Supercross Thru The Eyes Of A Privateer: Part 2

You may have missed me at Round 2 in Phoenix. That's because I had Problems with the pre-entry system and didn't get to race. I won't get into that mess because I am still a little upset over the whole thing. Anyhoo, Round #3 at Anaheim was a long weekend for all of us privateers. AMA gave us an extra Thursday practice session to help us get familiar with the track. I thought that was a great idea. They should do that for us at every round! I was riding really good on Thursday until I let go of my bike 12 feet up in the air above the over under bridge jump! They had a step on, step on, step off, step off section, and I jumped a little too far onto the bridge. I was preparing for an endo, only to have my KTM 125 shoot out from underneath me. Talk about bottom end! I landed on my butt, but I was ok. It was probably a good crash to watch.Friday practice went better for me. I had a great time and was pumped about Saturday's race. The only thing that was bad was driving home on The 57 freeway. That's California though.Saturday rolled in and I drew the 1st qualifier and had 4th gate pick. I owe that lucky draw to my fill in mechanic Thomas Haslinger. He is Austrian and works for KTM in Temecula. My other mechanic, Greg, had to go to his real job for the weekend, so I asked Thomas to help me out. By the way, if there is any good looking single girls reading this, Thomas is ripped and single! Ok, ok I know this is not the Dating game so back to racing! I got a great jump off the gate thanks to my potent KTM 125. As I rounded the first corner there was a small pile up that I had to get around. They put the whoops right after the first corner, so getting thru them on the first lap was tricky. I was able to manage, and I rounded the first lap in 10th. I passed 3 guys thru the same whoop section on the 2nd lap and was in 7th, the last transfer position. The white flag came out and I relaxed a little, only to have Akira Narita and Jesse Casillas get by me, just before the checkers. I was pissed off! I relaxed and I shouldn't have.I had to go to the LCQ and they only take 3 out of that race. Another good start. I was third on the first lap and held it until the finish. I was happy with my ride because a lot of Factory Support riders were in that qualifier and even they didn't make it to the night show. I was pleased. I had Heat #2. The good thing about the day races were my gate picks. Unfortunately this didn't continue into the night. The first 10 gate picks are determined by the rider's overall points. The other 10 gate picks are determined by your finish in the qualifiers. This gave me 2nd to last pick. Great! I was on the far outside and got pushed off the track in the first corner. I ended up finishing 17th.In the LCQ I drew another bad gate, causing a bad start. I then worked my up to 10th by the 2nd lap from a dead last start, only to have some guy decide not to jump the triple at the last minute. I backed off, driving my bike and body into the 3rd jump like a stiff lawn dart! My head hit the throttle housing so hard that I broke the housing in half. My throttle cable came out of the housing and I was done for the night. I felt like I rode well, but I didn't get to show everyone my potential. Supercross is a game of starts. Unless your Bubba, you cant come from last position to qualify in a 4-lap race. I am going to practice a hundred starts this week and go have fun at the 24-hour DIRT RIDER test! Wish me luck in San Diego!Also I would like to thank my sponsers. KTM, HJC, Maxima, FMF, Acerbis, WP, Renthal, Scott, SMP.