in the dark and even colder than the day before plus heavy rain. Luckily it was an indoor track so racing still went on. I seemed to have no luck this weekend with lane choice getting stuck on the outside for the majority of the weekend with one inside lane the whole time.
First moto I had an absolute killer gate start from lane 8 but unfortunately the 7 guys inside me also did and went 4 or 5 wide into first turn and I came out second best with an 8th place. Second moto I had an outside lane again, put together another good gate and was sitting in 3rd until the last turn where I tried to make a move and it was slick from the rain or cold and crashed. Another 8th place and it had put me out of contention of quarter finals.
I still had one more moto left and my first inside lane of the weekend so had another good gate and finished 2nd. Definitely unfortunate I didn’t qualify through as I was really feeling it on this day, but the positives of being able to produce 3 consistently fast gates is something I have been working towards for a long time and been a big weakness for me so I’m stoked with that and the progress that I have been making!
Something that I am working on, and a big reason for being in USA is being able to believe that I am at the level of people I grew up and still do look up to. To line up next to them on the gate and being in a position where I am in front of them and can cut them off is a weird situation but definitely proof that I am at the elite level I need to be at.
I am confident with my racing now and it is the refining the minor skills both mentally and physically that I’m looking to increase to gain the competitive advantage over the other riders which I know I have.
