Riders meeting came and went and I got ready for the first practice. Went out and just rolled around the track. Came in, checked things and went out for the second session and again just rolled around the TT course. Was missing shift points and getting passed everywhere. That even happened in my first heat race where I finished a lowly fifth in the 40+ class. Not where I should be here. So I sat down in my chair and yelled at myself! I had to get my head in the game or this was going to be a long ugly weekend. Racing by yourself (at least for me) is not as fun as having your friends with you. There is nobody to cheer, congratulate, help, watch or tell you how you are doing. Nobody in the pits when you get there, nothing. Just you. So it takes a different mindset and I had to get my head there. Went out for my second heat race and the little chat must have worked as I took my first win of the weekend. OK, doing better. 

Out for the 40+ main, Vince Holt chose the outside to start, giving me the inside. I got a decent start and was third into turn one behind Vince and Ryan Fisher on an ex-Tommy Hayden YZF450 racer with Kawasaki decals! I ran right behind Ryan for the entire race pushing and looking for a way around and could not find it. Coming out of the infield and onto turn three for the run to the checkers, I was once again going to try and get under him and out drive him to the flag. Midway through the corner all was going to plan when all the sudden I see his hand come off the bars and kind of wave me by or something. I had no idea if he was putting his hand up because of a problem or what so I checked up on the throttle a bit and my foot knocked the shifter between gears! Just as quickly I realized everything was OK, banged it into gear and ran off to the flag for a second behind Vince.

I found out later that James Torpey was on my tail and preparing to follow me around Ryan and just about put track marks up my back when I checked up. Thankfully he managed to keep it under control and nobody crashed. It was Vince, myself, Ryan and then Torpey at the line. That was more like it.

The next race was the Evolution class, or as it says on the sign up board, the TT500 class! Even though there was only one other TT in the race tonight. There was a Honda and a Kawasaki two-stroke in with us though. I had the pole and took the low and inside position. Now, I like starting from the inside at Da Rock. If you read Joe Kopp's article about the Castle Rock Nationals, he says that he spun down there on both starts he had there, and it cost him, but I like it. It seems to work well for me. I got a great launch and was gone. Never saw anybody and had a nice healthy lead at the checkered flag.

It still amazes me the difference in the time-warp continuum when you are leading a race. When I am leading, every time I go by the flagman I wonder why he is not waving that damn white flag. I swear he sees me in the front and the race goes from 6 laps to 20! I go into turn three and get midway around the corner and am looking ahead at the straight and the flag guy is sitting in the infield with a beer or something, just letting a few extra laps go. I don't know if he thinks I like being out front, so he'll let me stay there and enjoy myself for a bit or what. Maybe he thinks he is doing me a favor, I don't know. 

Perhaps he is buddies with the guy in second or third place and is giving them a few extra laps to try and catch me. Thinks I'll wear down or run out of fuel or something. I just know that when I am out front, races go on forever. When the white flag, signaling just one more lap, finally does fly, it is like heaven. Then I know I have just four more corners and I am done. Whew.

On the flip side of this coin is the race where I am not leading and wanting every lap I can get so that I can move up a position or two. Maybe the guy in front of me will get tired and slow down, or run out of fuel or his bike will break or something. Anything to move me up in position. Then it seems like he throws the white flag after about three laps! I look at him and in my mind ask him what in the hell does he think he is doing? I raced half-an-hour ago and you let us go for 20 minutes when I was leading. Now, I am not doing so good and you throw the white flag after just three laps? What is wrong with you? (This ranting means no disrespect to flaggers and the wonderful job they do by the way. This is just what it seems like to me while on the track.)

So Saturday night was in the bag and I had a second in the 40+ class and a first in the Evolution class. Some cheap plastic to add to my bling collection at home. I am still new enough to this winning thing that I like the trophies! Maybe someday I will have a yard sale and you will see them all on the lawn with a 50 cent sticker on them, but for now, I like collecting them, putting them on my shelf. 

Chatted in the pits with a nice couple who admired the bike and wanted to talk flat track. A cold beer in my hand and I was content to relax and bench race with them. Once they left, I made my bed, moved the canopy over the truck to keep the moisture off me and went to bed. Took no time at all to fall asleep under the stars at Castle Rock.

SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY! Remember the scene in Turner and Hooch with Tom Hanks, where the dog is tearing up the house and he kicks the ball which turns on the radio and that comes blaring out of the speakers? Well I love that scene. So here it is Sunday morning and it is all foggy. If you are not lucky enough to have visited this historic race track, you have to understand it is about 100 feet to the Cowlitz river, so it is often foggy in the mornings. It may have started out that way, but you knew it would not last. The fog can burn off here in minutes. You can step into a porta-john and step out and there is nothing but blue sky. Soon enough the fog burned off and the sun started to beat down. It was going to be a fantastic day for racing.

There was just one practice session as they did not think that the track would hold up in the heat with a lot of traffic, so they cut practice down and lowered the number of laps for each event. The beast was running great and I went back to the pits to check things over again. When I lubed the chain and spun the rear wheel, I could here a tink-tink-tink noise. When I looked, there were two broken spokes and another cracked at the head that was going to let go any second. Uh-oh. This had me worried. Like I said, I had checked all of them the day before and they were fine. 

First heat was 40+ again with myself and Vince, James Torpey and Lawrence Morris. Vince got the holeshot and I was right behind him. James was behind me for two or three laps before getting around me and holding second to the flag. Fairly uneventful race except that James was NOT on his usual KX250 two-stroke. He was on an older Honda framer. I must say I never did get a chance to see what kind of motor it was.

Then I was in my pits getting my jacket on when Amy Pruczinski yelled that it was my race!! I yelled for her to let them know I was coming when I heard everybody take off on the start. I have not missed a race in a long time. Actually it did not bother me that much as I was worried about the rear wheel self-destroying. It was only my Evolution class which I was not too worried about as there were only three of us anyway. 

Here we are on the line for the 40+ Main Event. Morris was on the bottom of the track, then me, then Vince and finally James at the top. Green light goes on and I get a really good start. Coming out of two, I could see Vince trying to stick a wheel around the outside of me and I just thought to myself that if he was going to get first from me he was going to have to work for it and I screwed it on coming out of the corner and I never saw that wheel again. 

Two laps into the race, the red flag flies. James had slid out in turn one and he bike was not in great shape. This is the second time this month that I have been red-flagged while leading and I don't like it! Once you are out there, you really don't want to go back to the start line. We lined up and they told us we had to wait for the two-minute rule to let James back out if he could. We were surprised when the gate opened and he rode out on Tim Rickett's CRF450!! You cannot change bikes in the middle of a race. Vince and I looked back and forth at each other and knew it would be something that would be taken care of later. James was back on the penalty line because he caused the red flag. Green light and it was the same story, I got the holeshot with Vince looking at the outside and me not letting him have it. 

Life was good out front for a couple of laps until James came under me in turn four and then took me up to the wall. He was out of control! His foot was off the peg and he was doing all he could to stay out of me with no success. He passed me and I slid in behind him going into one. He was totally over his head and slid up off the groove and out to the marbles where he lost a lot of time. I went back by him on the bottom and never looked back! It was great. The safety flagman in turn four would throw me a signal now and then letting me know that I had a good lead and it was great. (Thanks Arnold!) When I got the checkered flag I was on the pegs with my fist in the air. I looked back and Vince was just coming out of four. It felt great!!!

Between races, Vince came over to my pit and told me how well I had ridden. He said that after he got by Torpey, he tried to reel me in but could not do it. He said I was still pulling away a bit. Needless to say, this guy is the class act of the century. What a nice thing to hear from a guy that is so fast. It was a goal of mine at the beginning of the season to beat Vince once, and now I had done it twice. I was blessed and I knew my Mom was watching me and helping a bit here and there.

The last race of the weekend was my Evolution race with Blevins and Cody Shipley, AND Vince Holt and the 50+ class! Seems the two classes were small, so they combined us! Mom was really keeping an eye out for me this incredible day. Another great start on the inside and a peek at Vince's wheel and that was all she wrote. Wire to wire again for my third first place win of the weekend! 

For those that don't know, my Mom died very suddenly a few years ago and I miss her a lot as she was a really good friend of mine and always supported my love of motorcycles. I was just getting back into them when she passed and it always makes me sad that she never got to see me race as an adult. When I got back to the pits, there were tears of joy staining my cheeks. I knelt and thanked her for everything. Then I stood and screamed! 

So, a nice trip home and life was all good. My deepest thanks again to Jeff Homolka at ProCycle.us for helping me with every aspect of my racing. The world does not know a finer human being. I would also like to thank his wife Susan for sharing him so many nights when I have him at the shop late working on the bike.