5-2-99 East Bend Speedway, East Bend, NC

Today I raced at one of my "practice" tracks, only about 15 miles from home. I had never actually raced here, except back in 83, when the track was nothing like it is today. The track is fairly short, with a supercross type layout. In the +30A, I got a good start, but got passed by 2 riders on the front straight after the start. I had never riden at race speed here, and it showed. I was running 4th, and was slightly off pace from the leaders. Scotty Shipley had a flat front tire, and he became an obstacle as he tried to keep his bike on the track. He darted in front of me on one of the doubles and I had to change direction in air to miss him, and cased the double, but saved it. I finished 3rd this moto.

The first +35 moto was a little easier, as I got off in 2nd and passed Chris Brewer on the second lap and led from there with ease.

The 2nd +30A moto was much like the first, except Sidney Williams was absent due to a mishap in a previous moto, and I hung in for 3rd place again. The combo gave me 2nd overall, and some work to do in the coming weeks to bring my speed up in the "supercross" type tracks. I have always been a natural terrain type person, I guess since I learned to ride when there was only motocross.

The 2nd +35 moto was more dramatic, as I pulled the holeshot, approached the 3rd turn still in the lead and slid down as I dove into the turn. I picked my bike up in disgust, kept the engine running and started out the shortened 2nd moto in 5th place and several seconds behind! I charged as hard as I could, and picked off places 4 and 3 in first lap. On the second lap I caught up to the leaders, Chris Brewer and Jay Hauser, and on the 3rd lap, passed them both for the lead! When I came around for the white flag, I was out front, and had a decent lead at the checkers.

+30A Results

+35 Results