Just got back from our last race of the year out in Deming NM, at Arroyo Seco raceway with Jett and Garrett. I even got to ride the spare 600 in the formula 40 race with some good guys from out there and had some fun. Garrett’s progress through the year has been incredible. It has been really great to watch. He did his first road race out there in NM and now finishing his last one of the year and seeing his progress was great. I think he picked it up by about four seconds and is a front contender in all the classes, even against the guys on 1000s.

Jett has made some good steps forward as well, just not as big as Garrett’s, but considering his crashes earlier in the year to finally get some weekends behind us without any incidents, is a good way to finish. His times have dropped at all the tracks and I think he is back to where he was at the beginning of the year with his confidence and desire.

Their first race was the middle weight supersport, they both got good starts and had one other local rider to race with, they both where able to get by and run their own races. Garrett got though first and pulled out a gap and Jett was in second a lap later and pulled clear of third place.

Their second race was the money race for all the experts so they were gridded with some of the local fast guys on 1000’s and had to start on the third and fourth rows. Jett got a good start and was up to fourth out of the second corner and Garrett was sixth. Jett move past the guy for third on the second lap and Garrett up to fifth, The first two guys where out front and Jett was pulling away from the race for fourth with Garrett running fifth trying to get by the guy in fourth on a 750. When Garrett finally got by for fourth Jett was about 1.5 to 2 seconds out and Garrett set out after Jett, Garrett did his fastest lap of the day chasing Jett, a 1.08.8 was his best. He worked on Jett a couple of laps setting up a pass going into a sweeping left hand corner. Right before that the guy who was running second had gone off the track so the boys had a rabbit right in front of them, when Garrett got by Jett the second place rider ran off again and now Garrett was right with him, Jett was trying to hang but slowly lost touch and Garrett hounded second the rest of the race, White flag lap the second place rider went off the track again moving Garrett and Jett up one spot each, finishing second and third.

Last race for the boys was middle weight superbike, Jett got the whole shot from the middle of the front row with Garrett going through the first turn in third after coming off the second row. Jett did his best to keep his head down and put some good laps together but once Garrett got into second he was right with Jett. Jett did his best time of the day trying to make a break getting a 1.09.2. Garrett got by Jett and slowly pulled away, Jett got hit and had to run off the track in one of the tighter corners and was down in fourth. Garrett had a comfortable win with Jett trying to get third at the line and just missed by half a bike.

I did the formula 40 race on the spare 600. I did it just to have some fun and run with some of the guys who have ridden with me in the school, so I got a chance to put up some times and try the Pirelli tires on the 600, ended up doing a 1.08.6 and still felt there was more there but also putting up a time with the boys, with all of us with in a second I feel the boys are progressing very well and hope they will get their chance in the AMA and maybe even beyond.

Thanks to all that have helped us have what I feel was a very successful year…

DC

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Just wanted to let you know how our race weekend went, Finally took the boys and did an AFM race at Thunder hill, I was not to sure of letting them do it on the fact that they might have to start at the back of the grid and they did start 67 bikes in one of there races. But I used it too as a warm up race to try and get use to the new Pirelli tires for us. We had been using Dunlop but had some not so good tires and where having to buy all of our tires and Pirelli offered me a deal which would cut our tire bill in half so it wasn’t a very hard decision to make. As long as the boys liked them which they did we where going to run on Pirelli’s.

The people at AFM told me that if they boys could get to with in three seconds of the previous race winners time in practice they would give them a fourth row start. So I let them do it, we where going to go out to New Mexico but that would have taken a bit more time to get out there and I think it worked out better in the way we got more track time as well. We got to practice all day on Friday and Saturday up until 3:30. So with all that time I got to spend some good laps on some different tires and the boys got well with in three seconds of the past winners time so they got moved up to the fourth row for there three races.

The only trouble we had all weekend was Friday when Garrett lost his race bike engine, so we had to put him on the back up bike which is the same bike wise but not as good engine wise. There first race was 750 production, they both came from the fourth row and had a great first race, Garrett worked his way up to third while Jett ended up fifth. Jett is getting his speed back but lacks the race experience Garrett has from the years of racing he has under his belt.

There second race was 600 superbike, again they started on the fourth row and again Garrett came through to take third, Jett worked his way up to tenth. This race they had started almost 60 riders so it had some excitement in it to watch, Garrett posted one of the fastest time for 600 and missed getting the track record by no more than a tenth of a second. Not so bad for his first AFM race and on a bike that was not as good as his race bike.

The next race was my race, Formula Pacific, I had not been able to go look at my grid position on the account of I had no time, I was busy all weekend just keep the boy’s bikes going and ready. So I had Jett and Garrett look for me and they said I was last row and maybe on the sixth row. When I got out the there must have been about 40 riders and I felt I was on the tenth row. My start wasn’t the best and the first two laps I had to about come to a stop up in turn five just because I had so many guys in front of me. Once I kind of got through some of the other riders and got some clear track we where able to set a new track record by about a second, but ended up running out of time to take the win. We ended up finishing second so my weekend went about as good as it could have to plan.

The last race was the boy’s 600 production race. Again from the fourth row Jett and Garrett started and again Garrett worked his way through some of the other riders and was racing for the win on the last lap but got run off the track and had to settle for third. Jett had a go on the first lap trying to get through them with Garrett but was pushed off the track exiting turn six, so he still worked his way back up to tenth and had a good race. So all in all it was a very good weekend for me and the boy’s and just want to say thanks for all of your help and support. I think these two have a future on these motorcycles if I can keep bikes under them.

Thanks
Doug

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