I like racing, well, at least watching racing!

I got off work Sat. packed up some stuff on the FJR and headed to Richland, WA to watch my cousin Dennis race his sprint boat. I rode over Chinook Pass which was cold and dreary, but as almost always happens, it was warm and nice on the Eastern side of Washington. I made it to Horn Rapids ORV park, a cool place if you like motorsports. They have a shifter Kart track, a motorcross track, and the sprint boat track. After being denied access a phone call to my aunt, some directions, and I was hooked up with the rest of the relatives and ready to see some sprint boat action. Dennis' boat is #69 -Overkill, about 13 1/2 feet long and a 360 Chevy motor that turns out about 600hp.

Now I don't know much about sprint boat racing, but I can tell you it is damn fun to watch. Dennis and his dad, Bill, run in the supermodified class, and this past weekend they got 4th, awesome job! Basically, how it works, is you race against the clock on a set course you have to memorize, but the co-pilot is there to help with directions, pointing the way with their hand. The same course is used all day long, so there isn't any surprises, but even though it's the same, we saw a few who lost their way, which turns into a DNF for that run. There were four qualifying runs, and after qualigying, the two boats with the low times are eliminated. I wanted to upload a video of them in action, but I can't figure that out just yet. Can anyone tell me how to do that? Since I can't do that, here's some action shots, mind you, I am not a professionsal shutterbug.

Next races are June 30th in Richalnd, WA if anyone can make it. Team Overkill is also looking for sponsors, so if there's someone out there wanting to see this boat go even faster, let me know and I'll put you in touch with them.

The ride home was very windy on the East side, I was getting blown all over the road out by Vantage, but nothing can stop the FJR. If, or when, I ever figure out how to post a video clip I'll get that loaded up.

Gerald

Track bike

So what do I do in my spare time these days? A little thing called track days. What is a track day? Well, you pay these people some money and they let you ride on the race track. That's at least basically it, and that's where the image on the top of this page comes from, a track day. I do however have to spend some time keeping the machine working, and today I spent that time changing tires. I don't change them completely myself. I take the rims and tires off and then have a shop mount the new ones for me. This is what the bike has looked like for the last few days as it has taken me awhile to get to the shop to change the tires.

The new race stands I bought have made this much easier. The bike is a 2004 CBR600RR, has a bit over 100hp, and at the track the speedometer has read 154mph, I've seen it. After I got the tires all mounted at the shop it was back home to put them back on the bike. The front tire went on rather easy. The rear tire takes a bit more patience, something I lack. It's hard to keep the disk brake mounted, keep the spacers aligned hold the tire up and then insert the axle bolt. Anyway, after about an hour of trying it by myself, I gave up and had to have my neighbor, Pat, give me a hand. With his help, we were able to get it on in a matter of mintues. Thanks Pat. And here's Pat standing next to the completed project.

I'm getting the hang of this, so come back and visit me again.

Welcome!

ok, with everyone else out there setting up new blogs and all, I figured I'd better try this out also and not be left behind. It seems as if there is a bit to learn, but I think I can figure it out. I'm sure some of you will be able to help with this as I move forward, but for now.......welcome to my world.