I was a bit pessimistic going into this weekend's races and really didn't want to pay for the whole weekend because although the prices remain the same or increase we don't seem to get the same bang for our buck anymore with less bikes, less vendors and more restrictions at the track. I blame mostly DMG for the deterioration of my favorite American version of road races, and also partially the AMA and Road America. First start is RA offers print your own tickets but no indication how to prove and pick up programs at the track, but yet still charged me $6.60 for shipping... hmmm! Oh and you have to pick up the flat track coupon at the admission office inside the track too. Well this didn't serve the track very well because myself and my friends picked up double the programs since they have no way to prove who or when anyone on the order picked them up. Also no more TV coverage. Only can fine them on fanschoicetv.com to watch online.

Friday we took the bikes and the weather was perfect. Kevin worked the a.m. because nothing really happens until after the lunch hour on Fridays. When we got to the track we were given wrist bands for the whole weekend and the worker put Kevin's on too tight. We hiked to the nearest gate after we had been there for a while to get it replaced and we were told that the main gate was the only one who had them and we'd have to go all the way across the track to that gate to replace it, so we did. Okay so if we had a wedding or something over the weekend we would have been forced to wear our nice neon green wrist bands to that. Another smudge for RA in my book. Oh and the advertised radio broadcasting of the announcements wasn't broadcasted the whole weekend and half of the speakers at the track weren't functioning 100% so I had not clue who took pole or how everyone qualified.

Friday's Pictures

Saturday we took the car since it was our day to bring lunch for the group. Another beautiful day! In the morning we caught up with Jim Roach and had a nice chat with him. He informed us the Beaubier was kicking Josh by 7/10s of second and they were struggling a bit to keep up with the kid. We also ran into my favorite Honda wrencher from back in the day, Al Ludington. Asked to have my picture taken with him and when he asked me why I pointed to my Honda hat I was wearing and said "Because you used to be my favorite wrencher back in the day." He told me he just spent some time visiting Miguel in Vegas prior to RA. My guess was for Miguel's 39th birthday. We did the fan walk and watched the races from a couple of different spots. Think Gagne won today's Daytona race and Beaubier took the Superbikes.

Saturday's Pictures

Sunday we took the car again since a chance of rain and storms. The storms and rain held off for the most part until the last lap of the Superbike race but it was red-flagged earlier because of rain which stopped. It was a debacle of mis-haps today with red flags and delays, then the AMA was sending back out the Supersport racers when they hadn't even finished cleaning up the track from the crash that red-flagged their race. So they were all out at the end of the paddock waiting to go out and then sent back to their pit (picture below). I also do not understand why it took so long between the Daytona and Superbike race. If they'd been quicker they never would have had to worry about the rain at the end of the Superbike race. I guess now I can understand why Al thanked us for attending since the crowds were so much lower than usual.  Gagne took Daytona Sportbikes and Josh Hayes took Superbikes.

Although I had disappointments I still love and enjoy seeing the bikes race and had a great weekend!

I guess if I want to watch premier racing I will have to make it again for a MotoGP event. Maybe next year at Texas?!?!

Sunday's Pictures