Last Friday we went racing at the 3rd round of the Amsoil Championship Snocross Series in Shakopee, MN. This is one of two events in the series that have added the Adaptive class which is also a great race to prepare for the upcoming Winter X Games at the end of the month. The course had plenty of snow which made for a challenging and fun race track! There were four competitors in our class (unfortunately a few of the regular riders are out with injuries at the moment), we ran 2 qualifiers during the day and a Final which was part of the ‘Night’ show in front of the huge crowd. I was having a blast and riding great… it’s been over a year and a half since I lined up for a Snocross event. During qualifying I pulled into the lead down the front stretch in both races and finished with a solid lead. I was definitely looking forward to the main event later that evening! Throughout the afternoon I had a couple interviews lined up with the local news Kare11 and CBS Sports to talk about our adaptive class and the upcoming Winter X Games.

Opening Ceremonies, fireworks and rider intros always gets the heart going! The adaptive class was lined up to run about half way through the program… We were treated to a ‘much’ rougher track than earlier in the day! The Green light flashes and we were off the line charging into the first lap of the 7 lap final. It definitely was a challenge to ride smooth and pick my way through the chopped up track, I put my head down and focused on my lines and kept a consistent pace. At the checkers I had pulled nearly a full lap lead over second place. I had a huge smile under my helmet…not because I won by such a large lead, but because our class was in front of a huge crowd showing what is possible with some hard work and determination. The reality really set in for the spectators as we all hobbled up on the podium and they realized the physical challenges we all face. However, those challenges all fade away when we can hop on the machine and pin the throttle!

Next up: Tune into TBS on Tuesday Night (Jan. 12th), I’ll be hangin’ with Conan O’Brien at 10:00pm CST. Super excited for this opportunity! 2 weeks later we load up and head to Aspen for the ESPN Winter X Games. Our Adaptive Snocross race is on Thursday Jan. 28th airing on ESPN mid-day. By Mike Schultz
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