Three-event summary
			    20 June, 1999
			    18 July, 1999
			   29 August, 1999

It's been a long time since I wrote a race report, so now I have to
cover three race weekends. I'll be brief, at least about the first
two.

At Thunderhill on 18-20 June, I felt very good in practice and seemed
to have practice times that were challenged only by Brian Bartlow
(#29). Brian and I did a practice session together, and we both did
our best times of the weekend in that session (unless he went faster
in the race, but I think he told me that didn't happen). That session
made me think I might have something for him in the race, but it also
made very obvious his superior skill in traffic. If traffic was a
factor in the race at all, it didn't seem likely that I could beat
Brian. If all else went well and there was no traffic, I might stand a
chance.

I had gotten a couple of decent starts early in the year, but this
race continued another long string of lousy starts for me. At least I
got off the starting line, unlike last time. But even though I was
moving, I got to turn one in something like 15th place while Brian
walked away from everyone up front. By the end of the first lap I had
worked my way into something like sixth, and by the end of the next
lap I was in fourth behind Brian, Nick Tenbrink (#809), and Kelly
Winkelbauer (#462). I was setting up to pass Kelly at the exit of the
cyclone or the entrance to turn 6 when I took the transition in the
cyclone too fast and lowsided into the weeds just uphill of the spot
where I highsided Mike Lowenstein's (#152) EX250 on a practice day
last September. And so ended my race. I wasn't hurt, and the bike was
easy to fix. Nick eventually broke down and no more passing took place
up front, so Brian won, Kelly got second, and Paul Somerville (#311)
got third.

			      *   *   *

At Sears Point in July, I did some decent times (2:05's and a bunch of
2:06's) in practice, making me think I might get back close to the
2:03's I did last year in one of the races. The fact that we had a
full Saturday practice no doubt helped my confidence.

In the 500 twins race, I did several 2:05's and a 2:04 while closing
on Kelly Winkelbauer. Kelly was too far ahead, though, and I didn't
catch him before the end.

In the 250 production race I was gridded on the third row. I got
another of my lousy starts and took off up the hill in something worse
than 15th place. I passed all but Brian, Frank Mazur (#80), and Kevin
Scott (#680) in the first couple of laps and ended up watching Kevin's
rear tire for the whole race. He got a number of lucky breaks with
traffic and I made up many bike lengths on him a couple of
times. Right on my tail were Kelly and John Prelock (#357), and I kept
expecting Kelly to come by every time I got balked by traffic. For
some reason he never did. I wasn't able to get by Kevin even though he
was only doing 2:06's, and Kelly wasn't able to get by me. Brian
crashed out early in the race, so Frank won it, out of sight of Kevin
and his freight train. Kevin got second and I got third with Kelly
right behind me in fourth and John in fifth on his tail.

Brian's crash was his second for the day, since he'd also fallen in
250 superbike. Many of us supposed that he wouldn't race in August as
a result because of the crash rule.

			      *   *   *

Most recently at Sears in August, I didn't do practice times as good
as the ones I'd done in July. They were sort of close, with a
collection of 2:06's, but no 2:05's or better. Practice was only a
half day.

In the 250 production race, I got yet another lousy start from the
second row and headed up the hill in some horrible position. Brian
Bartlow, having successfully appealed his 250 superbike crash from
July [production 250's can't crash in turn 1, therefore there must
have been something on the track, therefore it wasn't his fault], was
having some sort of trouble (I heard his transmission wasn't working
right), so the order at the front looked just like it had a month
before. Except this time Frank and Kevin diced for the lead, with me
leading a freight train for third place. At first it seemed like I
might be closing the gap on Kevin, but he and Frank eventually opened
it up to quite a gulf. As it became clear I wasn't going to catch
Kevin, I realized that what I needed to do was keep Kelly (often right
on my tail) and Paul (right on my tail when Kelly wasn't) behind me. I
knew they were there, so it didn't surprise me when Kelly showed me a
wheel (a whole bike, actually) on the outside entering 11. I held him
off that time, but he stayed right there.

Later in the race came what's probably the most troubling incident of
my racing career. I was still leading Kelly and Paul, and I think John
Prelock was there with us, too. As we headed up the drag strip from
the chicane, I saw a standing yellow flag in turn 1. Up on the hill
was a very slow backmarker. As I approached the backmarker near the
left-side curbing that marks the beginning of the entrance of turn 2,
I rolled off the throttle to avoid making a pass. When I rolled off,
Kelly passed me and the backmarker going into turn 2. Turn 2 was also
showing a standing yellow, and as we crested the apex of the turn,
there was a worker standing near the track on the outside. There were
two more backmarkers in turn 2, and Kelly slowed significantly before
he approached them. I assumed because he slowed so much and so early
that he had realized he passed me on a yellow flag in turn 1, and was
giving me back the position. I accepted the offer, and passed him
back. I believe I re-passed him after passing the worker at the side
of the track (who was the "incident" the flag was meant to cover), but
it was close. I'm not sure of that. I also passed the backmarker Kelly
had passed, and I probably passed that rider before I passed the
worker. The two backmarkers ahead of Kelly were definitely past the
incident by the time I passed them.

So at that point, Kelly and I had probably both passed a backmarker
under yellow flags, and Kelly had passed me and let me pass him
back. I don't feel good about our passing the backmarker, but at least
there was no net change of position as a result.

We carried on racing, and on the penultimate lap, I mishandled some
traffic at the entrance of turn 10. Sure enough, exiting turn 10, Paul
and Kelly both motored by me into 11. I got more snarled in traffic
entering the chicane, so by the time we headed up the hill for turn 1
on the last lap, I was more than 25 bike lengths behind. I had gone
from third to fifth in just a few seconds, and I had less than a lap
to get it back. Going through turn 1, I nearly gave up, but then I
figured I might as well give it my best shot. I felt I had more in me
than I'd been giving during the race so far, and now was the time to
pull it out. I made up much of the distance in turns 2 through 3a, and
passed Kelly on the brakes into turn 4. Paul was still ahead, but not
by much, and I got by him around the outside of the carousel. I was
surprised and thrilled that I'd gotten back into third spot so soon. I
managed to hold that position to the line.

In the pits after the race, someone (Paul?) told me Kelly had
protested my finish to Barbara Smith (the race director), claiming I
had passed him on a yellow flag in turn 2. I was pretty surprised that
Kelly would do that without talking to me about it first, but when I
found him, he said that's what he had done. He denied seeing the
yellow in turn 1 under which he had passed me. Having no question in
my mind that the turn 1 yellow flag had been there, I went to talk
with Barbara, who said she had discarded the protest because the
workers had not upheld it. She was in mid-race at the time, so I
didn't tell her my complete story, nor press her for details of what
the workers had said. I did take enough of her time to explain that
Kelly seemed to be giving me back a position in turn 2 that he had
illegally taken in turn 1, and I had thought he was being a good
sport.

I tried to iron things out in e-mail with Kelly a day or two after the
event, but he didn't seem up for it, so I still have sort of a sour
taste in my mouth about the whole deal. I know I am right, but it
still bothers me...

I'm looking forward to Buttonwillow and then Thunderhill,
though. Anyone know of an endurance team that needs a rider? I might
be interested.