First Place..... In my first Pro Off-Road Race!!!

I am finally back to 100 percent and since my last post I competed in my first ever professional event. It was a Berthoud Hare Scramble. These races are a little different format that a typical motocross race. The biggest difference is that these races are two hours long! Also a much longer course, this one being about a 11 min lap time. I was nervous going into the race with my conditioning just coming off an injury, but to my surprise I felt great throughout the entire race! The experience of the entire day will be one that I will never forget much like my first ever race. I was excited and nervous at the same time. The start of the race is also different from a typical motocross race. We don't start behind any gates but instead off the side of the bike looking at a man with a flag behind us, once he waves that flag you swing your leg over and take off. I started to make a wrong turn off the start just to find out that what I thought was the course was roped off! Needless to say, I got a really bad start when it was all said and done. By the end of the first 11 min lap I had taken over the lead! It was a good feeling coming around that first lap all by myself to see my friends and family cheering me on! That was motivation right there to keep the lead for the rest of the 2 hours! During my first pit stop for fuel I lost the lead to another pro rider! He pulled a 10 second gap on me while I was still in the pits, the race was on! I pushed hard the next few laps and caught up to his rear tire when he took his pit stop. I pulled away and never looked back, taking 1st place in my class and 1st place overall of the entire event! I cannot thank everyone enough that has helped me get to this level. Having God as such a big part of my life is something that I can never overlook, HE is the reason I am the person I am and why I won that race so ALL of the glory goes to him.  This is just a step in the right direction for me and I know that I still have a lot of hard work ahead of me to achieve my goals in mx racing.  I am planning on doing a few more races of this style this winter to help train for 2012, my first full season as a PRO.