Wicked start! Passed 5-6 Thunderbikes before T1 at start! Led the first half of the race, but got stuck behind an SV that was taking lines like a two-stroke...#47, darn Joel! I didn't pass him and Kim got by me then him a lap later...she left me way behind after that. Oh well, it was fun! I need to get the guts up to just put myself there...heck, it's a race, forget being nice. :) Best race lap: L11: 1:10.644 (gotta pass!)

Pain from 405 Fwy accident was a partial cause for lack of results. Had pole position. Got past several Thunderbikes by T1, even pulled a daring move on Debra and got the hole shot, big bikes were a bit scary. Kept it till past T2 then..then stayed in 3rd/4th for about 1/2 race and pulled in because of the back pain...no need to crash because of trying too hard.

Long long straight, much wind. Kind of tricky course, backside kinda like parking lot and has pesky "obstacles" like hay bales, bleachers, walls, concrete blocks and rough track. Only 3 practice sessions made learning the track and performing a bit difficult. Will do better next time.

GREAT weekend! My first win of the year on Saturday...second win on Sunday! On Saturday (morning, race #2) it was more WINDY than Willow Springs, but constant; hot as heck, too. I think that played into my favor since I am totally used to the wind at WSIR.

Not sure how far ahead I was at the end, but I think it was pretty good. Sunday, race 14 or 15...No wind and not too hot. Race was pretty good too. I won this one as well, and it blew my mind going down the back straight and seeing 2nd place just coming out of the second turn back. Took me three times around the track (just after half way) to realize that it was 2nd place in my race. That allowed me to slow up a bit, but I found myself worrying about a crash so had to up the pace again. :) Went from 17 points out of first to 7! YAY!

What a blast! This weekend was a lot of fun and I did well! Only 2 points out of first now. Whee!

I had pole position for both races. It usually helps a lot to get by Thunderbike up ahead on the track before T1. No such luck this time, there was a new starter (unknown to myself until end of day) and his start was NOTHING like a normal start. He didn't turn the 1 card to 90% and moved the green flag VERY slowly. Everybody took off. I peddle started and charged like a mad dog!!! I caught the back of the group at T5, I think. I kept flying like crazy and managed to work my way up to 4th position, which I think is pretty darn good, especially with my nasty start and the riders that were in 1st-3rd. I battled back and forth for 5th with Bruce Lind and then for 4th with Britt Arechiga. Lots of fun. I finally decided that it'd be best to be safe and take 5th. Unfortunately I did something which I learned not to do a while ago...the race is not over until it's over (you pass the checkered flag)! I passed the white flag and "decided" that there was enough room back to 6th for me to slow down...bad choice. Bruce closed the gap on me pretty quickly and got by me before the end. I tried, but it wasn't enough...I was closing with him and got my front wheel even with his rear at the line, but, lame mistake. Gained one point on the Championship leader!

Much better start for the second race. Kevin got by me for T1. I passed him in either T2 or T5. From that point I led the first four laps. Getting by the Thunder bikes wasn't too bad, except for once I worked my way up to 2nd overall (2nd place in the race ahead of us). I didn't make it work to get by him, but I could have. I took the wrong position at some point and Kevin got by me. I stayed on his tail for long time, I think I passed him a few times but he got back by. I decided "better safe than sorry" so I just kept racing like the next racer was right on my tail. Whew, was a heck of a battle. Finished 2nd in my race and 3rd overall. First time placing Overall. i :) Wanted 1st, but gotta pick your battles wisely!

No sponsor help, but I had to go...championship is on the line! I left for AS on Thursday. Man, it took me at least 12 hours to get there, WOW.

It was a pretty fun track, but a little difficult...one set of corners my revs kept going below 10k and that made it hard to get out with power. I need a smaller front sprocket. :)

I ran the "test and tune" day on Friday and I feel like I learned how to get around the track pretty well. I kept getting faster and faster as time went on.

The race was race 3 on Saturday. We only got 2 of the 3 practice sessions Saturday morning due to a crash, I think. My times were better than Friday and my competition. I heard 3rd call for our race and went to pull my tire warmers off...darn it, my front tire was cold! My neighbor gave me a superbike size to put on but not enough time. I went out for a HARD warmup lap in order to put heat in the front. I got the hole shot and got by a couple of the Thunderbikes on the first lap. I think I lead the first lap but my front being cold got to me a bit and Kim got by me. On lap 3 (10 in the race), I went by a Thunderbike at the first apex of T1 and went by 1st place in the middle, but because it's a double apex, I was way too inside to make the 2nd apex well, Kim came by on the outside and I just had to hit my front brake harder, then I lost the front and luckily didn't hit Kim and the SV behind be didn't hit me. The track seemed a lot wider than it is while sliding across it. I got up, felt ok and ran back to my bike (in the dirt). It was running...until I touched it. I got it up and checked around...the shift knob was gone...so I figured that was it. I was in an impact zone so I ran with the bike over to the T2 corner worker. I had to go over 3 rulebooks in my head to remember if I was allowed to restart after crashing...I thought I try to start it in the dirt...it worked! I waited for all of the nearby bikes to pass before re-entering the track. Interestingly, that was a 4 minute lap. :) I finished the race at the checked flag... T1 had had an object right in my line after the crash, and on the white flag lap I realized that it was my shift knob. I stopped in T1 and picked it up...not good for much now, but it's off of the track. I think I did a 1:19 before crashing, then I pretty much did 1:24's...tricky with a bum shifter.

End of the day, I was pretty much ok, had to get my skinned up left shoulder looked at by the EMTs. My leathers are a little worn now (only race/practice crash since I got these leathers two years ago). My helmet got some nice scrapes. New one coming... Since I didn't win, I lost 5 points to 2nd place in the championship, which now puts me back in 2nd. Argh...2 more races, I can still do it!

Thank you to Jesus Amezcua for keeping me going! I was wearing the "980" arm band made by Pete, thanks to Pete as well. I had intended to win this race for Jesus...I didn't, but I know he helped to keep me going without myself or bike getting too hurt!

Just took my leathers to my shop to get them fixed...whew, $65 it'll cost me. Yikes!

Saturday morning:
• P1: L8/9: 1:21.787
• P2: L5/6: 1:21.899
• P3: L1/2: 1:20.529

THE RACE: It was a battle, for me at least. I got a poor start, but moved into first place, passing Kim and one or two SVs at the set of turns 1-2 right after the start. - TRACK MAP - Kim told me afterwards that she didn't know where I was, so, no battle for her, like we've had in the past.

She got by me on the 2nd lap with a screaming draft pass at the start of the straight. She took off and I'd thought there was no way to catch her. Then I realized that I'd done similar in the past and lost because of it. So, I put myself back in race mode...it's not over until it's over! I spent the rest of the 9 laps reeling her back in. Lap by lap I got closer.

After the white flag I went by her in T1 on the outside...a little tricky for me since my line was the inside, inside of a large crack that grabbed my attention. After passing her, she came back by into the next corner, since her line was an outside one, and she knows the track quite well. I put my head back down and pushed hard...I had to get her. Suddenly, I saw a thunderbike (turned out he was a lapper) up ahead and thought that this could be bad or good...had to make it good. We caught him by T10. I saw a teeny opening on the very inside of T10. I knew I had to take the chance there, since I might not be able to get her on the draft to the finish line. I went by both of them and kept pushing since I knew her draft on me was excellent back on the second lap. I made it to the line first!

In my head, it was one heck of a battle. It was so much fun, and very difficult. After coming into the pits quite a few racers told me that the race was a great show, and we were the only race on the track. That's great to hear, especially since I made it work in the end!

I've moved back into first place in the championship...3 points ahead. Now it comes down to the last race, which is double points. Whee, a true championship battle!

I stayed in town for Sunday morning practice:
• P1: L4/5: 1:22.420 (L5 was ??2:44??, so likely 5 or 6 was best)
• P2: L4/5: 1:19.019
• P3: L1/7: 1:19.282

• Roadracing World Press Release
• Weekend Pictures

Ok...had a re-valved shock to setup, so left on Thursday to do a half-day practice with a tuner setting me up. I got there at about 2 or 3am Friday morning, wow. The trackday was setup as just an open session, so I got some good time out there...no lap times though.

Saturday: the race! I'm leading the championship, so I need to beat Kim!

I managed to come up with a way to get there by picking up some bikes for delivery. Had to go get one way up in San Luis Obispo..sheesh! :) So, the payments for delivery just about covered fuel, so not too bad overall.

I decided to do a little practice in the cold on Friday. Wow, 4.5 miles and 24 corners. A lap was taking me about 3:40 or so. Not many laps in a session, and I could only pay for half day, $60. In the long run, it might have been less money to do full day...I crashed during my second session and broke some parts. Luckily John Hjelm gave me a new peg stud and Steve Aspland from RSCycles.com got me a new left fairing stay. I crashed about 3/4 of the way around, at the start of the esses (see map)...I noticed, after getting up, that the corner says "The Attitudes" in it It might be corner 14 or so. Hmmm. I am kind of used to corners having cones on the outside. No cones except where sections join. I got the bike cleaned up and repaired and was ready for Saturday's 2 sessions and qualifying.
Best lap of P1: L3 of 3: 03:40.687
Best lap of P1: L1 of 2: 03:37.192 (crashed)

Did I say that I was ready? Yikes. Kinda chilly in the morning, and the clock was an hour ahead of California. :) I ran the 2 morning practice sessions. I was signifcantly slower here as I had decided to take it a bit easier to LEARN the track better. No clue why the timing/scoring guy at Miller neglected the practice times in the morning. I think the monitors in the garage had me about 8 seconds off of Friday's times. We also had qualifying and that went OK, but not as well as I'd hoped:

Race day! I missed both morning practices since I was not able to find my blood sugar tester (diabetes), and went out to a pharmacy instead. :) There were a couple of hours until the race (after practice) and I got a little nervous in there. Race time came and things went a bit nuts in the GP garages, I suppose that is normal at a final, ha ha. I was gridded in 7D, the outside of row 7 on a staggered grid. There were a couple of rows behind me. I got a pretty darn good start. I made my way through about 1/2 the pack and then decided to take it a little easy into the corner of the first turn (new track for all of us, and many new-to-me racers). I was flying along pretty well until about half way. I got hit right in the of my sheild with a BIG bug that made a mess. I think I slowed a little until it stopped moving around. That allowed 2-3 people that I didn't even know were there to catch me and pass me on the next lap. After the first 2 came by I just figured I stay with them for a bit to figure out where to pass them. Another fellow came by! Argh! :) Don was somebody that I was battling with in practice a little bit, and we likely made eachother a bit faster at times. I was determined to catch him. We went back and forth a few times during the remainder of the race, then I realized that we'd caught back up to Jose and Shellie. I seriously had to catch them! I kept getting right on their rear wheels, but was a bit scared since one of them was making some wacky braking moves into the corners and they were each back and forth in a battle, I'd already crashed yesterday, didn't want to do that again. That threw a small wrench into my plans. I managed to stay right on them through the last few corners, then the wacky braking came again into the last corner...I got on the throttle quickly and stayed close enough to pull a draft pass JUST before the finish line. SWEET! I should have had both, but it was fun to battle with them, for sure. Thank you to Don, Shellie and Jose! Now, this was pretty good overall, I finished 24th out of 29 starters! Somehow I actually beat Tommy Aquino, Nobi Iso and our fearless leader, Stewart Aitken-Cade (hee hee hee). I completed the entire race and did not get lapped!

• Roadracing World Press Release
• Weekend Pictures

Got 2 practice sessions and worked with Catalyst Suspension on my setup.

Went home LATE Saturday night to get my bike since it looked like only 2 racers, Kevin and Barrett. There were 5 of us for the race. Whee! I got a really poor start, worst ever, likely (clutch was fried). I battled back and caught 4th place, and managed to stay with Barrett, but was unable to pass him. I need more time on track with him... :)