I had to toe the line today. My ankle is still doing it’s best imitation of the kid who puts a pillow in his shirt and says hey look at me I’m Homer Simpson, Dooh!! Well, it’s still usable, though it seems not for long. I just watched Iron Man and now I want a new leg, two of them please, and some of those bionic lungs, oohhh and the atomic heart. The race started with overcast low 30’s and a hint of snow. A beautiful day if I should comment. The start was to my liking. My intention was to not get the wholeshot this week, and if that is a goal than I can be happy that I accomplished something today. For the first time in the series, I found myself outside of the top ten for any amount of time. Uncharted territory…The only thing to do was push, and push hard to get up to the front so I could make the selection. Early on gaps were being opened, and early on Greg was hollering at me to close those gaps. We worked up to the six and that’s were I left him, or rather where he left me. The sand pit was the great equalizer on the day. I tried to ride it four times and succeeded twice, the two bobbles cost big time, at crucial moments in the race. Trying to catch on was a huge endeavor, and I did it twice. On the second time I caught the lead group the size had shrunk and they were now only four strong. This felt like something that I could stay with and as soon as I thought that I lost my position in some corners and had some minor blockage from the lap traffic. Just enough to take me off my line and create a couple of small gaps that grew and grew. Knauf, Arrigoni, and Heck were the final selection and they took it to the line. Nevada Dave had a second lap sand pit debacle and all of a sudden he was not there. I looked and looked for him and I didn’t see him until the second to last lap. Catching up to me, he pretty much rode right through me, so much for the guy who tried to play the sick card before the start. Same old story for my final two laps, not enough endurance wah wah wah. Finish strong so no one outsprints me and bang on the handlebars. The course was a little pedestrian, not much in the way of technical features, but I enjoyed the course, it let you get into a rythm and hold on to it. This also meant that you could find nowhere to hide. So the Z Man made the move to the main event. Just like Hemme, he took his diesel downtown and is now runnin with the big boys. I like racing against the fast competition that is out there, but I have no problem with the basic idea of 1 extra position at the end of the race. That for me meant 7th instead of 8th, good show. Good luck with the Duece ‘Z’. I left before the finish of the 123 race, but from what I could see he was killing it, keep on rockin…