In Supercross riders go through timed qualifying in afternoon sessions to determine who makes the evening program. At the Indy Supercross for example, in the Lites class there were 64 riders rider, but only 40 would race in front of the big crowd in the evening’s Heat races and get a chance to qualify for the main event. That meant 24 riders would come all the way to Indy, run as hard as they could and still not get to race in that evening’s program.

The rider to earn the final spot, in other words the 40th fastest qualifier, at Lucas Oil Stadium Saturday afternoon was Cincinnati’s Codi Adams. Just 27-100ths of a second. That blink of an eye was all that separated Adams from Madison, Mississippi rider Johnny Moore. Had Moore gotten on the throttle a fraction of a second earlier in a single turn, or perhaps picked a different rut to rail through a turn it might have been him racing in front of 60,000 screaming Hoosiers in “The Luke” and Adams packing up his gear for the night.

That’s the sober truth of racing. The stopwatch (actually an electronic, computerized timing transponder) can be a device that brings sudden joy or disappointment, and on this Saturday night Adams could thankfully count himself on the positive side of the equation.

We asked Adams, a 20-year-old who was making his AMA Supercross debut, if he knew he was that close to the edge during the afternoon qualifying session.

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Even though the young rider was happy to make the program, he was a realist when it came to making the Lites main event.

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As it turned out Adams was right about his chance of making the main. An all too common problem in the ruthless game of Supercross, put him out of contention in his Heat race. His hopes of making the main were down to a thin thread of Last Chance Qualifier, or what more knowledgeable racing fans simply call the LCQ. Adams described what happened in his Heat and LCQ.

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In the end it was a good experience for Adams. At the very least he can someday tell his grandkids that ol’ grandpa once raced in front of 60,000 fans. But Codi is hoping that Indy was simply a stepping stone to the next step in his progression.

It’s off to Atlanta next week. Another stadium full of Supercross devotees will fill the Georgia Dome. Adams, Moore and a host of 70 or so other hopefuls will take another shot towards their first step in making the big time.