Well, the roughest track on the National circuit, Gopher Dunes, is in the books now and it was a little tougher weekend than Ste. Julie. You have to expect that though with Gopher, the deep sand allways makes for a challenging race and it was no exception this year. The good new is that none of the riders suffered any mechanical dnf's and both Teddy and Nick proved that despite a couple of setbacks they are both in the championship fight for the long haul.
Saturday practice went well, with Nick logging the fastest lap time of the session. Teddy, admitedly not the greatest sand rider continued to improve his lap times throughout the session, logging the 8th fastest time. Brock was also in the mix with the 13th fastest time. Then, a massive storm blew in after practice causing everyone to scramble to close up the storm windows on the trailer. The wind and rain were unreal and the pits quickly flooded. Billy, Nick's mechanic wasn't deterred and cleaned Nick's bike in the middle of the downpour.
Sunday morning saw more of the same, with Nick logging the second quickest time, Teddy improving to 7th quickest and Brock bumping himself up one spot to 12th fastest.
The motos themselves were a mixed bag. All three riders showed great speed but had a few set backs. Nick hit a downed rider on the first lap of Moto 1 but remounted and still finished on the podium. Teddy went down on the first lap and was forced to make a great charge back through the pack to finish 19th after remounting in last. He was hanging with the lead pack despite being a lap down so it's too bad he couldn't have been up front to show what he was capable of. Brock had a few spills, eventually finishing 14th.
The second moto again proved how cruel the sand can be sometime. For Nick his day would be cut short after he collided with another bike while battling up front. Teddy got a better start and this time finished 5th, a much better result than his first moto. As for Brock, he again had few tip overs but still managed a 13th at the finish.
Now, there's a two week break in the series and the riders will find themselves next at the Shadow Valley facility in Morden, Manitoba, a track that all three riders are quite familiar with. Hopefully we'll see them all up front at the next round.
