Patrick Spadafore has been working on his starts, and it's showed.</p><p>But, as evidenced Aug. 14 at the motocross track at the Los Banos Fairgrounds, the start isn't everything.</p><p>In the second moto of the 250cc Novice class, Spadafore started out front coming around the first turn. As the race wound around the track, first Jared Yedlicka of Salinas, then Broc Hamilton of Turlock chipped away at his lead until they were able to pass. Spadafore finished third.</p><p>"I got a good start, finally," said Spadafore, a Los Banos native. "I've been working on them."</p><p>In the 450cc Novice class, Spadafore led most of the second moto after coming dead last in the first.</p><p>"I was super pumped," he said. "I had a little bit of butterflies in there."</p><p>He later said those butterflies contributed to what happened in the lap before the white flag.</p><p>"My front tire went into a rut, and my back tire didn't go into the rut," Spadafore said. "It didn't work out."</p><p>Spadafore's bike went out from under him, and he finished last again.</p><p>"I just have to keep my composure, don't focus on what's behind me," he said. "You can hear your competition."</p><p>He wasn't completely disappointed, since he entered the 450cc race with a 250cc bike, the same one he uses in the 250cc class, as well as the Top Gun Main Event qualifiers.</p><p>"The 450s can make the jumps, they can do everything with ease," Spadafore said. "We're actually working with the bike and the track."</p><p>The Top Gun Main Event went to Templeton's Topher Ingalls for the third week in a row, giving Ingalls a seven-point cushion in the standings with one round remaining. Spadafore qualified for the main event, as did fellow Los Banos residents Michael Gomes and Jason Kutzer.</p><p>Gomes exacted a bit of revenge on Kutzer in the Main Event. Kutzer finished one spot ahead of Gomes in both the 250cc Intermediate class and the 450cc Intermediate class, but Gomes finished one spot ahead of Kutzer in the Main Event (10th).</p><p>As for the lower age levels, Brody Silva has been experimenting with his luck. He has an "I Heart Boobies" bracelet, part of a fundraiser to fight breast cancer, but he says he won't wear it on the track anymore.</p><p>"The bracelet gives me bad luck," said Silva, who gives the bracelet to his sister Taylor to wear while he races. "But every time there's family here, I have good luck."</p><p>Silva was second in the 65cc Beginner class, despite having issues with his bike in the first moto.</p><p>Michael Lopez, who had some bike problems of his own last week, said he felt a lot more comfortable this week after taking seventh in the 50cc 4-8 Open class and 6th in the 50cc 7-8 Stock class.</p><p>"I was trying to get on the gas," Lopez said. "We're breaking in a new clutch. This is the third time we've been out here with the new clutch, and the motor and stuff."</p><p>Colby Copp, who was third in the 65cc Open and first in the 65cc Novice classes, said a slight change in strategy has helped him out.</p><p>"I double-doubled it through the middle section," he said about the two sets of washboard jumps on the track. "I'm trying to do better and not fall."</p><p>Enterprise reporter David Witte can be reached by phone at 388-6565 or by e-mail at sports@losbanosenterprise.com