"Best of The West" Series Rounds 1 & 2 - Gary Hart Memorial Race - Tanner Thomas Pro Freerider UpdateBy: Tanner ThomasI am very pleased and excited to say, the first "Best of The West" National Tour stop in the books with myself receiving #1 position points!It all started after a nice long drive from Alaska Marine Lines headquarters in Seattle. There I received my truck after being shipped from Ketchikan. My girlfriend Kate and I drove 15 hours straight down I5 to the TC Freeride shop in Paso Robles "Central" California. Taylor Curtis had my "double backflip" Rickter XFS Competition Ninja all freshened up and completely rebuilt with new Dasa 1200cc engine and Skat-Trak 155mm pump. Everything I needed was turn key and ready to go from Taylor, so we loaded up and drove the next day to Lake Havasu City AZ. Along the way was some pretty wild flooding and rain storms out in the middle of the desert but no big deal for my Tanman Tour Rig.Unfortunately the weather made things slow and there wasn't much time to ride before it got dark. So as soon as we arrived in town, we met up with the KMG Racing team at the pits of the RPM Racings "Best of The West" race site on Windsor Beach. The weather was unpredictable with some good rain squalls and fast moving clouds so we called it a day and prepared for the morning.Thankfully when the morning arrived so did better weather. This morning was my first ride since October and also first ride on my first brand new Dasa 1200 🙂 Lots of firsts. I drove onto the beach with an open mind of just trying to get a feeling back and have some fun riding. It didn't seem to take but one tank and I was wired in full go mode. It felt amazing to get upside down again.This jetski easily backflips off nothing and goes any direction one choses to throw their head. The only trouble was I didn't have the stamina to ride like I wanted to after being off the ski for a while. Still doing tricks like 5 backflips in a row and one hand one foot 360s, I had a good few practice sessions. When it came time for my 2 minute run I pushed a little harder than I should have and ended up introducing the bottom of the lake to the beautiful blue nose of my newly refinished ski. This mistake didn't cost me much time in my run and I was able to shake things off and continue to focus on the next tricks. Thankfully it all worked out and I was able to have the #1 spot both Saturday and Sunday.I am very fortunate to have KMG Racings support this season and a nice place for me to stay here in Havasu. I will be staying here through the week, riding and training with fellow team mate and Pro Freerider/Freestyle Mark Gomez. He will be arriving Tuesday afternoon and my preparation for next weekend continues.Next weekend will be the USA Freestyle Championships here in Lake Havasu where the best freestyle riders of all different calibers and from all different locations will be coming and competing against each other. With full attention on our sport of Freestyle and NO RACING I cannot wait to ride and show our best for the sport.Big thanks to my amazing sponsors for continuing their support and belief in me this season. Everyone brings a piece of this wild puzzle together and I truly feel like I am the luckiest man alive. Now for me to keep it full throttle in effort and focus.I am also thankful that I feel great, with no winter injury to try and come back from like last years broken ankle I feel miles ahead already this season. Photos attached courtesy of Ken Gallagher Photography.- Tanner "Tanman" ThomasTannerthetanman@live.com 907-617-7277 -------------------------------------------------------- 2016 Event ScheduleApril 9-10 Best of The West Rounds 1&2 - Lake Havasu AZ April 16 USA Freestyle Championship - Lake Havasu AZMay 7-8 Pro Tour Super Cup - Panama City FL - Pending May 14-15 Pro Tour Grand Prix - Pensacola FL - Pending May 14-15 Best of The West - Parker AZ June 11-12 Best of The West - Lake Perris California July 16-17 Euro Freestyle Championship - Nysa Poland - PendingAugust 13-14 Best of The West - Lake Perris California October 7-9 World Finals Lake Havasu AZMore events are also being reviewed for the possibility to attend. Feel free to contact myself about any event scheduling questions. Hope to see you on the beach! ````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````2016 Sponsors BAM Tyler Rental Alaska Diesel Power TC Freeride Skat-Trak Eichner and Eichner Swinburnson RickterLike, Tag & Share!