IT'S BECOME A JOKE...

The Eastern Michigan Fair's Bump-N-Run was last night. Rick didn't finish his heat due to a broken half shaft. He got hit by a car that he lapped. Oh well, same old story. What was interesting, however, was the fact that the counters called nearly every race wrong. Heat one was done and over and they named one driver the winner. A few minutes went by and they changed their minds, the winner was another driver. Heat three was clearly won by Joe Kirchoff #544, however, they say he didn't even come in 4th. I have the video to prove it! And you better believe I am going to bring this to their attention! Heat four was Rick's heat. Car #XXX was also in this heat and he got hung up on a jump and didn't appear to finish the race. Well, his wife argued for 40 minutes that the went too many laps and that he did finish the race and they once again changed their minds. It's this interesting? Did I mention he went on to win the Main? This is #XXX's third win in a row at this event. I'm so completely disgusted and Rick is even more so. He's seriously thinking about just leaving the car on the trailer and hauling it to the junk yard and calling it quits. If it's not the drivers messing the races up, it the officials and counters. All night long, the officials couldn't agree on which flag to throw. Half of them would be standing there holding green flags while the other half had red flags. Then when the race was done, the drivers didn't even know it was over because the officials just stood there. HELLO!!! You have red flags for a reason! Use them!!

Mason will be racing today at Arthur. Rick's working on his kart right now. I guess it's raining there as I write this but it's supposed to clear up. Keep your fingers crossed that he does well.

Happy Birthday to my Mother-in-Law today!

RECENT EVENTS

We had a great vacation this past weekend. Rick enjoyed it because I was smart this time and incorporated motorized events. We left Friday afternoon and headed to Jackson, MI where we went and watched go kart races. They had just a few of Mason's type of kart and several of what they referred to as "Future Stars". They also had some super modifieds that were really cool. Saturday morning we headed down to Brooklyn, MI where Michigan International Speedway is so Rick and Don (brother-in-law) could do a 3-lap ride along in an actual race truck. They loved it and of course, now they want to go back and do the driving experience. Maybe in a couple years. :) Once that was done, we headed to Montague where we camped at White River Campground. This was an awesome campground. We started Sunday out with a trip to Silver Lake and rented dune buggys and rode the dunes. Mason kept yelling at Rick to slow down. Some racer he is! :P After that we found Duck Lake State Park and swam. It fed into Lake Michigan where we all went for a dip. It was a fun time but as always, it goes way too fast.

This weekend we will be heading to Reese so Mason can race. He hasn't been in a couple of weeks. Hopefully he will finish good.

I received a letter today from the North Branch Lions Club in response to the letter I wrote voicing my opinions & concerns regarding the Auto Cross race. They took the letter before the whole club & talked to the flaggers that were at the July race. They agreed with my comments & assured me that that type of aggressiveness will not be tolerated in the future. Someone had to do something; just hope they stick to it. I hope the other Lions Clubs stick to it as well. We will be racing in Imlay City on Friday the 13th. 13 is Rick's lucky number so we are thinking positive!

DECENT RACE RESULTS

Everything went fairly smooth this weekend. Rick raced at the Berville Bump-N-Run. He was looking strong and racing hard when he managed to skin his drivers side door. He tore the entire outer part of the door off and therefore, was blackflagged. It's probably for the best, that track was tiny but tough and the cars were being destroyed. At least he still has a car for Imlay City. We were releaved at the beginning of the race when one of the other drivers and his family backed us up on the "dirty racer" incident. They completely agree with us that what those couple of drivers are doing is wrong and unsafe. It was nice to hear they were on our side. We certainly aren't looking to make enemies. After the race we stopped and had dinner. There, Rick ran into Ian Kemfp. Ian runs the Imlay City Fair. He mentioned to Rick that a letter came through addressing the safety issues and that he is scheduled to give it to the man that is going to be in charge of the Imlay City race this year. Rick said, "Yeah, that was from my wife." I'm glad I wrote the letter. It seems everyone feels the same as we do and therefore, the Lions members (aka officials) need to be made aware of our concerns.

Now onto Mason's results. He did good. He looked stong on the track and his driving skills are definately taking shape. The only problem now is getting him the equipment to be competitive. His motor isn't up to speed with the other kids. They are all running what is called an Animal motor and Mason has an old Flathead motor. The Animal motors are naturally faster and Flatheads are getting phased out. He has told me that he will be asking Santa for an Animal motor ($1500 approx.) for Christmas. I hope Santa reads this post and starts saving!

We did have a scare, however. Mason was hit really, really hard from behind. All the kids were stopped for a caution and the officials were in the process of re-lining them up when another kid came around full speed and slammed into the back of Mason's kart. Mason said he seen the other kid coming and said to himself "this is gonna hurt". The other boy hit him so hard that the other kids eye goggles flew off of his helmet and went past Mason's kart. Mason's visor flew open. Deloris (grandma), who is also the track EMT, and I ran out there to check on him. He was teared up but elected to finish the race. He is a tough kid. After the race, everyone was so great and so concerned. It is really nice to have a family sport to participate in where everyone is supportive. Mason complained of a little soreness this afternoon but has been fine the rest of the day. As a matter of fact, right how he is referring to himself as "Pirate Spanky". (We went to a pirate bday party today) :)