S.C.X. #8/Finals in Monroe

Well the S.C.X. series has come to a close, in the moist sandy, horse pucky confines of the Evergreen State Fairgrounds.
My mission today was to defend my 5th place overall placing in the series, which was a season goal from the beginning. I was sitting in 5th but with double points in the final race and everyone throwing out thier one worst race of the series, it was hard to do the math and know exactly what and who you were dealing with.
At the start of the race, the officials let us take a moment to remember the 4 following Lakewood PD officers that were killed that day, and to take a moment of silence at my request. Thank you USA cycling officials for that moment. A class act that we appreciated.
The whistle was blown and I was in my pedal powering up within 1/2 a second, I swear. I even remember hearing someone just behind me saying, "Good god Papa, how the hell do you do that?" I'm not sure who it was, but it brought a smile across my face as I led the field down the straight away to the first turn and grass climb. At this point, thats when one of the most decicated workhorses of any team came to the front. Dr. Phil, jumped to the front, and kept things strung out like a champ. Within a heartbeat, Ronnie Schmeer jumped out to attack. I told Phil to let it go, as Schmeer was behind me by a ways, and I would need feel throughout the race. As the race began to unfold, my legs were not feeling quite as snappy as they were in warm up. Not bad, just not great. Phil continued to pull me around the entire course for most of the race, which was truly one of the most amazing dedicated rides that I've seen this year. He had to be the strongest rider of the race that day, but yet unselfishly dedicated himself to me and my season goals. At this time, one must ask themselves what a "teammate" truly is, and what a "teammate" means to you. I know, and I saw it once again in Phil. One of our teams tasks were to keep Tom Phillips in check as he was just behind me in the overall point series. Phil knew this and constantly had Phillips in his sites. Slowly but surely we worked our way up to Tom Phillips with one lap to go. I came around Phil and checked to see how Tom was doing. He told me he was hurting, and I believed him. As we rounded the turn after the high speed turn into the grass climb, I attacked Tom with everything I had left. My loyal teammate Phil stayed back keeping an eye on Tom, as I continued on trying to gain as much as I could in the final lap. I had Matt Hill (Garage) in my sites and I was gaining on him. Unfortunatley I could not quite catch him in the final meters of the course and I finished a solid 5th place on the day. Dr. Phil came in behind me in 6th with Tom Phillips in 7th. I was happy with our ride, and even more impressed with Phil's ride. Quite possibly the strongest ride of the day, and all for the sake of a teammates goals. Thank you Phil, you are the secret weapon for anyone!
Unfortunately, the wary the "throw out" race worked, Tom beat me for 5th place overall in the series by like 6 points out of 600+ points. Ouch! What do you do? We did all we could and were very proud of our seasons work and our ability to ride together as a team. TEAM! TEAM! TEAM! TEAM! I don't know what else to say.
I also want to thank Micah, and DP in the pits. Even though we never needed to pit, it was great to know they were there and they kept giving us splits and "atta boys". Thank you also to my brothers from Ladder co. 72's; Bergeron, and Freer for coming to support me. That was good having them cheering out on the course for me.
Next up: USGP/Portland next Saturdat & Sunday. After that we will remain on the road heading to Bend for the U.S. National Championsips. We will keep you posted while out on the road.