This is still in progress.... Spent all day ...and night Friday putting the Ninja back together again. Last month it looked like the entire front row was running anout the same lap times and the Ninja was getting some more go fast mojo added at Speedshop. I've been down on power since my Vegas meltdown and Jonah put it back in spades! At about two AM we were getting down to final assembly and discovered we were missing some parts. Eeep. I tore the motor apart the weekend after the Aril non-race and one of the boxes disappeared in the 5 weeks until we started putting it back together again. John Anner gave me one of his early model blown motors last year and what few parts that were salvageable ended up being donated to whomever needed 'em. Luckily there was a few bits left in the tub - I'm now sporting, among things, a valve cover with "Blown Motor" carved into it. :) Get the motor back in the chassis, fill it with fluids and, of course, something leaks. Stupid O-Rings. Get that all mopped up and give the starter it's first test flick. ...Click ...POP. Bye bye starter motor. Dive back into the parts bin and dredge out a nasty hunk of metal that resembles a starter and it actually works! Put the body work on, pack up the trailer and hit the road until exhaustion sets in and I have to pull over to take a quick nap before getting to sears as the gates open. Saturday -------- Head out for my first session and ...damn, this thing's fast! Jay Kinberger and I get some dicing in through out the day, drifting closer and closer to breaking into the 1:52's. The Ninja's running soooo good, the suspension's working beautifully but, I do seem to be sliding quite a bit. At the end of the day, I'm pulling the belly pan off to go to tech and there's a couple case bolts in it. Eeep, I guess that's what happens when you're putting a motor together at zero AM. Put 'em back in and check every other bolt I can get a wrench on and get to spend the rest of the weekend worried about what else we may have forgotten. Sunday ------ Argh, Jay gets by me in morning practice while breaking into the 52's. Damn. I'm sliding a bit in almost every corner. Turn four is the source of some long ones and I decide that sooner or latter this is gonna start affecting my lap times or put me on my head so, I pull off early and shell out for a new rear tire even if it means skipping the CCS race this coming weekend if I wanna stay in my whisker thin race budget. Grid sheets go up and I see that were gridded behind F-Singles and 500 twins. We're gonna hit traffic right away. I suck at traffic. I dunno what kind of times Yoav and Jayce are doing and I haven't really ridden with either of them before so, it's hard for me to play the race out in my head. I'm guessing that if I can get the holeshot and toss traffic behind me like cannon fodder I might be able to hold off the Jay/Yoav/Val/Jayce/Chris/??? on slaught long enough to sneak onto my first podium. At least that's my strategy. The Race -------- This is my first front row start. The green flag drops and I get a decent launch. Just as I'm thinking, "that'll do" Yoav catapults by. Damn! Chris McGrail(?) almost gets by me too but I'm able to hold him off and start playing catch up to Yoav by Turn 2. We hit traffic from the first two waves almost immediately but, I'm steadily gaining ground on Yoav. I'm faster than him in a few corners but, he's checking his six constanly and making sure to block my passing attempts. Thick in lapped traffic and 500 twin/formula singles backmarkers now, Yoav starts to get away from me. There's so many bikes in front of us that I have to abandon all of my favorite lines to get through `em. "I'm not going fast enough, where's Jay? He's gotta be right on me. Don't look. Don't look." The fact that Jay Kinberger hadn't showed me a wheel yet really gave me the willies. I could only imagine that he was stalking me, waiting to make the perfect move.