Thanks for the support man! Ya, I ride with a lot of guys who are actually top 20 in pro, including one who races world cups consistantly. They have all agreed that I'm really quick and have pro speed but come race time I'm screwed haha. Next year I'm going to try for Cat. 1 if I actually do a race but already had to dish out the $150 for that international licenseMy advice is to try for that downgrade again... and when (if) you apply for it with USAC, remind them (forcibly if you must) that their whole friggin' justifcation/reason for eliminating semi-pro was to stiffen the requirements to get into the Pro class, and therefore strengthen the overal Pro field and make it more competitive. If you're back of the pack, you ain't even pack fill, and are doing squat to make the Pro field more competitive. And at the end of the day, they're a business. Let 'em know that racing Pro sucks balls for you, and you'd rather not race than to race in Pro and be miserable. Not only do they make money on your membership dues, but promoters pay USAC a "per rider" fee at every USAC event, for insurance, sanctioning, whatever. You racing at USAC sanctioned events is a source of revenue for them, make sure they know that.
If all that doesn't work, then sit it out a year. When you come back you should be able to go into Cat 1, if IIRC from the USAC rulebook.
I used to love racing and was very consistant but like you said, classes have changed drastically. I mostly just need to focus on different things (like my flying career I'm starting) and MX for a bit. Kind of hoping that take my mind off of the "stress" of racing pro DH and puts me in a better mind set when I do race again!
Honestly, I LOVE the race atmosphere, the people I race/race with...I just need to figure this mental game out if they don't let me drop down. The more I have been thinking about it over the past day(ish) is I'm pretty sure the reason I'm crashing is because of my mental attitude towards my race run.
Anyways, back to work and making this '58 Impala sound incredibl!!!