WADE'S JOURNAL

June 1, 2001
I went to Dallas, Texas early for the race and also to hang out with some old friend from town. I have always liked the track in Dallas, as it was my home track for many years. They change the track around a little right before the national and it never got totally ready in time, track was bumpy and the rhythm did no have to much rhythm to it. The track is the same for every one and so the show must go on. Saturdays race did not go so good for me, I just felt I had no get up and go. So I was in the mid pack all day including the main events. I finished up 5th on Saturday, which is no help for me to regain the National championship. Sunday was much better but it did not start off that great. I was struggling through the motos but by the time the afternoon rolled around I was back to my normal self. I was ready to race and to win, and that's exactly what I did. My ex wife showed up during the day to see all her old friends, so maybe that's where I got my extra spark from??

I decided on the way home that I would go to the ABA race in Florida the following weekend to try and get 2 more good scores. It was a long flight but the races ended really quickly as there was only about 95 motos. Saturday was looking good and it was Thunder Dan, Macpherson and myself fighting it out all day. It was a close one on points and I ended up 3rd for the day. Sunday I was much better, I got to the front and had control of the race, which give me the win over all and win number 6 for the point's chance.

This is my last BMX race for a while as I will now be on the mountain bike circuit until the end of September. I have 6 wins, 1 Second, 2 thirds, a forth and a fifth, I need 4 more scores to have 15 and really need to drop the 4th and 5th before the Grand's. I am not sure if I will be able to hit enough races due to the mountain bike schedule, so I will just have to wait and see what happens.

I took 2 weeks off of racing before the first Norba race in Big bear and tried to ride my mountain bike as much as I could, to hopefully improve my skills for the technical mountain bike terrain. I got to ride at the Playground and also some other slalom trails. I went up to big bear for a weekend as well, to get some more riding in. I did get a new Trek Fuel bike, and the few little changes I did to it made my riding so much better.

Big Bear rolled around and that meant the mountain bike season is here. I went up to Big Bear Tuesday to meet up with the team truck and mechanics and dialed my bikes in and also my XR 50. I then went back home for a few days and drove back up Thursday afternoon. The course was fast and had a lot of "S" berms down the course, which were a whole bunch of fun. There was not that much pedaling on the course but they did have a pretty good size triple, which you could only jump on the right course. We had practice Friday and we also qualified, everything went well for me as I ended up Qualifying 1st. Saturday was the race and we had practice for the first time right before the actual race. I did not jump the triple in Qualifying, so I wanted to jump it in the new practice time. I made it fine and also made it around the gates, I wanted to do it a few more times so I would have it dialed. The second time down I ended up slipping my pedal right before the jump, I did not have time to stop so I ended up going over and cased into the jumps and flipped over the bars. It was a fast and quick crash, it rang my bell a little and I also hurt my foot, I had about 5 minutes of rest and went to do it again. It was fine, then shortly after we started racing.

I won my first 3 races and then I meet up against Greg Minnar in the semi final. He beat me the first run down as he was on the faster course. I beat him the next run down but I did not beat him by enough. I then meet up with Mike Deldycke for the race for 3rd and 4th. My arms started to pump up a little and it was hard for me to bomb down the course. In the first run I was doing fine but I ended up missing a gate. On the next run down I tried to go to hard and made a few little mistakes and basically the race was over. So I ended up on the podium for 4th place for the day.

We had a team dinner Saturday night after the races and we also celebrated my birthday (May 30th). We all had a bunch of fun; well at least I was told it was pretty funny, as I don't remember everything. All and all it was a successful weekend for the team. Sunday we started to pack up and I headed home to start to get ready for our first Europe trip for the year on Tuesday to start off on the World cup circuit.

So I will be on the road for a while now and stopping in and out of the house in California sometimes during this summer, but I will keep you guys updated as I am traveling around the world.

See you soon,
Wade Bootes

PAST JOURNAL ENTRIES
May 1, 2001
April 1, 2001
March 1, 2001
February 1, 2001
January 1, 2001
December 1, 2000