1/29

Thanks for coming and checking out my updates. This past week was pretty good for me as the week itself was awesome with riding, training and also managing my schoolwork and life as a student as well. I feel like I am getting better and better still every time I throw a leg over my bike and I am excited for the next few weeks as we begin to get closer to the first amateur national of the year.

This past weekend I decided last minute to race round two of the AMX state championship series at Speedworld MX. We showed up on sunday for practice and unfortunately the track was open the night before until 1am which didn't allow their crew adequate time to prep the track for the race. The track was not to the quality it usually is, and all through my two practices it was like ice just slipping and sliding trying to make it through the corners. Racing started and I was feeling pretty good going in. My first moto was 250 pro, which didn't start out the way I wanted to. I spun like crazy off the concrete start and didn't get the greatest of starts. I moved into second and was chasing the leader who was riding really well that day. I made a few mistakes the first couple laps and then finally settled down and rode a little better the last few laps and ended up finishing in second. My next moto was open pro; I got off to the holeshot and was riding pretty good for the conditions of the track. I was trying to be smart on the hard packed track and the wide open layout that it has. 5th gear wide open on a 450 down the straight aways with how hard the track was is definitely not fun. I rode good all the way until the last lap when I made a mistake and almost went down. Luckily I saved it, but the guy in second ended up side by side with me going into the next corner and unfortunately I tried to make an inside line to get past him and lost the front end in the slick conditions and ended up second in that moto as well.

Second motor were about to start and we were looking at the track during intermission while they were watering. With the track being open until 1am before and then trying to race on it a few hours later in the morning, you could imagine what it was like. By the end of the first motos, the track had been through a lot and unfortunately was like concrete everywhere. We watched a few people crash out due to the conditions and then they went and watered on top of that which made the conditions unsafe. Since I haven't been back riding or racing very long, my dad felt that it wasn't a good idea to go risk injury or setback going the speeds that the track produces. I ended up not doing the second motos and going home in one piece which I am thankful for and didn't want to do anything stupid at a small race and only my second race back.

Austin Burns #141