Back to Reno ? What a Week

After last year?s performance, or lack of performance with me not making any Mains at Reno, you could say that I was definitely a little tense about coming back. I know it?s a different year and a new day and all that good stuff, but last year?s poor performance was still looming in the back of my mind.

I had one ominous sign in the days leading up to the Reno races when a crazy driver cut me off at 60 miles per hour. Even my racing reflexes could not help me with this one. My truck was totaled, the bike I was hauling flew out of the truck but miraculously was not damaged, and I was left with a stiff neck and back, so no serious training last week.

At least this year I didn?t have to pack up my bike and FedEx it to Reno. Team Faith offered to haul the Carolina Xpress bikes which helped out a bunch. It looked like the trip to Reno would be smooth that is until we missed our flight Thursday morning and had to spend 15 hours either in the air, or in an airport. Luckily, Tyler and Murph made their flight... but missed their connection in Vegas, so we all got to hang out as a team after all.

After we finally got to the track, we found that our bikes had fallen on top of each other and had a cage match for about 2,000 miles in the Team Faith hauler. I do think my bike won though.

We were able to get everything straightened and fixed and headed out for practice only to realize that I had completely forgotten about the altitude in Reno. The bikes were running like they had rags stuffed tightly into the airbox, with an anchor tied to the rear fender. After jetting about 20 times and revving the bikes enough times to equal about five main events, we were as close as we were gonna get. Needless to say, my mind was not completely settled when it was time to line up and qualify.

The track was great with a 70-foot catapult jump. In order to make the jump, riders had to hit the section of the track before it perfectly, or else you had to roll it. The competition in Reno was strong, with a number of additional fast riders showing up, but let?s face it, the top 20-something riders are all fast.

The good news is Tyler and I both qualified Friday night and had decent races, the results weren't quite what we would have liked, but considering the circumstances, we will take it. Saturday went about the same, except Tyler missed the Main due to some crashes in qualifying. Seems like missing a Main or two this season isn't gonna be uncommon for anybody. The amount of talent squeezing in to the 16-man field is crazy.
 
I do want to give a huge thanks to Team Faith and Mr. Reynard for all the help they gave us this weekend. They didn?t have to, or need to, but they did it anyway. THANKS. We owe ya.

I?m back in NC with no flight problems. The weather looks great and I have stopped in to see the chiropractor to fix me from the car wreck. We will be back to training with a brief break for Thanksgiving and then on our way north up to Rochester, New York. I?m looking forward to that race.

Big thanks to all the sponsors of our team - Foremost Insurance, Kenda Tires, Moose Racing, Kawasaki Suzuki of Durham, Total Control, Scorpion Helmets, Extremeion Carbon Raptor, Vision Graphics, Pazzaz, Pro-Wheel, Crower Power, Smith, CV4 Products.