Road A x's 2

Sorry its been a while since Ive updated this.. I raced at Road Atlanta the last week of June. I was real excited to see the new track to see what the new changes were like (read about it here http://roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=33100) Over all the the new chicane for turn 4 just didn't cut it.. I dont know what they were thinking when they drew it out but it just did not work.. It's not just totally useless though, its fixable. And the new turn 12 rocked!! Anyways, In Saturday practice, I got down to 1:33's. That's using the esses instead of the revised turn 4. I was getting more and more comfterable on the bike and track and started to turn some decent lap times. In the race, Middle weight Solo 16, I started last row, I think it was row 6 or 7, I dont exactly remember. After just the first lap I was in 6th, then worked to 4th by the end of the second lap and then 3rd on the 5th lap when Ryan Clay crashed in turn 5. I spent the next 11 laps there until coming out of the last turn when I stepped the back end out on the last lap letting Brett Sassaman to just edge his front tire in front of mine.. I was kinda bummed that he beat me just before the line with me in front of him the whole race. My times were still in the 33's though so I guess it wasn't to bad.

In Sunday's races, C SuperStock Expert, and B SuperStock Expert, I finished 3rd in both. In 600 SS I had a lead opened on the first lap but the race was red flagged which deffinitely did not work to my advantage. On the restart I came out in third by the end of the first lap and was really mad about it. The first 3 laps, I screwed up the esses and my times were 33's, I fought past that and stayed in front of Parkerson, both Sassamans, Day, Stokes and Clay before fixing the problem and dropping my times by 2 seconds!! I pulled away from the group and kept a consistent gap between me and Jenson and Knapp up front. I was kinda mad at my self at the end of race knowing that I could have been with the leaders at the beginning of the race if I woulda not made mistakes..

In 750 SS, I was in 3rd at the top of the hill behind Opie and Jenson, I tried to stay with them but made a mistake entering turn 3 and let them gap me.. the rest of the race I spent in 3rd.. kinda lonely. The rest of the race, I just kept my pace fast and kept my times in the 31's! I was happy with that but I coulda been closer up front..

After loading up and getting home, we had a lot of work to do to the bikes before leaving for Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin for the CCS/ASRA race at Road America. Lisa Gerloff (mom of Garrett and Grayson) picked me, mom and all my stuff up on Tuesday and made our long trip up there getting there on Wednesday. I signed up for the practice day Thursday for the 600. I was also picking up one of the Moriwaki MD250H Hondas while there. Well in the first practice session, I had mechanical issues and ended up switching practice stickers so I could make laps on the Moriwaki. It was a fun bike to ride but I think I woulda rather made laps on the big bike.. I think I needed it more on it. That night, Lisa drove me and mom to Mark Junges house (thanks a ton!!) to pick up a spare motor. When we got back, my dad put it in with help from Mark Gerloff (the dad) who came up together that morning. Friday qualifying was canceled due to time restrictions so I the only time I got on the new motor, and only real session was in practice that morning. In the first session, I noticed how different the slipper clutch was.. It allowed the back tire to slide around a little more on decel and it really got me mixed up. Going into the last turn a few laps in, I got on the brakes and the back end slid around, I caught it and turned in but the previous mistake pointed my front tire right over the curb on the inside and I tucked the front. The crash was so mellow that I never even let go of the bike while sliding, I just picked it up and rode across the track to the trailer. That night after everything was over and after getting thing on both bikes organized, I went to supper with Josh and Melissa Hayes with Mark Rozema (mechanic for Chaz Davies) a guy from RRX who I never got a name from (he even sat beside me) and Joe AKA the guy who kept me entertained for the most part.. So did Josh's Dave Chapelle impressions and our very drunk waitress.

The next morning, after a great night of sleep, I woke up ready to ride and went out for first practice. After practice, I sat around all day waiting on the Moriwaki race, the only race of the day. Everything on the Moriwaki will be in a RoadRacing World Magazine coming out soon.
That night I went to bed kinda early for race day the next day. I felt great on the bike in practice, but was still only turning 2:26 laptimes. Garret Carter was in the 22's so I knew I had a lot of work to do. My first race was the CCS Middle Weight SuperSport. I started 31st in the back and came up to 4th place. The race was shortened due to a red flag or I really think I could have done better. The next race was ASRA Super bike, where I started from the back of the grid again, on 4th row. I came back to 4th again having a real fun battle with Mark Junge (thanks again for the motor!!) and barely beating him at the line. In the last and final race of the day, ASRA Factory Pro Sport Bike, which was shortened from 12 laps to 8 laps then down to 5 laps due to more time restrictions, I started again from the back on the 3rd row (small crowd). I worked up to 3rd place on the 4th lap when a red flag came out because the organization lost track privileges at 6 and guess what time it was. We did Podium shots then dyno'd the bikes. They had a 105 limit and was under that on the test run we did earlier. After dyno'ing a few bikes 4 times max, the dyno'd mine 4 times, let it sit for a minute allowing it to cool off with the fans blowing on it, then did it a few more times when on the 7th run, it came out as 105.7! They docked me 3 positions and left a sour taste in my mouth. I was kinda upset that they kept going at it til it barely went over.. Next race on the list is at Barber in a few weeks.

Tally

With all the races being so close together the next month, we decided to just head down for Talladega for the Southeast WERA race for just Sunday. Showing up to the track that everyone had been riding on since Thursday or Friday and only getting 10 laps of practice (seperate sessions, thats total) before the race, was a little bit nervousing for me. I even totally forgot it was Father's Day til mom reminded me around the start of the mini race. oops.. The all famous Steve Ault, personal friend, showed up just before practice to watch for the day.

In the Practices I got down to minute flats in the first session and then into mid 59s in the second session. I wasn't really going real, real fast but it was decent to be so early (I'm not a morning person!) and not have anytime on the track the whole weekend. After practice, we sat through lunch for an hour then another 2 hours atleast until my first race came up. It seemed every race that came up had a red flag or something happen.
When I finally got gridded up for 600 Superstock, I was starting in the middle of the front row, and got a good start and lead the first 2 laps. My second lap was kinda slow and Taylor Knapp passed me. When he got in front of me I started to push much harder and realed the little gap he put on me back in and made a pass for the lead entering the last turn esses deal but ran a little wide on the exit allowing him back up the inside. This is when I figured out that Payton Sassaman was also right there with us cause he came around me to and we all three split a lapper entering turn one. I got back by Payton and started to run different passes through my mind. Going into the 90's on the last lap, the only right turn on the track, I missed a down shift and let Payton back by me. I tried to fight back by in the next turn on the outside of the carousel. I couldn't get back on the throttle soon enough to make it stick and ended up .389 of a second off of Taylor who won, and only .119 off of Payton.

I was real excited with how I rode even though I knew I coulda made a couple different things work better for me and came out on top. but every time on the track is a learning experience. My fastest time was a 58.2! I was also real happy with that.

The next race was 750 Superstock. I gridded up second row and didn't get as good a start this time. I came out third in turn one behind Tim Hunt who held me up the first lap letting Opie Caylor get a little gap on me. Then Corey Burleson got by me and I got in front of Hunt. I still had Opie and Burleson in sight but I couldn't shave any time off. I worked real hard for it for a few laps and made the choice to settle down a little after having the back end step out right after the apex of one. I wasn't happy that I got beat but I still rode good. Actually my fastest laptime was a 58.1! A little faster.

Next race is Road Atlanta

Roebling Road.

First off, I wanna apologize for not keeping this updated. After the Rookies Cup last year, I am now getting the chance to race for M4/Emgo Suzuki in the WERA Nationals and Regionals with the occasional CCS/ASRA race to collect points to get an AMA License for next year. Big thanks to the whole M4/Emgo team and to John Ulrich and Doug Gonda for making all this happen for me. And to Chris Ulrich for being John Ulrich's son! =p.
So far this year, I have raced in 4 races finishing with two firsts and running close to the same times as Jenson and the Sassamans and the rest of the leading group, even racing with them when they're there. I am getting up to speed quickly on the 600 which is a lot different than the 125 I raced last year. I still have a lot to learn before next year and its all an adventure.

We filled the Surburban up after getting the trailer loaded and made our way towards Roebling Road Raceway for a WERA Regional race. On the way down, Susie (the Surburban) started acting funky on us so we pulled into a parts store after babying it there and got it fixed. My friend Nathaniel Parton and his dad Donald were car pooling with us so Donald helped my dad fix it so we could get on the road quicker. We showed up at the Microtel at around midnight and got some sleep in before Saturdays races. Early in the morning Saturday, I headed out for practice. I already raced the National at this track earlier this year and did good for it being my first time on the bike. In this first session, I was getting everything sorted out and shaking the cobwebs off not putting in real fast laptimes. I was only in the 19s. In the second session I went a little faster and got some things straight but I wasn't really setting the world on fire. I got into the 16's and I knew I could do 13's, even with the track being a little greasier than it was at the National. After the hour long break, we got dressed and gridded for the Mediumweight Solo 20. I was starting second row so I knew I had a good chance at taking the money at the end of it. I got a decent jump on the start and my M4/Emgo Suzuki motored by the front row (even the one who had moved a bike length before Chuck waved the flag). From there on, I lead the race to pull about a 3 second lead at the end. I know the times still weren't where I wanted them to be with a mid 14 being my fastest lap, but I only got a few clean laps without any lappers. In the end I was happy with how I rode, kinda conservative and smart and got into some ok laptimes. After the race, we got everything loaded and Nathaniel and I raced across the track to collect the earnings. We stayed in the air conditioned tower with Emily from WERA and her duaghter feeding us and having a good laugh. After our parents made it across with Susie, we headed to the hotel and to get cleaned up and to Tybee Island afterwards to eat at AJ's. Its this little seafood resteraunt we found on vacation at the Island a few years ago. Thanks to Donald for paying for it! :)
Sunday morning early in the first session, I got in behind Josh Day and was following him for a few laps. We only made a few laps before I suddenly lost the front for no obvious reason in turn one. I wasn't pushing real hard it just kinda fell away from me. As I was pushing my bike out of the impact zone, 2 more went down, seperatly. On the ride back in the crash truck, I saw Josh's bike laying outside of turn 4. When I got back to the pits, I was explained to that someone spilled oil all around the track after busting a crank case. The guy came to apologize for causing the big scene to all the riders who crashed so props to him for that! We got the bike back together for the next sessions but didn't really do anything impressive in them. We spent the whole two sessions trying to figure out my front end problem. It turns out that Day's bike was to crashed to even fix to try to race. I was kinda looking foward to racing with him and having someone help push me to faster times since I was struggling with it myself.

The first race of the day was 600 Super Stock. I was starting on pole, left side of the front row and got a decent start and lead into turn one. I struggled getting to pace and after 2 of the 8 laps, Tim Hunt worked by and stayed in front for the rest of the race. I got into the high 13's but I knew I could do better than that. I ended up P2 at the end of the race.

The next race was 750 Super Stock. I was starting again on the first row. In between Hunt and Opie Caylor. I broke out of the start right beside Caylor and my Suzuki GSX-R 600 motored by his 750. I beat him into the first turn before he got by. I pushed the my Pirelli tires hard but I couldn't stay with Opie. My fastest lap time wasn't as fast as the first race but the times were more consistently lower so I was happy with that. I finished P2 again. I guess in the end, the weekend was decent but I know I could have done better.
Im still working on getting better.. I'm coming after you Opie. I'm gonna beat you by the end of the year!! (I hope..)
Next race is Tally!

USGPRU / AMA at Road Atlanta

I had a lot of confidence going into the USGPRU race at Road Atlanta, combined with the AMA for the second time this year. The first race, at Miller, we missed being in Europe for the Rookies Cup, so I was also real excited to get to race in front of the big teams and riders.

The first session on Thursday, I rode at a decent pace the whole session. I was kind of trying to get my confidence up to carry more speed through the turns then I was able to last year due to the new pavement. At the end of the session, I was already going faster then I did last year at the GNF and Cycle Jam with WERA.

The second session, I was really wanting to pick it up some and get faster. I wanted to be the first one in the mid-'30s wherever that was going to be. I made all of about a lap before the bike seized entering one (for those of you who dont know, turn one is 105+ mph on a 125, third gear...). The backend locked up and jumped sideways so fast, I had no idea that it was gone 'til it was to far gone to react to it. I was lucky to get off the bike before it really highsided. The crash was still painful though!! I got up and immediatly found my arm to be hurting more then anything. So the paremedics MADE(!!) me get in the ambulance to get a ride over to the medical center to get my dad to sign me off to let me go, and that we didnt want to go to the hospital (like that was going to happen...)

So, my hopes of being fastest with a real fast laptime was shattered like that...but theres always tomorrow right??

On Friday morning, we had a brand new piston in the bike, so I spent just about the whole session breaking it in. I ended up third fastest with a '37.8. Not exactly as I would like, but with just one and a half fast laps on the track in the session, I was happy. I felt I could do much better for the after noon session. Little did I know that I wouldnt have the chance to do so.

At right after lunch, Connor (who I just met this weekend) and I went out to watch AMA practice on his Zuma. We rode over to inside of turn 7 and watched them go through there, then as we were leaving, I saw Elena and Tyler Odem sitting on a pitbike in between turn 6 and 7. I rode the scooter over there with Connor on the back. About the time I got to them and got my helmet off, two patrol men drove up in thier cars and told me to get off that I was kicked out!! I was so confused and they wouldnt even tell me what I did wrong. They then told Tyler that they were going to impound his KLX 110 because it wasnt a 125...everyone was trying to figure out what was going on. I got ahold of my dad on Elena's cell phone and he came over there to talk to the two... They then told my dad that I was doing stoppies on the Zuma with Connor on the back. When he tried to defend me (best way to put it [everyone knows its nearly inpossible to do stoppies on a Zuma, let along with two people on it!!]) they kicked him out also.

So, here I am missing the second practice of the day because two hire cops wanna show some autority that they think they deserve....

Lucky for me, Kevin Schwantz and I had become friends after meeting at Assen earlier this year, and with the help of him and Stuart Aitken-Cade, I was let back in the next day just in time for the morning practice.

In this session, I was not really thinking about riding so much as I was about pretty much just being mad...I wasnt thinking about being fastest or anything like that, I was just riding and trying to blow off some steam while doing it. Well this helped, because I came out of the session fastest with a '35.7. I was happy with this and was a little more confident going into the qualifying session later that day.

In the qualifier, I went out and immediatly began to turn fast laps, just looking for places where I could get more out of myself. I knew that it would be hard trying to get a faster laptime then PJ Jacobsen on his RS 125 which is a pretty good bit faster then mine, but this didnt slow me any. The whole session I was in a group of slower riders though, it seemed like they were everywhere! I would come in to get away from them and when I went back out there were more...I was trying to use them to my advantage and draft off of them when I could. I finally caught PJ on the next to last lap and tried to get a pull off him on the straight, but it didnt so much work when he shut the throttle off on me on the back stretch. I just went by him and finished the lap. Yet, my fastest lap ended up being a few laps earlier with a '34.706!! This time put me in 2nd behind PJ on grid which I was happy with. I was on front row atleast. Nobi Iso was third with a mid 35 and Elena completed the first row with a high 35. The race was going to be close but I knew that if I could be behind PJ on the back straight, then I could do the laptimes faster then his, maybe 33s. I knew that most of the time he had on me was mostly the horsepower he has, dont get me wrong, he is real fast, but I felt like on equal bikes, we would be much closer...

So on race day, I wanted to win soooo bad!! Just like everyone else I would assume though.

On the start I broke out with a decent start entering turn one in third behind Nobi and Elena who both got killer starts. I followed them for about a lap and a half and then made the pass on Elena, then Nobi just as the red flag came out due to a rider who fell in turns 10a-b. On the restart, it was almost a replay, Nobi, then Elena, then me, then PJ. I got by Elena quicker this lap and then passed Nobi and lead the last half of the first lap. Nobi got back by me and I made a real good move on him out of the esses entering turn 5. Then PJ drafted by me on the straight. I got back by him and started to ride just hard enough to stay in front but still save tires. Coming on to the last lap, I let PJ by coming out of turn 12. I knew that being in front of him on the back straight on the last lap was pretty much suicide and that he would have no problem drafting by me there. The whole race I was getting passed down the straight away but braking back by them in a killing effort into turn 10a. But they kept going deeper and deeper every lap and it was getting just as much harder to pass them as they did. So my plan was going right until we went entered turn one and PJ got by a lapper and I didnt. I passed the lapper and began to reel him back in, as soon as I caught him, another lapper began to held me up. Then entering turn 6 another one, but this one I stuffed the unnamed lapper in an effort to get back up to PJ before turn 7 so I could draft with him and pass him on the brakes like I have been. I was too far behind and lost it right there. I then noticed that he was getting held up though 10a-b. I kept running as hard as I could and almost caught him but was held up by a squirrel all the way over the hill and through turn 12. I was mad at first but then turned to an instant happy and proud of the way I rode, I congradulated PJ and then did a couple wheelies before coming back in.

So I didnt win, but I think I made a good impression this weekend!!

Thanks to Kevin Schwantz and Stuart Aitken-Cade for getting me back in!!
Also to the AMA for letting us come out and ride with them!!

summit point (sorry took so long)

This interesting weekend started by me, mom, and dad riding up with Daniele "Duzzi" Lenarduzzi because Hillis couldnt ride with him. Hillis is he mechanic and had a last minute emergency so we decided to go with him to save on gas and keep Duzzi company. The ride to the track was almost as adventourous as the actual racing part. We had two blowouts on the trailer, one forcing us to drive around Morristown for two hours looking for the place with the trailer tires and then looking for the interstate. The other leaving us using the real wore out spare to drive us the rest of the way in. So lets get to the fun parts now.

The next day was just a practice day. When we first got there and got through sign up, me, dad and Duzzi walked the track for a first time analysis and even ended up helping put out some air fence. That stuff is so heavy, it took all three of us plus someone else, just to pick up 30 foot folded up.

After we helped them and finished our walk, we went to get the bike ready for the first practice session. The first few session went well, just learning the track and (for the first time) trying to set up my suspension for the roughest track that I have ever been on. I love the bumps though from my motocross background. We finally got everything in range of being good, and I set a laptime about a half second off of PJ's. The next day was qualifying. I did ok but still struggled to qualify 5th in the 125 and 7th in the 250.

Sunday was the race. In the 125 race, I got a good start and even got beside PJ in the first turn (depsite his horsepower advantage over me) but ran wide giving him the position back. I never really let him and Nobi g0 until Scott Smallwood passed me entering turn one, that same lap a big crash happened in the last turn and caused a red flag.


On the restart, I started first row instead of second row (due to position when the redflag came out). Another good start put me inside of PJ again and this time making the pass stick! That is until he motored me through turn two. A few laps later, Scott passed me again entering turn one. I passed him back through the middle of turn three. The next lap, I tried entering turn one a little deeper. Scott still passed me, so I made the same move on him in turn three. This went on a few laps, every lap me going deeper on the brakes and he just kept passing me. That was until I went deep enough that when he did pass me, I let off the brakes just enough to edge my back tire right by his front tire, I was so scared that I was going to take him out when I made this pass. He squared up the inside of me, and motored out of the turn, forcing me to follow through the real open, blind sweeping turn two, only to make the pass through three again. Yet this time, he realized what I was going to do and waited a little bit to turn in, making my "all-b*lls" outside entering, inside exiting pass almost impossible (the track kinks to the opposite direction after the quick lay it in lefty). I squared him up and put it on the inside entering with much greater speed, I could feel the bike wanting to give up on me as I sat the bike up to go over the next downhill. The track kinks to the left just a little bit as it crest the hill but has an almost wide-open right hander at the bottom, so you can usaully come out of turn three on the outside bumpers as the track kinks right, and hold the line straight over the hill crest to keep the bike settled down and turning in a little later at the bottom of the hill. So anyways, as I crest the hill with Scott only leaving me inches of track, I felt the need to let turn the bike to the left a little bit and let it follow the trackto get enough room to pass him on the brakes aftr the right hander at the bottom of the hill for the next real tight left hander. When I did this, the front end lifted a few inches off the ground, turning the bars to the bar stops and scaring the bi-ejibbers out of me. I hung off the inside (right) of the bike and took my right foot off the peg trying to turn the bike away from the grass. When the front end rejoined the ground, the bike fell into the turn at the bottom of the hill and I never missed a beat (to scared too!!). I braked late and felt the back end bounce off the ground inside of Scott. When I got in the middle of the real slow, tight and slick left turn I thought, "Man, he has to be thinking 'This kid is crazy'". I thought that myabe he would leave me alone for a while and I could get back in grove to run away from him. Man was I wrong, just a few turns later (come out of the decresing radius left, over a very small mound type hill, drops into the tight yet short and quick left hander and transitions to a right almost the same up the hill to the last turn.) When I flipped from left to right on the transition, I was in front of him through the left and he just appeared right in front of me through the right. I had no idea he was going to pass, nor how he did, he had the slower line through a wide open turn and he somehow made it worked. I though all this while seeing sparks fly off his footpeg going up the hill. Entering the last turn, a drop off a little hill (and I mean a drop off too, the bike literally falls out from under you and once you catch it your on flat ground again), while clicking high gear for about a hundred feet, just before tapping the brakes to grab three downshifts, and opneing it wideopen only to almost run off the track while clicking fourth and entering the front straight away, but save yourself by using the outside bumpers as a berm. Any ways, while dropping off the hill, I saw that Scott got cought behind a few lappers, I fell down the hill and threw the bike inside as hard as I could, just hoping that the tires ould stick, I realized that he was probably either going to follow me through the turn inside of the lappers, only to attempt to draft past me or was going to run on the outside hugging the outside bumper berm to try to use momentum to drive by my. He ended up trying the first one, but it was to late. He got cought off gaurd when the lapper squeezed in bhind me not knowing that he was there, almost running off the track, he didnt give up. He held it open but never got close enough. I didnt realize it until I came out of the last turn that it was the last lap. I began to do these little back-and-fowards motion across the track to keep him from passing me, not knowing that he had fell back in the last turn to much to pass me. It was the gruliest, most hard worked for, brutale and painful (armpump) yet funnest races that I have ever raced. Atleast in a while.
After the podium time, weigh-ins and my dad fixing my broke pipe. I went out for the 250 race. This race was not near as exciting, I sat back and watched the race finishing 11th. A good weekend.

topeka

The first USGPRU race of the year was scheduled at Heartland Park Topeka in Topeka, Kansas. The 12 hour drive from our house was horrible! The only cool thing about the traveling part (which I usually find some way of having fun) was being able to witness the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri. It is enourmus, and really well crafted the way it is shaped. So anyway, We arrived in Topeka at around 2:30 in the morning (not sure how, I was asleep) and stayed in a motel for four hours. Friday morning started the race weekend with a planned practice round in the morning and a GTLights race (like the WERA Solo 20 race) for ccs. The problems started early though. I left my wallet at home with both of my expired WERA lisences, plus my FIM lisence was on the Dining room table. Ccs calls for "racing experience" to get a ccs lisence, which was all at home, so we had to call my brother Robbie back home, from work (thanks man) to go to my house to get all my lisence and than go back to work so he could fax them to the ccs people at the track. After this mess, we went inside and parked by Miles Thornton. We unloaded the truck, I got dressed and acually made the second round of practice (only four laps though). THe GTLights race would be my first real ride on the track to get to know it, and it ended up pouring down, which just made it that much harder for me to learn the track. I wound up coming in half through the race asking for tape on the radiator because the bike was running to cold, but my dad didnt have any, so I just went back out and finished the race anyways. Saturday was a little better of a day. Practice in the morning went OK. Qualifying killed my whole weekend pretty much though. I qualified 3rd row for the 125 race and second row for the 250 race (both USGPRU races). In the ccs 125 GP race on Saturday, I came from a good ways behind, only to catch Scott Smallwood at the last second to pass him only milimeters after the finish line. SUnday went pretty good. In the ccs 125 GP race, I had a great, strong battle going with Hayden Gillim (who has most deffinantly improved a bunch since last year). It was a really fun race, only with about 2 or 3 laps to go, he entered turn two to deep and tucked the fornt end on the brakes, givign me the win. A good way to start a day off in my opinion. The USGPRU 125 race was the best race of the weekend. I came from 3rd row on the start and fell in behind Hayden Gillim in fourth place entering the first turn. I worked past him and started reeling in PJ Jacobsen and Nobi Iso who was acually on an Aprilia 125 (so much motor in a straight line!!/Hayden was still on my tail). Once I caught Nobi and began to lose Hayden due to his tires giving out. My tires started to go out, they were sliding all over the place in every turn. My front tire has nothing left AT ALL!!! Nobi ended up motoring away on the front stretch to take second which left me with third. The podium thing is way cooler than any of the other podium things I have ever done. They an accual podium and a guy went by all of us with a microphone and interviewed us all. They had champange (for kids/it was acually like sparkling grape juice in a fancy bottle). The USGPRU 250 race was not near as good. My tires were so far gone that I couldnt keep up with myself really. I wanted to go much faster but my tires were holding me back. I ended up 6th in it. Miles had a bad weekend but maybe he will be back up to par this weekend at Barber for the WERA National race. See Ya.

I started this year off at the newly configurated Talladega Gran Prix for the first round with WERA all though I didnt stay for the whole weekend. I also had a test with the RedBull Rookie Cup a few days afterwards. We left for Talley Friday February 9th for a very wet/rainy, cold, and not so fun day. Not knowing it was going to be wet, we left my rain tires on the other wheels in my mom's car, who was driving down later. I only made one session and Nathaniel Parton and his cousin Zach Lewallen (who both went with me) made two. After heading to the motel that my mom had reserved and was waiting for us at, we decide to go eat supper at the Western Sizzlin' down the road. After a kind-of joke at my mom and Nathaniel saying that I wouldnt do it, I crawled into the trunk of my mom's Lexus to save on room in the car. When we finally arrive there, I make a decission to never do that again. After a delicious dinner, we head to Books-A-Million across the street to pick up the latest issue of RoadRacingWorld magazine to see my article in it. We then head back to the motel to hang out. The next day, we do our ussual "get up early, get ready for a day at the track, and go to Waffle House" routine. We show u pat the track and the sign up line is a mile long. While I am getting ready for my first Expert race, Nathaniel is getting ready for his first race off of his mini and on a real motorcycle, and Zach is getting ready for his first road race ever. Nathaniel later finds out that he dosent have to do rider's school and we both go out for the first practice. Setting in some decent laptimes still a few seconds off the leaders pace, I begin to wonder how hard this Expert race was going to be. After two rounds of practice, we all three go and check the grid, only to discover that I was starting last row for my class for the Light Weight Solo 20 Expert due to later sign-in. This is when I really start to wonder. Nathaniel was racing the Light Weight Solo 20 Novice on his 125, but ended up eixing a crank in his practice session. So he raced his ex-mini and Zach's new race bike, the KX 85. When I heard this, I thought this is going to be the funniest thing ever. A KX 85 racing against SV 650s and RS 125s and other bikes that just demolish this bike down the straight away. I told him htat I would give him atleast 5 foot when I passed lapped him...YEAH, like that was going to happen. So the race starts, I get a horrible start and start my journey to the front fo the pack. I worked real hard and on about lap 7, I catch a group that ended up being 2nd, 3rd and 4th. After working pass them all by lap 10 (half way/Paul Steven's dad later told me he timed me 10 seconds behind the leader at this point) I start really putting in some good laps. In practice, I got down ot a 1:12:281, in the race my fastest lap was a 1:06:318 turning 7 total 1:06s in the race. SO I am running the leader down fast and at the twisties before the white flag I run it up inside of him on the brakes and I feel the back-end squat into the turn and then the back tire lose a little bit of traction, as soon as I feel this, I put all my weight o nthe outside foot peg and rip the throttle pinned and sit up a bit. This shot me out of the turn but my being on the inside of John Walters (the leader) placed him right beside me heading for the white flag. Once I pass him and set it in to turn one, I rode super hard to stay in front of him, sliding the bike in every turn and having a blast doing it. It is amazing what you wont do with the bike in practice but as soon as you get the pressure and determination in the race, you will od just about what ever it takes. Coming out of the old Caresale, we catch a lapper witch really worked for me. You see, the inside of the track was un-ridable due to all the dust and track scrapings from the new pavement, so there is really only one line through it. At the end of the turn, it opens up and hits a kink which I guess makes it a double apex turn in a way. It is a real long sweeper with a kink after it into the new back straight. So anyways, I follow the lapper through the turn which forced Walters to follow me. Coming out of the turn, I crack the throttle real hard and run up the inside of this un-known lapper and Walters decide to split the lapper and go outside. When I ran it up the inside of him though, he saw me and moved over, right in front of Walters forcing him to slow down and go around him. But it was to late. I ran it down the straight away and into ht etwisties harde then I have the whole race. I then ran it down the new front straight and to the checkard flag. "I just won my first ever Expert raced I ever even raced" I thought! A celebration wheelie. a mini interview over the microphone, getting my winning earnings and saying bye to Nathaniel, Zach and Donald (Nathaniels dad) and we were off to the Atlanta Airport to head to Jerez for the test. What a good way to start off the year.