The Triton GNCC

March 4, 2008  - Melbourne, Florida

I was really surprised at how different this track was compared to a normal Florida race!  In fact, I was totally shocked when I rode the practice track on Monday.  Instead of the usual waist deep sand whoops that Florida races are notorious for, this track had trees and roots!  And not just and roots....palmetto roots...the mother of all gnarly roots!  I was still excited to finally get the season underway, however.  I just knew that my strategy would have to change a little bit.

When the race got underway, I got a fairly decent start and was into the Top 5 as we headed through some of the open fields towards the woods.  By the end of the first lap it was Kailub Russell, Thad Duvall and myself all going through the check within seconds of each other.  They were both riding strong and I felt good riding at that pace.  As the race progressed, Thad and I broke away just a little bit and took turns swapping the lead back and forth.  We took turns leading and generally just tried to pace ourselves and not do anything crazy.  The last two laps were actually pretty uneventful as Thad cruised to the win and I rode smart to make sure I held on to 2nd.  My teammate Dustin Gibson put in an awesome ride from the back of the pack to take third and make it a Yamaha sweep of the podium.