Big wins at the State Champs!!!!!

What a great day for racing! The venue and scenery was awesome bringing out lots of spectators and local SB peeps. The course was fun with a few technical corners and a triple barrier run/ride-up after a hard punchy climb, as well as a lot of fast grassy sections.

I don’t have all of the Platinum race results but I know that Amanda, Bobby Sr, Andy, Doug, Mark, Jon Miller, Silva, Bill Lupo, and Zack Walker all raced. Amanda knocked out a top 5 in the 3/4 Women’s race and continues to improve after just a few weeks of partaking in the silliness. Bobby Sr pulled off a 50-54 District Championship title after decimating the field and winning by over a minute. No pressure for Nationals Senior!

Thanks also to Seth and his wife, Steve Bertrand, the Luke’s, Lupo, and Amanda for hanging around to watch the Elite Men’s race in the afternoon.

I have to admit that I was feeling a little pressure since I had a handful of my friends and fellow competitors tell me that “today was my day”. The expected heavy hitters came out to battle – 10 time defending champ Brent P, Sid Taberlay, mountain bike legend Ned Overend, Brandon Gritters, Jason First, Mark and Chance Noble, the Bailey duo, and others. The start was fast and I hit the first corner in 4th place. I knew that it would be a fast and tactical race and my plan was to always stay in the top 3 so that I could respond when the inevitable attacks came. Behrens, Brent, Sid, Jason, and I took turns on the front for the first few laps and successfully whittled our group down to less than 10. Attacks by Brent, Sid, and later Ned further reduced the group to the 6 of us that would stay together until the last lap – Brent, Sid, Ned, Mark Noble, Gritters, and me. I knew that a brutal attack would come from either Brent or Sid on the last lap. Sid and I were both able to ride the triple barrier on the hill and that provided very little advantage, but Sid was riding the large barriers and was able to accelerate away from us in previous laps. I suspected this would be where Sid would make his move and I hit the last lap sitting on Sid’s wheel planning on staying there as long as I could. Noble bobbled in the corner before the barriers and slowed down Brent and Ned just as Sid attacked. I countered, but couldn’t quite hold on yet created a gap between myself and the rest of the group. I was suffering but knew if I hit the uphill barriers in front of Brent, Gritters and the others that I could take them to the line and take the District Championships (Sid as an Australian citizen wasn’t eligible for the title). Sid won, I got second (and the District Championship), Brent finished third, followed by Gritters, Ned Overend, Mark Noble, Chance Noble, and Jason First.

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