Leading up to Primm I knew I only had two rounds left to pull off a win. After a few rough rounds, I needed to pull of one more win to clench the points championship. We bought my bike used after blowing a motor following round 1. We had been using the old suspension until I sold the old bike after the Mesquite WORCS round. I was left with an incredibly stiff suspension setup from the previous owner. Fighting headshake race after race, my husband gave in and re-sprung the bike and added a GPR stabilizer. It is amazing how a few bad races can bring down your confidence. My husband drove me out to the sand tracks out in boulder city, NV and took me out to SVMX to get my bike (and self) dialed.
Practice day was on Friday at noon. My husband got stuck at work and I could not find a babysitter for baby Kayden. I was worried I would not be able to practice. I called my mom, who is always there to help me, and she said she would go with me to watch the baby and me. I loaded up Friday morning and picked her up. Off we went to Primm. We got there in time to check in and get geared up. I headed over to the line for practice. I choose to start about the second full row from the front so I could be towards the front of the riders. I hoped this would help with lapped traffic and slower traffic so I could get more laps in. Everything was going great until we came up to the tiny rock section they had. I used a rock to jump into the section and smashed my front wheel on a boulder. I got a pinch flat the second it happened. Flat on the first lap…just my luck. Against my better judgment, I milked it for the rest of the practice session to see the course. Once the session was over, I headed over to Hoosier tires, and they swapped on a freshie. Rusty is awesome! This man knows his tires.
Race day was here. My family had all made the trek to Primm to come watch me. I put on about 10 tear offs on my Scott goggles. The sun is always a challenge when you are the first race of the day. It is brutal. I lined up on the inside of the other girls. I thought it gave me a better advantage when it came to the first couple of turns. It did. They waved the flag and off we went. My line worked. I was able to control the start. Taking the inside allows you to push other riders wide into the first turn. It either works, or you will get pinched in. This time it worked, and I pulled the holeshot. We quickly caught up to the racers starting in the line before us. I was stuck behind a group of men for a while. I could not get around. No matter what I did, I just could not find the line. However, the second-place girl found a great line and got around me and the group. She was starting to pull away from me. I knew I needed to make the pass soon. I had to get aggressive around some turns and make the passes to stay in the race. I caught back up to the first place girl. I was on her wheel when she made a mistake and went down. I got by and took the lead. I knew I just needed to ride my own race and minimize mistakes. That is what I did. I loved the course. It was fast and flowy and my style of track. I was able to keep putting down great lap times. Unfortunately, the last lap I came into the rock section and stalled the bike. I am not fancy with one of those electric starts. When daddy said if you can start it, you can ride it, he did not know his little girl would max out at 5’-5”. My little, short legs make kicking the bike a real chore. Add in the rock pile in a downhill section and you have yourself a segment worthy of “MX Fails.” After a minute or so passed I was able to roll the bike to a flat surface and kick and kick and kick and…. you guessed it, kick again, until it started. Thankfully, I got it going and held the lead to the finish. Not only did I end the day with the race win, but the championship was in the bag.
Even with the end of race mishap, I was proud of the win. It helped to bring back some much-needed confidence. The stress is now gone for the final round in Lake Havasu. None of it would be possible if I did not have my husband, mom, and dad around as a support crew that is always there for help when I need it. Or even if I need some encouragement, or tips, they got my back. A special thanks to Rusty with Hoosier tire.
