4th in the world

The final race week of the year is finally gone and done.  I ended up 4th in the final today for Master's 35-39 World Championships.  I was only 20 seconds off the podium so that was the bummer.  I had a front row call up in the #7 position which was only made better when 3 of the front row did not show up for call ups.  Talk about an amateur move (yeah, I am talking to you Russ, Haha).  I had a pretty good start but not the hole shot like I hoped.  I moved my way up to 4th by the second lap and could not close the gap to the podium.  Hollywood was out on the course yelling what lines were the fastest which helped a lot. I was pretty bummed with missing the podium but after calming down I started to feel a bit better about it.  My teammate, Tom Price was an ace in the pit.  I was able to get 1 bike per lap and without that I would not have finished.  Brandon Gavic, of 2013 FoamParty fame was also helpful in getting my pit bike ready while I warmed up.

Tom also helped Mark Savery to his World Championship win in the tough 40-44 age group.  It was a huge win and awesome to see right before I hit the line for my race.

The master's venue became a non priority to the promoters as the big race was coming up on the weekend.  The power washers were left out on Thursday night and were frozen which meant only buckets and brushes for the races on Friday.  I am not sure what Tom's secret was but I cannot thank him and New 40-44 World Champ, Mark Savery, enough for the place to warm up and all of the help.

Yep, there is a $9000 bike in there. Not mine.

The after race is always the worst part.  I had a rental car that would not hold bikes because Ian, from HED, drove my bikes down so I had to find a place to clean them before sending them with him. Brandon found some races with some rack space and they dropped us at a shop about a half mile from the venue where I was able to wash both bikes back to race shape and get them to Ian.  We hung out at the shop and dried off with some beers with the owner who Brandon and I both ended up knowing from our days in Tucson.  Small world.

The season was finally over and it was time for the beer drinking to begin. Although, I am a pretty big talker when it come to the off season as my wife would say.

Up next, the Big Show.