Racing at Home – Matrix Challenge

by, Tyler Jewell

Matrix day 1. The day started off eventful with trying to get the team van and trailer into the stackhouse parking lot. Not an easy task for your everyday driver but luckily, the black pearl (team sprinter van)and I are as one on the road. Sure we’ve had a few hiccups now and then but I truly feel she loves us as much as we do her. No matter what we do, we always end up getting to the races in some form or another, but enough about black beauty and the white tailgater. As some of you may know its a pretty tricky turn from Gaston pulling into stackhouse. After a slow attempt we soon realized that we would have to attack the apex from a different angle. So Randy hopped in and we took a quick lap around the block so we could penetrate the parking lot straight on from Malcolm X blvd. Soon after, the van was parked, tents up and chairs ready. I had to build an Elbowz edition Ben Spies mini bike. Which is very cool by the way- if anyone has a little one I suggest looking into getting one for he/she. Good way to get them rolling on two wheels early and safe. Heathy’s little daughter ended up with the one I built. She still needs a little more time before she throws a leg over it, but I give her about 8 months before she beats me in a tt on it. One bad thing about racing into the afternoon is waiting around for your race to start. But luckily having to run errands makes the time go by pretty quick. Before I knew it, we were all kitted up and ready to rock. We only had a small hit man crew but you would have never known it. Everyone was all over everything it felt as if we had our full squad. We wanted to be as aggressive as possible and get the right numbers in a move. Nothing would really stick though, which was kinda surprising to us all considering the tight course. After numerous attempts of attacking and countering, everyone had blurred and tunnel vision I guess. Heath and an accomplice just rolled up the road. Perfect for us, so the rest of us gathered at the front and followed wheels around until 4 or so to go. Luckily I had godsend Gonzo and magical Mat shepherd me around until about 600 meters to go, then I was on my own and it worked out perfect- I got the field sprint. I really couldn’t have done it without them they were amazing, everyone was. Good day-3 in the top 4 can’t complain.