oklahoma state championship-round one

round one of the '03 series was held at anadarko, ok yesterday. we headed west friday evening, got to the track about 9:30 and set up camp. the temperature was about 28 and we were camping in the trailer. i set up the cots and fired up the generator. we used a space heater that was woefully inadequate. it probably raised the temperature in the trailer to the upper 40's. kendall whined about it all nite-eleven year old girls aren't very calloused to that sort of thing. i had to get up and refuel the generator twice during the nite, then ran out of fuel completely at 6:20 am. we made a quick run to town and got a couple more gallons of gas (the truck heater sure felt good). shortly after getting back, practice was getting ready to start. the temp. was probably in the low 20's (kids were playing on the iced-over pond) but the track is a sandy one and was in good condition. kendall rode her four laps of practice, then sat in the trailer nearly in tears because her hands were so cold. her first moto came around about 11:00. by then it had warmed up nicely and she had stopped whining (it helped that a boy that she has a crush on showed up). she rode the first moto very conservatively, as if she was still practicing, and finished sixth. it was her first time at a state championship race and her first race on an 80 so i was pleased with her result. by the second moto, she was all fired up and ready to race. i had bought her some new gloves at one of the accessory trailers and she was excited. it's funny how much difference something like that makes to a kid (i don't know, maybe it was the boy). the gate dropped and there sat kendall--in neutral. she kicked it into gear and started dead last. she passed all the slower girls on the first lap-there are three sets of distinctly different skill levels in the women's class and kendall is in the middle group. she took off after the girl that finished just ahead of her in the first moto. by the third lap, she caught up to her and passed her through the jump section. kendall was jumping, the other girl was rolling the jumps. she held her off and finished fifth and fifth overall. i was very proud of her. she got a killer trophy and was very happy. by then it had gotten warm enough that we didn't even need jackets and it turned out to be a nice day overall. we will have to miss several rounds of the series because of basketball and soccer but we hope to do enough of them to get her eligible for series awards.

the girl that won was hauling. sarah blewitt-out of kansas, i think. she did every double on the track. i'd like to see blackhawk go at it with her. the track looked fun. it was our first time there and i can't wait to get to ride on it.

i rode my 73 yam enduro around the pits all day. i got alot of looks, comments and "i remember when..." stories from the older guys about it.

you've been mia for quite some time. xtremeworld and sunset are not part of the series this year. in case you didn't know, sunset moved their track to checotah. it's still a good track. i don't even have a mx bike right now. i just got the doc's permission to start walking unaided about three weeks ago, progress is slow. email me a pic of the bike.