--10/21/07: UCI Boulder City
I grabbed a 6th in Elite Men in the first days racing and got balled up the following in qualifiers. Wasn't what I was looking for but was happy to get into the main and learned a lot from the weekend. My motos both days were stacked! I was in the group with one rider more than the others and every guy in it was quick. Robert DeWilde, Ramiro Marino, Danny Calaug, Derek Betcher, and Jimmy Brown, the 7 guy switched the two different days but the rest stayed the same for the second day.
The first day of racing was pretty rough during the motos. I slid out on the gate all three laps and would have to fight in the pack the whole lap making tons of mistakes. I made it into the quarter where it was me, DeWilde, Calaug, Marino, Becerine, and Pohlkamp. I had a good gate and went into the first turn second but Pohlkamp was inbetween Becerine and I on the inside so I tucked into Pohlkamp and came out in third. I'm still getting used to riding through the corners tucking in on guys like Pohlkamp but I'm starting to get used to it, was a bit scary the first few times though lol. My semi was stacked again, but then again every Elite semi will be stacked. Me, DeWilde, Becerine, Pohlkamp, Kolich, Betcher, Colombo, and Robinson. I had gate 7 but went into the first turn on the outside of Donny and came out and finished second. Was happy to be in the main but still had to race it and wanted to do well. I had gate 4 but my back tire decided to slide again causing me to get shoved off the back. A big ball up with four of us going down in the first turn and a 6th for the day. The second day sucked. It was really windy so they decided to close the pro section making us come out of the first turn and cut back towards the amateur section. No good coming out of the first turn on the outside with no where to go twice and having to practically stop to jump from the first pro lip into the am sections flat ground. Your ending up in the back of the pack after doing that and with a stacked moto your not coming back through that quick.
All in all it was a decent weekend. I learned a lot and thats what this next year will be all about, learning as much as I can while racing Elite. Looking forward to the next few races though. Later - JB
