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WERA ’11 – Final Round (Role Reversal)

The Nelson Story. It's always the same at Nelson. We forget how bumpy the track is, how poor the facilities are, and so on. It's all true. But there is one thing you can always count on when rolling into the track – fresh cut grass and the tire wall being a little taller than it was last time. Ah yes … I've grown quite fond of Nelson Ledges. It may not be Barber, but it's one of the fastest tracks in the country and once you get rolling, the layout and speed makes the track a lot of fun. It's serious-fast and it's not about horsepower when it comes down to what it takes to put down a fast lap time around the place.

Dad and I rolled in Friday night and it was wet. It had rained all day, so we hadn't missed anything with practice. I wasn't riding, just dad. It was time to crew for him and let him just focus on riding. He hadn't raced all year and I was excited at seeing him get back out there racing – and I know he was too. All muddiness throughout the pits aside, we were at the track. Life was good.

We rolled into the track Saturday and the twin-monster came off the trailer - the SV650 in all it's glory. While most everyone else's bike was battered and bruised from the long season, the twin-monster was shiny and ready to go. She was itching for some laps. Dad was a little worried about his race conditioning, but he had been getting up every morning to do cario in the couple weeks beforehand, so I thought he'd be good.

Through morning practice and then ready for Saturday's 20-lapper, the joke was whether or not he'd make it through the race. Fresh tires and constant fluids to make sure dad was hydrated (he forgets the simplest things sometimes!) and we were ready to go. We were pitted next to Ian Tetrick and his parents – Ian, a young Red Bull Cup Rookie standout that would be heading to Spain in a few weeks for official Red Bull tryouts. Real nice family and a super nice kid. It would be youth vs. experience early on.

The race got underway and my dad had a great launch. He led into T1 and would take the early lead. There were 10 or so bikes in the race and it would be a three-bike pack at the front for the first half of the race with my dad leading each time by the flag. I couldn't see the passing taking place in the back section of T4 and the carousel, but there was some good dicing going on with another SV650 and Ian's RS 125. Around halfway, Ian was in third when second place crashed out in T12. That put Ian in second as he gave chase to Joe. The running order would stay the same and no one else behind them was making up any ground. Dad would go on to win the race with Ian finishing a close 2nd. Dad was pretty happy afterwards. He set the fastest lap of the race and hammered out the 20 laps no problem – well, almost no problem. I think he may have been a little tired afterwards, but he wasn't letting on.

Sunday came and there were a couple new SV competitors. Ian had switched from his 125 to a new SV650 and Sam Snellenburger showed up as well. The races would again be good ones. Of the three races, Joe finished 2nd in all three of them with some good passing throughout. Sam was able to get each holeshot and then manage a small gap throughout the race. Dad's laptimes on Sunday, while slower than his best overall around Nelson, were only .4 off Sam's fastest lap of the day which wasn't bad. For the first time back racing, it was nothing to complain about and he and Ian were again close through most-all the races.

Doug and Marion came out also, as Doug blew the dust off his Honda and entered in a handful of races on Sunday. He looked good and I think he's gonna stick with this racing thing after all. Nice work Doug. I of course kept a watchful eye on the 600 laptimes, looking to figure out where I'd slot in with all of it. :) We also had a special guest - Tom (Beagle) who surprised us and came to hang out for the day. Tom essentially made our bike dealership deal happen a few years ago, among many other things to help our program. It was nice to hang out at the track again together.

All in all a very good weekend. I don't think dad planned on coming home with four plaques. He of course wanted to do better on Sunday, but in all the races, he had to work for it, as it wasn't any walk in the park for the last event of the year. Best of luck to Ian over in Spain. It'll be cool to see how he does over there.

Cheers.

Thursday, September 29th, 2011 | POSTED AT: 5:58 AM
FILED UNDER: Race Reports