Today was Bubba 6 - Faust Park revisited. Similar course but far less techincal. No off camber stuff, just a series of three hairpins through trees and four barriers uphill. Other than that, the course was a long looping course with a few small rises. The turf was soft and made the course harder than it really was because it was slow.

I got a poor start. Worked my way back some. Then slowly faded at the end. There was some confusion with me not getting the bell for the final lap. A rider had come up behind me and when we turned on the pavement and gravel he jumped past me. Thinking I had another lap I was wanting to just keep him kind of close and try to real him back in when he tired since he was giving such a big effort right there. Turns out he knew it was the final sprint. Oh well. I got a sub-par 10th place.

My performances the last few weeks have not been impressive. I go and do okay but without a lot of fight. I tend to feel it is the Saturday rides that have taken some energy out of the Sunday races.

I'm in TN next week and will miss the next race. Then it's the season-ending State Championship.

News Item of the Day: Sven Nys (Rabobank) took his season victory tally to nine wins after beating Ben Berden (Saey-Deschacht) and Erwin Vervecken (Fidea) in today's fourth round of the Superprestige series in Gavere. It was a hard fought win though, as Nys, Berden and Vervecken had battled with John Gadret (Chocolade Jacques), Richard Groenendaal (Rabobank) and up until halfway, Bart Wellens (Fidea). Gadret and Berden tried several times to distance Nys, but at two laps from the finish it was Nys himself who gapped the others, holding onto win by four seconds.

In the SP standings, Nys now has a seven point lead over Ben Berden, with Tom Vannoppen (MrBookmaker.com - Palmans) in third place at nine points, followed by Groenendaal and Vanthourenhout.

Viewpoint: Way to go Sven. I thought this was a cute picture of Sven and his kid