July 2004

Surprise! I got to race after all! What a whirlwind weekend. We went up Friday to Jeff and Jessica's wedding. Kathy had a great party for the rehearsal dinner, and then Saturday was the day. The ceremony was absolutely great, from the heart, very warm and loving. But, about 7:00 we were done, and Fran and I decided to see if we could make it back to Santa Barbara that evening. We did, but got home late. On the way down, Fran kept telling me I should go race on Sunday, which I sort of weakly resisted, but finally I gave in and said OK, I'll race. ;-)

I got up Sunday and had to put the new clutch in since I hadn't done it and hadn't planned on needing to. I got everything together and headed for Willow around 10:00. Basically, if I got there by noon, I would still be able to put on tires, sign in, and race F2 and BOTT Middleweight. I wanted to race F2 because I needed one more race to qualify for a drawing for a trailer. I wanted to race BOTT MW because I WANTED TO WIN DAMIT!!!!

So, I got to the track at noon, dropped off the wheels to get new rubber, got race gas, paid entry fees, and then found a buddy John to pit with. He helped me SO MUCH it was great. We got the tires on, and everything ready with about 15 minutes to spare before the F2 race.

Since I signed up late, I had to grid at the back. I got an OK start, but basically this was practice and I just didn't want to finish last. I needed to get back into racing and not crash doing it. I passed one or two guys, and another pulled off with a mechanical, so I didn't finish DFL. Also, my lap times were good. I started right off with a 1:31 on the first lap, then got a 1:30 on lap two, and got better every lap with a 1:28 on the last lap. This was good.

What should have been a short wait to the BOTT MW race went on longer than expected due to a lot of crashing that day. Then, I couldn't hear the PA and missed the final call to grid. By the time I got there, the warm-up lap had left and I had to drive around the pit and just grid up. Again I was last due to the late sign-in, and because I was also late to the grid I barely got there before the start flag was waved. I just gassed it and was determined to keep up with Kenny and Richy, the two 749R's that basically define the competition. I was sort of amazed to be right on their tails into turn 3. Usually they out-brake me there, but this time I was hanging in with them more or less. Then, when we got to the entrance to turn 9, I was again surprised because I was going a lot faster than they were and there were actually holding me up. I hung behind them and wanted to see if I could brake with them into 1, which I was able to do. At that point I was feeling good. I was hanging with the leaders and felt I could do something. Then Richy tried to stuff Kenny in turn three and almost highsided, which put Kenny out front but Richy right in front of me. When we got into 8 I think he was still regrouping because I went right around him and set my sights for Kenny. I passed Kenny in the same place on the next lap, and I was IN THE LEAD! I lead for the next 2.5 laps, when I came up on a backmarker and hesitated. As soon as I did Richy got by me but I was right on him. I had turn 8 wired that day, and went right around him again, holding him off to the finish. MY FIRST WIN!!!!!!

To Richy's credit, he had crashed on Saturday, and did really well considering all the crap that comes along with a crash. I CAN RELATE! He's a good sport, and a good rider, I am sure that next month he will be back in top form. But next month in double points again, and if I can win that race, I might be able to win the class championship.