After a successful week in Lake Whitney we headed 2 hours north to the Oak Hill National. The track was more of a sandy base, which made it rough up fast. With a different ruling system I was able to ride in 5 different classes and that meant more track time.

Practice and the heats went well putting me into the finals with some good positions. One of the main differences between the Lake Whitney National and here was that the heat race results are only for grid position. Meaning that if you got 4^th in your heat you would go to the line for the final in 4^th but with no points. So if you won that race you would be crowned champion! A little different to Lake Whitney¡¯s two moto format.

Stock 85cc

After a few days of bad gate picks and bad starts I was finally going to the line in a decent position, due to my 4^th in the heat race. I made a good shift on the gate to bring myself right into contention on the first turn placing me in second behind Eli Tomac. We broke away from the rest of the field and I just stayed in tow. Finishing second in my first race of the morning, staying close to Eli definitely exclaimed that my good results from last week weren¡¯t just a fluke!

85cc Open

The first 3 laps of the 85cc open class were a mirror image of the Stock class. But with a second under my belt I had nothing to loose.  We were running bar too bar until the final lap when I reeled him in through the uphill whoops allowing my self to set up the pass in the woods.  I managed to hang on to the lead, taking the championship!

Supermini

With a win under my belt I was determined to get another, maybe a little too determined.  Everybody who has ever started on concrete will know that you can¡¯t be to aggressive and break traction because you don¡¯t go anywhere.  Well I broke traction and just started spinning. With this I was of to a bad start. With Tomac out in front again he was going to be hard to catch, but who said I couldn¡¯t get to second? I charged through the pack using every inch of the racetrack to find my self in third going into the last lap.  I was homing in like a heat seeking missile to finally reach my target in a 180¢ª turn.  I racked up one more second and going into my 125cc race next, I felt good.

125cc Schoolboy

My fourth last week seemed to be a bit of luck to some people so I was out to prove them wrong, in my only big bike class. My factory Dunlop tires hooked up great and managed to put me in third right behind Justin Barcia and Ian Trettel. I pushed hard to stay with those guys and with a good battle with my teammate Jason Anderson I was able to round up strong 4^th.

85cc Mod

Well, two weeks of good enjoyable racing and it all came down to this. Unluckily for me I seemed to save my worst till last, experiencing a bad start putting me way back, only able to salvage a 5^th!

Still, a great two weeks and a great experience.  One title at Whitney and one at Oak Hill was more than I could have asked for. We are now looking forward the next national in Las Vegas.

We travelled back home (California) only to spend two days building bicycle jumps and before we new it we were on our way again, but this time for a Loretta Lynn¡¯s qualifier in Reno Nevada!

The 20hour drive was actually not too bad and was a lot more interesting than the one of Texas. There was actually some grass on the way and we saw some normal trees which was a change o the normal shrub and tumble weed.

When we arrived at the track, expecting California to stick to its reputation of being sunny we were shocked to find that it was snowing and 0degrees! We found that it was like the some 100+ days of normal English weather and rather nice. I managed to win all my classes qualifying for the regional qualifiers at Glen Helen which then puts you through to Loretta¡¯s.

Awaiting the arrival of some fellow English men who would be training with us for the next two weeks, Jordan and I continued to build our bicycle jumps!

When Max Acres, Alfie Bowtell and Sam Bruce arrived we showed them around the camp then went straight into training. The fastest way to rid yourself of jet lag is to push it out of you by training.  The first day of riding was at Lake Elsinore and the boys seemed to be getting into it well then by the end of the week it was time for a race. The race was at Competitive Edge and it was another LLQ. (Loretta Lynns qualifier) I had already qualified at Honey lake so I was Crew Chief and Mechanic!!  I was sweeping the gate, pit boarding, shouting at them to go faster¡¦ ohh and don¡¯t forget the Alfie Bowtell dance on the start!! HAHA.

A good two weeks of fun with some English guys was awesome especially as we are on our way once again to go and battle the world! At the World Mini GP in Las Vegas Navada.

The English Invasion is about to take hold!! Watch OUT!

Max