The race for me started Thursday when I began preparations for the race - last minute style! New old trailer needed tires, bearings, & lights. At least the floor is still good enough. Between washing the Indianola mud off the quad, getting it prepped, and getting the trailer set we left about 4 hours late; 12:30pm Fridaywe pulled out of Burlington with every intention of having left 8-9am. O well. 400 mile drive got us to the track. Was able to locate the Missouri bunch - a random face at one end of the campground knew exactly where Geogeorge was camping at the other end! That was handy information. Anyway, I also found out that a conversion van makes a handy camper for a small crowd of 2 1/2. My 7 month pregnant wife said the baby was still rockin and rollin long after the bumpy ride through the campground subsided. (we took a couple laps before we finally found our friends!)

The race? Not much to say except my hopes of having the pro class call me up were dashed fairly early in the race. You folks that frequent the IATVHSS site know all about my skid plate whining, ranting, and complaining. It was terrible I couldn't climb anything in the main groove - had to shift over and have 2 tires in the middle and 2 tires off of one side of the main track - and if the rear slid into the grooves - STUCK AGAIN! Got old fast. I only flipped it once - in the bottom of a muddy creek naturally. Used the next 2 bottle necks to straighten out my bars! Anyway. I had previously stated that there was no way I was coming back to that place but I do retract that statement. I think with the proper hardware under the quad I could have done a much more respectable job of representing my family name. I don't think the course was overly tough or ridiculously hazardous. Some spots you just have to take your time but nothing was really impassable I though. I wasn't even tired after the race. So little time was actually spent actually racing that I didn't get a proper workout in. Too much time getting the back end to a tractionable location. No soreness whatsoever. I do remember that I was screaming mad every time I got stuck, which was a lot. I obviously didn't finish well, 160th overall in the morning & 19th in Novice C 29+

But I will try it again.

To the rest of you:
I hope all your injuries heal quickly, your parts bill stays low, and your pride remains strong. So congratulations to all that finished well, good job to those that simply finished, and better luck next time to those that didn't.

Oh, and I want better tires for the back of the van too! That thing is absolutely helpless off of the pavement!