AMA Rd 2 CALI SPEEDWAY (Fontana)

It was a decent day, but very windy. Lots of delay. As JohnnyK said to me, its a bad day when an airfence can kill you.

But the wind died down in the afternoon enough to get the racing in. Here are a few pics of the day:

Working and chilling in the Garage:
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Making a few last minute adjustments to bike:
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Bike ready for race. If you're wondering this is the bike that he crashed yesterday. Yes, I touched it up. (another sleepless night. Which I don't mind, but as I type this, I'm tired as .... but a few girls want to go party tonight. So .... it, three Rockstars down the hatch.)
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Go time. We finished 14th. Ran as high as 13th. Was hoping for better, perhaps a top 10. Ley has run faster lap times during WERA events. But all in all, a good day.
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Here is the Daytona Sport bike podium. ...... Cardenas, Slick, Wesby
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Cali Kid, being a chef was in charge of hospitality.
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Cali Kid being the pimp that he is hired these chicks to promote our .....
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I liked this one. Smoking body!
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I'd like to say hello to Pete.
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Superbike race was fantastic. Here is your podium. Pegram, Zemke, Yates. (The only disappointing thing was that I was hoping to witness Tommy win. He got a ...... start ad it went down hill from there.)
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Being at the track is never a bad day. Two sleepless nights takes its toll. But when you get to take a pic with Nicky, its all worth it!

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I usually like to take pics of the grid while they're in start positions. Like I did for Daytona. I missed the start of the superbike race because I went to talk to Nicky. I texted JK and asked him if I was ... for doing that. I'm happy to report, He said NO. So I feel I still have my heterosexuality in tact. But I must admit, talking to Nicky at very least makes me feel metrosexual.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (povol @ Mar 28 2010, 10:06 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Happy for Tommy, saw Jumkies big ... head in victory lane.
Haha. Yeah, u can see me pat Tommy on the back and say "good job"! I'll post a few pics & comments for the 3-4 people who give a .... about AMA. BTW, all the races wer close & fantastic.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (mylexicon @ Mar 29 2010, 10:59 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Lenny did pretty well, right?

Thanks for asking. I feel he did pretty well, but he would disagree with me. He finished 13th/ 14th respectively in both races. DSB is a stacked field, being that DMG has wanted to promote it (at one time wanted it to be the premier); resulted in several heavily support teams with excellent riders like Graves, M4, GEICO Powersports, etc. 1-9 are stacked. I was thinking about your question this morning, and I think he did very well considering the above and the fact this was his very first national event (he's been having success in WERA and AFM the last few years). So you can imagine, its a big jump. Considering the field is a confluence of the best national riders, I'd say finishing 13th among them is a good day. I was talking to his crewchief this morning, and this is how I described it; "Lenny was top 5 among all 'shoe string budget' efforts in the nation."

Lenny was upset at himself; I think he may have felt he let people down. When you got several guys staying up literally all night for several days for you, putting wives & kids on hold, put boss and job on hold, putting in of your own personal money while you know there are real life bills to be paid, etc.; well, I think one would feel a tremendous pressure to perform. Despite telling him several times, even if he crashed or came in last we would all be good with it, the pressure remains. Personally, I would be a nervous wreck if I had people all around me putting in blood sweat and tears into supporting me for one of my personal dreams, so I think he handled everything pretty good. Now it wasn't all fun & games, as you can imagine, when you got a group of guys sleep deprived, pissed off wives, ad guilt from neglecting your kids, add egos, add personality flaws, that you will get some clashes. However, waking up this morning seemed so much better in retrospect. While we were in the mist of preparing and competing, we had some tough moments (I'll just let your mind imagine it).

So to answer you question, yes, he did pretty well.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (J708 @ Mar 29 2010, 12:39 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>its really nice to know u went thru all this trouble for a friend. we need more ppl like u around. hope u had alot of fun and felt a sense of accomplishment

Thanks for the kind words J7. I do feel a sense of accomplishment (even though I was a very tiny and easily replaceable part of the team effort, and I'm not being modest). Its true when you hear people who have helped others say; "I got more out of it than the person I was helping." Well I think it’s the same for me looking back in retrospect Monday morning (with a few hours of sleep). You also learn much in these experience. You see who is who and what is what. For example, I knew Cali Kid was a stand up guy, but when you see him working in the hot sun, putting in his own money, putting in time after working 18 hours at his job, and doing this for the ..... & giggles we get out of the sport, you gain a new level of respect. And of course there is the flip side, you will also see those that talk the talk, but when the .... hits the fan, they walk away. As I said above to Lex, yes while you're in it, one doesn't always feel the warm fuzzy feelings, personality clashes, frustrations, problems, couple with no sleep can take its toll. But you know, I felt proud and privileged to be officially part of a national effort (up to now all the support and capacity I've been involved in was at region level, and of course a mere passionate spectator).

J7, as you can see, I was hard at work!

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Not only did I feel proud and privileged, but also I was allowed major access. You know, before I was sneaking around like some ratty stow away in paddock and hot-pit. Lurking around to get a glimpse taking bootleg pictures and ..... This time I was part of the show officially. Even though wanting to take pictures with the riders seemed like I would be violating some crew workers code. I did refrain a bit. God knows I didn’t take nowhere near the same amount of pics I would have taken if I were sneaking around. Its just doesn’t seem cool while you have a guy talking to you like a fellow to the say; “hey can I get a picture with you to prove I met you? Hahaha, But I will admit when Tommy Hayden won, I was back to ‘avid fan mode.’

I thought this was a great moment. Tommy celebrating his first superbike win, mom, wife & daughter, and brother in the background. (His dad was away in Portugal helping Roger Lee in WSBK).
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Shameless fan pic.
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