Rider: Paul Whibley
Team: JG Offroad, GEICO, Kawasaki Monster Energy
Bike: Kawasaki KX 450F
Result: 3rd

Sitting on the line with the 10 second flag out ready to be waved to signal the start. I was confident of another good start and my leg was quivering in anticipation of the the action. The flag is thrown and the race is on. My KX fired up fast and I shot to turn one with the leaders. Charlie Mullins just pipped me for the hole shot but I dove under him on turn two into the lead. We had a small grass track section and then into the woods. Charlie retook the lead again not long after we hit the woods and set out on a fast pace. As soon as we got into the woods and began hitting the big holes and bumps I new I was in for a long day. The course was rough and I had gone for a softer suspension setup for this race and this was a bad choice on my behalf. The RG3 suspension was working great on all the roots and smaller bumps but was bottoming in the holes and braking bumps that dominated the track. Rain the week leading up to the event had dampened our efforts of testing with soggy tracks that made things difficult to really pound out some laps and test the setup. As a result I tightened up and rode poorly on the first couple of laps. Charlie got away from me and soon Josh Strang moved by me as well and was on a mission. Glen Kearney also caught up and we battled for a while until I loosened up and set off after the leaders. But there was no catching Josh and Charlie, they were riding great and they had put some time on me. I tried to close the gap but all I could do was minimize the damage.
Josh coming in for his first win this season and Charlie taking second. I filled out the podium with a third. I was a little disappointed in my efforts and would have liked to have raced more with Josh and Charlie, but after thinking about it, I had a bad day and still came away with a podium result. If I can continue with limiting a bad day to third place then that's not so bad.

Thanks to my sponsors for their continued support:
GEICO, Kawasaki, Moose, Shoei, Sidi, Smith, CTi, Pirelli, RG3, Leo Vince, Pro Moto Billet, Fastway, IMS, Vortex Ignitions, G2, P.G. Graphics, Silkolene, EBC brakes, Tsubaki chains, No Toil, WER, BRP, Motion Pro, Works Connection, Renthal, Enduro Engineering, Rekluse, Moto SR, Stringfellows