Extremity Games MX Recap;

Last weekend we made the trip to the Extremity Games Motocross event in Millington, MI for the fifth year in a row. This is a motocross competition for adaptive athletes that are amputees, para-plegics and others who have physical limitations. There were a handful of new competitors this year which is always great to see and a most of the regulars which put the total entries around 20 com-petitors. The Baja MX Park was once again beautifully prepped and ready to go for an epic week of racing. After a full day of practice on Friday, I was feeling great and comfortable on the coarse but knew I’d have my hands full with the new guy, Max Gomez. He is a nineteen year old from the East Coast that lost his leg below the knee last summer from a motocross injury. In practice I never really had the chance to ride next to him to see the pace… all I know was that everyone said he was crazy fast!

Moto 1; The gate drops…. We all funnel into the first corner and Max grabs the holeshot and I file in 3rd or so. I quickly passed my way into second behind the leader and we were off to an exciting battle! I put the hammer down and chased Max for a while until I found a spot to dive in for a pass and took over the lead. I wasn’t able to pull away yet and toward the end of the 2nd lap he made a move on the inside of a left hand corner and I took over the second place position once again. I wasn’t ready to give up yet so I stayed right on his tail to find a place to make another move. On the third lap we made our way into a rough sandy corner… he checked up a bit to clear his goggles and I pounced on the opportunity and passed him on the outside and took over the lead again. I was hav-ing a blast racing back and fourth… this was a heck of a battle, and I could hear the crowed cheering as we motored by the front straight away. We got into the final lap and Max once again made a charge for the lead and I couldn’t hold him off through the left hand set of corners. As we crossed the finish line Max took the win and I was about 2 bike lengths behind him in second place. Whew! That was a race! The best part about it was that Max is using one of my Versa Feet to ride with so ultimately it’s a win, win for me! But…. We still have another Moto and if I win that, I can still get the overall.

Moto 2; The gate drops and I’m on a mission to keep my Extremity Games title for another year. We rounded the first corner and I filed into 2nd place behind Tim Burrows from England (another above knee amputee) He was motoring pretty good but I wanted to get by him asap to try and start pulling a lead in front of Max. As we hit the first big jump just after the start, I overshot the landing which set me up a bit to far inside for the next corner. I tried to thread the needle between Tim and the course marker ( a big tractor tire…) but unfortunately I was about an inch and half off my mark… I snagged the tire with my inside foot peg and went for a ride through the air and landed in a big deep pile of sand! Needless to say, I had to pick the bike up and straighten a few things out before I could start charging again. Max quickly took over the lead and I was able to fight my way back into the second place position by the end of the race. I ended up 2nd overall and Max took the Extremi-ty Games title…. For this year.

I had one more shot at redemption with another race, it was an exhibition so there were no points or prizes for it… just bragging rights. We lined up and I nailed the holeshot, the track was crazy rough by this time so my experience paid off and I was able to find some great lines and keep it pinned. I lead from start to finish and finally got a win. It was a great way to finish up the day! All in all we had a blast and even though I didn’t get the title this year…. The winner, Max was using my equipment. It’s all good!

Mike Schultz #5 See photos on the next page…..

5/28/13 NEWSLETTER

Thank you everyone for the continued support in my program!

5/28/13 NEWSLETTER