--9/30/07: JB In Africa Day 5 (South African National Championships)
Today was the South African National Championships. Their format today was semi normal so I was looking forward to racing it. The motos still counted as mains but at least we only had one race to do instead of 2. The motos were split up well, all of us were in different motos apart from Gavin and I being in the same moto. Going into the main Randy, Sifiso and I had won all of our motos so it would all come down to the main. I had a good gate and got into my spin well and was going up to the first jump a little ahead but his the little kink on the lip that's in the middle of the track. It didn't mess me up just threw me a little higher so I got squeezed by Randy and Sifiso after that. It was single file until the last two straights were I made the same move as the day before. Randy passed Sifiso on the fourth straight and then I passed them both in the fourth turn. Sifiso high lowed Randy and then came on the inside of me in the last turn a little but only had enough to bump me in the back a little. It ended up me in first, Sifiso in second and Randy in third. I was kind of pumped to win that with that being my first Elite win and making it to where I have won a UCI race on every continent apart from Antarctica.
After racing before the award ceremonies I handed over all the product to the development riders and threw the small items out to the kids. It got pretty hectic though. The kids were doing their normal jumping to catch the product and playin tug-a-war with a few things but one of the moms got pretty butt hurt. She came running over yelling for everything to stop because kids were getting pushed around and I didn't hear it but everyone else said she also said nothing was being thrown their way. I didn't want to be rude so looked to the officials and people who run SA BMX to see what I should do. They told the lady to beat it and continue on with what I was doing haha. I was glad I could help the riders out and am looking forward to going down there again soon if possible.
On our way back to the place we were staying Wayne took Gavin and I through Reiger Park, which is one of the bad ghettos in Johannesburg. It was pretty scary going through there. It was a couple little neighborhoods away from the city and each street had 50-60 people standing on the sidewalks and everyone of them just stared at you as you drove past. I had never seen Gavin scared before but when I saw him locking all the doors and grabbing one of Wayne's crutches I was kinda worried myself. All of us were glad to get out of there though lol. Later that night we went to go-karts which was a waste of time. We couldn't go a race without one of the carts breaking down but had fun because probably 15 people went. I got kicked out in one of the last races which I was kind of mad about because I didn't mean to do what I got kicked out for but oh well. After that a few of us went to this big Casino nearby. In the US you have to be 21 to gamble and there's no way you are getting away with it if you are underage. Here you are suppose to be 18 but they don't care if you are 18 or not. This was my first time gambling at a casino so I was just trying to be safe, set 200 aside in my pocket to use and sent the rest back so I wouldn't loose my money. I played roulette all night and walked away with 800, not bad for my first time hey haha. Here are a few pics from the day. Later - JB
