Vets Park - Race 2

First off, a little more news about Ryan Shay. He apparently had an enlarged heart and was told, at some point, he would likely need a pacemaker to help address this. So, his dad thought that Ryan likely died of cardiac arrest. I also just saw that the first autopsy results were inconclusive.


So, getting down to my race this morning. The course was a little easier and a little shorter today. I also felt better going into it; I got lots of sleep last night and my legs felt pretty good (I thought they seemed a little dead yesterday).

The race actually went about like it did yesterday. I got off to a very good start; I rode a decent chunk of the first lap in second place (two of the guys up front fell early). I couldn't keep up the pace though and had to back off. After the first lap, it looked about like yesterday (just with some different people), the first two guys were gone, and then I was in a loose group of 4, and then there was another big gap.

Unlike yesterday, I wasn't able to stay in very close contact with the group and was dangling in 6th (off the podium) for most of the race. In particular, on the 3rd lap, Mark put in a pretty big attack on a TSB guy; I wasn't watching closely enough and they got a big gap on me. Still, the hills were wearing them down, and I kept working and had nearly closed it all up again toward the end of the 4th lap.

The TSB guy fell on an off-camber corner late in the 4th lap; he did a good job getting up quickly, but the damage was done and I got by him. Once I made the pass, I punched it, thinking I might be able to push the rest of the way. This also had the effect of closing the gap to Mark; Mark saw me coming and wasn't having any of that, so he cranked it up and finished ahead of me. I kept my gap to the TSB guy and finished (a lucky) 5th.

So, even though I felt better today, I raced a little worse. I just didn't have it in me to close gaps when I needed to in the middle laps today. Still, it was a good result. I'm basically where I wanted to be for the year. My goal was to do well enough in the C races this year that I'd feel comfortable moving up to the B's next year. I doubt that I'll be battling for podium spots in the B's, but I shouldn't be getting completely crushed either.