When: July 05, 2003
Where: NHIS

Friday 7/4
I went to work to get some things done while my colleagues were out celebrating the holiday.  I went home early, fed the cat and loaded up the van.  Traffic up to the track was a breeze.

Saturday 7/5
The weather was hot.  90 degrees.  Better that than rain though!  Went out for first practice and went pretty slow.  It took me a few laps to get back into the swing of NHIS after I had been at VIR.  Second practice was feeling much better until the bike died in T2.  The countersprocket bolt had come loose and the sprocket fell off.  Luckily, the chain didn't hang up the wheel, or it could have been ugly!   I waited for practice to finish, and pushed the bike back to the garage.  I got a new bolt (since the head on this one was pretty stripped), and put a new spring washer on just in case (thanks Frank!).

GP Singles
There was a pretty big crash in race 5, so we had to wait while a racer got heli-lifted to Dartmouth from the track.  Everyone's mood mellowed significantly as we all hoped the rider would be ok (hats off to the cornerworkers and ambulance crew who quite literally saved a racer's life!).  For the race, I got a decent start, but wasn't as aggressive as I should have been into T1.  I got a pretty good head of steam going in the race though, and managed to pass enough people to get myself into 4th place.   I ended up behind a motard for the last two laps, and knew I was faster in the corners.  I tried to get him on the outside of T10, but couldn't get it in there in time.  I ended up not being able to get past him.  Trophy for 4th though !   yippeee!  Came back to the garages and drank about three gallons of water, which of course sweat right back out.  It was hot!  Sadly I did not reach my goal of 1:22 lap times.   Hopefully next time!

LWGP
I got a decent start and felt pretty good.  Dane came by me going into T6 on the second lap (there's a surprise.. . not!) and I follwed him around the track just to feel my engine die in T2 again, this time augmented with something hitting me on the left leg.   I do my best to get out of the way without getting hit by anyone, and look down to see that the countersprocket had come off again, and the chain had snapped and was hanging out of the bike.  I ended up sitting out the race at the flag station between T2 and T3.  First DNF for the year!  Thanks to Turu, Chuck, and Joanne who came by to make sure I was OK.

Sun 7/6
Got up late, went out to breakfast, dropped of some bodywork with Bryan to paint, had lunch with Rick, drained the oil in the bike, hung out with some friends for a while, packed up and went home.  There's not much more to say, really.