48 Straight – Squaw Valley race
We were treated to a typical warm and sunny day in Squaw Valley for the 2nd Jeep tour event of the season. The bad weather passed, the qualifying was over, and the brackets for race day were set. It was so interesting how the brackets got worked out. Normally the fastest guys have the best qualifying times, but sometimes the best guys are slow in qualifying which messes with the brackets. The Squaw Valley race was a great example of this. Somehow the quarter final heat in Squaw looked exactly the same as the final heat in Deer Valley. The final in Deer Valley was Daron Rahlves, Davey Barr, Michael Schmid, and myself. We had the same names in the quarter finals in Squaw. That’s crazy but it turned out to work really well in my favor. Daron was the tour leader going into the race and now he is 3rd behind Kraus and me in the overall. We are all fairly close in points so there is no clear winner right now. It will all be decided in the final event in Sun Valley.
My shoulder held up great! I was not expecting to be able to race at all in Squaw and I thought the rest of the season was questionable. Thankfully it was just a low-grade dislocation and the pain I felt on race day was manageable. I was most worried about my starts and I didn’t have any problems there. It’s a good thing too because Michael Schmid and Tomas Kraus were powering out of the gates all day. The final was very exciting. Kraus beat me to the first corner but I held off Schmid. As I was trying to make a move on Kraus Schmid overtook me but he didn’t hold the position long. He out-shot the next jump which allowed me an easy pass. Then I had Kraus in my cross hairs. My skis were faster at the bottom of the course and I caught him quickly. Unfortunately I ran out of real estate and I ended up 2nd again. In the last three races I have been 3rd, 2nd, 2nd. Each one of those races I was beat by different people. So at this point I am the most consistent top finisher. I just need to turn that consistency into wins. I’m hungry for a win.
The next stop is a World Cup in the Czech Republic. I have never been to the Czech Republic before so I am excited to go. We are going to spend a little time in Prague and then we head to Spicac for the race. I can’t wait to take a win from Kraus on his home turf. After that we go to Switzerland. We will be in Meiringen and Grindelwald. I will be updating this blog so you can follow the U.S. Team on our 2nd European tour this winter. After the Swiss stops we’ll go straight to Sun Valley for the Grand Finale of the 48 Straight Jeep Tour.