SIEGE • The motos were quite long at five 3-minute laps and for the afternoon this was cut to four. Off the line I get a decent start on the Montesa, and there is BIG PILEUP in the 2nd corner where the course drops down and turns left, which I avoid due to the fact that I arrived last, and I went off course through a the giggleweeds and think I¹m now ahead of where I would have been, but greatly to my chagrin my Montesa grinds to a halt... I had started with the gas off! ARGH! The Classic Idiot thing to do... oh boy...
It takes some kicking and I think EVERY rider goes by before I get going again. Being grim and determined only means something when you haven't thrown the whole thing away but with no option, I spend the race trying to catch Cole Cabler, Mark Schmidt, Matthew Sullivan, Rob Watson, & Thom Green. The Montesa is fabulous- and does everything I want it to do- the only problem was a sick moment when it the rear end of the bike whipped back and forth like a dog shaking off water, and I almost fell off entering the double chute.

In the next heat, back on the YZ/IT 465 to my exasperation there was some dried mud inside my goggles, which was bouncing around and into my eyes. So I was trying to push, but closing my eyes over bumps. On one of the last laps the bike was flying up the final fast uphill on the far end of the course, but with the nose falling, and after almost dying I let out a breath of relief and told myself don't throw it away because you're tired- which I was!

The last moto of the day for me was on Kevin Blackburn's awesome CZ400, and now knowing that I had got this far ok set my sights on Mike Borseth. Again though I got a good start, he got a better one, but this time I was all over him like a bad suit, and I passed him on the first lap rather than the last. But I was pretty exhausted- this was my 7th moto is 90º heat. So I tried to control pace by slowing in corners and then ripping. But on the 3rd lap Mike repassed me, and I grinned and said you little bastard out loud inside my helmet. I dogged him all the way to the start of the last lap, and on the outside of turn 1 Mike went tight, and so did I but I pulled up next to him, around the outside, our bikes both sideways- it was the moment of the day that crystallized in my mind's eye. Good Stuff. My thanks to Mike for a kickass race, and to Kevin Blackburn for letting ride his beautiful CZ400.