There are times when I would love to just bat myself in the head and last Friday night would have been one of those times. Hangtown is about 6 hours from my house by car, so I wanted to be on the road by about 6:00 PM so I could get there at a reasonable time and get some sleep before a very long Saturday. So what time did I finally leave the house? That would have been around 9:00! I don't know why I do this to myself. The drive wasn't all that bad, I messed around on the computer most of the way to kill the time. A buddy of mine had a hotel room that I could crash in, but I didn't see his text telling me his location so when I rolled into town I just went straight to the track. I got there about 3:30 and it wasn't much of a shock that I was one of the first people there. I took about an hour and a half catnap in the front seat of my truck which I parked on the side of the road right by the locked front gate. I woke up to the chatter of some guys trying to get in without credentials and arguing about it with the local sheriff standing guard. I got to chatting with him for a little while about this and that, and he told me to go ahead and go on in. I figured I was there, so I was going to be the only photographer to get a shot of the sunrise over Hangtown. It was actually a gorgeous sunrise as you can see by the photo in the gallery.

Ever wonder what sunrise over Hangtown looks like? Well, now you know. Click here for more photos.

Traffic slowly started to filter in and within no time the place was moving and grooving. The track was very wet and the first practice was going to be a muddy one. I attended the riders meeting which held no big surprises except for some discussion of a new red and yellow flag they were now using. The new schedule does not allow for much of a break at all if you intend to be at the start of every practice and moto, so as the day came to a close, I was exhausted. I will say this though, Davey Coombs and his staff at MX Sports have really put a lot of effort into revamping the system for this yearand they have done a great job. Holding the race on Saturday made it possible for me to drive back and forth and to get some rest on Sunday.

In case you were wondering what time I made it back home, that would have been around 4:00 AM early Sunday morning. The drive home was not cool at all. I was seeing things on the freeway that definitely weren't there, but somehow I made it without killing myself. Check out some of the shots I got for all of you while I was there and let me know what you think. Thanks!

--BDW