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FEATURE STORY

BITTERSWEET
The racing last night was some of the best in years. The 125 main was a good one as Ivan Tedesco sliced through the pack with Stewart-like aggression. His confidence is soaring right now and his lap times would have put him in the top 5 in the 250 class!

The 250 main was as good or better with Reed, Windham and Vuillemin jumping out front right away. It looked like an A2 repeat, but with the potential to be even better. However, a mistake filled first lap for Vuillemin left him in 4th behind Damon Huffman as the Reed/Windham train departed. I lost count of how many lead changes took place between Chad and Kevin, but there were plenty. As they continued to size each other up, DV moved into third and closed a little but could never latch on. At one point he caught a break as Chad and Kevin were forced to roll one of the triples because of the flashing lights, but that was as close as he could get. As much as I was pulling for him, I was pulling for another three-man battle for the lead!

Chad, who got landed on at the end of Friday’s session by Eric Sorby had a pretty big knot on his arm and concerned look on his face to go with it. During yesterdays final practice session he swapped off the track through the whoops and looked to have tweaked his left shoulder. He circled the perimeter of the stadium coming to a stop for a moment and it didn’t look good. When he re-entered the track and came past the mechanics area he slammed his fist into the bars in frustration and then clicked off the fastest laps! Still, he looked sore and seemed to be favoring the shoulder or whatever it was before opening ceremonies. During the heat race his tranny locked up (I think) and he came skidding to a stop after the triple. It wasn’t looking good for the point leader.

After winning his semi, there he was battling for the win in the main with Kevin who blistered his heat. Chad made it clear last week at Anaheim that he is in charge, but after finally breaking away from Kevin in the later stages of the main last night he made it even clearer! Kevin has the speed, but something is still missing. Vuillemin showed signs of speed again, but something is still missing. For Chad, just when it looks like something might be missing, he finds it.

On the flip side of the close racing, there were some very sad moments. First, during the afternoon qualifiers, 19 year old Jason Ciarletta crashed in the first turn and suffered a torn aorta and passed away. I feel absolutely horrible right now typing this. I have a son who races and I can’t and don’t want to even imagine what his family and friends must be going through at this moment. I don’t know what else to say about this except to suggest that we all take a few moments today to send some prayers and support and strength.

Not to even compare to what happened to Jason, there were some other bummers out there. Ernesto Fonseca ruined his knee in practice through the whoops and is out for a while. Tim Ferry tried to ride practice, but is still in too much pain after injuring his wrist last week in the whoops, and Sean Hamblin didn’t ride after his crash last week in the whoops. Also, while out practicing at the Suzuki test track Broc Hepler went down in the whoops and broke his collar bone. Jesseman who was just getting healthy ran into him and injured his hand. What’s up with the whoops? Maybe the riders and team managers should talk about this. Before whoops became giant and required 4th or 5th gear pinned to attempt, they were all different sizes and spaced differently. I don’t think that was done on purpose, it’s just the best they could do I think. Now as bikes and riders have gotten better, so have the track builders on their equipment. I was never scared of the whoops, yet I knew I could make up or lose time there by timing and jumping through them certain ways. Nowadays at practice tracks the riders don’t even go through ‘em, and if they do, they put in quite a few laps first to make sure everything is just right. Do they need to be that gnarly to make the racing good? Just a thought.

I’m probably not that accurate on exactly what these guys injured and how long they will be out of action because I can’t and don’t what to even think about it. The sport needs these guys! It’s too early in the season for all of this. It makes me realize how much of a family this sport is and how much it hurts when you start losing members. That said, I want to make myself very clear right now in saying that my comments regarding Kevin Windham were out of line and misunderstood. I wasn’t saying I would actually break his leg as some of you seemed to think. It was more of a hypothetical comment. If you read it again you’ll see what I mean. However you interpreted it, I’m saying right here and now that it wasn’t intended to be that bad and I already apologized for how it came out. I called Kevin at home a couple of weeks after his crash in Atlanta and remember him saying how he was kind of close to rock bottom. It’s good and inspiring to see him rebound. I certainly can relate to how it feels to be depressed. I also remember how DV looked and must have felt laying there after breaking his back in Daytona. His contract was almost up and his wife Erica was pregnant. He must have felt like it was over. It’s good to see him rebound as well.

I hate it when riders get hurt. It’s part of racing, but I wish it were a much smaller part! Here’s hoping that the riders who are healthy stay healthy, and the ones who aren’t get healthy quick.

My friend Carl took this photo of the Star of India in the San Diego bay Friday. I don’t have any pictures of the races yet, so this will have to do.

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