Detroit has been good to me lately. I was 10th in 2006 and 10th again in 2007. I was really hoping to repeat a top 10 in 2008. I am in a points fight that is going to require every position possible. I need to have a good finish to the series and this was the time to get it going. The track was really soft and technical, making for a lot of mistakes and crashes. It was really tough to put perfect laps together and small errors were magnified by the ruts and sticky dirt. The whoops were the toughest of the year, with ruts from one end to the other and the line changed almost every lap. The field is really deep now and good starts are key. All of the pieces of the puzzle are necessary with so many guys trying to qualify.
My first practice was kinda rough. I had a small bike problem that was fixable but it kinda made the first session a waste of time. I just tried to find some lines and get the rhythm sections figured out for the 2nd time out. The track was deteriorating quickly though and the jumps were getting tough. Series points leader Chad Reed had a huge crash towards the end of practice, bringing out the red flag. I was pretty worried about him, as he looked to be pretty hurt. They decided to end our practice early, so back to the pits we went.
We got my Honda CRF450 straightened out and it was much better for the 2nd practice. I felt decent on the bike and got some good lines put together. The track was really tough to ride on the edge, but everyone was pushing for a good lap time. There were a lot of crashes, including one by me. I was 12th in the second session at the checkered flag, which I was ok with. I just wanted to be towards the front so I would have a good gate pick for the heat race.
The heat went well but I had some close calls. I got off to a pretty good start even though Preston ran me wide in the first turn. I was 6th at the end of the first lap, and would stay there till the end. I made a few big bobbles in the whoops and almost threw it away. Ryan Clark got right on my fender every time I made a mistake and got my blood pumping. I held it together though and took some pressure off. Making the main event out of the heat race is so crucial and I need to keep it going. It's my main focus every week, and will continue to be for 3 more weekends.
My main event start was really bad. I got a good jump and then just didn't get a drive down the straight and came out pretty far back. I just wanted to stay out of trouble the first few laps and try to pick some guys off. I had a few rhythms pretty dialed in and was making some time there. I found a good pace and was clicking the laps off. I could see Kelly Smith up ahead of me and I slowly made my way up to him. I made my way by on lap 16 and quickly sprinted away. That put me into 10th with 3 laps to go. I could see Heath Voss a few seconds ahead of me and I tried to catch him but ran out of time. I think maybe I could have had a chance with a few more laps but it wasn't to be. I was happy with 10th though, 11 much needed points toward the fight. I am going to be riding almost every day until Vegas, trying to find every bit of speed I can. There's a lot of racing left and I need to be ready. Talk to you after St. Louis!
