Back in the game
BeaveRun - Big Beaver Borough, PA
July 1-2, 2006

Coming off the VIR weekend, I only have a couple days before I head back on the road to BeaveRun. I decide to break up the trip and stay overnite at my parents' house in Fairfax, VA on the way up and back. It's perfect as it's exactly halfway. So Thurs I grab a few friends; Chris Cornell, Rob Zombie, James Hetfield, and head up to DC.

I stay in Fairfax, and the next morning I head to PA. The trip up 270 and 76 is pretty windy and hilly, but not a problem. I get to the track and it's in the middle of nowhere. The hotel is some little shithole, which is fine since Rebecca isn't with me. Otherwise, she'd have me looking for a better place. I setup camp and meet my cousin Kim (who lives in Pittsburgh) for dinner. I haven't seen here in like 10 years, so it was a nice treat to meet up with her and her hubby for dinner.

I head to the hotel and get some good sleep. Saturday is all-day practice and qualifying at the end of the day. The track is fun, but EXTREMELY bumpy. I mean like HOLY SHIT is it bumpy. The turns, luckily are OK, but the straights suck ass. Softening up the suspension helped a little but still, was so bumpy that my subframe cracked. I found one of the kart guys who had a welder, and he fixed it up for my during lunch.

As the day progressed, I got faster and faster. There are a LOT of fast guys here.. all the usual fast guys, and some from the West and ones you don't see often. There are 48 entries, for a 1.5 track!

We went out for qualifying, and although it was a little crowded, it wasn't too bad. I qualified 16th out of 48.. not too bad for my first time on the track.

So Sunday morning I check out and head to the track, 1 mile away. I was planning on doing the 125 & 250 race, but I decide to skip the 250 race so I can get out of town earlier.

We gear up and get ready for the 125 race, the first of the day. There's so many bike on such a small track, that it's a 2-wave start. I'm 2 rows from the back of the 1st wave. The flag drops and it's a dash to T1. It's a little hairy going through T1-3, but everyone makes it through, then the crashing starts.

Start from lap two, it seems that every other lap, there's a new crash on the course. I get passed by a couple riders, but do some passing myself. Now, as we get into lappers, I have NO idea what place I'm in. I'm so lost I can't tell who are the lappers and who are the riders in place ahead of me.

Coming near the end of the race, I see I'm about to get lapped by the leader, damn, this sux. He must be hauling ass, and he is. Weighing 40+ lbs less than me w/ a very fast bike, he wizzes by me. A couple turns later, the red flag comes out. One of top 3 guys crashed and his bike was on the track. With only 5 laps left in the 20 lap race, they decide to call it. I find out I finished 15th out of 48. Not too bad, as I look and see who was ahead of me, and it's everyone that I would expect to beat me except maybe 1-2 guys. But again, coming off a nasty highside, and my first time on the track, I'm happy with that.

Overall the weekend was good. Getting back into the swing of things, getting the crash out of my head is taking longer than I expect. But I've got 5-6 weeks off till the next race at Barber, Aug 10, which I'm REALLY looking forward to. I really like that track and am looking forward to kicking some ass there and washing away the crash demons for good.