NMRA Season Opener  - March 3-4 2001

Saturday Practice
Sunday Racing in the Rain
Ron's pictures

Team Spawn Race Report

Saturday practice was sunny and warm, giving me a chance to finish breaking in the new 50 Superbike -
all went well until I got a little vigorous and had a gentle seize, so I pulled it in for the day, hoping for
the best for Sunday, and rode the 80 the rest of the day. Peter, Kimbo, Jonathan, Michele and Neal were
down from B.C., as well as many others, including Andre from the Netherlands!
I had some great dices with Ron and Darrin on their GP bikes, and I got my new sparkies well broken
in by the end of the day!
Sunday's weather was more ominous, but stayed dry through morning practice and the qualifiers - the 50
ran strong and I qualified well for both classes...we tried a new technique for qualifying, an open 6-minute
period where everyone ran the track at once and each person's fastest lap placed them on the grid!
Then came the rain...I decided to totally wuss out and ride Zephyr, my almost-Supersport 50 in both
classes rather than risk crashing my good bikes in the rain, I felt like it was my first season all over
again as I fought for last place, gingerly scooting around the wet track...there was more traction than
expected, but plenty of people went Oops!,and I'm not sorry I was conservative on this, the first race of
the season. I'd have ridden SpawnIII, but Mike Moriarty was using it for the weekend, placing well though
having several excursions. Check out the NMRA site for the scoring and points, all I know is I (barely)
didn't finish last, and didn't crash!
Next race March 25th, I hope it's drier...I hate the rain.

NW-YSR