December 2020 - Volume 4 - Issue 12 December 2020 | Page 53

On The Pegs VOL . 4 ISSUE 12 - DECEMBER 2020 53

On The Pegs VOL . 4 ISSUE 12 - DECEMBER 2020 53

This was kind of a different start to the year . You didn ’ t have much time on the bike at Sumter . Tell me how things have progressed over the year and about that first race .
Coming into Sumter , like you said , it was still early . We didn ’ t have too much figured out on the bikes . Didn ’ t have much time on the bikes . First race is always the last weekend of January , so we didn ’ t have too much time to shake everything down . Showed up to Sumter on basically completely stock bikes . So me and Steward both showed up and put in a second and third place finish there . After that , the next round we had quite a bit more stuff added into the bikes . We got a new Rekluse clutch put into the bike , which made a huge difference . Other than that , it was just mapping and we had to get the mapping stuff sorted out . I struggled with that for a little bit in the beginning of the year but got it sorted out . After that , it kind of just started clicking off . Luckily for me , Josh Toth missed the first round . Then Steward had his surgery halfway through the season . It really opened this shot at the championship for me . I ’ ve been right here for I ’ d say four or five years now just second or third overall . Just right there , so close . Now this year we ’ re right here and got one more day , and make it happen .
The last half of the year you ’ ve been so consistent , either first or second . Yeah . Earlier in the year , we had everybody here and the points were super tight . Like I said , then Josh was out , and Steward had his surgery and I think he missed two races there . So after that for me , where I stood , I think I had a fifteenpoint lead there at Ohio , and then had that malfunction with the bike where the air boot popped off . That took my fifteen-point lead to a negative five points to second place . That was really frustrating . It kind of made me doubt it , if I was going to be able to pull it off this year for the final few rounds . I knew all I could do is just try my best and try to stay consistent . So , after that I won the next round , got back into the points lead , and then moved onto Missouri . Missouri I had a good run . Ended up second overall , just was a crazy , tight race . Me , Steward , and Ryder all finished there in a second and a half apart . Josh ended up going down that day and hurting his hand . So that opened my points lead back up to fifteen points . I knew I just had to stay consistent these last few rounds . So that was the plan . So far it ’ s been good . Just got one more day .
In the past , you ’ ve been the fastest guy , but you ’ ve had injuries and things like that . This year has been relatively injury-free , hasn ’ t it ?
Yeah . This year I basically haven ’ t had any injuries . Tweaked my knees a little bit ,