We get three practice sessions here just like a GNC race, and the last two count as qualifying. I felt pretty good the first practice session, as my MotoConcepts www.MotoConcepts.com Honda 450 was working pretty dang good. They have an open tire rule here, so you can use any type of dirttrack tire you want, and when I have a choice, I will put on a Maxxis dirt track tire every time. They also have a Dash for Cash here, but there is a twist to their Dash. They only take the fastest rider on each different brand of bike to the Dash. I was on a Honda 450, just as Mees, Coolbeth, Carr and others were on Hondas too. I knew I needed to put in some good qualifying laps to try and get in the Honda slot of the Dash. After qualifying was over with, I ended up having the fastest overall lap time of the night, so that worked to get me in the Dash.

    My heat race was up now, and I had Jethro Halbert, Carr, Schwartzenbacher and others. I nailed the light perfect and had the holeshot to lea it out of turn two. I thought I could shake these guys, but after a few laps, they were still glued to me. I just was not able to enter the turn as hard as earlier, as it seemed my rear end of the bike was trying to come around more than before. I was still leading at the white flag, but going down the back stretch, Jethro snuck up under me going into turn three on the last turn, and just as I started to slip back into the second spot, Schwartzenbacher came into the corner riding way over his head and out of control. He's kind of known as a wild rider, so I was not too surprised when this happened, as this is just about the only way he can pass someone, by bumping them it seems. This let him and Carr both by me. So I ended up 4th in the heat race, which would send me to a Semi.

   The next race was my Dash for Cash right before the Semi. Rob and I made a few changes to the Honda to try and get it working a little better for the Dash. Another twist in the Dash, is that they invert the start, so that the fastest guy is in the back of a single file line-up for the start, and on down the line for a four lap Dash. The fastest Suzuki rider was Jake Cunningham at the front of the line, then Henry Wiles was next on the Kawasaki, then Rob Pearson was next on a Yamaha, then myself at the rear of the line up on the Honda. Plus they have a bonus for the Hard Charger award in the Dash, which is the guy that passes the most people in the race. I nailed a pretty good start in the Dash, and was third going into turn one. Wiles was out front, with Cunningham in 2nd. I got by Cunningham going down the back stretch real quick, and set out for Wiles. Henry was spinning it up really bad on the exits, and after a lap of following him, I snuck by going into turn three on lap two. Now I had the lead, so I put my head down and rolled off some great laps.  My bike was working really good right now, as these last few changes Rob and I did made a huge difference. I came home with the Dash win and I also won the Hard charger award.

    It was Carr, myself and others in the semi. Carr had the inside starting spot and got the holeshot at the start. I was right on him and followed him lap after lap, but I had not found a good place to pass just yet. On the last lap I tried a higher line, and just about had the pass, but he got the win, with me second.

    Now it was main event time, and 20 laps. On the front row was Mees, Coolbeth, Sam Halbert, Jethro Halbert, Wiles and Schwarzenbacher. On the second row was Carr, Carver, Weidman, Mischler, Pearson and myself on the outside of row two.  I knew my bike was working great, and to me this was gonna be a great challenge, but something I looked forward to.

    At the flash of the green light, I had a pretty good start as I came out of turn two in the seventh spot from the back row.  I got Coolbeth and Sammy in turn three as they were on the bottom and I just rolled a little higher on the first lap and got them both in one turn. Then the next one I came up to pass was Schwrazenbacher, as I knew he had hit me pretty good in the heat race, but he was going so slow I just rode right around the outside of him in turn one a couple of laps later. See Brock, yah can pass without hitting people. Now I had Jethro in front of me, and after following him for a few laps, I could see Wiles was in front of him holding him up on the exits of the turns. So I decided to try a little higher line again, and it started working pretty good for me. It took me some time, as I would just slowly make a little time trying to get around the highside of each rider. I got by Jethro, then Wiles right after that on lap eleven. Now I was finally into the second spot, and Mees was out front with a pretty big lead. I thought I might be able to run him down, but it was not to be tonight, as Mees ended up winning with me second, then Wiles and Coolbeth in fourth.

    I was pretty happy with that finish, as I knew I had come from along ways back and passed some fast guys to get where I finished. Plus I think will give us a great starting set up for the Gas City National race tomorrow.

    We loaded up the truck and Ion Stear and Mikey Avila jumped in to help us drive, and on the road we were, heading to the next race. We pulled over at 4:00am that night and got a hotel about 1 1/2 hour from Gas City. So we pretty much slept from 4:30am to 7:00am. Not much sleep, the "Glory Trail" as they say.

    Gas City ended up getting rained out the next day, so that was kind of a bummer.

    Until next time, G'Day. Joe