Dallas and Seattle Supercross
By: Scott Cram

Faith is believing in advance what can only be understood in reverse.

-- Chuck Swindoll 

This year hasn't exactly gone as I had hoped it would. I had pretty high expectations after getting my bikes dialed in and after getting the supercross tracks down better then I had ever had. I mean I went from not doing triples consistently to doing them on the first lap. I went from having lap times that were completely off the pace to putting up some decent lap times that could have been good enough to run in a night event.

Dallas was an okay race for me. Nothing spectacular happened and nothing really got in my way either. The first practice session I went out in and pretty much play rode. I didn't hit the triples, but rode like I usually do in my first motos at the practice track. I felt like the bike was kicking me forward a little bit, so I didn't feel 100% comfortable to charge, but it was a good warm up. I went back to the pits had my friends mechanic help me set my sag, which ended up being about 5mm too stiff, which is why I was feeling a little kick. I my second practice session I was on the track getting ready to go and just kind of shook my head and said “this is stupid”. I hit triples all the time and now I have one more practice session to get this track down before racing, I told my self “just get with it bud!”. So the first lap of the second practice I hit the first triple, which was right out of the gate. It went from a start to a jump on – jump off, directly into the triple. The second lap I hit the second triple, which was right out of a corner and pretty much hit them every lap after that. Actually, I kept over jumping one of them. It's kind of funny to think that I have gone from not doing them to over jumping them. It was awesome to do the whole track since my Parents and Uncle came to watch me race. They were probably thinking not much has changed after watching my first practice session though.

Honestly the only thing I have to say about Dallas is that I just needed help to race consistently. My two dry races on the West Coast were a month apart. Then from the last good West Coast race I had to Houston was a month and a half, the gap between Houston and Dallas was three weeks. It has pretty much occurred to me that I am giving it all that I have, 100%. The problem is that is takes most of what I have just to get to the races. I can really tell the speed and fitness difference after I race. My only practice session I hit before leaving for Seattle was awesome!! I rode harder, faster, with more intensity just from racing Dallas ! I didn't make the night show at Dallas and couldn't hold the pace from lack of racing. There is just no substitute for racing. I didn't get tired from conditioning so much as it is I am not use to pushing as hard as I can the whole race. I've already been through this, so I just need to be able to race more.

Steve Hudson, the Chaplain for supercross, spoke about doing whatever it takes to finish the race at Dallas 's chapel service. So, I just put my head down and tried as hard as I could and just came up short of making the night show. I got a last place pick on the gate for both of my qualifiers and pretty much got last place starts. With the triple right out of the gate, if you didn't get a good start the guys that did were pretty much gone right away if you weren't able to jump the triple. In both of mine I had too many people in front of me to double it let alone triple it.

Seattle is a whole other story. I didn't have a ride up there, so I decided to drive up in my truck by myself to stay with a friend that lives up there. To be honest with you I had really high expectations on this race since I was riding really strong in practice the Wednesday before! Unfortunately God or mother nature had other plans. It had been nice all week long, in fact the Friday I got there was awesome!! It couldn't have been a much nicer day on Friday, but what do you know the storm clouds rolled in later that night. It started raining in the practice session right before mine. I went out in my first practice anyway just to see and it was horrible. They decided to make the track out of gravel, so that along with the rain make it really loose and slippery. I ended up only doing about 5 laps and calling it a night. After riding in San Fran in the mud and not getting any financial reimbursement for it, I decided to punt on racing. To be honest after riding the first practice it was apparent to me that I was worn out anyway. Even if it had not rained I would have been lagging and not had enough energy to do much.

I've pretty much come to the conclusion that I might have the skill and talent to qualify for night events, at least I believe I do. But trying to race literally all on my own is too much. At every round I have been at least a little worn out if not completely drained like I was at A1. I'm not giving up just yet, but these last three years have really shown me that racing Supercross isn't a joke. It is work, work, work, and then a lot of hard work to race at the top level. I need the right people around me. What's really throwing me through a loop is the way I was treated at my former race team, which was a Christian Ministry . Ever since I have stopped dealing with a certain individual I have been enjoying my life, riding, and racing a lot more. The main reason I left was I wasn't getting the support I needed, period. There are a lot of other reasons that would take me forever to list and I don't want to hang my dirty laundry out in the wind. It wasn't that the resources weren't there, they were, it was more of the fact that the main guy doesn't have a clue what or how to run a ministry or a race team. I don't have any other way to put it. It's not just me that left almost all the other racers, members, and leaders have decided not to be a part of it.

God never promises to remove us from our struggles. He does promise, however, to change the way we look at them.

-- Max Lucado

The main reason I brought that up is this, the team was my first experience of being involved in the “Christian community”. I have been involved in a few conversations/ arguements on a message board defending Christians and talking about Christ, just to see first hand why a lot of people would choose not to be one over just being on their own. “ Nobody comes to the father but through the Son.” But it is strange how some people in the Christian community act like you need them as a spiritual leader or need them for you to be close to Christ. The fact is that Christ dying on the cross had a lot of meanings to it. One of them is that we don't have to have a middleman between us and Christ! I absolutely love that! That means that I can go directly to THE Man with my problems, questions, etc….. I have to say that the way I was treated has made me take a step back and look at what I was involved in. It wasn't at all what imagined a Christian ministry should be. What I like most about PanicRev is that Scott and John always just offered a helping hand in any way they can. It is very rare for people to not try and use you if you are at a certain level. Maybe I am not famous or anything, but I still have an A-list of sponsors that help me out in which a lot of people try to get in on my deal by the way of a hook up or discount. Now that I look at it, it is really cool that they let me write journals for their ministry when I was riding for a completely different one. Trust me when I say that isn't the case for some other ministries I have seen.

In my personal opinion we as Christians are all on one team, that is it. There isn't a bunch of different churches or ministries, just one…. The Body of Christ! We all should be working together to build each other up even if we aren't in the same “tent”. And that is what the world for the most part sees as well. The thing that really gets me is that I have had some people that aren't Christians step up and help me out. I posted a little race report about Seattle on a private message board that I am on with mostly people that I would more likely meet up for a beer then to meet them at church. In fact, I don't exactly think I have met most of them face to face, I just know them from a message board. But they just sent me a little money this week to help me out and get to Vegas. It really blows me away!! I guess the main difference is that now I am getting support from people like me, they are out there on their own trying to make it happen for their lives just like I am. Either way it feels awesome to have people help out with their hard earned money, asking nothing in return, and being behind me!

In fact, after the final meeting with the race team in which I was basically told that I shouldn't be out there racing supercross, I asked the people on the message board about it. They gave me nothing but support and completely understand how hard it is to do what I am trying to do. I guess the biggest difference is Compassion - which is not feeling sorry for someone but a want or need to help someone that is in a situation they were once in . I think that is where the difference is, after spending two years working with the main guy at the team I was on, I realized he has never been in the situation I am in. He never had to do it on his own and has always had support from his dad or whoever. It was like he was waiting for me to make night events on my own before really helping me out. I think you need the most support in making the night event not after you make it. I guess my main defense to the “I shouldn't be out there” comment is that I am the only racer on that team that didn't get hurt, including the amateur racers! Everybody else did, not to mention I am doing the whole track now! And some of the racers that got hurt are really really good riders. Some of them didn't get hurt on a fault of their own. But is that just a coincidence that I was the only one that didn't get hurt? I still have a long ways to go and a lot to work on, but this year has been a head and shoulders improvement over the last two years. But I am not going to ride for someone that doesn't praise and recognize big improvements.

As we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people the permission to do the same.

-- Nelson Mandela

So this leaves Vegas as my last chance this year to make a night show legitimately as I don't totally count San Fran since everybody made it because of the rain. I'm not sure if I am going to try and race Supercross again next year unless I get the right people to help me out and with some financial support. This year if anything has really taught me that I just can't do everything on my own, its too much for one person to try and do. It has been a lot easier and more fun since leaving the team, but it doesn't change the fact that I still only have so much energy. If Vegas is my last race all in all it has been awesome! I wouldn't change doing any of it at all, as I have learned a lot of life lessons and learned how God works in the trenches. I've met some of the coolest, most unique people that I would have never met, and I met a really cool girl in Dallas that I am now dating. So, I don't really see the downside to this racing Supercross deal! Not to mention that I have been able to be an AMA Pro for the last three years and live that life of traveling and racing, which has been my dream ever since seeing Damon Bradshaw on ESPN late at night. Granted I haven't broken through, but even if I did I would always want more. If I did make a night event, then I would want to make a main. If I made a main I would want to get a top ten, top ten to a top five, top five to a podium, podium to a win, win to a championship. It is pretty much a never-ending deal. So, if Vegas is the end then at least that “what if” question is answered and I can move on knowing that I did everything I could to make it happen and it just wasn't in the cards for me.

Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow.

-- Helen Keller

The main thing God has been teaching me is to trust Him alone and the He alone is almighty. He can and will do anything if it is in His plan for me. So, it is all out of my hands and I am just going to go to Vegas with a good attitude, ride as hard as I can, have a lot of fun, and see what the summer has to offer.

Scott Cram
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