Athens TCCRA

September 9, 2007 - Athens, Texas

It was sort of a last minute decision to come to this race but I had a free weekend and had been wanting to make a TCCRA race all year.  I have never seemed to have much good luck in the past at Athens and to be honest this one wasn't look very good either!  I wasn't able to make it to the track on Saturday and in fact it was after midnight before I even made it into town.  That didn't leave me with a whole lot of sleep early Sunday morning when we had to wake up and head to the track but I felt like I'd still be able to ride good.

TCCRA races are live engine starts and this race featured a pretty sandy starting area.  I was able to get a good jump but down the long sandy straightaway I found out that my 250F was no match for the 450's a lot of the other riders were on.  Those things can move down a long straight at an insane speed!  As we dropped into the woods I was about mid-pack and just tried to focus on picking off riders one at a time.  By the end of the first lap I had made it to the rear fender of KTM mounted Cooper Bailey.  He was riding extremely fast and stuck with me for a long time after I got around him.  I tried staying smooth and was eventually able to inherit a little bit of a gap at about the halfway point when he pitted.  After lap three it was my turn to pit for gas and hopefully be able to keep my lead over Cooper.  The stop went fast and when I didn't see anyone coming up behind me I knew I just needed to ride smart to the finish.

I was able to hold on to it to take the win while Cooper finished second.  Cameron Ishmael put in a solid ride to take third.  There's a lot of talent coming out of Texas lately and I look for these guys to keep pushing each other to get faster and faster.  Overall I had a good time racing back in Texas for the first time in over a year.  Hopefully it won't be another year before I'm able to make it back for another year!