Early Friday morning as I was driving to Interlakes Sport Center, (nice sponsor plug ehh) I decided that I better do some riding soon. So the next day, I rounded up some "man friends" and headed to the Sandbox Arena just east of St. Paul for round 2 of their Winter MX Series. Despite a ridiculously long program that took nearly 9 hours, I had a great time on a very fun track. Deciding to "nut up" and be a man for once, I raced three different classes, the 250 and open pro, and the +25 A. I ended up finishing 5th, 4th, and 2nd overall respectively. I did manage to score an easy first moto win in the +25A class, but only to suffer a crash in the second moto which kept me out of the overall. Sure I had some bad luck again this last weekend, but there were a lot of positive things going on too. I know I had the speed to win any of the classes and my starts were really pretty good all night as well. If only the ol' "arm pump ferry" didnt decide to visit me again the night before a race, I truly think I would be blogging about my 3 wins right now. I am really looking forward to Midwest Supercross in Brookings next weekend!!!

Saturday night definitely had it's ups and downs but all in all turned out to be a pretty good night. In my heat race I had a pretty big "get off" over the finish line triple, when the rider in front of me backed off at the last second. I didnt have enough time to fully react and ended up casing the jump big time. (Side note: Braden Parks would have easily gone on to win the heat race but, while all alone out front, stalled his bike in a corner uncontested. But that is neither here nor there.) Anyway, my crash forced me into the last chance qualifier which I easily won. Despite a poor gate pick due to having to qualify out of the LCQ, I managed to pull off a decent mid pack start. That is pretty much where I would end up when the checkers waved. (8th) Overall, considering the stiff competition, I was fairly happy with my results. More importantly though, the gap that separates me from the front is shrinking quikly.

On Wednesday July 30th I made a last second decision to head down to the Woodbury County Fair and race the Joe Dirt Motocross. Since it was a Wednesday I was expecting a weak turnout, but due to the $5000 pro purse everyone fast and their dog showed up. Of course I had a bad start in the first moto. But hey, it was not totally my fault! Last gate pick forced me to the far outside at the line, and because of how the first corner was set up I had no choice but to let the whole field through and try to cut to the inside. I wish there would have been a "hard charger" award at the race though. With a dead last start in a field of 20 I managed to pass over half the class in 10 short laps and finish in 9th. Second moto started off a lot easier. With a much better gate pick I managed to pull off a mediocre jump out of the gate. I was somewhere midpack and picking guys off every lap, when some squid "brake checked" me in a corner. I ran into the back of him and tipped over. I spent the rest of the moto passing back everyone who got around me when I was performing "Honda lifts." In conclusion, the results don't really speak for themselves, but I am definitely showing signs improvement and cannot wait for the race at the Sioux Empire Fair this Saturday night.

Last week at Renner I was held to a 5th place finish due to bike problems and had to leave my 250 sit until parts came in. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get all the bugs worked out in time for the Midwest Supercross in Sioux Falls on Saturday. However, at the last minute I was able to borrow my dads 450 Honda. Despite having very little time on the 450 I was able to win my heat race and finish 2nd in the main to Brandon Krueger. Thanks to my dad (Randy) for letting me race the bike, and to Peterson Racing Promotions for a job well done. (as always)

Practice day tomorrow and racing on Saturday in Milleville Minnesota. I will be racing the over 25 expert class, and "Old Man Feldhaus" (Randy) is coming out of retirement to race the over 50 class!! Should be a killer time! Cant wait!!!