Hey everyone,
 
I just got home from our west coast trip and man did it feel like forever. The last time I wrote to you, we just got done with Sacramento and were headed to Castle Rock, Washington for the TT national.  Castle Rock will always have a special place in my heart as it was there I traveled for the first time without my Dad to a race. In 2006 as a pro-sport, I loaded up and headed west with a friend Doug Reinert who was also a pro-sport rider, just a few years older then me. We had a good time and spent alot of time together that trip and he helped me out alot then and I ended up with a 3rd on the TT and a 2nd on the Short Track. This winter, Doug was killed in a motorcycle accident. He was a cool dude and I just wanted to give a shout out to my friend, #30a.
 
The track in Castle Rock isn’t a typical style TT. You don’t use the front brake as much as others because of the “goggle” style shape. They added a jump this year, but it was really lame. It was really small which actually made it kind of dangerous as alot of guys were yardsaling themselves on it all day. I didn’t qualify very good which was weird, because my bike worked good. I felt good all day so I was pumped for my heat. I got a good start from row two and was up in the action when Janisch and J.Halbert crashed in front of me and I had nowhere to go. I slammed my front brake to get stopped and face planted myself into the hard clay. I thought I might of dislocated my elbow, but I just had a bunch of scuffs and bruises as well as a pretty good headache. My Arai has done it’s job this year. Any other helmet might of cracked with that kind of impact, but I was able to walk away and make the restart. In all honesty, it took me out of my game. I was out of it a bit and it made me a bit timid to mix it up on the single file track with the way some of the dudes were riding. I didn’t make the main, but I honestly think if I could of got on the front row and got away from everyone with a holeshot, I would of been right where I needed to be.
 
At the very last minute, we decided to stop and race Sturgis on the way home. I have raced during Sturgis Bike Week since 2006. I have had minor success there. The track gets really slick and its pretty tiny. My 2011 CRF 450 worked awesome right out of the gate. In my 450 Pro heat race, I got called for jumping the start. I have only jumped the start one other time in my whole career and I ended up breaking my arm that race. I was confused to the call, but took my spot on the third row. I won the Open Pro heat race. I would start on row three in the 450 Pro main and with 18 guys, I could only manage a 7th place with only a 12 lap main. I rode good though I felt and I knew I had a good shot to win the Open Pro. I got a perfect start and rode with some intensity I haven’t felt in a while to check out comfortably and win the Open Pro. It was my first win at Sturgis so that was cool. They watered the track before the main and it was a good decision. It was also cool to share the victory lap with 2nd place, Chad Cose & 3rd place, Mikey Martin who I have traveled together the last month or so.
 
The next day the track wasn’t quite as good. In the 450 pro heat race, I again got called for jumping and this time, I wasn’t too pumped about it. Like I said, in my whole career, I only jumped once and this dude called me for jumping two times in two days. It’s bad when your competitors your on the line with tell you that they don’t think you jumped. In addition to being the ref, the guy was also the grid marshal, the guy who worked the light, etc. I got a 4th in that heat race from the 3rd row. I ended up winning my Open Pro heat race which was also fast time and put me on pole for the main event. I checked out and won my semi for the 450 Pro, which put me on the 3rd row in the main. I worked my way up to a solid 6th. I was up around 4th or so running the outside of guys, but the track got super dry and skittery. I over thought the situation and made a drastic gear change to my bike changing it from running 3rd gear to 2nd gear for the next main. In doing so, I made a poor decision on what gear to start in and almost stalled my motor when the light turned green. I got a horrible start and the track was pretty crummy. I ended up with a 5th on the nose to tail style race track.
 
All and all, we finished up the trip pretty descent. I had good speed and I am really getting comfortable on this new bike. I want to thank the Cose Family for sure. Pam and Norm took us in and we had alot of good laughs. Also to the Scheifer family in Sturgis for letting us stay at their place and also to the Shelstad family for their help during the rally as well. We saw alot of crazy things on our Michigan-Cali-Washington-South Dakota drive. I saw about 4 shooting stars, a forest fire, the great lakes, the pacific ocean, santa cruz, san francisco, mt. rainer, and I even got to ride on the salt flats. It feels good to be home though. I am getting ready to start my first semester of college heading towards a degree in marketing. I feel more comfortable at the race track then the classroom but as with anything, I open the challenge of being successful.