Git 'er done
Barber Motorsports Park - Leeds, AL
August 10-12, 2006

This is it. I'm ready to get my head back into racing, and have a great weekend. I head down to Barber solo so that Rebecca can save her vacation days for when the baby arrives. That, and it's probably gonna be hot and humid, which is no fun for a 5 mo. pregnant woman.

I get up early Thurs morning and pack the trailer. I'm a little behind my 'scheduled' time, but no worries. I get on the highway @ 11:30a. Armed with snacks, water, and some goodies, I make it through Atlanta rush hour traffic and get to the track at 7p MST. 8.5 hour drive, not too bad. I sign in and meet Lee and some others and we all pit together. To the hotel I go to get some good rest.

Friday I get up and head to the track. I setup camp, go through tech, and get ready for practice. The turnout looks a little thin this weekend, probably b/c the WERA Nationals are at Summit Point this same weekend. Practice is short, 5 laps, but good enough as I just need to get reaquainted with the track. Now we sit and wait... GTL race isn't till ~3p.

Just as the endurance race is about to start (noon) the clouds roll in, and the sprinkles start to come down. It's a quick little rain which cooled it off a bit, but now it's just warming right back up. Now it's heating up, actually getting fuckin' hot. The temp reads 95*, humidity 38%. Ugh. Time for our race. The calls (1, 2, 3) are pretty quick, and everyone scrambles to get out on the track. As a result, about 8-10 riders have to start from pit lane.

I get a decent start, of course behind all the SVs. I catch up and passed a couple riders. I'm doing well, but have no idea what position I'm in. Then I see a couple guys off track, so I'm thinking there's a chance I'm in the top 5. Sure enough, I finish in 4th place! I got the whole race on video, which is on my video site: www.onboardvideos.com.

Saturday, we wake up to rain. It rains solid until ~9a. Qualifying is ~9:45, and the track is still wet. I sit out of qualifying, along with 1/3 of the riders.

The rain lets up for lunch 11-12, and the temp comes right back up also. Temp is ~95* for our 1st race, LWGP. I head out to the grid, the number boards are quick, and the flag drops. Almost caught off guard, I try to launch, and blaaaaaa... the bike boggs and dies. "What the fuck?!?" There's a second wave behind me and I need to go to prevent getting ass-packed by them. I start pushing and try to start it, nothing. "FUCK", I look and the kill switch is in the 'off' position. Quickly I hit it on, and start it and launch away. At this point, I'm about 2 turns behind the back of the pack. I start to make up ground, and on lap 3... I hear a "POP". I immediately pull in the clutch and coast off at T3. Fearing the worst, a stuck piston, as I come to a stop next to the guardrail, I look down, and notice my chain is broken, and my sprocket bolt has backed out. Whew, at least I didn't seize the piston or anything. I end up in 12th place.

I get a ride back to the pits, and Stu and JP help me get my new chain on and get the bike ready for the CCS 125 race, which is in 20 mins.

We head out for the CCS 125 race, and I get a good start. Wenner gets the holeshot, followed by me, and whoever else behind in tow. Within the first lap, we catch up to the other class we were combined with. Wenner starts running away with it. Then on the 3rd lap, Smallwood rolls by me in T4 going up the hill, in chase of Wenner. Stu passes me at the end of that lap in chase of Smallwood. I try to keep up, but I get held up in traffic and Stu is able to walk away from me, just out of my reach. I finish 4th. That's it for today and I head back for some dinner and sleep.

Sunday, the big day. I get to the track, and skip practice to make sure I'm all prepared for the CCS 125GP race, and the USGPRU 125GP National Championship race. It's a bit cooler, and kinda nice out for the CCS race. Some of the riders are sitting this race out, and just concentrating on the National race. Fuck that, I wanna race. The more the better. So I head out for the CCS 125 race.

I'm so pumped up to race that I forget it's a 2-wave race. We're in wave 2 this time. When the green flag drops for the 1st wave, I launch it like a bat out of hell, but as I do, I notice no one else went, so I stop. I start rolling back, about 10 feet. As I'm almost back to my spot, I notice the 1 board sideways and blam. The green flag drops for our wave. Fuck. I ease out the clutch and go. "FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, I can't believe I did that. Suck a fuckin idiot," I keep shouting to myself inside my helmet. My start is not too bad - Heading into T2 I'm in 4th. Going into T4 I pass 3 riders and take the lead, but Lee repasses me. Knowing that I'm going to get meatballed and get a stop-n-go penalty, I need to get as much of a lead as possible, as quickly as I can. Lee checks up on the last turn, and I pass him onto the straight.

At this point I know I have to fuckin haul the mail as I can only imagine that Lee is on my ass. I see my meatball flag at the start/finish, and a clear track ahead of me. I think I have to come in w/in 2 laps but I'm not sure, and I don't wanna risk it. So I decide I'll come in at the end of lap 3. I try to catch up to the first wave to get through traffic and build a lead. I pass a couple guys before I head in. End of lap 3, I'm cruising down hot pit lane and I see Lee on the side. Hmm, something must have happened. Maybe I now have a chance of winning, or still doing well. I skid to a stop, then they wave me to go.

I head back on track, no idea what position I'm in, or what lap we're on, and I don't see anyone in sight. "Fuck, this fuckin sucks." After a lap, I start to see some guys in sight, no idea if they're 125ers, or someone in the other class/race we were combined with. On the next lap (5 of 6), I'm gaining on them. I notice they are 125ers, but no idea what place. Maybe I have a shot of catching them. I start getting in reach, possibly, but as we come around on the front straight, I see the white flag. "Fuck, last lap." I don't think I can catch them both, but hell if I'm not gonna try.

I put my head down and go for it. I catch up to Adam at T7 and pass him onto the back straigh. The next one in sight is Mark Dennis. I see a SV in front of him, hoping he holds Mark up. This is gonna be tough. I head into the backstraight kink and have significantly more speed than him and the SV in front of him. I pull up on the left of Mark, but have to pull on the brakes to avoid hitting him or the SV. So I swing around to the right to attempt to setup a pass for the left-hander. "Shit, this is it." Passing him here is my best shot at beating him to the line. Normally I give the brakes a tug and downshift... not this time... it's win-it-or-bin-it time... go-big-or-go-home........ incredibly, I stay on the gas, and pass them both on the outside of the left-hand kink, downshift, then tip it in to the right to go up the hill.

"HOOOLYYY SHIIITT", I said to myself. I can't believe I just did, and made that pass. That was fuckin' incredible." I approach the last set of turns, and play a defensive line. Onto the straight I go, and beat them to the line. Still with NO idea what place I finished, I'm so excited, I'm yelling in my helmet, "WOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!!!!!". So I head to pit in, and back up to the pits. Some guys come over and say how awesome that race was to watch. "What place did I end up in?".... they say, "You won dude!" Holy shit, no way. How fuckin awesome. Come in for a stop-n-go penalty, and came back to win the race. This has got to be my new career highlight, and I got it all on tape. You can watch the race video on my video site: www.onboardvideos.com

We break for lunch, then get ready for the USGPRU race. Since I didn't go out in qualifying, I'm gridded in the 5th row, 17th position. No worries b/c we've got 12 laps go get sorted out. The flag drops, and I get a great start. The first couple laps, I do some passing, and we start to all fall in place. The lead pack is ahead of me and slowly walking away. I can't quite keep up, and on lap 6 I decide there's just no way, as they are now out of sight. There's no one in front of me, and damn, this is boooorring. It sucks having no one to race with unless you're leading the race. The rest of the race is a wide open track for me, no one passes me and I only pass a couple lappers. Not knowing exactly what position I'm in, since I lost the lead group, I find out I finish 7th!

What a great weekend. I accomplished exactly what I set out to do - To get the thoughts of my crash out of my head, and just go balls out and race and not worry about anything. And that's exactly what I did this weekend. A 1st, 4th, 4th, 7th, and 12th place finish. Next race is at Oak Hill, TX. It's the last round of the USGPRU SE region National Championships. Currently I'm in 9th, and am looking forward to trying to end up in the top 5 on the East Coast. Stay tuned...