Dalezilla Takes 2nd in the Golden State Nationals !!

Oct. 3-5, 2008, Lancaster, CA

All I can say about our trip to Southern California for the BMX Golden State Nationals is 'life just isn't fair sometimes'...

On Friday during the opening events, Dalezilla went out and won his opening moto for catagory and advanced to the semi finals. When the semi finals came around he got a good start and was leading his race when on racer tried to pass Dalezilla on the inside of the turn, lost control of his bike and took them both out of the race. When they are taking 4 to the main there is no reason for the 2nd place rider to be taking those kind of risks. So, if you are not one of the top 4 finishers, you are done for the day - I get that. It's just tough to explain it to a 7 year old boy, who is good at what he does, that somone else's mistake has cost him his chance and he is done for the day. He was pretty sad.

Saturday, Day 1 of the Nationals, was almost a carbon copy of the day before. Dalezilla won his first moto handily and went onto semi finals. In the semis he was in mid-pack and picking off riders when his right pedal sheared off the crank arm and he lost control of his bike on some doubles and wrecked. This weekend is not going according to the plan.... Oh well, there is still one more day to go. Maybe he can make it to the mains on Sunday....

Sunday come around and we do the mechanical once-over on the bike. The weather is much better and there is very little wind. Perfect conditions. Dalezilla goes out and wins his first moto to qualify for semi finals in his age bracket. During the semis, he puts on a solid race and come in 2nd - good enough to make it to mains. Finally, he has a shot.

In the main event, Dalezilla got a slow gate and came into turn 1 in mid-field. He drops down low and picks up a couple of spots. He powers by Devin Sullivan to take over 3rd and then gets passed by Devin again going into turn 2. The leader of the race wrecks on the 3rd straight and Devin almost takes Dalezilla out trying to avoid the wreck. Dalezilla recovers, lands himself in 3rd and goes after the 2 leaders.

Coming out of the last turn Dale is in 3rd but closing the gap. As they hit the last double Dalezilla is 1/2 a bike length behind on the first hill, almost even on the 2nd hill and pick Devin off at the line by only a couple of inches to earn 2nd! It was so close they could not award the 2nd and 3rd place trophies until they did a video review of the finish. Sure enough, Dalezilla did clip him at the finish but only by a hair or two....

Take a look at this video on Go211.com and tell me what you think....