Racing is mental.

Raced in Euclid at Blue Sky (or Not) on Sunday. I'd done some recon of the course over the last few weeks, so I had an idea what we were in for. Lots of grass, lots of off-camber, lots of twisty bits, a steep hill that we would hit twice, and a ball field spiral that transitioned between the infield and outfield. Rain during the week had some slick parts, but the city must have cut the grass before the rain. That actually made the course easier.

Jason, Zak, Dave and I lined up in a thin A field of 14. I'd again lobbied for call ups, and restricted start gate, they did both, but only for the A race I think. The call ups didn't help me, since I have been free falling through the top 10 into 12th. It's tough to stay in a top 10 overall when you don't actually get top 10 placings in any of the races. Oh well.

So, I lined up second row. Which totally screwed my racing thoughts up... like I had already decided I would not start well, so why bother. Plus with only 14, I was almost certain that this result would be better than a good deal of my previous races... so I didn't really have to try. WTF! Where do those thoughts come from?

Start was another 100m sprint to a 180, back again to another 180 before a long drag to the first off camber twisty bits. I pull up passing about 5 guys into the first turn, and am sitting in 12th at the second. Oh, it's supposed to be a RACE!!! I start chasing after the second turn.

Stupid the distance the leaders have by the time I get to the hill the first time, they are all most off of it. Which doesn't sound bad except that there was quite a bit of twisty stuff on top of the hill before the descent. I got around a guy coming down the hill to get to 11th. Dave came by me on the second lap, and the two of us battled with another guy for most of the rest of the race.

This race was all about controlling the turns, and sprinting out of each corner. I like to think I'm reasonable technically. Still it took me to the fourth lap to figure out a good line around the light poles at the top of the hill, and I screwed those lines up the last 2 laps.

The three of us sitting in 10th, 11th and 12th started to spread out, with me at the back. I just kept trusting that I could use my skill to close the gap to Dave in 10th. As the laps clicked on, I got 11th on lap 4. Then was just able to hold the gap to Dave through the rest of the race.

Jason is flying, ended up fourth. Zak was also there for 8th, and Dave rounded out the top 10. I finished 15 second later in 11th.

The result is good, but my head was not. It seems that if I start poorly, I settle for the placing and don't really put it ALL into the race. I still am fighting, but the intensity seems to be less. It seems like my best head race was the first Chagrin River race. I got a great start sitting in second. Crashed out of that, but kept the pressure on fighting for 7th through 10th, managed to keep the head and technique together until I flatted half way through the race. At which point, I let my head talk me out of racing to the finish. I have to unlock THAT mental potential somehow.

As they say... GET YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME!

One more opportunity to make it all work this season. Kirtland Park on Sunday!