Playing in the Dirt Again

 Saturday night we got to go racing again!!!  It has been a long time and one of our racers has taken a big step up. 

 

Davis is now racing a 65cc where he has to shift for the first time.

He had no seat time on an actual track before this Saturday.

We believe in the sink or swim philosophy - not really but we were winging it this time for sure.

I will do a proper update later, but just to give you an idea of what our night consisted of....a little before and after of Dave's helmet.

There was a whole lot of washin' going on at our house on Sunday!!

More to Come!

Motocross is dangerous

Not for my boys though...

Last night after Matt's first practice at Bremen I was coming down the hill where the arrow is (I stand at the top so I can help if he falls).

And I fell....face first into the dirt.

In front of EVERYONE!!!

I even had dirt in my teeth.

I jumped up as quickly as I could to lessen the embarrassment as much as possible.

Hannah quickly came to my rescue and helped clean the dirt off my face.

This morning I HURT so bad and I know I don't look much better.

Not sure the picture shows how bad it actually looks and I know you can't see how much it hurts.

Do you think people would laugh if they saw me out on the track wearing one of these......

The day has finally arrived!!!

This motocross family is headed down to the Georgia Dome to watch the Supercross!!

It is really the Holy Grail for MX fans. The series is broadcast on CBS on Sunday afternoons and we have every one in the series on DVR. I am thinking that Dave watches each race about 100 times!!

We were disappointed that KTM ended their half time challenge for 7-9 year old racers. We had Dave's credentials all lined up...including recommendations from his teachers and his Citizenship Award. We really hoped he would be picked to ride out on the Supercross track (it was done at each race and you didn't know which one you would get picked for). I have heard that now KTM is sponsoring some kind of Freestyle half time show...which I know my kids will like even more!! I think the adults enjoyed the little 50cc bikes out on the track way more than the kids. We have several racing friends that participated and they said they were treated like royalty.

We also expect to see some "protests" of the new law that went into effect regarding lead in the youth dirt bikes and ATV's. I don't understand all that is going on, but I guess the government is afraid that our kids are going to eat parts of their bike and that would be dangerous.....

Our racing friend wrote a great blog that explains the issue.....http://community.myfoxatlanta.com/blogs/BuckB

As the racing mom of two racers....I hope this law is changed as it greatly effects the sport that we have invested a lot of time and money in. I am also very concerned for all the vendors that will lose large amounts of money because they can't sell the bikes or replacement parts.

I am so excited about today...we will be leaving around 2 to hopefully catch some practice before the racing starts. My concern now is what will we use for a behavior modification tool after tonight....we have been threatening to not let them go to the Supercross if they don't behave!!!

Great Day

Some days really are better than others.

Saturday was one of those days.

The day started with a visit from Santa....the Mountain Park Volunteer Fire Department was nice enough to escort him around to deliver an early present - it is really hard to wait for the big day!!!


We then headed to the bowling alley for the 2008 Moto Madness awards banquet for Davis. Davis earned 1st place in the 50cc ages 4-6 and 2nd place in the oil inject class. His trophies are HUGE and he also got lots of goodies (including a new set of gear - or "outfit" as Mommy would say). We also got to spend some time with our motocross family outside of the track....everyone cleans up pretty well!!!


There was a raffle for a pit bike that was very exciting. They drew 10 numbers and Davis was one of those. Then they put each ticket back in and you were out when they called your number. Davis' number was the 9th number drawn....so close!!!!

The day was rounded out with Lil' Pop (Pete's dad) agreeing to babysit the kids while Pete and I went to a Christmas party.

A place to belong

A year ago we ventured up to Calhoun for Davis' 1st motocross race. We didn't know anybody there, but it really didn't matter that day. We had no idea that we would find a place to belong.

This was "our spot" last night.

With "our people"...

"Roughing it" in our friend's new MX trailer.

The best part of our "place" is that it is all about family.....we don't have to get a babysitter or worry that our kids will be a bother to anyone. We all just take care of each other - whether it is a chain that needs fixed, a bike that needs started, a picture that needs taken, a hot dog is needed for a "starving" kid, spiced rum needs to be shared, or a child's dinner needs to be spoiled by too much candy (I really am sorry Joey) - someone just takes care of it.

It is amazing what can happen in a year!!

Whew

Dave took 1st place on his oil inject last night!!!

Some Lessons are Easier than Others.

Picture by Brandi Henson

Davis has been racing dirtbikes now for a year (he raced his first race on 9/15/07 at the Calhoun track). He has gone from a PW 50 (small Yamaha) to an oil injected 50 and is now also racing a bigger liquid cooled 50cc.

He has dominated his oil inject class mainly because he hasn't had much competition. He ended the regular season of the 2008 Moto Madness series with over 400 points.....I think more than 100 points ahead of the 2nd place winner. We are now in a 10 race "playoff" in which only 3 riders in his class qualified (Davis Y - 1st, Davis L - 2nd, Hunter - 3rd). The points have been zeroed out and because Davis L is out with a broken arm, the championship is between Hunter and Davis. Hunter's dad is Pete's BFF (which he will kill me for actually printing that) and Pete helped Alan (Hunter's dad) find Hunter's current bike.

Hunter is definitely great competition for Dave and we have seen Davis really step it up and he has been riding GREAT!!! His technique is spot on and he is giving it everything he can. Unfortunately, the last two races he has lost to Hunter and after 4 races they are tied for 1st place. This has been tough for our little man. He has cried and now thinks he is too heavy for the bike (which is funny because Hunter is much taller and weighs more than Dave).

We have explained to him that it is not about winning...it is about having fun and doing your best. I asked him if he did his best and he said "yes". We told him he should be happy for his friend and use it as motivation to go out and kick his bootie next week (all in fun of course).

Behind the scenes, Pete is doing his research to see what needs to be done to make his bike go faster. I guess there is something with the gearing that he can adjust depending on what track he is at. Pete hates to think he can't win because of his mechanic!!!!

The kids are off school this week (fall break) and there is no baseball on Saturday....I hope all this rest will help Dave do his best, win if possible, and to be a good sport if he doesn't.

Sometimes they do listen

Every race day before my boys get on their bikes (or sometimes while they are on the line for practice) I say a prayer with them. It usually goes like this...

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Please keep Davis and Matt safe on their bikes and don't let them get hurt, let them have fun, know how proud their mommy and daddy are of them and let them kick ass (which we changed to "bootie" for Matt since we have some issues with bad words).

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

I didn't really know if it meant much to them, but I have had Davis come to me and say "Mommy, we need to do our prayer".

Tonight I was driving home from the store with Hannah and Matt while Pete had Davis at baseball practice. This is what I heard in the sweetest 4 year old voice from the backseat ...

"Father, Son, Holy Spirit Amen. Please keep Davis and Matt safe on their bikes. Amen"

The below video was after we got home and I asked if he could do it again for the camera. My Grandma must be smiling in Heaven, I know it made me smile from ear to ear!!!

Catch Up

I am in Orlando tonight for business so I thought I would try to update the montage for Matt and the 1st day of school.

We really enjoyed Matt's 1st race....I can't believe how quickly he is growing up!! He will also play baseball this fall for the 1st time (and Davis will play as well).

School

I was very unhappy with my camera on the 1st day of school....it wouldn't flash when it should have (I am sure it is not user error!!). Pete took some pictures when they got home from school, but they were sweaty and spent for the day. They are enjoying school and we are all getting used to the early morning routine. We love that our bus comes at 6:53 instead of 6:37 like prior years. I am sorry for the quality of the pictures!! I will be thinking of them all tomorrow as I get to catch a couple extra winks while I am out of town!!!

And then there were two...

Matt raced in his first motocross race last night!! I wasn't sure it was going to happen, but it did. He didn't want to "race", he said he wanted to just "ride". We sort of failed to tell him that he was "riding" in a "race".

He was so cute out there and had a great time!! I am working on a montage, but I am about beat (school starts tomorrow). I will leave you with a couple of pictures and video of him after the race was over.

He placed 2nd overall (out of 3 racers)

Earning my Card

I think I really earned my MX Mom card this weekend. The race on Saturday ended up getting rained out (of course after we drove over an hour to the track and set up), and was moved to Sunday morning. We ended up going to dinner at a Mexican restaurant with our MX friends (can you imagine the dismay of the restaurant when 15 of us come in sweaty, wet and dirty). We had a ball, but didn't get home until after midnight. Pete kept working on Dave's little bike (the oil inject bike) because after they went riding on Thursday and Dave going through a huge mud puddle, the bike wouldn't stay running (this is the bike Pete and my dad worked on for over a week to get it running well). Saturday morning Pete put a new top-end in and still couldn't get it to crank.....then he spent more time on it at the track with the help of another MX Dad. He wanted to try something else when he got home and by around 1:30am he finally got it started (he was so excited he just had to come wake me up to tell me). I think he finally went to bed around 3:15am. We left for the track around 9:30 yesterday morning. Not sure what happened, but the track wasn't as well prepped as it should have been. There is a turn right at the start that was really muddy with some deep ruts. This is "my" section that I hang during the race because it seems like the kids fall a lot there. Our little 50's are not far off the ground and they spent a lot of time getting through this turn. They could make it if they just kept on the gas, but it was natural for them to back off the throttle. I ended up having to push several kids through the mud....which was about a foot deep in places. I ended up wearing a lot of Georgia red clay!!!

It was also HOT....holy moly, I didn't think it would be that hot!! It is usually hot on Saturday nights, but it cools off when the sun goes down. Of course, it just kept getting hotter and hotter as the day wore on. I guess I didn't drink enough or something, but I thought for sure I was going to be sick.....my head was pounding!! I have no idea how these racers do it....they have so much gear on!!

My little racer has apparently met his future wife at the track though....Davis and Tori are going to get married....she is going to be a doctor, Davis a fireman. Their children will have to watch Spongebob downstairs because they are going to watch it upstairs (good to know they are thinking ahead). It is a good thing that we LOVE his future In-Laws!!!