Wade Bootes: Official Web Site

WADE'S JOURNAL

May 23rd.

Big bear only had slalom this weekend and I always look forward to a great course they make. The altitude is the hardest factor to deal with in Big Bear along with the technical course designs of slalom racing. I had ok runs in qualifying and ended up 4th. My bracket was pretty tough as I had to gas it in every run which was not the start I needed with the extra efforts at altitude is tough. I was riding well until the 2nd round of the round of 8 were I was disqualified for moving before the starting gate had dropped. This was a new rule they made up 5 minutes before the finals and it was difficult for the UCI officials to judge such a call. 4 top riders were disqualified during the finals which really made for a disappointing day of racing. With this ridiculous call this left me with 5th place for the day.

I am off to London today to get ready for the first round of the World Cup Series in Scotland the week after. I will be hanging out with my travel and race partner for the year, Miss Katrina Miller.

Big bear last corner - Photo by Kenji.

May 16th.

Sonoma California held the 1st and 2nd round of the Norba Slalom and 4X series along with the 1st round of the Jeep series, so another busy weekend of racing was ahead.

4X was the first event to be run and I ended up qualifying first on a smooth downhill style BMX track. It was an advantage to qualify first as I had lane choice which was key to this race. I had a mess up on the gate in my first round and finished second but that was good enough to transfer to the next round. After that I had won all my races and won the final. This is my first win with the new style of racing of 4X.

Slalom was next on the list and this was a very fast smooth course and times were very close. With a few mistakes in qualifying I ended up 5th but felt that I could come back in the finals. I had a very clean run through the heats but ended up getting knocked out by the closest margins in the round of 8, which left me with 5th for the day.

Jeep Series is an event that consist of a start with dual Slalom and then entering into the 4X course. Again I ended up qualifying first and felt that I had a great chance to win the overall. I had great runs in my heats and made it to the final against Mike King. King edge me out by 0.14 in the first round and I was ready to make up the gap in the next. I ended up over shooting one of the first corners to were it lost my speed and I was not able to bridge the gap, so I had to settle for second.

This was a good start to the race season and feel good to keep the momentum rolling for the next 7 weeks in a row of racing. Next week is round 3 of the Norba series in Big Bear California.

Photo Credit - Kenji