When: June 20, 2004
Where: NHIS

Thursday 6/17
I left for the track late, as I didn't want to deal with bike week traffic.   Got to the track around 9pm and got ready for the weekend.  Steve, Rick, Dane and I shared the garage.

Friday 6/18
125 and 250 practice were combined, so I took the 250 out in the morning.   My times were pretty slow, and I only got down to the 1:29 mark.  They split up practice for the afternoon, so I took out the 250 in Superbike practice and dropped another second, then took out the 125.  After being on the 250, the 125 felt totally under powered, so I ended up riding it a lot harder than I ever have.  I was going a lot faster, and figured I was in the 1:23 area consistently.  Unfortunately, I forgot to switch my transponder from the 250, so I have no real numbers aside from looking at other peoples times.  I also got an invitation to be the monkey on a sidecar, so I went out with Pete Talbach on his rig (coincidentally, he has the same number plate as me!) and had a great time!

Saturday 6/19
I took the 250 out in practice and dropped another second, to the 1:27 mark.  I then took the 125 out was running slow again.  I had one moment when my front wheel got taken out between T11 and T12, but I somehow managed to save the bike.  Coming out of T2 on that lap, the bike seized and I had to park it.  Just before lunch, Pete and I went back out on the sidecar.

Sidecar
Starting off the afternoon races was sidecars, so Pete and I went out to do battle.   We went into T1 in 2nd spot, and held off the crowd until T6.  It had rained a bit, so the track was slippery.  We had some good slides in T3, T11 and coming out of T12.  We also had a great view of some other cars sliding around and in general had a great time.  We finished the race in 5th with big smiles.  Thanks again to Pete Talbach for giving me the opportunity to go race a vintage sidecar rig !!

250 Qualifying
After the early afternoon races, we went out to qualify.  I got dead last spot on the 250, but dropped another second to the 1:26 mark.  Considering the pole was taken by a rider doing 1:15s, and this was my first weekend on the 250, I was satisfied with my times.

125 Qualifying
I had rebuilt the top end on my 125 at lunch, so I was ready to go.  On the pit out lap, my bike was running like crap.  I managed to get it across start/finish once, but then had to pit in.  The bike had another light seizure, and it blew a reed.   I got one official lap of qualifying in, and it was at a 1:43 time.  I was gridded 38th out of 40 people.  It was not looking good.

Sunday 6/20
The weather was a little cooler, but it was a beautiful sunny day.  This is the first Loudon Classic I've ever raced where it wasn't raining.  I had a stressful day ahead of me but tried to keep a good attitude.

They switched the order for the day, so I went out on the 125 for first practice.   I was breaking in a new piston and borrowed cylinder, so I took my time.  I turned 1:26 lap times, and was pretty disappointed.  The 250 practice went well, and I finished with more 1:26 lap times.

125 GP
I started in the 10th row, and got a great start.  The bike was full of power and running like a champ.  I actually got through a bunch of traffic and managed to get into T1 with the crowd (for a change!!).  I pushed pretty hard and knew I was finally moving at last years pace, as I was hitting knees and toes on the ground everywhere.   I managed to catch and pass a bunch of people in the race, and only got lapped by about 4 or 5 of the leaders near the end (15 lap race).  Overall, I picked up 17 positions to finish 21st, and was awarded the Redline Imports "True Racer/Hard Charger" award.  Thanks to Tammy and John (Can-Am125 GP) and Dennis and Staurt (USGPRU) for the award.  It's a good feeling to be recognized.  I also managed to drop my best time at NHIS to a 1:22.579.

Steve held onto 10th for another respectable New England GP finish.  Dane managed to crash in the heat of battle coming out of T12 on the last lap, but emerged without serious injury.

250 GP
I was gridded last, and got a poor start.  I managed to get around a few people, but went into T1 at the tail end of the pack.  I was OK with that, since my goal here was to use this as practice.  Going into T3, Matt G had a stuck throttle, and crashed while trying to shut his bike down.  He ended up landing in front of me and I had to get on the brakes hard to avoid hitting him.  Luckily for both of us, I managed to get around him.  I got lapped by the fast guys and picked up a couple spots to finish 18th out of 21.  I also managed to drop a couple seconds and got down to 1:24.003 on the 250, and was within a second on every lap.

Special thanks to Steve, Rick and Dane.  Thanks also to Chuck, Vahan and the gang for helping out on the grid for the 125 and 250 race.  Also a big thanks to the vintage crowd for all the sidecar fun.