Race day!! Yeah, my brother's convinced me to race today. WHAT?!

I haven't been this nervous in a while. Actually, "slightly freaking out" was more accurate. My strategy was to chill and do "my" thing, ya know, ride my own race. The number one goal was to not injure myself and goal number two was to not mess up the motorcycle.

Okay, first practice is up. I tried to get a feel for the track, but it all happened so fast. I was only able to get two laps completed before it was over. I didn't fall! That was a big accomplishment in itself! I have a bit of reputation for "going for it" and taking "dirt naps" as a result.

So I made it through practice and felt really good. We still had a couple of hours before our first moto was up. I went into shut-down mode. There was no smack-talk coming from me. None. I was just trying to calm myself and breathe; I didn't want to get on the line and tighten up.

Our first moto is on the gate; my brothers Jeff and Todd are beside me. 18 motocross bikes are singing at peak RPM's. BAM!! And the gate slams down! I hit the throttle hard and began to slide a bit so I backed off. Mud, rocks, saw dust, etc are flying everywhere. I see Jeff a couple a spots in front of me; I had a decent mid-pack start.

I made it out of the first and second turns without too much trouble. Up next was a series of about 12-14 small jumps called whoops. Whoops are notorious for bucking riders off of their bike. I went through them slow and steady and passed Jeff. I still hadn't seen Todd.

Out of the whoops there was a right turn which was a bit muddy. It wasn't that bad, but I was tentative and that is the wrong thing to do in the mud. You have to go for it and keep your momentum. UGH!! I was running pretty good and I went down. Yeah, my front wheel slid out on me. I really thought I was going to get run over by one of the many riders behind me. I had some close calls, but fortunately I didn't get hit. When I got up I was almost in last place; after a bit I got the bike restarted and on my way. Todd had gone down earlier too because he passed me; I figured I'd try to follow him and move through the pack some. I stayed behind him for a while until he started to get away THEN I saw Jeff; at that moment I became a lion on the hunt. I really wanted to finish ahead of him. I passed him on an uphill jump, in the air, one turn before the finish line. YES!!

All-in-all we did just okay; out 18 riders in the 125D class Todd finished 11th, me 12th & Jeff 13th. Todd and I definitely should have been in the top 8. Jeff rides cautiously and rarely falls and probably could have been in the top 10. Todd and I hate getting beat by him because he doesn't take chances. It's all good, he has his strategy and we have ours.

Back in the pits we all talked a lot of crap and got our laugh on. I felt pretty good about things and was ready to do better in the second moto. So we're back on the gate waiting for it to drop and NOOOOO!!!! I get caught in the backward falling gate AND stall the engine. I finally get the bike started and blast down the start straight. I was determined to make up time and was doing okay, much better than the first moto. I was passing some riders and moving forward.

There were a couple of jumps that I felt like I could do if I put my mind to it. It was a double to a step up to a double combination. I wanted to just go for it and see what I could do; I didn't want to regret not trying it. So I come around the corner and hit the jump and come up short with a bone-jarring landing. I was barely able to stay on the bike and kept moving forward. Then I see Jeff again and I really wanted to finish ahead of him and I go for the jump again and come up even more short. In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have done it because I could've passed Jeff on the uphill, but I went for it. For some reason I was going even slower this time and landed right beside Jeff and then bounced into him. My bike started sliding and I bounced into him again and crashed in a heap. Again I thought I was going to get run over, but I didn't. I ran over to the bike got it restarted and was back in the chase.

Todd was in sight; he had wrecked a bunch of times too. He was in front of me and I was going to follow him to catch up to Jeff, but then Todd went down again. I ran out of time to catch Jeff. Todd and I were really frustrated anf Jeff was happy that he didn't fall. Jeff finish 10th, me 13th and Todd 14th. Our overall finishes were Jeff 11th, me 12th and Todd 13th out of 18 riders. Jeff was really happy that he finished ahead of us. None of us were particularly happy overall, but the great thing is that nobody got hurt and the bikes ran great. It was a great family day.