KS State Championships

Much like the MO State Championships the day prior, the weather was cold and windy in Topeka. Driving over, the temperatures never even got up to 30 degrees. Upon arrival at Hummer Sports Park, I noticed immediately that the course was going to have some major differences from the year before. The course now used and went around a long section of parking lot, the Start/Finish line area was a long paved stretch, and there were lots of long power sections, with a few off camber sections and run ups thrown in.

I found out before the race that my two main competitors for the day were not going to be at 100%. Shadd Smith was there but had been fighting the flu (I thought he was in Portland for the USGP). Also Brian Jenson was there, but he raced the masters 30+ race an hour before. I figured I would sit in for a lap and then try the same tactics as Sat.

Started fairly well. I sat in behind Shadd who took the holeshot.

Getting through some of the off-camber sections.

I sat in with Shadd and Brian for about a lap and a half. Brian attacked on the first lap, but we came back together almost instantly. Brian lead onto the backside of the Mound-of-Mercy, the hill in the middle of the course that featured a long off camber section that wrapped around into an tricky 180 corner. I realized that Brian was taking this section a little tentatively. On lap two, I attacked just before this section, and Brian continued to lead Shadd. I really powered through the mound area and opened a quick 5 second gap. There was another long power section right off the mound. I kept the gas on for about 2 minutes and had about 8 seconds when I got around to the S/F area.

Turning into the "Mound-of-mercy" area

Navigating the off-camber 180 onto the mound.

Short barrier before the long run-up on the mound.

Heading north, into the trees.

At this point, I just tried to maintain the gap and monitor how Brian and Shadd responded. It looked like they were working together a little, but the gap stayed steady. I was really working hard to keep them from closing the gap, but I felt pretty comfortable with all of the features around the course. Nothing terribly technical to screw up on.

Back onto the pavement

Down the mound. Tristan (sp?) bunny-hopped the barrier into the run up on the other side just after this.

I ended up extending the lead out to about 20 seconds, and Brian faded a little having already raced that day. So I got win #2 of the weekend. It was very cool to finish up the season on a high note and getting the State title. I was also given the "Most Aggressive Rider" prize by the promoter.

A few season ending thoughts: Lots of thank you's to people that have supported me this year. Thanks to my awesome wife who supports (puts up with) all the daily training, busy race weekends, travel, and sometimes nasty weather. Thanks to all the folks who stick around till the end of the day to cheer on the "Open" race. All the cheers and encouragement are awesome. Thanks to everyone that takes time to photograph the races and post them. It's been a great year, looking forward to an even better 2011 CX season.

Kansas State Podium