Mike Schultz BlackJack National Snocross Race Report

12.12.11 Last Friday evening Sara and I made the snap decision to head out to the 2nd round of the ISOC national tour in Bessemer, MI. (this is within a few miles of where my accident happened exactly 3 years ago) We originally planned to sit this one out and focus on the snowboard training for the Winter X Games. But after we watched some of the live streaming of the races on Friday and saw the outstanding track layout we talked about it and decided to load up and head east. There was definitely a few uneasy feelings about racing there because of the history but we both wanted to put that behind us and move on.

As we rolled in late Saturday evening, I got even more excited as we could see the insane track laid out across the side of the ski hill. I knew it was going to be a technical and challenging track to ride...and thats what makes them so fun. As the sun came up on Sunday morning I could feel it was going to be a beautiful day...sunshine and high 30s, it doesnt get any better than that for racing snocross!!

Qualifying; Round 1 The Holeshot was a bit of a tricky one, there was a left hand corner and then a 100ft after that there was a right hand that sent you up the hill. The tough part was to get set up just right to get a run at the second corner. So I lined up on the middle to outside on all the starts and it worked out great. The first race I come out 3rd and after the first lap I moved into second and finished in that spot. Round 2- I got a great holeshot and lead it start to finish! This gave me the number #2 pick at the line, I chose to position myself about in the center of the start line to set me up for the second corner again. Final - The light turned green and we were off!! I got in a bit of a tangle in the second corner but managed to come out in fourth place. I put my head down and focused on finding the smooth and fast lines especially down the dirty dozen downhill rhythm section. This was the most challenging part of the course and swallowed up the second place rider on the second lap. After that I was able to work my way into the #2 spot and cross the checkers in second!! I was super happy with the day...especially because of how challenging the track was and that we did end up making it there!! Thanks again everyone and stay tuned to my website and facebook pages for the troop tour Dec. 13th20th.