Sedalia, MO
 
Every year Dave Cory puts on a few big money races for us to go to and grab some extra cash. They are usually "mini-nationals" with many of the top riders in the house. This year was no different. Alot of fast guys and the track was in awesome shape. Coolbeth, Johnson, Schnabel, Varnes, Carr, Pearson, Murray, Wood, Russell and a ton more were in attendence. Went out for practice and felt pretty good. The track was kinda dry and rocky. I matrixed a onion sized rock in one of the practice sessions, narrowly avoiding the lethal piece of earth. We made a few gearing changes and were ready to rock and roll in the scratch heat.
 
I had a pretty tough scratch heat I guess with Carr, Schnabel, Wood, and some others. I got an awesome start and lead the first lap. I didn't know where anyone was running and I got passed by a couple guys and finished a close 5th. I was pretty mad about how I rode in this scratch heat. It was like I totally forgot what my job was out there. We made a small gearing change and I was very eager to get back onto the race track to redeem myself.
 
I was on the back row in my heat so I knew I had some work to do to get into the top 4 to make the main. I got a pretty good start and was running 7th or so trying to find some real estate for the first half of the heat race. I was right behind a couple of guys and time was running out. I made a move around the outside of one rider and on the inside of two more in one lap. I got settled into 4th and started putting in some fast laps and actually caught up to the leaders by race end. No semi for me. Just had to get my helmet ready, put gas in the bike and get ready for the final.
 
They took 18 riders to the main and I had 12th pick which put me on the very inside of the 2nd row. Not a good starting spot for me as I got pinched off going into turn one. For the first couple laps I was running around 10th or 11th. I started getting passed by riders in turns 3 and 4. First Russell, then Wood and Eslick found their way around me. I was running like 13th or so at one point. I moved up and started running a different line the 2nd half of the 15-lap final and it was working alot better. I passed Wood, Murray and Eslick back and actually started to catch back up to Russell who looked like he was closing in on Pearson and Jersey Jake. I couldn't seem to settle into a position. Everytime I would pass a rider in front of me, I would get pushed high in the next corner. I ended up 9th by the checkered. I really wish we could of put ourselves in a position to be on the front row for this one as I know we were capable of a top 5. The bike worked awesome and I had alot of fun. Thanks to Dave Cory, The Hoenigs, and the LA raceway for a succesful event.