February 28, 2009 - The Parts Unlimited River Ranch - Westgate River Ranch, Florida
Round #1 of the GNCC Series is now officially in the books and I cant help but smile thinking about the fact that I have now added my name to a short list of riders who have won a GNCC overall. I spent the entire off season training and preparing my YFZ450 for the 2009 season, and when we pulled into the River Ranch facility I had a strong feeling that all my hard work and the difficult choices I had made were about to pay off. From my brief track walk Saturday and the way the track was deteriorating during the youth and morning amateur races I knew that I was preparing to race one of the roughest and most physically demanding races of my career.
When the green flag dropped I rounded the first turn in 4th, and was able to move into 3rd early in lap one. The dry conditions were producing a lot of dust, so after I passed Brandon Sommers for 2nd I settled into a pace that I knew I could run for 2 hours and focused on running my own race. I was 3rd behind Borich and McGill when I pitted for fuel at the start of lap 4. I realized at that point that I had more speed and energy than I had expected. I then decided to up my pace and make a push to the front. I moved into 2nd later in lap 4 and then took the lead when Chris pitted on lap 5. Once I was out front I simply focused on hitting my lines and being smooth all the way to the finish. Pulling into the finish line checkpoint I looked up to see my family and friends jumping and cheering. Many of those same people have been with me every step of the way since my first local race in 2003, and I would like to thank them all for their unending support. I have a great group of sponsors this year that have all come together to make this win a reality. Yamaha, Houser, Ohlins, HMF, Maxxis, Mike Kiser Welding, Raber Industries, T&K Cycles, HiPer, Fly, Powermadd, Fasst, Ballance Racing, Precision Racing, Rath Racing, GT Thunder, DP Brakes, G4 graphics, Baldwin Motorsports, Big Nutz, Chester Vet Clinic, Spectro Oils, Tire Balls, ATV Exposed, and IMS.
I cannot truthfully say that the reality of winning has completely set in, but with Georgia only a few days away I won't be taking any time to savor the feeling. It's back to the race shop 6am Monday morning and back to the program that helped me to win the 2009 River Ranch GNCC!
See you Saturday in Washington GA.