On The Pegs June 2020 - Volume 5 - Issue 6 | Page 104

On The Pegs 104
32006: FIRST CHAMPIONSIP
In 2006 was my first championship. I was a privateer. ’07
was the first year on a factory team, and I got second that
year to Mike. Then I won ’08 and ’09.
In ’09 it comes down to the last two rounds. We were
pretty dead even coming into the last two rounds. He ends
up winning Michigan - the next-to-last round. I’m sure I had
figured out the points at that time and figured I needed to
either win or get second. Fortunately the numbers were in my favor. Then going
also into Indiana, the final round, it’s a venue I like to ride and race well at.
Antti was telling me at all the checks how I was doing and stuff. All I had to
do was get second.
I’m sure that we were definitely following it throughout the day. I remember
it was definitely a big relief at the end of the day. Indiana, I’ve had a few championships
come down to the line at the last round at Indiana. I remember with
Charlie Mullins in 2011 it came down to the last round at Indiana.
None of my championships have been runaways, so yeah. Mike and I were
friends but he would have had the record had it not been for me. I feel like
after that race he would have been pretty upset. Those times, it was still pretty
heated competition. He was very serious about it all.
Tennessee 2015: Coming from 40 seconds down in
final test to beat Kailub Russell for the WIn.
I would be able to pull out some shit in the last test sometimes.
Honestly a lot of the times I think part of my fueling,
the way my energy system, how I was working, I always felt
like test four I was maybe hitting a little bit of a bog but
then I would refuel up and get just amped up. Like, okay,
this is it. This is everything. There’s no holding back. I would 4just be able to core it all out there. It just seemed like I would always feel good at
the end of the day when other people might have just been maybe more consistent,
but it just seemed like I could try to push a little bit more when I have nothing
left, or just go attack mode.