TEAM DIRTBIKEMIKE

Round  8 -----  Saginaw, Michigan 

February  9 - 11, 2007 

February 9

                        We were in Saginaw, Michigan when Beau called to tell us that he was sick and wouldn't be able to make it.  Who knows the real the reason why he didn’t come. I think that he is just sick of not making any mains.  But someone needed to ride his bike. So Mike called me off the bench. That’s right I rode a National Arenacross. Well, I tried to qualify in the Lites class at a National.  I haven’t been riding that much but I did ride on Wednesday at the OMA indoor north of Dayton.  So I wasn't too rusty, just a little tight.  Tight like a giant rubber band.. It was so cold in Michigan that nobody stayed in the motorhome.  We just threw down in the motel with Mike and Pam. The water pump in the motorhome was frozen anyway.

                        Tolland and I were both in the night show and we struggled with the very rutted track. It was more like an outdoor mud race than an indoor. The dirt was frozen when it was trucked in and when it began to thaw, it became mud.  The track crew brought in bags of cement to dry it out, but they could only do so much.  But it was a blast just being out signing autographs and being a part of the show. Tolland and I both missed the main event on Friday night.  We hung out at the hotel bar after the races with the TV crew, the track crew and some of the riders.  Did I tell you how cold it was in Michigan?  Well, I wouldn't want to live there.  There were people in little houses fishing on the river after cutting holes in the ice.  They even told me that several people drown doing that every year.  And they laugh at us hillbillys.

February 10

                        Saturday the track was a little better.  It dried out slightly but was still very soft and rutted up.  But at least I got through the rhythm without landing in the other track lanes. After practice we set up for the Saturday track party. Tolland and I signed a ton of autographs and then suited up for the last night of racing. Tolland made the main and rode good but a bad start kept him from the top ten. I didn’t make the main but I had a damn good time. Of course Sunday was our best day.  Tolland and I announced again and I'm sure we screwed up some of those yankee names again.  I drove back to Dayton to spend the week with Angel. It seems like every time I go there, it snows and it snows a lot.  It snowed 12 inches to be exact. Mike and the team went back to OMA and they had 3 foot snow drifts around the motorhome.  They had to be dug out with skid steer.