Belleview, Santos Round #8 Final State Round

For the final Round of 2008 Florida State Championship Series I was going into the race 2 points behind Victor and Ryan was 3 points ahead of Victor. This means I needed to finish in front of Victor and get someone in between us to move up to second overall. To finish in first I needed Ryan to have a mechanical (not likely). So here's how it played out...
The start was a nightmare, all the talk during my clinics about paying attention to Dave just slipped my mind. I missed the whistle and was still sitting on my top tube waiting for the start. I looked up and everyone was heading for the woods. I went into the woods in 8th. Because the course was so tight and technical I did not move into 3rd until the 3rd lap. At this point I was in pursuit of the leaders, unfortunately I could not catch them and I finished 3rd.
After the results were posted I realized that I lost the race because of my 1st lap time. Since I was so far back in the pack, and Ryan and Victor were leading, my first lap was over a minute slower than theirs, but, all my other laps were just as fast and even faster. O well thats racing!!!

That night at the awards banquet I received 3rd overall in the pro class. 1st overall in the team competition, and much to my surprise I was given the Espo award. This is a Sportsmanship award named after the late Jeff Espesito. The award means more to me than any finish or overall in my career. I work very hard to be an ambassador to the sport and this shows that my efforts are not over looked.

Well this is my 5th season competing in the Florida State Championship Series, my overall are as follows:
1996 2nd Pro Class
1997 1st Pro Class (Spring)
1997 1st Pro Class (Fall)
2005 2nd Pro Class
2006 3rd Pro Class
2007 3rd Pro Class
I can only hope to continue this top 3 trend for years to come. I feel better than I ever have, so to stop racing the Pro class is no where in my future.

Pictures will soon be posted.

Belleview, Santos Round #7

Belleview, Round 7, not a lot to say about this race. We started the race and I went in to the woods in first. I was passed by Victor mid way through the lap and realized he was pulling away ever so slightly. I chased for a few miles and realized Ryan and Robert were gaining on me, so I made a tactical decision and stopped pedaling, took a drink, and waited for them to catch up. This proved to be effective because their local knowledge helped me on cornering and line selection. Robert dropped off pace and I was left in 3rd.
With only about a mile left in the race I was in a switchback section and saw Ryan just ahead. I had not seen him for most of the race but I was getting splits (time gaps), in the woods that let me know I was close. I gave it my all and finished 10 seconds behind behind Ryan and he was 45 seconds behind Victor.
That's it, not an exciting race but still in the points chase.