When: Apr 29 - May 1, 2005
Where: Las Vegas Motorsports Park

Rick Moreau called me about a month before this weekend to see if I wanted to fly to Phoenix, then drive with him to Vegas and race his bike.  Who was I to say no !?   The plan was for me to ride the 250, and Dane to ride the 125.  A perfect plan for the first weekend of racing for 2005!

Wednesday 4/27
I left work early to catch a 3:30 flight out of Boston to Phoenix.  I got to the airport at 2:30 and waited for Dane at the check-in counter.  3:00 rolls around and still no Dane.  He calls me at about 3:05 to tell me he's already checked in and at the gate (which I didn't realize was possible, since I bought the tickets), and had been on a conference call since 2:00.  I ended up missing the flight.  Next time, we'll work out better detials.  I managed to reschedule and get a 4:30 flight with a stopover in Philadelphia, but it was delayed.  I landed in Philly at 5:45, and the flight out to Phoenix was at 5:50.  I was instructed by the flight attendant to hurry my ass over to the other terminal, so I pulled an OJ and ran the entire way through the airport (no, I didn't kill anyone on the way).  I made it and landed in Phoenix around 9:30.  Unfortunately, my baggage didn't make it, but the airline promised to deliver it to Rick's place the next day.

Thursday 4/28
Got up, went out to breakfast, and started getting things ready for the weekend.   We got everything packed, the trailer hitched, and were ready by 2pm for the drive to Las Vegas.  The bags showed up late, and we didn't hit the road until around 4pm (luckily, we were able to entertain ourselves by poking a rattlesnake we found in the desert with a stick).  We took our time and showed up at the track by 11:00.  We weren't allowed into the track, so we parked outside the gate.  I found a comfortable spot in the trailer on the floor between the bikes and slept well.

Friday 4/29
They let us into the track at 7am.  There were a bunch of trailers in line so we had to wait while everyone paid to get in.  We unpacked the trailer and registered for the days practice and the weekend races.  It was a double header weekend, which meant we could race the same CCS races Sat and Sun.

I missed first practice since we had no fuel.  After we got fuel, and got the bike jetted we started it up, but it was only running on one cylinder.  The bike was leaking fuel from both carbs.  The float seat o-ring on the lower carb was leaking, as was the o-ring on the float bowl cap nut on the upper carb.  I missed morning practices, but Rick had everything fixed for the afternoon and I managed to get 3 practice sessions in.

Since there are no showers at the track, Dane got us a reservation at the Super 8 motel down the street.  We went to get a shower, hooked up with Deb and Thomas (who showed up around noon and pitted next to us) for dinner at The Cannery, then went to Walmart for weekend supplies.

Saturday 4/30
I went out for first practice on the 250, but had to pit in for tape.  I went back out and a couple laps later the bike died as I approached pit in.  I rolled back to the pits and Rick started working on it.  It was an electrical problem as the battery was dead.  Since the 250 wasn't ready for qualifying, I took the 125 out at the end of the session after Dane did his qualifying, but didn't get a full lap in, so I was going to start from the back of the pack.  Since Rick spent all day working on the bike and wasn't having much luck with it, Deb K and Al Hjelm both offered me a 125 to ride.   Deb's needed some work, so I ended up taking Al up on his offer to ride John's backup bike.  Rick eventually discovered that the Battle shifter was causing the problem.  He had the bike running in time for my back to back MW GP and LW GP races, which were late in the day.

MW GP (CCS)
I got a decent start, but it's hard to get off the line with the 600s.  My race was pretty uneventful, and was basically just a practice session for me.  I finished 12th out of 13th, and my transponder wasn't working, so I didn't get any official times.    However, I got some more track time, which is what I really needed.

LW GP (CCS)
My start was pretty good in this race.  I raced with Dale Whelen for most of the race, and his best time was a 1:30.6 (fastest 250 qualifying time was in the 1:26 range), so I was getting some decent lap times.  I was starting to feel really good on the bike and the track. I finished 13th out of 16.

Sunday 5/1
Got to the track early, and I registered for 125gp, since I was going to ride John's bike.  We had one practice in the morning.  I took the 250 out there just to get the day going and took my time.  I had swapped my transponder in the morning and it seemed to finally be working.

125 GP (USGPRU)
I started dead last in 29th position.  I got a horrible start.  I hadn't spent any time on this bike so it took me a few laps to figure out the gearing differences between it and the 250.  After a few laps, I felt pretty good, but the handgrips started to come of the bars.  I had safety wired the throttle side earlier on since I noticed the grips were coming off, but to no avail.  After about the 5th or 6th lap, the throttle grip was barely on, and I had a hard time working around it.  I ended up pulling it off and throwing it to the side at start/finish (on a side note, it landed right in front of where Rick and Al were standing).  The throttle tube was covered in half melted glue, and I had a hard time riding the bike.  My pace was off quite a bit from where it should have been, but considering I hadn't even planned on riding the race to begin with, I was still having a great time.  A few laps later, I pulled the left side grip off and tossed that as well.  I went a lap down and ended up finishing in 22nd spot after a few fun battles.  Great fun!

250 GP (USGPRU)
I started dead last in 32nd position.  I got a great start (thanks for the shoulder tip, Deb!!) and went up the outside and buried myself into the middle of the pack.  I passed a lot of riders in this race.  My best moment was passing 5 people in the span of 3 consecutive corners (yeee haaaa!).  I did get into a couple battles and had worked myself into 19th position, but my left foot was toasted by about 2/3 of the race, so I had to slow down a bit and ended up losing the position.  I finished 20th with a best time of 1:28.5.

After the race, we checked results and went to the trophy presentation.  I won a bottle of Repsol transmission fluid as a random prize.  We packed up, said our goodbyes and left around 4:30 (here's a pic of the Vegas Assaulat Team).   Rick had a free night at Harrah's in Laughlin, so we stayed there and did a little gambling before passing out around midnight. 

Monday 5/2
Up early, on the road and back at Rick's by 10:45.  He dropped us off at the airport for a 12:45 flight, and we were back home by 10:00pm.  It was raining and 45 degrees outside (Vegas was 85 degrees and sunny all weekend).

Note: Since the track is next to Nellis Airforce base, we got to see some cool planes going in and out of the base all weekend.  A good portion of them would end up flying directly over the track at a very low altitude.  We saw F14, F15, F16 & F18 fighters, A10 Warthog/Thunderbolts, Harrier jump jets, B1 bombers, KC10 tankers, a V22 Osprey, as well as some unmarked transport jet airliners and copters.  It's kind of distracting when you come down the front straight and a jet fighter is taking off right in front of you, but still cool nonetheless.

Special Thanks to Rick Moreau of MPE Performance for lending us the bikes, Al and John Hjelm of Hjelm Motorsports for lending me the 125, Deb and Thomas Kuick for all the help and gobs of fun, and of course Dane Walther.