Banquet and the final end to the 2010 season

Lacy recorded my uncomfortable speech at the banquet, here's the video. Also, check out what Triumph USA gave me! Thanks TRIUMPH!!!


2010 was great!

End of the season promo pic

Rosie over at Th'ink Tank designed this bad ass promo pic for me to give out to all the sponsors. Came out sick! Thanks Rosie!!!

Sweet! Recognition from Triumph USA!

The guys over at Foothills Triumph/BMW have helped me out for 3 years now and there support has been tremendous in keeping me going. When I won the AmU championship this year they passed the good news on to Triumph USA and what do you know, they put me in there newsletter that goes out to all the dealerships and everyone else on there mailing list. Unfortunately they used a picture from the last round when the bike and all my gear was all wrecked from the Pueblo crash, but oh well. Check it out:
Triumph News
Thanks Foothills!!

A few more pics from the final round.

Thanks Chadwick for the track shots and Tally for the pit shot!

2010 Amateur GTU Champion!!!

First off, riding injured SUCKS!
Last round of the season, HPR Oct. 8-9. My fingers are still fully broken. The bones in the tips of my ring and index finger as well as my thumb on my right hand (throttle and brake, great) are in pieces still. I managed to cobble the bike together with a shitload of help from Dave over at SpeedMetal. He had a hell of a time straightening the sub-frame that folded up in the crash at Pueblo, but the guy's a fucking metal wizard and made straight again! Thanks Dave! I owe Swift a big thank you too for letting me use his shop to rebuild and helping when my sausage fingers wouldn't work. Thanks Swift!
Anyway, I get the bike together and rideable to make the weekend. I skip Friday practice wanting to just save any finger strength I'm gonna have and spend the day trying on everyone's spare gloves! Jason Curdy had a pair of XL A* gloves that worked great, just big enough for my swollen fingers to fit in, thanks Jason!
So I practice 2 of the 3 sessions on Saturday morning and start figuring out how to ride with my fingers jacked up. I went out in Heavyweight Endurance and just used it as practice because I had a pretty comfortable 3rd place in the championship. I ended up finishing in 8th knowing I was off pace because of my hand.
When I got up Sunday morning it was raining and cold, great. I miss all of morning practice because of the rain and getting my rain tires mounted to late. I didn't sign up for Middlewieght superbike because I wanted to only do what I needed to for AmU. So, the first lap I turned on Sunday was the warm up lap for the AmU race. I got a so-so start and ended in 5th at turn 1. I knew I had to beat Wyeth and at least stay with Grubbs if I wanted the championship, and the both were ahead of me. I watched Grubbs eek out a lead and Wyeth fell back, but by the time I got around her Grubbs had checked out, and I physically couldn't run the pace. I had a good battle with Scarberry that he ended up winning. I ended up in 6th place at the end, but got the championship win by 1 point. 1 POINT!!
Thank you goes out to:
Lacy, Fish, Swift and Chris (Wolf Bigade!!!), all the sponsors, friends and family that made it out, and the whole MRA crew! Thank You!!!




More pics to come later!!

Trying to forget Pueblo. Round 7, Sept 18th and 19th.

The track was super dirty and bumpier than ever. It's falling apart. It was really difficult all weekend. I made it through Friday practice, Heavyweight Endurance on sat with a 6th place. Sunday I made it through Middleweight Superbike in 12th, and crashed during the first lap of AmU, resulting in a 17th place finish, cutting my points lead from 15 to 5. Ended up in the ER with 2 broken fingers, and a broke and dislocated thumb. Fuck.

FUCK YES! TOP OF THE BOX! FINALLY!!!

Back at HPR for round 6, August 28th and 29th. So after seeing me pretty frustrated by my performance and lap times the previous weekend, Lacy as and anniversary/very early Xmas gift got me 2 hours of coaching on the Friday practice day before the race weekend by Shane Turpin! Stoked! He followed me around and shot video of me fucking up and then we wend into the pits and watched it and he showed me the things I was doing really wrong and were I could improve. Now I had a mission! I started working on things and it was beginning to show, I ran 1:55s in practice which was the fastest I'd run in the race the last weekend and I was on shot tires! Then in the endurance race I think my brain got the best of me. I was super tense trying to get everything right and was making more mistakes than ever. The lap times were slower than in practice! Super disappointed! So for Sunday I knew I had to relax and just smooth things out and the times would be there. Practice felt good. Middleweight Superbike came and after a so-so start I ended up chasing Cromer and Rick Gross (and having to catch them at that). I ended up finishing in 11th, but I ran a 1:52.9!! WAY faster than ever before! So now I'm stoked! I got ready for AmU by just relaxing and stretching. I got to start from pole position because I'm first in the points (only by 1 point). I knew I need a really good start because getting around guys like Cromer and Tony Ross is REALLY FUCKING HARD! I got the hole shot and was the first one through turn 1. Best start I've ever had! I was able to stretch out a decent lead and let the guys behind fight for position. I ran 1:55 from a dead stop! I led the first 5 laps and then Tony Ross caught me... FUCK! I kept the pressure on him and stayed right on his rear wheel so I could capitalize on any mistake he made. God he's fast! But he looked a little squirly in places, so I just stayed on him. On the last lap we got to the top of the hill entering the chicane before the line and Tony went in really hot, he totally rushed the entrance, I was ready to try my hardest to get him coming out because my line in was right on, then he pushed the front and crashed. I had the win! Tony wasn't hurt and I just landed my first victory! God it felt so good! It still does! And to top it off I'm now 14 points ahead in the championship!

Anyway, I want to thank first and foremost Lacy for the awesome gift, I don't think I'd have won without it. Second Shane for the awesome coaching and advice worth it's weight in gold! Fish, Swift, and the Wolf Brigade, Rob and the Lithium guys for the tire and suspension help, and Applehans for being a grouch, THANK YOU!!! I can't wait for Pueblo on the 18th and 19th!!