Mudfest taking it's toll on the Veteran...
Finally got my wish for a wet race. You know what they say, be careful what you wish.
Up to friday, Hollister had received a grand total of 0.00″ rain. That all changed saturday morning with a downpour of over an inch of rain. Sunday I woke up to clear and cold in San Jose. Got to the track in Hollister @ 6:45 for an 8:30 start(which ended up being about 9:30). The start line was anywhere between 3 and 8 inches of slop. I was right in the middle with Rob Chavez to my right and Nick Thom to my left. Mike Sage had already stolen my spot to the far left. When the gun went off, I got a great jump and entered the first turn in the top 5. I got out of shape just before leaving the track and Kurt Ashley passed me. At that point it was Kevin Yarnell, Mike Sage, Nick Thom, Kurt Ashley, Me and Mike Brumit for about one quarter of the first lap. About then, I was passed by Brumit. Soon after that, we overshot a turn allowing most of the class by us. The rest of the lap was a comedy of errors which included 3 crashes and a stall. Near the end of the lap, I caught Rob Chavez. I made a move on the MX track which was the end of the 10 mile lap, 9th place
.
Lap 2. Caught up to Brumit . Noticed he was shaking his hands do to numbness. I knew I needed to make a move. Dove in hard on a 180 degree turn swapped a little paint and squeezed by. Shortly there after I stalled it again when I got brake checked by a guy I was trying to pass. There goes Brumit again. We went back and forth a few times and passed a few guys along the way. On the MX track, I passed Dan Marshall and Mike Brumit, 6th place.
Lap 3. About halfway through lap 2, I hit a sharp rock and popped my rear tire. It sucked coming down the steep sections, but was still ridable. I started riding really good on lap 3. I passed Alex Lear and Aaron Mattson and Nick Thom and got into 3rd. No more than a mile after I had passed several A and B sportsmen and FINALLY gotten open track ahead of me, some young A rider t-boned me and put me down hard. I was trapped under my bike unable to get out. Mattson, Marshall, Lear and Brumit all went back by as i lay there helpless. For what it’s worth, the kid did come ask how I was and lifted the bike off of me. Back in 7th and now beat up and PISSED!!!! Got my wind and rythm back at the end of the lap. Brumit had gone off the track and was nice enough to let his bike land on him. Back into 6th at the finish line.
Lap 4. By this time I was delerious from anger and pain. I ditched my goggles after a couple miles. I heard a four stroke coming and knew it was the overall race leader coming. It was Brian Garrahan. He caught me in a good spot on a fast road and I picked up my pace hoping he would pull me closer to the next rider. It worked. I caught up to Aaron Mattson and made a pass when he made a mistake. He then proceded to hound me for the rest of the race. I pushed super hard to keep him behind. We eventually caught up to Alex Lear. I followed him for a long time, as he was faster than me going down the steep stuff. Everywhere else I would make up a little ground. Without goggles though I couldn’t get close without getting dirt in my eyes. With about a couple miles to go I decided to put some pressure on Alex, as Aaron was all over me. Finally, on a tight left hander, Alex got into the sloppy line and I wormed by with a little contact. I didn’t see if Aaron also passed Alex or not. I entered the MX track and could hear a 2 stroke all over me. In desperation, I road over my head to hold him off. After almost taking both of us out with a pathetic display of riding, he blew by me. To my relief, it was Pat Garrahan lapping me. I relaxed, but soon realized that Aaron was right there too. I dug down one last time to hold him off by 3 seconds. 4th place finish.
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