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The Foremost Insurance Carolina Xpress Suzuki team spent the week after Des Moines training and figuring out improvements to our system. Des Moines is such a rushed race, with finalizing sponsor deals, getting all the gear and testing the new bikes. The timing for the Arenacross season is always crazy, since the season runs over two calendar years and we are smack in the middle of budgeting for 2008 for many companies when the first race kicks off.
We started off Friday morning at 6 am sharp in the van. We all decided that we would just ride together, since the drive wasn't too far and we could save a little cash. That put five of us in the Ford E250 with our Latvian friend, Ivo, from TUF Racing hitching a ride. It was definitely a bonding experience. At one point during the trip I got a little concerned about some sort of freaky electronic meltdown. We had three laptops, a psp, two cell phones, plus the in dash dvd player all going at the same time in a Ford van going 75 mph.
Tyler Bright (TB) watched the entire season of AX from 05/06 for about 10 hours straight. It obviously worked! Tyler definitely stepped it up this weekend and proved his worth. He won his day qualifier, his heat race, and the main event. Not bad for a 17 year-old in his 2nd season.
Well here we are with another season already rolling in with the second round in Albany in the books. The Xpress couldn't have asked for a much better night. Last year I was coming out Des Moines not having made the Main Event. I came to Albany and got on the podium twice with a 3rd in the AX class and 2nd in AX lites.
This year we were coming out of Des Moines feeling much stronger, with Tyler and I both running some solid races the weekend before and confident that we could be on the podium in Albany. Bu this year we only had one shot with the it being the first race as a one night event. We had to make it happen on Saturday and we did.
I ended up 3rd in my heat and 3rd in the main after puling a holeshot. I was going the wrong direction for about 10 laps until I finally settled down. It was one of those nights for me that I never really felt 100% comfortable on the track, so I'm not gonna complain with 3rd.
The ride home was fairly uneventful, 12 hours with the hammer down, anxious to get back to North Carolina to ride and train, and get ready for Reno!!
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