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I just clinched my first expert roadracing championship. It took me five years and an incredible effort to get it done, but it’s a most satisfying achievement.
The final race was a weird one with the rain stopping two hours before the start. The track was drying ever so slowly, and conditions were mixed. We more or less decided as a group that it would be safer to all go out on rains as people were still crashing a lot in 2 and 12. Well, with a big delay for synthetic oil cleanup in T12, the track fully dried while we were on the grid. As I cruised around for the warm-up lap, I thought, “this is going to be bad”. I’ve never ridden rains in the full dry and didn’t know what to expect.
I took a conservative first lap to check things out, but little Bruce Lyskawa was intent on taking advantage, so I had to put my head down and ride to the edge for a few laps. I eased it up to the point were the tires were just groaning under the cornering load and did a few laps at that pace. It was enough to break away, and I just managed the tires and watched the kids battle it out behind me.
It’s been a great season: I’m losing a great competitor in Eric Yoo, but we’ll be friends for a long time to come. His gesture to me before leaving for SF was to give me his KDX200. I’m sooo grateful to have been part of such a fine group of racers. Zack Courts, Tyler Henshaw, Brian Yoo, and this season The Bruce Group kids, Brent and Corey and their Incredible dads, Shane Narbonne and his dad Al, Alex Guilbeault and his dad. These people, along with my original crew of Tony Ianarelli, Chris Bruno, Ken Condon and Graham Pattison are truly some of the best people I’ve ever known. Big thanks to all of you! A special thanks goes to Tim Moore for his support over the years and all of the NESR list!
This last weekend, I pretty much just rode the bike while my wife Lisa did all the wrenching from jetting to top-ends. That was just plain awesome. Between Tyler and Manuel Zambrana, we’ve had some top shelf training in how to tune and wrench on these bikes. Speaking of Manuel, this guy is a living legend!!! He builds my motors, and inspires me to stay in the sport. At 63 he’s got more energy and enthusiasm for this bike than anyone I’ve ever met. His motor work approaches art. Every piece is hand shaped, lightened and balanced. This weekend with the cool air, the thing would just rev until I backed out of it. 14.5 and beyond!!! I was almost needing to change my shift points!!!
I could go on, but you get the idea… I’m STOKED!
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cheers 
