First Race!!
04-05-2004, 05:47 PM
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Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: New Smyrna Beach, Florida
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First Race!!
Well I have the first one under my belt and the verdict is in....... I am hooked!!!!
Saturday was cool. Getting to meet guys like John Tomlinson and Dave Scott, Bruce Seroff, Gene Stephens, Gino Marrone (sp?), and all of the other racers was awesome. It nice to be welcomed into the sport when you are new. Tech inspection was good too because I was able to spend a little time with the inspector and he showed me things that he would be looking for and what things I needed to pay attention to.
Sunday morning went well. The physical was a piece of cake, in fact I over relaxed for the BP test and the nurse told me I barely had any blood pressure!! Of course I blew .000 on the BAC test. We were quick to get the boat in the water before the physicals and meeting to get a good spot and to not stress. Of course I had left the bilge pump running all night so my port battery was dead and could not be revived. BruceK and my single crew member ran to Wally Mart for a new battery and we were back in action.
Race time - We idle out in to the middle area to do the parade lap...nerves are there, sweaty palms, but man am I looking forward to this!!! Pace boats starts and we run the lap and stop at pin 4 to mill. First the PX boats are picked up by the pace boat and they are off.. and I mean off!!! I was afraid that Bacardi would be coming back around before we left!! Pace boat picks us up and we are heading toward the start line. I had to start 100 feet back but it was all good. I never saw the green flag, Bruce just jammed the throttles and we were off. We were on the outside and picked a few boats off before pin 1. As we got around the pin I could see Gino just hauling ass away through some really crappy water. The wind had been blowing for days out of the NW and that end of the lake had a big cross wake that made the boat roll back and forth. It was a hand full through there. At pin 2 we turned into the wind and the wakes are right on the nose for about 3 miles... easy cruising WFO. At pin 3 we went wide and left a lane for Gino and just ran wide open to 4. A nice sweeping turn through 4 and back down the front straight past the stands. At this point we were all alone for about a lap until Bacardi caught us on the upwind leg from 2 to 3. That was unreal!!! All I could smell was burnt race fuel.....mm mmm Gooood!! I made a few rookie mistakes. I lost sight of pin 4 and drifted wide. Luckily Para-Dice gave me a high speed fly by and helped me find my way back on course. A nice splash of cool lake water to bring me back to my senses!!!! (it was only rooster spray caught in the wind). It was freakin awesome to be out there. My sealed GPS showed 89.6 mph at the end of the race. BruceK has the boat on the money all the time.
I really think that I owe a thanks to a few key people for making the experience what it was. Steve David is the epitome of professionalism. He spent time going over procedures, answering questions and concerns and just making me feel like a part of the community. Bob Bull spent time on the phone and in person in the weeks prior to and even on race day talking to me. He was also a very large part of the reason that I decided to race APBA. Dee Kimes was great too..... she actually can keep me in line!! I am very much looking forward the rest of the season with APBA.
PS: By the way, I looked everywhere but I couldnt find any Mike A's..... I even checked the Porto-Potties!!!
Saturday was cool. Getting to meet guys like John Tomlinson and Dave Scott, Bruce Seroff, Gene Stephens, Gino Marrone (sp?), and all of the other racers was awesome. It nice to be welcomed into the sport when you are new. Tech inspection was good too because I was able to spend a little time with the inspector and he showed me things that he would be looking for and what things I needed to pay attention to.
Sunday morning went well. The physical was a piece of cake, in fact I over relaxed for the BP test and the nurse told me I barely had any blood pressure!! Of course I blew .000 on the BAC test. We were quick to get the boat in the water before the physicals and meeting to get a good spot and to not stress. Of course I had left the bilge pump running all night so my port battery was dead and could not be revived. BruceK and my single crew member ran to Wally Mart for a new battery and we were back in action.
Race time - We idle out in to the middle area to do the parade lap...nerves are there, sweaty palms, but man am I looking forward to this!!! Pace boats starts and we run the lap and stop at pin 4 to mill. First the PX boats are picked up by the pace boat and they are off.. and I mean off!!! I was afraid that Bacardi would be coming back around before we left!! Pace boat picks us up and we are heading toward the start line. I had to start 100 feet back but it was all good. I never saw the green flag, Bruce just jammed the throttles and we were off. We were on the outside and picked a few boats off before pin 1. As we got around the pin I could see Gino just hauling ass away through some really crappy water. The wind had been blowing for days out of the NW and that end of the lake had a big cross wake that made the boat roll back and forth. It was a hand full through there. At pin 2 we turned into the wind and the wakes are right on the nose for about 3 miles... easy cruising WFO. At pin 3 we went wide and left a lane for Gino and just ran wide open to 4. A nice sweeping turn through 4 and back down the front straight past the stands. At this point we were all alone for about a lap until Bacardi caught us on the upwind leg from 2 to 3. That was unreal!!! All I could smell was burnt race fuel.....mm mmm Gooood!! I made a few rookie mistakes. I lost sight of pin 4 and drifted wide. Luckily Para-Dice gave me a high speed fly by and helped me find my way back on course. A nice splash of cool lake water to bring me back to my senses!!!! (it was only rooster spray caught in the wind). It was freakin awesome to be out there. My sealed GPS showed 89.6 mph at the end of the race. BruceK has the boat on the money all the time.
I really think that I owe a thanks to a few key people for making the experience what it was. Steve David is the epitome of professionalism. He spent time going over procedures, answering questions and concerns and just making me feel like a part of the community. Bob Bull spent time on the phone and in person in the weeks prior to and even on race day talking to me. He was also a very large part of the reason that I decided to race APBA. Dee Kimes was great too..... she actually can keep me in line!! I am very much looking forward the rest of the season with APBA.
PS: By the way, I looked everywhere but I couldnt find any Mike A's..... I even checked the Porto-Potties!!!
Last edited by d-hlaw; 04-05-2004 at 06:02 PM.
