I could tell by going out and looking at the track earlier today that they had dug it up more than usual to start practice with, which was fine with me as it is usually pretty dry and sketchy during early practices here. So in our first practice/qualifier session it was definitely deep and way rough, but I enjoyed it, as that old saying goes, "There's traction in the bottome of them holes" Yah, there is, just ya better have the throttle turned wide open if ya want to get through them holes too while you are trying to slide around the track too. You hit one of those holes sideways sliding without the throttle on very hard, and you are going for a ride. Yeee haaaaa! The young and fearless riders seem to shine at times like this when the tracks are really rough, and sure enough, young 18 year old Matt Weidman was the fastest in our first session, with Smith, Mees and myself in the top four. After that first session the track started to get brushed off, kind of like the usual Lima racetrack is. I was happy to see that, but at the same time my lap times did not improve, as they went down the chart to like 13th. I remember last year I qualified like around 15th or so, then came back to win it, so I was not too worried about that, but things just were not comfortable for me once again on the track it seemed. Just like last weekend, it seemed I was riding on the ragged edge of crashing or not, but dang it, I knew I wasn't, as I knew I could flat woop these guys on a track like Lima. I won every cushion race last year with them being Dayton, Lima and Greenville, and now I was starting to question myself for some reason. After my last practice session, I could tell I was in the same exact rut as last weekend, as I was just riding a little spooked.

    I ain't afraid to admit it, but I had been riding pretty cautious every since I seen a bunch of crashes at Dayton,Ohio a couple weeks ago, and in the one crash, Nick Cummings got hurt really bad, and that just hit home pretty hard for myself to see that happen to him.  I mean we are racing for peanuts really out here, and our sport is a very dangerous one for sure. Then after the races that night in Dayton, I called home to talk with DeeDee and the kids, and I was telling her about Nick's crash, and she was saying things like "ooh, that is terrible". Well at the same time I heard my 4 year old Kody in the back ground asking her what happened to dad. And she was telling him that nothing happened to me, someone else crashed. And I told him the same thing a minute later, that I was ok and didn't crash. I mean I just feel selfish at times to be out here racing at times putting my life on the line.    In my heat race I continued to struggle, as i came home in fourth place which put me on the second row for the main event.  Then in the main event I just went backwards. These races when I suck, they are the hard ones to write stories about, so I'm sure you realize why they are usually shorter than some others. I ended up finishing 11th in the final, which was ahuge disappointment as I had won this race last year and a couple of other times plus many podium finishes here. I'm working harder and harder every week to turn this slump around, and it is going to happen real soon. If you know me, you would know that I'm not one that just lays down when times get tough, so look for us to get on a roll again real soon. Never Give Up! Until next time, G'Day! Joe