USA-All Charity Race, Price Utah August 15-16, 2009

OK, so I've been a complete slacker in getting the site updated. Work has pretty much monopolized my life since August and justifying the time to update the site has been difficult.

It's time for the important things in life, family, kids, and riding.....work sucks.

The Charity race in Price was a lot of fun. Myself (Mike) and my 3 boys (Josh, Kobee, and Benji), and Chad Bailey and his son Karson made the trek to Price for the Saturday desert race. This event was a charity race raising money for the Utah Shared Access Alliance (USA-All) to raise money for the battle in preserving our public lands and riding areas. It was a totally worthy cause and one we were happy to support. It also happened to be a USRA points event.



Benji in the 65 class (Dave Turner Images)

The minis started in the morning and the FAST Racing crew had an awesome showing!! Karson Bailey finished second overall mini Novice, Kobee finished first Schoolboy, and Benji finished first 65B, and second overall 65. Benji's bike was running like crap again and I was praying that he would even make it one loop. He came in off the first loop in second place and held that position for another loop with a bike that would hardly stay on the throttle and required a lot of finesse. The boys all really enjoyed the course and thought the motocross track was cool.

Karson

Kobee

Josh raced his first "big bike" race.....sort of. They had the Mini Experts race with the Amateurs. They had to be the last wave off the start line so unfortunately they were eating dust for most of the first loop, but he was doing great and had worked up to mid-pack after the first loop of the course. After going out on the second loop it seemed to take him a really long time to come in. My intuition was correct and when he finally made it in, he was riding in "spode" mode. Apparently he hit a big g-out on the desert course and rung his bell pretty good and it took him a while to get his composure and get going again. As all racers know, it's difficult to bounce back from a good crash. After some coercion, he decided to go out and finish his race. Josh is learning a lot of life's lessons through the school of hard knocks out on the race course this season and will need to continue to develop that mental maturity and persistence that is a characteristic of all great racers.

Josh loved the EnduroCross section.

I had taken my bike down and was considering racing, but the Experts weren't starting until 4:00 in the afternoon and with Josh's situation, the chewed up and dusty course, and long drive home that night, I wussed out and just packed up and called it a day.

Thanks to all the volunteers who helped to put on such an event. It's a great and worthy cause and one that I hope is repeated next year.

USRA Round 8, Monticello Utah, June 20, 2009

Mike and Chad and the boys made the long haul down to Bull Hollow Raceway in Monticello Utah for the 8th round of the USRA Desert Series. None of us had ever been here or raced here, but it ended up to be a very enjoyable race weekend.

Despite all the incredible rains received by Northern Utah, conditions were dry and dusty. The high elevation offered some relief from the temperatures though.

This was a Hare Scrambles type event, incorporating the MX track and about a 12-13 mile off-road course.



The track is mostly clay, and after watering the track, it was super slimy in spots.

In the Mini Expert class, Josh got out in front of the pack and held the lead for the first 2-3 loops. He slid out in a corner and his good friend Carson Giles got around him. Shortly thereafter, the petcock on Josh's bike turned off and it took him a minute to figure it out. He finally did, and got back in the race and maintained his position for a 2nd place overall. He and Carson had a blast racing.


Karson Bailey had another good finish with a 3rd place overall. Karson is Mr. Consistency. He never looks like he's going super fast, but he really is, and he rarely makes mistakes. His consistency has him in first place in points in his class.


Kobee was riding great and finished first place Schoolboy. He was very excited about his finish and rightfully so.


Benji had a great lead for the first couple of loops in the 65 class. After pitting for gas, his bike sounded like it was running horrible. He managed to finish another loop but said he had to doggy paddle up all the hills and had a hard time keeping his bike running. This cost him a few positions, but he loves riding with his other buddies so much that it made it that much more fun for him.



Due to the Grand Prix style start, the Experts were racing by themselves on the course which required an earlier than normal start (which was nice due to temps). The boys had barely ridden off the track, when Mike was already on the line. They had a two wave Expert start and Mike had to start on the second wave which meant he would be eating dust all day.


After an average start, Mike kept it pinned around the first couple of corners and was in 3rd heading out on to the desert course.




The two guys in front of him took each other out trying to make a pass so Mike took the lead (of the second Expert Wave), and managed to stay there for the majority of the race. He caught and passed some of the first wave. By Loop 2, Boe Bland had caught Mike and as seems to be the tradition this year, the two of them raced side by side for the next 2 Loops.


Boe passed Mike in the pits and he couldn't ever catch up to him, finishing with a 15th place overall for the day and second in class behind Boe.

Firebirds Hare Scramble - USRA Round 7, Cherry Creek Utah, June 6, 2009

A week removed from Idaho City, we were ready to try it again. This time it was the 7th round of the USRA Desert Series and there was a solid contingent of the FAST Racing crew including Mike Knight and sons Josh, Kobee, and Benji. Eric Smith and son Trevor, and additional FAST Racing team members, Karson Bailey, Bridger Langeveld, and Tyler and Colby Ekins.

Bridger's younger brother Skylar Langeveld was racing in the Pee Wee race for his first ever desert race as was Trevor's younger brother Matthew.

Temperatures were nice, but as can be expected in the desert, the course was very dusty.

This was a Hare Scrambles event and the club said they had a great new mini loop put together. According to the boys, this was the best course of the year! Josh managed a second place finish in the Mini Expert division. On a dare, he wore the white and pink gear of a friend, and was styling on the start line:


Karson and Bridger both had great finishes in the Mini Novice division. Karson had a 3rd place finish and Bridger had his best finish of the year with a 6th place Novice finish. We were all proud of both of them (images from Dave Turner Photography).





Kobee and Benji also did great in their respective classes (Schoolboy and 65). Kobee was 2nd Schoolboy and Benji was 2nd overall 65 after having a great battle with his buddies in the 65 class.





Trevor, Tyler, and Colby all finished and had a great time on this really fun course.

Skylar and Matthew raced on the pee wee course and Skyler was so proud of himself for completing his first ever desert pee wee race. Way to go guys!!!!



Mike and Eric were the only Fathers racing in the big bike class. Mike managed a great start on the Expert wave and held a Top 10 position for the majority of the race. Without about 10 miles to go on the second loop, he lost the entire sole of his boot, and ended up losing several positions, but finished with a respectable 12th place overall finish for the day.



The course was a lot of fun despite the dusty conditions. Eric said he enjoyed the course as well and we all felt it was another successful race weekend in the books for the kids and families.

Thanks Firebirds.

Here is some footage from the Firebirds of the Expert and Amateur Start.

Idaho City 100 - May 30, 2009

The Idaho City 100 (ISDE Qualifier) is the most looked forward to event of the year for Mike Knight and several other members of FAST Racing. This year was particularly exciting because Mike was going to to have the opportunity to ride it with his son Josh. Josh is 13 and has been attending this event with his Dad as a spectator for 8 out of the last 9 years. It was finally his turn to be a participant rather than a spectator.

Mike & Josh prepare bikes for impound on Friday night.


Mother Nature wasn't being very kind though and the forecast was for hot and dusty conditions. Two years ago we experienced similar conditions and it was brutal. This year turned out to be just a notch below that as far as challenging conditions.

Mike, Josh, and Jarrod Garr were all on the same minute. Here they are leaving from the Red Bull Banners in the pits, ready for 112 miles of singletrack fun!




The course started out great and Josh was doing incredible. Big guys were "in his way" and he was eating up the challenging terrain without any difficulty. The first Special Test arrived and Josh took off with Mike a few seconds behind. About 2/3rds of the way through the test, Mike came around a corner and found Josh laying in a pile of sticks unable to get his bike moving. This burned a lot of time and caused a lot of frustration. Back on the course and a few more burned corners and the first test was over without great results. Josh settled down and continued to ride to the first check with several minutes to spare.

Josh


Mike


On to the next section and second special test. This time Josh adhered to the "slower is faster" principle and got through the test and section without issue. Although not riding as fast, he was riding smoother.

The course started to "toughen up" though as we rode some more southern exposed ridgelines with minimal to no tree cover. The heat alluded to earlier began to take its toll. Josh was slowing and bottlenecks and downed riders in some of the technical sections began to present some challenges. We rolled into the next check (gas check) 5 minutes late after battling the heat and severe dust from bottlenecks. Josh asked how far we had gone and when he realized we had only gone 35 miles (and had almost 80 to go still), it really deflated his spirits.

Since we were already late to the check, we took our time, drank some water, gassed up, and then headed out.

Another 3-4 miles into this section, we came upon a severely rutted, rocky, and exposed ridgeline trail that went straight up, and up, and up. Bikes were littered all over the trail and before long, both Mike and Josh's bikes were boiling over. Bikes weren't the only things boiling over, and by this time, Josh was "baked". He was not feeling well and concluded he could not finish. We rolled into the next Check, took the C course bailout, and rode back to the pits. Josh was frustrated with himself, but was very sick and could not go any further. It was a difficult lesson in both the mental and physical challenges that occur in a national caliber event such as this. There is a reason we witnessed only 1 other mini bike attempting it on Saturday out of 300 riders. We were all proud of Josh for his efforts.

Now, on to the other FAST racing team members. "Fathers" Cory Pincock and Travis Tams of FAST racing were also racing on Saturday and they both did awesome!!!

Cory, fast and smooth as always, finished out Day 1 as 1st overall A rider and a Gold medal. Congratulations Cory!!!!

Travis finished as well, competing in his first ever Idaho City as an A rider. He dropped a few course points but otherwise performed great in the special tests and earned a Bronze medal in the A4 Vet class.

Results for both days are here:
http://www.moto-tally.com/brr/Results.asp

We will definitely be back next year and are already counting the days.

Here's a bit of video from Sunday morning from the Start as well as the Grass Track.

Oxford Mountains Idaho - May 25, 2009

The Oxford Mountains just east of Malad Idaho are a FAST Racing favorite, particularly in the late May/early June timeframe. The trails are great, the scenery beautiful, and the laughs are plentiful.

A large contingent of the FAST Racing team showed up for a great ride on Memorial Day. Rains the day before made for damp and sometimes slippery conditions but the kids loved it! This is one of their favorite rides of the year.

Here's the whole clan before taking off for the day:


What's a kids trail ride without a little bike maintenance by Dad:


But how can you argue about it with views like this!!


You can see why this ride is one of the kids favorites. Here Trevor navigates one of the many creek crossings:


This picture pretty much sums up what FAST Racing is all about:

Cherry Creek Sugarloafers AMA National - May 16, 2009

The Cherry Creek/Jericho area of Utah is home to many desert races each year. With a great variety of terrain, it can offer up some of the most amazing desert races on the entire AMA National Series. However, with dry conditions, it can result in dust-bowl like conditions that make it very challenging.

The FAST Racing team was up to the challenge on May 16, and had many members of the team racing. Conditions were dry and VERY dusty, but the team had a lot of success.

There were 10 Minis racing: Josh Knight, Kobee Knight, Benji Knight, Karson Bailey, Johnathan Morrell, Trevor Smith, Dylan Pincock, Quinn Pincock, Tyler Ekins, Colby Ekins, and Elle Ekins.

Some highlights included having Josh take 1st place overall Mini. Kobee took 1st place Schoolboy, and Benji and Karson finished 3rd overall in the 65 and 85 Novice class respectively. All others racers finished and were great competitiors in a very tough and dusty race.

Having this many mini racers coming through the pits made for a fun and exciting day. This allowed the "pit crew" to stay plenty of busy wiping goggles, gassing up, providing drinks, and shouting words of encouragement.

Here Benji Holeshots the 65 class and ended up for a third overall for the day in the 65's:


Several members of the Team wait for the mini start (Josh, John, Benji, Kobee, Trevor, and Karson).


Nothing like coming into the pits and having 10 arms coming at you, swapping goggles, gas, drinks, and whatever else is needed:



Some of the Fathers of FAST Racing enjoy Friday evening in the pits before the next day's chaos and fun.


For the Big Bike race, both Mike and Cory were racing in the Expert class. They lined up right next to one another for what was to be the dustiest start of the year so far. After the banner dropped, Mike and Cory wouldn't see each other again for the rest of the day.

Cory's day went well, and he pulled off a 16th overall finish for the day in a National. Way to go Cory!!! He was also Top 5 USRA for the day, his second top 5 USRA finish for the year.

Here's Cory finishing out almost 100 miles of National level tough course, on his way through Cherry Creek to the finish.


Mike's day didn't go nearly as well. After a top 20-30 start, he settled into the Conga Line of dust and was riding hard when he suffered a flat rear tire at about the Mile 10 marker. He limped back to the pits and swapped wheels and sprockets and tried to salvage the day starting dead last behind the last ATV rider.

After passing about 50 riders and heading out on the second loop, Mike continued picking off riders until the dust and heat got the best of him and he did his best "Pukey the Clown" impression and got sick. After multiple stops on the trail, he finally settled for giving a broken down rider a ride back to the pits and suffered his first DNF of the year. Better luck next time.

Thanks Sugarloafers for an incredibly challenging and fun course despite the dust.

Ought Six Enduro - Montana 4/25/09

FAST Racing Team Member Cory Pincock and friends attended the Ought Six Enduro in Montana the same day as the Salt Lake Supercross. This is an ISDE style reliability enduro held on a private ranch in Montana.

According to those that attended, the course and event was awesome despite some chilly weather.

Cory had a very successful weekend with a first place Overall A rider on Saturday.

A few pics:





Cory's smashed Pipe:




Impound area at Ranch:

Salt Lake Supercross, April 25, 2008

Many of the FAST Racing Team members and families attended the Salt Lake Supercross at Rice Eccles Stadium on Saturday night. Despite a cold and rainy day, the night turned out awesome as the skies cleared and the track dried out.

We were treated to some great racing battles in both main events and the kids loved it.

It was cold so no pictures, but we were grateful that the Supercross came back to Salt Lake. This has always been a fun tradition for us and our families.

Knolls Knockout, April 18, 2009

We had a great time at this race. There was 4-6 inches of snow on the ground on Thursday and by Friday, conditions were near perfect.

Josh was making his "debut" in the expert mini class. He pulled a great holeshot and was feeling on top of the world, dicing with his buddy Carson Giles all the way out to the fence. He said they were back and forth and right with each other. They entered the first checkpoint, down the fence, and then back on the loooooong straight. Well....2-stroke, pinned, and lake bed, equaled seized bike.

Here's some video of the mini starts:


Of course, back in the pits, we didn't know this until some of the other FAST Racing Team in our group came in. Josh wasn't the only one that met this fate....apparently it was a bike graveyard out on the flat. Bridger's bike seized too and at one point, we saw one of the Desert Foxes UTV's hauling in three mini's loaded up on the bike....all blown up.

Kobee hasn't raced this year but did great in the Schoolboy class, and was somewhere in the top couple of positions after the first loop, but he'd had enough, so he hung out at the home check for his finisher pin.

Benji is a real trooper, putting in 3 loops on his 65 for a first overall 65. We were all proud of him and he loved every minute of it.

Karson survived a big over-the-bars getoff and managed to to be one of the only 85's in the group to not blow his motor. He dug in hard to ride through the sand and finish 7th or 8th overall out of a pretty big group of mini novices.

Father and Son duo Eric and Trevor Smith also had a fun day, both surviving and enjoying the big bike and mini bike courses respectively.

Mike pulled a surprise great start in the expert big bikes, rounding the corner in the overall 3rd position heading out on to the course.



After hitting the first big lakebed flat, he backed off the gas a bit to avoid another blown motor for the day and got passed by several bikes. About 5 miles later, Mike came upon Gregg Godfrey who had wadded up hard right in front of him. Mike stopped for a few minutes to make sure he was OK. Gregg eventually got his bearings and it was back to racing and playing a bit of catch up.

Mike caught up some positions and had some super fun battles, finishing 9th overall expert for the day.

It's time to tear into some motors and assess the damage.

See you next month at Cherry Creek.

Thanks Desert Foxes! You did an amazing job with what you had to work with out there.

White Wash Utah, April 2009

It was time for some more relaxed riding and camping fun. The location, White Wash Utah for Easter Break. The majority of the FAST Racing team was there with a very large group of extended friends and family's broken up into multiple campsites.

White Wash did not disappoint and we had some really epic rides!!

Here's a short video of a few of the rides:


Cory and Mike outfitted their 300's with new headlights from TrailTech and enjoyed several more hours and miles of riding late at night. Riding the technical terrain in the area at night became an entirely new experience.

This is always one of the favorite camp trips of the year and we all can't wait to get back.

Page Arizona - here we come!

A portion of the FAST Racing team made the long trek to Page Arizona for the Sage Riders race March 28, 2009. Some of us were working the race, and others were racing.

Despite a cold start, the weekend weather turned out beautiful. This was a very unique race setting with the course starting right out of the hotel parking lot, a Wal-Mart across the street, and food and gas available within walking distance from the pits.

A visit to Page would not be complete without a visit to the Glen Canyon Dam. The kids thought this was cool and so did the Dads.



Friday was spent pre-running the course and helping mark trouble spots. This course was a mix of sand, sand whoops, more sand, with some awesome technical redrock sections thrown in for good measure.



Saturday morning Mike and Josh swept the minis course. This was great fun and we were able to help lots of kids by pushing them up sandy hills, fixing throttles, administering Gatorade and pats on the back, and wiping away tears. This was particularly tough for the really little guys due to the sand.

Karson Bailey was the only FAST Racing team member and he pulled a great start in the 85 Novice wave. Karson held on for a 2nd place overall and had a great time. Congrats Karson.


For the big bike race, we hung around for the start, and then headed to the "Big Hill" to assist and monitor the course.

We witnessed more carnage in this one area, than years worth of riding and racing. This was definitely a spectator friendly area.







Later that night we made the long drive home enjoying the beautiful scenery of that area of the state. Thanks Sage Riders and the rest of the racing community for supporting this great race.

Cow Dung Run Race Report March 2009

Cow Dung Race Report
March 14, 2009

A group of 8-9 boys line the EnduroCross section of the Cow Dung Run watching anxiously for the leaders from the Expert wave to come and showcase their talents through the rocks, logs, and tires.

One rider, then another, and then #163V (Cory Pincock) on a KTM300 blitzes through the EnduroCross course faster and smoother than anybody else. Someone in the crowd says audibly, “Who was that?”, and a proud brown haired little boy, turns and says, “That’s my Dad!”.

That moment right there captures the fun and emotion of the Cow Dung Race experience on Saturday the 14th.

The highest priority is that everyone finished safely and had a great day. In addition, the team experienced some great success. A few highlights are as follows:

* Cory Pincock finished 1st overall Over 30 Expert and 4th overall Expert!
* Josh Knight finished 1st overall Mini Amateur
* Benji Knight finished 1st overall 65B and second overall 65
* Karson Bailey finished 2nd overall Mini Novice
* Quinn Pincock finished 2nd overall Schoolboy (unofficial)
* Sam Tams, Bridger Langeveld, Dylan Pincock all finished in the top third of their respective classes and had a fun day of racing.
* Michael Knight finished 19th overall expert and third in Over 35 Expert.
* Travis Tams finished in top third of Amateur wave (official results not known yet)

Also, despite the team name being “Fathers and Sons Team Racing”, there was a great effort of supporting crew by the Moms of the FAST Racing Team. Thanks Jennie, Kara, Yvonne, Jamie…..and Chad and Jason (Chad and Jason aren’t Mom’s, but they make a great pit crew).

Rhino Rally Race Report February 28, 2009

The Rhino Rally turned out to be a great weekend for FAST Racing. The weather, racing, and company were great.

We had a total of 7 Sons racing (Josh, Benji, Karson, Sam, Trevor, Dillon, and Quinn) and four Fathers racing (Mike, Cory, Travis, and Eric).

A few of the race weekend highlights are as follows:

Travis took a digger on Loop one in the big bike Amateur class and broke the clutch master cylinder off his KTM. He headed out on Loop 2 unaware of the challenge that awaited him in Dutchman’s wash. Miraculously, he made it through Dutchman’s without a clutch!

• 
  Cory Pincock was 3rd to the corner in the Expert wave behind T.J. Hannifin and Shawn Strong and held that position for a few miles until he suffered a flat and unfortunately a DNF for the day. I had predicted a top ten finish for him at this race but it wasn’t to be.


• 
  Josh overcame an average start in the Amateur mini class but pulled off the overall win.

• 
  Sportsmanship Award – After a 3 Loop finish in the 65 class we were sure Benji had a near top of class result. When his name wasn’t read at the banquet, he was fighting back the tears. Fellow FAST Racing teammate Sam, quickly and quietly handed over his well-earned Trophy from the 85 Novice class to Benji. There are plenty of great life lessons to be learned in this sport and good sportsmanship is one of them.

• 
  Pay it Forward moment of the weekend – I’m always teasing my kids that they have a “full factory ride”. After all, they receive transportation, meals, bike prep, pit support, and have all expenses paid. I wish I had that kind of gig. After teasing my son Josh about this on Friday night, he said, “Don’t worry Dad, I’ll do the same for my kids.”


• 
  Karson and Sam finished 5th and 7th respectively in the Mini Novice class with a whopping 38 riders.

Here's some amateur video Josh and I took of the race:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fX9rK2aqmgY

I can’t speak for everyone else, but here’s a race report from my perspective:

I shuttled my bike up to the start right after they closed the mini loop. As a result, the main trail where the mini loop intersected the start line, was totally open. I lined up with almost a straight shot of the main trail. My chances were great for a good start with exception to the fact that Dave Pearson was about 5 bikes to my left J

The banner dropped, the 300 lit right up (I love that happy button), and I got pinched off a bit and before I knew it, the horrendous wall of dust was so bad I had to completely back off the throttle. I worked my way over to the right of the main wave to get out of the dust. Women and children were running as the mass of bikes seemed to get closer and closer trying to avoid the dust.

We headed up the rocky wash and then a hard left. The dust was suffocating and the racing tight as everyone jockeyed for position early in the race. I got bumped by somebody and went down. Immediately I knew I needed to get out of the way or both I and my bike were going to get run over. I looked up just as someone was about to run over my bike. It was my friend Rich Black. He didn’t even know it was me. I got up and going and shortly thereafter I saw a bike off to my left laying on its side….I thought it was my friend Cory P., and I later found out he had gotten a great start but got a flat tire in the first couple of miles.

The Conga line spread out a bit and I did my best to stay close but remain safe (relatively speaking) in the horrible dust. The course was primarily fast jeep roads for the next 15+ miles. Eventually everyone spread out a bit and passing was a matter of making an aggressive run at somebody to get out of their dust.

I did this, picking off several guys over the next several miles. About mile 25 was the gas check. I knew I couldn’t push it on the 300 so I had to stop. There was some help there and I gassed up fairly quick, but in the process I witnessed all the guys I had just worked so hard to pass, go right past me.

On the gas again, I quickly passed 2-3 guys back…the only one I remember was Josh Goimarac and I waved as I went by, wondering if he would recognize his old bike.

Now the course got good….we were into the singletrack and washes and out of the fast road sections. There seemed to be no whoops and just great terrain. I was feeling great and flowing pretty well. Before the gas check I had passed number 2f. He passed me back at the gas check and for the next 40-50 miles I chased him. He was always within site but he was riding well. I made a few stupid mistakes and he’d put distance on me, and then I’d get up to him but couldn’t make the pass.

I came into the pits without a real sense of where I stood overall. I wasn’t getting passed, but I was sure that my average start would have a lot of guys in front of me.

My great FAST Racing/Sage Riders pit crew had me in and out in a flash and I took off on the second loop.

Within the first mile or two I was starting to have déjà-vu……”Hey, haven’t I already ridden this section, except last time it was a wall of dust.” If there hadn’t been other guys in front of me, particularly 2F, I would have probably done something really stupid and turned around thinking I had missed a turn on the second loop. It was an exact repeat of Loop 1 for the first 15 miles.

At mile 15 we took a hard left at the top of Dutchman’s. I had never ridden Dutchman’s and kind of had myself psyched out. For the next 3 miles I was thinking to myself, “What’s the big deal, my 9 year old could ride this.” I no sooner had that thought and bam, big huge boulders with nice technical drops. It was like an endurocross boulder section for the next 1 and a half miles.

I focused on staying smooth. At the top of Dutchman’s I had passed at least one guy who was on the side. As I pushed down the wash I caught site of 2f again (I think this was Joe Clark). I got close enough to him and was just waiting for a mistake. In one section, he went left and I went right and I went around him. We had a great battle going for the next half mile. There was another section where he took an alternative line and I was convinced he had me, but we converged on the main trail and I just barely eeked by him.

A moment later we got into another tight boulder section with only one line. I was getting tired and pressured by leading. I dropped the front wheel down and just about went over the bars. In my exhaustion I almost let him just go by but there really wasn’t anywhere for him to go. I just picked up my bike and pushed on hoping he was tiring too. Then all of a sudden I saw another bike, 55 (Clay Davies I think).

Almost the same thing happened…he went left in a section and got stuck and I went right and I got by him. I was convinced at this point that we had to be getting close to the end of the draw. Sure enough, the canyon walls started to open and I could get on the gas.

I started the internal dialogue, “Stay smooth Mike, keep up the speed and don’t make any mistakes, just finish.”
We were dumped back onto some fast road sections and then on top of the big mesa overlooking the pits. I glanced over my shoulder a few times hoping that I wasn’t getting pressured. I had a nice gap and should be able to relax coming into the pits. I had passed another 4-5 guys on the second loop and figured I was slowly inching my way up the list.

Into the pits, and to the checkers where my fellow FAST Racing teammates were waiting.

I had inhaled enough dust for the day to last a lifetime, but I had finished safely and had a great weekend of racing. I don’t have any official results, but rough estimate was about 15th overall.

Thanks Wizards.