I'm not sure which conditions were more difficult, today or yesterday. Yesterday the course was peanut butter mud and top speed was 10 mph. Today is was very cold, windy and blowing snow. The course today was one big frozen rut. It was fairly fast, but very tricky and tons of crashes.
Doug finally got to race but they started the 55 and 60+ groups a minute after the very fast 50 - 54 (think Ned Overand). They were pulling all riders that were in danger of getting lapped. Doug rode with a lot of caution to avoid further injuring his wrist so was in the back 1/3 of the group. Unfortunately, they pulled this group after one lap because Overand was getting close. Kind of stupid to put those groups together and pull riders when they know the fist group will likely lap all of the older riders. Doug knew he had to be very careful and couldn't take risks. Kind of a bummer, but what can you do.
We got the official results from my race. Too bad they messed it up. Due to the mud, it was difficult to read numbers and the officials had challenges. They listed me 1 lap down in 62nd. I definitely didn't get lapped and I knew the riders that finished just a head of me. So, I actually finished 29th, not 62nd. It's not that big of a deal, but I talked to an official today and she said they would check on it. Had I started with the right tires, a top 25 was probably in the cards.
The Utah guys had mixed results today. Mitchell Peterson was 25th in the U23 race. He was pretty disappointed, but the rough technical conditions didn't favor him. Ali had a very good race in the 30 - 34 to finish 8th. Art O'Conner was 8th or 9th in the 40 - 44 after a solid ride. Jon Gallager was in the top 10 and moving up when he rolled a tire just past the pit to end his day.
There was some great races today and it was fun to watch. Looking forward to the big boys tomorrow. If it stays frozen, Bart might have a chance. If it warms up and turns to a mud bog, he'll be in for a long day.
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