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* Gainesville 2004 Race Report * |
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At long last, the race season is upon us! This would be a different sort of race experience for me as I would be traveling alone. My usual crew just could not get the time off work required to attend this mid-week race. I arrived early enough to spend some time catching up with some old racing buddies and meeting a few new ones as well. Once parked in the pits, I quickly set-up camp and got tech'd in for the event. I was pretty excited, not only to be racing again, but also because of a new sponsorship arrangement with Zipper's performance. Thankfully, Maura Hall was there from Zipper's and gave me the help I needed to get through the race. Additionally, towards the end of last year and over the winter, I stumbled on to a highly tunable combination that I hoped would allow me to "run the number" that so eluded me last year. I was rewarded on the first pass with a 10.313, just .013 seconds over the index and the #1 qualifier. I made a very small adjustment and the second pass came in at a 10.312!! I think my finding over the winter is beginning to prove itself true! On the third pass, I made a much bigger adjustment and ran a 10.28. I was feeling pretty good to say the least! On race day, I had a bye run in the first round as the number 1 qualifier and with an odd number of bikes. This was my lucky pass as I mis-guessed the starting line traction situation and bogged the motor really bad, but in comparing the incremental numbers beyond the 60 foot mark, I found them nearly identical to the qualifying passes. Round 2 had me against Lane Boger and he had a problem launching so I won that round. In round 3, I was a little edgey running Wanda Poff after seeing that she cut a .013 light in the previous round. I guess I got a little too worked up over that peek at the stats and left .025 seconds too early, the dreaded red eye! I was still pretty satisfied though as I ran a 10.38 in the round and made it to the quarter finals, something I have never done in years past at the first race of the season. Before I forget, I want to say "THANKS" to the AHDRA for putting on such a great event. This was easily the best organized race I have been to in my 6 or so years of racing! I have a little more homework to do on my tune-up and hopefully will make an equally impressive appearance in Dallas for the Lonestar Nationals in April. I'll be traveling there with my good friend and fellow competitor, Allen Nusbaum. See you there? Stay tuned for more! And THANKS for visiting the MAVRIK Racing pages!
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