CBR State Championships

I think overall I'm happy with the race given I'm still coming back to racing shape. Really should have done better in the finish, but everyone except one lucky dude says that.

Course was different than the normal box: it had a 180, and then some tight turns that spit you out on the long finishing straight which had a bit of a bend in it before hitting the line. It was technical enough that most of the races were lined out for most of the race... and many fields only had half the people finish.

I started off well, sitting comfortably in the middle of the field, as the back was a place for people blowing up, even after a few laps in. About 15 mins in, I was on the outside when the road narrowed, and a dude a few guys ahead of me swung too far outside- this cascaded back to the guy in front of me, who had to swerve over to me, and also put on the brakes. I had nowhere to go but into the curb. I tried to hop up onto it and ride on the sidewalk, while also slowing down, and I ALMOST pulled off a beauty of a save. But I still got the front wheel caught up on something, and went over the bars, scuffing up the shifters a little bit more. I had managed to bleed off most of my speed, and really didn't take much of a beating at all. Two very minor scrapes, and no damage to the clothing. Best crash ever.

Got back into the field, and immediately jumped clear with a very strong looking group. Ernie was up with me, and was yelling at me to drive it... but I just didn't quite have the legs. By the time I had recovered in the group and was about to get to the front, the group was on us. We were both real surprised that some sort of move didn't stick with the technical course.

Last lap came down, and I was sitting on Ernie's wheel- about 10 deep. I got separated going into the 180, where I went too wide, and lost about 5 spots. I made one or two up by diving through the next corners, but was not able to move up enough. I didn't have the jump to sprint in the last stretch, but just drove it to the line as hard as I could- giving up at least one or two spots. Ended up 13th- so that was a bummer that I might have pulled a top 10 if I had a sprint on me. John finished 3rd to keep adding to his good placings, and Ernie was 6th, making up some points to Max in the overall.

Can't be too disappointed with my 2nd race back after a 3 week break, but I'd really like to get some points out of the next few weekends. Doing 3 races next weekend up in San Fernando and Glendale, then District Championships weekend after that.