Updated - 12/10/2005 - Shaun drones on and on and on about Mini O's....

To The Right Coast

 Ok so we get back from the trip to California, and I have exactly one week to get the truck ready for the Mini Olympics. Well, I would have had one week if Dave hadn’t decided to take the 18 wheeler from Glen Helen to Paris and ride all day. I heard he was the fastest over 30 novice rider there! Well needless to say it was a crazy week getting prepared for Florida. Our bikes didn’t come in from Honda, so we were scrambling trying to get some bikes for my new riders. John Starling bought some 85’s and was trying desperately to get them dialed in for Justin. Clyde Mays did the same for Brandon. Sean Hackley bought one 250F and we borrowed the others from some of my friends here in Houston, (Thanks Blake Revels!!!!). Terren O’Dell is also new to the team, we borrowed Zeb Smith’s bikes for this race. Zeb was hurt at the Branson race and would not be attending. (he will be better and railing again soon). The coolest thing about that is the boys are really good friends, Terren even ran Zeb’s number 63 at Florida. I thought that was super cool so I wanna send a shout out to Zeb and Terren, you boys are awesome.

The trip to Florida would start off ok with me following the 18 wheeler in my truck pulling my 44 foot trailer. My wife was following us cause she was going to spend Thanksgiving with my mom in Florida. So we are less then 100 miles out of Houston when Dave starts passing this greyhound bus. Just as he passes it he turns on his blinker and shoots across the 8 lanes and off the highway. There was nothing we could do but wave at him as we passed. 100 miles into our trip and Dave ditches us! I called him and said,” what’s up”? He say’s,”I Had my blinker on”. Whatever, at least we can’t get lost cause I know the way. Driving across east Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi was pretty wild. We were amazed at all the destruction from the recent hurricanes. There is no way to describe it, you just have to see it. There were people still living in tents everywhere, it was pretty sad.

I got a phone call from Eddie Ray, he was going to Davy Milsaps’s and wanted to know if Vann could go with them. I asked Vann if he wanted to go and he said,”Heck yes I do”! So Vann got to ride at Milsaps’s house while we continued driving.

We get to Florida and Dave actually passed us. He called us somewhere around Gainesville, and said,” He was needin some fuel”. Just as we caught him, he gets off the highway and just turns right down some two lane road, thinking……..I don’t know what the heck he was thinking but I know he was kinda trippin when he had to turn that big-o truck around in somebody’s front yard. AND he never got any fuel! We got to the track and got everything parked. Then we went to town to do some grocery shopping and eat some lunch. The lunch thing went fairly well, we went to the Pubix to shop. Dave, Josh and I were at the deli getting some lunch meat when this older gentleman walks up next to me. All the sudden this hideous, nasty smell just started burning our noses like ammonia. Dave and Josh all run off laughing and pointing at me. The old guy is just standing there, looking all confused; I guess he was used to his own farts. Then Dave just runs off with the cart, I mean he was running up and down the isles and laughing like he had just watched the Dave Chappelle show. Josh and I are left trying to get our stuff and carry it in our arms. Dave runs by the end of the isle laughing all the way. I didn’t know three grown men could have so much fun in the grocery story.

Back at the track, we got all set up and then we all walked the tracks. The supercross track was awesome, a little more mellow then years past, but the whoops were huge. The motocross track was basically the same but the giant step up known as the elevator was gone. It was now a smaller step up. That was pretty cool cause a bunch of kids wrecked there before.

Everything was set up and really practice did not start until Monday so that meant we had a day to kill before everything got wild. Eddie and Jessica were there (the motocross version of Nick and Jessica on the Newlyweds), so we loaded up the truck and went to a supermoto slash go kart track. We also met a friend of Eddie’s who’s name was Brandon, I guess these guys had raced supermoto before, cause the first thing Brandon said was,”It don’t even hurt when you crash”. We got there and got all suited up, he was in all leather, and I was in my Troy Lee designs motocross gear. After a couple of laps, I started to kinda get the hang of it. At first I wasn’t even taking my feet off the pegs. So I slowed up some so that Brandon would lap me and I could take some lessons by watching him. He passed me and sure enough I started getting my feet off the pegs and even sliding it a little into the corners. The pace was getting a little faster, and then faster, and then Brandon throws er down like a dirty rag and wads it up right in front of me! I thrust my hands up in victory and did my cool down lap proclaiming, I am the champ! Then I asked him if it hurt now. Josh did like a million laps and was really starting to get the hang of it. He was really pitching it into the corners. Then it starts sprinkling a little. He comes into the corner right where we are standing, pitches it in there and runs right of the track and into the grass. He slid across the grass and catches the run off road, that some how stood him back up. Narrowly escaping a big Brandon like crash. He turned right into the pits and was done for a while.

Then the go karts came out Vann was in the first wave, he was so slow. He got lapped on his third lap. I stood on the side of the track with my hands above my head like an angry mini dad. Finally he comes in and I ask him,” What’s up, you look like a girl not wanting to get dirty at a mud wrestling contest”. He says,”I had it floored”! After further inspection we found out that he couldn’t reach the pedals. We fixed him up with a pillow and he did much better.

Now the big boys go out. It was Eddie, Jessica, Brandon and my self. Josh was scared cause he was hooked on the super retard thing and it was raining a little. Now these we not your average go karts, these things were pretty fast. We traded the lead a bunch of times and we went of the track a bunch. Jessica went so far off the track, she was in the grass. I was cutting one corner and the dirt would fly over my head like a cloud, nobody behind me could see! When we were done, Eddie told Josh, ”If yer gonna go out there again, be careful cause there is dirt and rocks all over the track”! Josh walked back to the truck all bummed out and changed his clothes.

Practice was on Monday. At these nationals you get very little time on the track. Usually three or four laps is all you get. Vann and I have been talking about it a bunch. He went out and by the second lap jumped everything. I was stoked, as was he.

The supercross races were going so fast, we were late for Vann’s first race and didn’t get to draw a spoon, he had to start all the way on the outside. We weren’t late for the next one. All our riders were doing very well Justin Starling, Brandon Mays, Tyler Bowers, Terren O’Dell, Adam Chatfield, Ashley Fiolek, Jase Lewis, Ronny Jackson, Sean Hackley all qualified for their mains up front. The track builders did their best to make the track safe. In one section there was a small triple, a tabletop, and then another tabletop right after that. Well somebody jumped from one tabletop to the other making one huge jump. It was insane, and once one kid did it, a bunch more did it. Jase Lewis was the first victim, he was leading his race when he came up a little short and got thrown over the bars breaking his collar bone. Next, Tyler Bowers was leading the four stroke class when he jumped it in lapped traffic. He tried to correct so as not to land on another rider and landed on the side of the jump. It was one of the scariest crashes I have seen. He was knocked out for a long time. He finally came to, and they flew him out of there in a helicopter. Turns out he only had a bruised spleen, but he was very lucky.

Then just as I thought things couldn’t get much worse, Sean Hackley wrecks on like the second lap of his race. He was in about 5^th or 6^th and he wrecked in the whoops. He was ok and crawling of the track so he wouldn’t get run over. A flagger was in front of him when another rider ran off the track hitting the flagger and Sean, breaking his collar bone.

Geeze two days into it and three of my best riders hurt. Ok now for one of the funniest things I have seen all week. Jimmy Albertson was in around 4^th or 5^th and charging. He went through the whoops and I guess missed his brakes sending him over the berm and right into a photographer. He hit the guy square on knocking him out of his shoes, and his pants. Jimmy scrambled back to his bike as fast as he could, leaving the guy standing there with his camera in his boxers. All I could think was, I hope he got the shot!

Everything was going a lot better with our 85cc riders! Terren O’Dell was tearin it up. This was his first ride on the Honda’s and they were borrowed on top of that. Josh spent a bunch of time on the bikes, including splitting the cases on one just because it looked like it needed it. He ended up putting new bearings in it plus a top end. Then Terren went on to win the Supermini class on that bike, both supercross and motocross. That was way cool!

Brandon Mays was at the front all week as was Justin Starling. Vann struggled with starts. He never drew below a 25 spoon. He did holeshot and led most of the 85cc 7-11 stock consi in supercross. He was passed on the last lap, but ended up second. Good enough to get in the show. He is still learning.

The motocross all went good again for Terren, Brandon, and Justin. Terren won two Classes.  Brandon ended up third in both his classes. Justin got a couple bad starts in his finals and crashed a couple times. He is a great rider with a big heart, so I am sure he with turn it all around. Adam Chatfield was riding awesome. He won the first four stroke moto. But in the second he started in about third. They were going through the S turns right before the drop off, when the guy in second crashes. Adam ran right into his bike, between the rear wheel and the fender, and got stuck. The other 30 or 35 riders behind him started pilling up like a train running into a brick wall. He never fell, but he just started getting deeper and deeper in the pile. They finally got freed up and Adam did the best he could but only mustered like a 12^th.

I was really stoked for all my guys at Florida. Looks like, this is going to be one of our best years. We have some great riders and some great families.

Now we get to go home!

Oh yea, I am on my way to Arizona for a week.

But that will be another story. All I can say is…….. HARD ON EQUIPMENT!

Updated - 11/17/2005 - Shaun summarizes the vet nationals....

Third Coast to West Coast

Once a year we here at Honda of Houston put together a trip that is just for all out fun and we invite every single old guy we know to have some fun with us. We actually do this every weekend, but this time we loaded them up in our truck and took them across the country. This is the 21^st annual White Brothers World Vet Championship, held at Glen Helen in San Bernardino, California. 22 riders over the age of thirty accepted the invite, so we loaded up the truck and headed to Beverly, hills that is, swimming pools, movie stars.

This is my story and you can take for what you want but most of it really happened.

We left Houston and it was Naveen (factory mechanic for Josh Grant), Dave (factory truck driver for Honda of Houston), and myself (factory uuh other truck driver?). As we headed across the country we were making some pretty good time, even though Dave has to potty every 20 minutes. He must drink two gallons of water an hour! We stopped to get the truck washed and heard the same old story from a truck driver, about how he used to have a CB 350 and he flipped it over backward at 160 miles an hour. Then as we were standing there a couple of truckers were working on the lights on his truck. I noticed that the trailer number was 21, so Naveen distracted the drivers while I cleaned off a spot and stuck one of my number plate stickers on the truck. We got the truck cleaned and then headed straight to a dirt road leading to my good friend Bobby White’s track in Phoenix, Arizona.

Arizona Cycle Park is located in a pit in the middle of the desert with a prison right next to it. We got there and checked out the place and then went straight to watering so we could throw down a couple motos first thing in the morning. Being the expert level water truck operator that I am, it took me 20 minutes to fill the truck, and exactly 6 minutes to get it stuck! Hard on equipment is my nickname and I live up to it every chance I get!

We get up in the morning and Bobby got the track all worked in for us, Dave bounced off the end of every jump and cased every double so we could see how the track went. Then we all threw down. After a couple of motos, I asked Bobby to show us around. He suggested a “TRAIL RIDE”.

We gassed up and headed off into the desert. First we went down a sand wash that was so deep that you had the bike pinned the whole time. If you stopped, you had to paddle to get going again. Then Bobby just started going across the desert, around bushes, around cactus, though ditches, up hills, but the only trails I saw were the ones he was making. We would go though these sand washes and up the other side. Dave makes it about to the top and falls over as does Naveen. I stopped and yelled, “ Carry some speed”, as I laughed. We went probably about thirty minutes and stopped and talked and I asked, “is there any caves around?”. Dave gets this big freaked out look on his face and says,” That is exactly what you said three years ago when we were here, and we never found no stinking cave then and we ain’t gonna find one now!” So we rode around for a while till Bobby points over to a hill we all looked but didn’t see nothing but rocks and cactus. We finally get back to the truck and boy, were we thirsty, but, Dave refrained from drinking the cooler water.

Next stop Glen Helen!

I take Dave to the airport, and continue on with my world tour. I am leaving the airport, when this black truck kinda stuffs me as we go to get on the freeway. After he passed me he slowed down and I am like whathaheck, I am figuring some crazed California road warrior, with a huge amount of road rage is fixin to get me. So I floor it so I can get by him real fast, as I pass he rolls down his window. Now I am kinda freakin! Then he speeds up and waves at me,(with most of his fingers), it is Chris Nihan driving Josh Grant’s new truck. Go figure, drive across the country and first thing I do is run into a friend on the freeway.

On with my tour! First stop Troy Lee Designs. I get there and meet up with Lotus and Bob Weber. Get a quick tour of the race shop and the building. The place is super cool. Then Lotus hooks me up with some new gear and casuals. (Thanks Guys!) Next stop, Factory Connection. Naveen is there and shows me around. I ask where Jake Wiemer is cause I haven’t seen him since he got his factory ride. Naveen says he is out at the test track and asked if I wanted to go. Heck yes I do, in my best Napoleon Dynamite impression. Off we went but first we are going to meet Josh and his Dad (Mike) for lunch. We get on the freeway for a quick twenty minute drive, (everything is twenty minutes), as soon as we get on the freeway some lady is giving us a friendly wave, but she is only using one finger and she is really red in the face and looks like she is calling some of my family members. California is so friendly!

Lunch with Josh is cool but he is in a hurry to go to court for a burnout he did in his truck last time I was here. Ha! As Josh says,”you wrote the book, I just read it”. I never told him to do a big nasty burnout in front 5-0.

Off to the test track to see some of the guys. Only we get there and everyone is gone. Dang it! All the factory test tracks are within shouting distance apart so we checked them all out. Somehow I kinda lost control of my truck and we ended up doing two complete circles in the KTM parking lot, at full throttle. Man was it dusty!

The next day Josh and Nick get there and we get everything set up, cause tomorrow is Thursday practice. The whole gang starts showing up on Thursday morning and getting ready for some fun in the sun. This year they turned the track around cause they said they did not want the locals to have an advantage. Bull hockey! The track is the same no matter which direction it is going! I tried real hard to get my bike set up and felt pretty good. Trent Pugmire, (COWBOY) showed up and played with me some. No really, he played with me passing me at will. I did feel pretty good, but this ain’t Kansas anymore, and it ain’t no place like home. That track gets beat!

We all jumped in rental cars and then started going all over town. No really we went in every mall, strip center, gas station, and flower store trying to find a Mexican restaurant. It was really fun cause there was 4 cars and nobody really knew where we were going. We finally found one and only lost Vern Patterson in the process.

Then we all decided we would go to the cart track. This place was so cool, the carts are electric and super fast. The track is all about motocross, Jeremy McGrath is part owner and I would recommend it to anyone in town. So Josh and I get into a heated battle when I spun out and he hit me wide open, jarring a couple fillings in my teeth loose. We get going and start battling again but do to the obvious weight difference he was trying to get around but I was driving wide. We are going down the back straight and all the sudden my cart slows to a crawl. I figure great I blew up something else (hard on equipment) but it was the guy in control shutting me down so Josh could pass. Man what fun, Josh got the overall, Nick got second, and I ended up fourth. When we left, Mark Gerloff was driving, I was shotgun, John Mitchell and Scotty Black in back seat of our rental Expedition. We came up to a big jump in the road and with a little encouragement, Mark kept er floored. All four wheels were off the ground, John and Scotty hit the ceiling, and John’s hat went out the window. Good thing we got the insurance! We were laughing so hard, I think I saw milk coming out of Scotty’s nose.

The next day was a vet only practice. They did not do much to the track, and it was even rougher than the day before. We did not ride much, trying to save some energy for the party tonight.

This is the forth or fifth time that we have had this party at this place. I still don’t think they expected US. There were 26 of us at the Castaway for dinner and cocktails. I really don’t think it has ever been that loud at that place before. It all came to a head when Micky threw a half a lemon as hard as he could making a direct hit right in Mike Clements neck! The place was like a high school football game when the home team scores a home run.

The next day racing started, I never really got in a groove and you could hear a loud sucking noise whenever I was on the track. It was really bummer cause Josh Grant and Trent Pugmire came out to watch me, and Naveen spent a lot of time on my bike. Sometimes it just is what it is. A bunch of the guys did well. Mark Gerloff won his class, Josh was in the top five, as was Nick. The track was even rougher today. It was like riding over washing machines, with flat tires, while your wife beats you on the neck with a thorn bush.

The next day it was even rougher. All the same guys did good except for Josh. He threw it away on the first lap. The over 30 pro race was awesome. Ryan Hughes is amazing. It is hard to imagine that Ricky goes that much faster. One of out Texas locals, Austin Squires came out and he scored third overall. There had to of been twenty or so Texans all cheering for him every time he came around.

We loaded everything up and said goodbye to Naveen, Mike Grant, and Glen Helen till next time

Now was time for the long trip home, but at least I had some help Josh and Nick helped me drive home and we made it in exactly 24 hours. Even though Nick don’t know how to drive!

Shaun Martin – HHR race team manager summarizes our yearly pilgrimage to Ponca and Loretta Lynn’s.

Bring the Heat

Here it is late July and to say it is hot in Houston would be an understatement. It is so hot and humid here that even the mosquitoes are staying inside. It has been raining most every day here to add to the humidity. It should be perfect training for Ponca and Loretta’s, but more on that later. One of our 80 riders has been here for about two weeks getting ready. Taylor Robert came out and rode with us at our practice facility, Three Palms. It is a great place to practice for Loretta’s because it is usually pretty rutted and always moist. We even got in some practice in the rain, which resulted in a BIG get off for the team manager. But I got up and brushed it off with an.” I’m ok, I’m ok”.

I just took delivery of the new Honda of Houston / Martin house on the Thursday before we left for our moto vacation, (we left on Friday). This 44 foot custom TURN KEY TRAILERS built rig will be our home for the next two weeks. This is the first time that I have pulled anything so big and it will be a learning experience. The first obstacle is going to be getting fuel. I tackled that like a pro and no scratches or dents at this time. Then came a truck stop to get something to eat, I am feeling pretty confident at this time due to the extensive 6 hours under my belt. So remembering some wise words from Dave (avoid backing) I whip into a parking spot on the end. We enjoy our meal and come out to get back underway. I start my turn around to get out of the parking lot, looking way ahead top eye where I am going. All I hear is a big pop and some crunching as the front of the trailer comes into contact with the back of my just out of the body shop from the last two vehicle get together truck. I got out to inspect the damage and came to the conclusion that this truck is going to be full of Bondo, by the time I am done with it.

The rest of the trip to Ponca was uneventful, as no more vehicles were damaged, (yet).

This is my first time as a full on R.V.er so we went to Wal-Mart and spent almost a grand getting all the stuff we needed. Also we got to see all the crazy Wal-Mart gang going off, complete with a full on race on electric motorcycles in the store. Greg and I got everything set up and got ready for the parking nightmare that is Ponca City.

The week at Ponca was all over the place, first it looked like we were going to get hit with one of those severe Oklahoma turd floaters. But instead it was just real windy and then the temperature dropped to an amazingly low. For a couple of days the high was around 80 degrees and the humidity was about 10 percent. So much for the heat training at home.

Trent Pugmire came to Ponca hoping for some national championships. He definitely has the skills. He ran up front all week and was able to match the leaders pace, but came up a little short each time. He was able to pull through with a couple of seconds. I totally believe in Trent, and I can’t wait for him to get on big bikes, he is going to really shine. I think he is on the right path; he just needs to keep believing in himself, the results he wants are right in front of him.

Zeb Smith surprised a bunch of people. He consistently got good starts and rode super hard. Zeb is trying so hard right now that he makes a few mistakes and sometimes that leads to falling. He is super aggressive and really wants to do well. A little maturity and he will be hard to beat; he is growing up so fast! He also was top ten in all of his races.

Taylor Robert is another rider that will excel on the big bikes. He gets good starts and tries really hard. The difference between him and the winner is measured in milliseconds. He has a great program and just needs to keep putting in the work, the reward is winning. He was only out of the top five in one race.

Jared Partridge comes from a long family history of racers. He is following the right path. He needs a little more confidence and he will become a threat. He gets the starts and is able to put together some good laps. He needs to believe that he belongs in the front and then lay the pipe. He is a great rider and has great equipment. I look for Jared to spend a bunch of time at the front of the pack in the very near future. He was top ten all week.

Adam Chatfield dislocated his shoulder the week before Ponca. I told him to just show up and ride practice and see how that goes. He wore two EVS shoulder braces and soldiered though. A hard trainer and a great rider. He needs to get his bikes sorted out before we get to the races. He did more than just show up, he ran in the top five all week, and that pro class was stacked.

Cory Green is turning heads everywhere he goes. Always at the front, at the start, and at the finish. Cory is super young, only 15. But he is maturing everyday. He is gaining valuable experience every race and he is able to put that to work. He is a super smart rider. We need to work on his off the track visibility. He was top five all week also.

All in all we had a good week, everybody is healthy for next week and we scored a bunch of top tens.

On to Loretta’s for another fun filled week of racing in the heat. I don’t think we are going to be treated to the same weather as Ponca City, but I have been wrong once or twice before. We had us a convoy, with the Pugmire’s, and Ryan Eppers rig following us to Loretta’s. We were rolling along like a bunch of truckers on amphetamines. Except for Greg, he was snoring and rattling all the bugs off the windshield. With our eyes wide open and one motor home right behind the other, all the sudden I was passed by a couple of guys in a Mustang at a high rate of speed. On my right I could see a couple of cars on the shoulder up ahead. I was pretty close behind two 18 wheelers, then all I saw was brake lights and smoke. With my cat like reflexes, I dove my nimble 52-foot rig in the half a lane between the cars on the side of the road and the stopped big rig. As the smoke cleared we passed the 18 wheeler with the mustang passenger door about 10 inches from the headlights of the first 18 wheeler. The guys in the car looked like a couple of deer being hunted down by beer drinking rednecks with a really bright light on a Saturday night. Then right after that we honked as we passed the Lemoine’s on the side of the road. We have been stuck on the side of the road before and I guess that is what you are supposed to do when you see a fellow motocrosser in distress, cause that is what always happens to us. Seems they were trying to save some money by putting regular unleaded in their truck. This would have been ok, if it was not a diesel.

Josh and Mark left Houston at about the same time that we left Ponca. Usually when we leave at the same time, we meet at the ranch at the same time. We arrived at The Dude Ranch and thanks to the Racer X crew and Tim Cotter, we got a sweet spot on the hill. If you have never been there, it is about 10 to 15 degrees cooler on the hill. That does not mean it’s not hot, just less hot. Still, no Josh or Mark. We got our trailer all leveled and ready for the week. Due to the fact that we are new R.V.ers it took a while, but no causalities. Then we went down and got the truck all set up. Still, no Josh or Mark. Then we went to Wal-Mart, I think that is a necessity everywhere we go, cause it seems like we spent about 20 percent of our time at Wal-Mart. Boy, that would be a good sponsor to have.

So Josh and Mark finally show up and it takes them 20 hours to go 800 miles. That makes their average 40 miles an hour. So as soon as they get there, it seems that everything I set up was all wrong. So we unleveled the 44 ft trailer and moved it 3 feet. Then we settled in for a week of camping.

The week at Loretta’s was fun as usual there is always a bunch going on. My youngest son (5) grew up so much; I think he is 8 now, or at least thinks he is. He is a full on motocross kid byproduct.

Jessica Patterson had a rough week leading up to Loretta’s. She was trying to qualify for a 250 pro national and ended up on her head, or her shoulder to be exact. She did not even know if she was going to ride. But being the true soldier that she is she ended up riding and winning the first and third motos. The second moto is where it all went haywire. It was first thing in the morning and the track was a little slick. She rode tight the whole moto and ended up falling two laps from the end. Then as she picked up her bike, she was nailed from behind by a lapper. Then it took her 8 thousand kicks to get the bike started. She ended up 9^th in that moto. She is still the fastest women in the world, I promise.

Adam Chatfield was solid all week. He was in the top five in most every race. He also hurt his shoulder two weeks before this race; he is a pretty tough English fella. I think he needs to work on his bike set up more before the race. We need to try and get his 250F to be a little faster. The kid really wants to do good.

Wil Hahn is a freakin fast little brother. Tommy has been riding with Wil a lot lately and it shows. This time Tommy worked on Wil’s bikes and it was a hoot to have him around. Will would have been top five in all of his races but he fell in his second moto of 125 B mod and got a 16^th. In one of his 250 B mod motos, he fell and then someone landed on him. Then he got up, straightened his levers and started passing 450’s like a bean burrito you get at a taco stand in the ghetto. He worked all the back up to 3^rd in that moto. Man it was beautiful. Riding the 250 two stroke was a great decision, that is a very good bike, and it fits him well.

Trent Pugmire was riding super well. He missed most of the year because of injuries, but he never lets that slow him down. He made a few mistakes in the 85 class, but he never gave up. He is a little big on the little wheel but fits the super mini well. He put the big wheel on the podium in every race. He is done with 85’s; he went home with a 1-2-5. Look out youth class the “COWBOY” is gonna be kickin up some dirt.

Cory Green just never really got a good start until the end of the week. He still managed a 5^th in the 125 A class. The kid has mad skills and just turned 16, He is super young and determined to make it. I think he just needs a little more maturity and he will be winning that class.

Eddie Ray was all over the place. I think that his class (+30) is probably one of the closest classes out there. In his first moto, Eddie started in like 32 place and worked his way up to 5^th. He never really found that intensity again. He works really hard on Jessica’s program and I know that has to be in his head all the time.

Jase Lewis had to be one of the biggest surprises of the week. But not to me, I knew Jase had it, he just needed a few cards to play his way and they did. He won with a 3-2-1 and that just means he got better as the week went on. Now he needs to focus on making it happen earlier. Jase and I made a bet that if he won I would shave my head, but if he didn’t he would have to shave his……. I look kinda weird bald!

What a week, it never cooled down, and it only rained a little on the first day of practice. But one day they had 4 inches of rain less than 2 miles away. And as soon as we left it rained like a one legged cow in a room full of rocking chairs on a flat rock.

Josh and Mark made it home a lot faster; in fact, they left me in the dust. Heck they were almost home when my truck broke down in the back woods of Louisiana. But they did catch up to the 18-wheeler when the driver ran over something in the middle of the road and blew out 3 tires.

IT IS ALWAYS A TEST, SO YOU BETTER STUDY!