The best weekend ever
Roebling Road Raceway
July 26/27, 2003

2 Weeks ago I bought and fitted a complete, new front brake system that I bought off eBay, with steel braided brake lines. It's testing time...

As usual, we leave late after work for Roebling.

We get to the track @ 9:55p, and they close the gate @ 10:00p. Once it's closed, it's closed, no entering and no exiting. It sux.

We know this, and tell the gate lady that we'll be right back, we're just gonna drop off the trailer. We do a loop around, looking for a spot, and decide on our new usual spot. We un-hitch the trailer and as we're finishing up, I look at the gate and it looks like it's closed. "Oh fuck!!" I say to Rebecca. We get in the car and drive up to the gate... NO ONE in sight, gate's locked, lights off. "SON OF A BITCH!!!!" I yell in the car, blowing Rebecca's ear drums out.

It's like a couple minutes past 10p, and we can't fuckin believe that this lady left when we told her we'd be right back. Now we're fucked. We're stuck inside this campground looking racetrack, unprepared to sleep in the car, while we waste away a night of a hotel reservation. We reeeaaalllyyy don't wanna sleep in the car, so we decide to have Rebecca go knock on the track owner's door. (Their house is inside the track, in the paddock) She gives them our story and the owner grumbles and says a few words and then proceeds to open the gate for us... WHEW!!!!

MAN that was close.

Saturday, the weather is clear and we get out in practice. I'm dying to try out the new brake system I got off eBay....Sweet!! They are awesome! The feel is more consistent and more responsive.

Saturday's races were typical results, nothing too exciting. Here's the rundown...

All dry races:
1st race LWSB - got 4th: Bill Davenport, James Tuttle, & 2 other fast SVs beat me (blew me away) as usual.
2nd race LWGP - got 6th: The usual..same people, but more SVs.
3rd race MWSM - got 3rd: Just couldn't beat these 2 other 250s.. was close though.
4th race LWSS - got 8th: Even more SVs... it sucked.

Now Sunday, however, was a different story...

We had 2 dry races, then the rain came.. well, it POURED actually:
1st race LWSS - got 9th: Same as above, too many SVs.
2nd race MWSM - got 3rd: Same as above, but all 3 of us were w/in 3ft of each other at the finish, side-by-side. Great race.

Here's where it starts to get interesting:

3rd race LWGP - Starts to rain/sprinkle on the warmup lap. Race starts, after 1st lap, it starts to rain, getting harder, they red flag and to the paddock it is. It starts to POUR.. insanely hard... and windy. Downpours for ~15 min. then just a light sprinkle. They do 1st, 2, 3rd call for our race, and announce races are now 6 laps. We grid, and non of the amateurs have rains on. We're all on DOT's, and the track is soaked with lots of puddles and standing water.

We start, and as usual, SVs all beat me off the line. After a couple turns, I'm in 3rd place. Slowly I go faster and faster through each turn. Now I'm in 3rd, and I see Bill up ahead of me. We start the last lap, I'm on his ass and I pass him on the inside of T3 and stick it for the 2nd place finish. 1st place dude was way ahead, somehow.

"WOOOHHOOOO!!!," I scream in my helmet. I beat Bill!! What an incredible feat. That was like a once in a lifetime event. Damn I'm sooo happy when I come into the pits.
(For those of you who don't know.. Bill is BLAZING fast. He beats me by ~20 seconds EVERY race.)

So... now for the last race:
4th race LWSB - 2 races later, we're up again. Same people, all DOTs again, wet track, drying a little, no dry lines though. We start and same as before, I come out in 3rd, after ~1 lap, I pass #2, and I'm in 2nd place now.

I see bill waayyy ahead, like at least 1/2 a straightaway ahead of me. I think to myself.. OK I can deal with 2nd place, cuz Bill is waaayy ahead, and I only have 5 laps to catch him. So I just keep goin' round, and 'round, and after about 3 laps... poof... I've caught up to Bill. "Holy shit" I say, "I have a chance here."

I'm riding his ass around turns 1-4. Around T5/6, he takes the outside line around a big puddle, and I cut in, and cross the puddle and take the inside line and stick it, and now I'm in 1st. "SWEET!!!" I'm yelling in my helmet.

I lead around T6-8, onto the straight. We cross the line for the last lap, and just before the brake markers, he pulls up beside me, and beats me into T1. "No sweat." I say, "I'll pull the same move again, cuz I was ahead of him at the finish."

So we round T1-4, and notice he's picked it up a little. I'm thinking, "Damn, he's gonna take my line in T6 and block me, and that's gonna be the end of it." I wanted to beat him so bad, cuz I knew that this is my once (well, twice now) in a lifetime chance to beat Bill, and once in a lifetime chance to win the LWSB.

So I set up for T6 and NO, he doesn't take the inside line, he takes the outside again, and I pass him again, and hold it to cross the line. "Woohoo" I yell in my helmet.

"TWICE I BEAT BILL!" I yell in my helmet. And this time for 1st place. Holy crap, mark this day down as my best day of racing. This will never, ever, ever, happen again.

I roll off pit lane, and do a quick interview with a CCS official. Then roll over to our pad, and get a big huge hug and kiss from Rebecca. She's so happy for me, and so am I.

What a great ending to a great, and the best weekend we've had at Roebling.

Now, only 2 races left... Barber, and VIR