Overall, this weekend was a long one with many mixed emotions for me. Thursday practice session 1 = ouch, I'm out of shape. Sit out one session, go out in session 3. click off 3 1:21.x lap times.. best 1:21.64. Session 4, stoked about the 21s, then I find Alex Dunstan as he outbrakes me into T3, and shows me how to go deeper into the bowl.. I cut a 1:20.56 according to my lap timer a few laps later trying the same evil braking technique learned from our very own 434. Not sure if that is truly correct, but there were no transponder timed laps that day. Who knows.

Friday, bad bad Friday. Race 1 and Jamie's crash scared the crap out of me. I went out for GTL, race 2A anyway and just rolled around at 9/10ths because I just could not bring myself to push it. 13th of 21. 27s and 28s with a lone 1:25 lap time. Race 12A, AM LWGP. Still not having fun, don't have the thirst. 27,26 and a few 25s. finish 18th of 24.

Saturday, race 3. 6 bikes on the grid for AM 125GP. Could be good. Horrible launch.. last place into T1. Battle with 186 Richard Demetrius, but blow my chance when I mis-shift out of 12.. bye bye. White flag lap, 5th place is in my sights again, as 186 seems to have gotten around out-of-towner AM 43. Can't quite catch him by the checkered. finish 6th of 6.

Sunday.. the reason I'm here. I wake up and I feel good. Not so sore anymore, but I opt to skip practice to preserve what little stamina I have left after such a long weekend. 10:30am, USGPRU 125GP Qualifying Practice. I feel good right away and start clicking off low 24s, and shortly there after one 23 after another. I'm feeling pretty good, but after a poor drive out of 2, I catch a 25.5 on my timer.. bah. one last lap here, I'm getting tired already... 1:22.972 which qualified me 14th of 28 riders.

Race 4, USGPRU 125GP: 15 laps, not sure if I can hack this one, but I feel good today, I am having fun racing again. Green flag drops, and there is a slight bottle neck in T1 and T1.. After T2, where I almost get my nose taken off by Conor Lafrance AM 767, I get a so-so drive into T3 where I brake hard almost with anger to pass him back.. Calm down, Neal, you have plenty of time... when all of a sudden he runs wide into the dirt in 3/4 and I go by. No idea where I am in the pack.. not great, but not too bad. I work and work and it seems like we're all the same damn speed, so tough to get by. I start catching a few of the experts and carefully take a lap or two to get by each, and I whittle my way past 3-4 people until I get to the white flag lap, behind ex 606 Richard Martin.. I can get him on this insane drive out of 2... gaining gaining, BRAKES, zing.. I go by into 3... whoa whoa, shit... just a hair wide and late on the gas and he takes me on the inside of 4 and I ride his rear wheel all the way to 11 when I chicken out and decide not to try to roll around the outside of him and settle on 13th place. What a work out. 1:22.272 fastest official time. My transponder wasn't registering for the final two laps, as I find out, instead of the entire race like I thought when the official mentioned I was having transponder trouble New personal best. woot. Green flag lap was not only a personal best first lap, but it was a milestone.... 1:23.9!!!

Racing is fun again, I'm happy I raced this weekend.