Chapter 20
“Okay Mark. Just go out and ride like normal,” the photographer said.
“Uh, ok,” said Mark. They were at a track in Florida doing a photo shoot for Suzuki. Mark had gotten off the plane a couple of hours ago then was driven to the track. Mark had spent a couple of days with his parents. On Wednesday he was flown over to Florida.
Mark started the bike up, put it in gear and sped toward the track. After a couple of warm up laps Mark was hitting most of the jumps, which weren’t very big.
They continued taking pictures for an hour or two. Mark had been throwing some whips for the camera so he guessed they had gotten some good shots.
Mark pulled off the track. Jeff put his bike on a stand as Mark drank some water.
“Hey Mark, do you wanna go ride the track where the race is?” Jeff asked.
“There’s practice there?” Mark asked. “Yeah I want to go.”
“Alright, let’s get your bikes loaded,” Jeff said. Mark started getting ready to leave.
Forty-five minutes later they were pulling into the parking lot of the track. Mark looked out at it. It looked like a smaller version of Southwick with more jumps. The straights looked as rough too.
They found a parking spot and Mark got out and unloaded his bikes. He put on his helmet and goggles and headed toward the entrance to the track. He started around the sandy first corner, into a short, rough straight, turn, step-up double, turn … The track went on for about 3 minute lap times.
Mark was rolling a triple when a YZ85 with number 123 flew over top of him. Mark decided he would have some fun riding with him. Mark sped up and tried to catch up with him. But he couldn’t. After a couple laps of not gaining any time on Number 123, he gave up and pulled off the track to get some water. Mark watched the kid go by and then when he pulled off the track, Mark saw the name on his front plate. It was Chris Gillworth.
“Ohhhh,” Mark said.
“What?” Jeff asked.
“That’s Chris Gillworth, the kid who’s tied with in points,” Mark told him. “He looks really fast,”
“Well, go out there and try to keep up with him,” Jeff said. Mark put back on his helmet and rode back onto the track. He waited until Chris pulled back onto the track, then followed him. Mark kept up with him for a few turns, then Chris slowed down and pulled to the side of the track and Mark passed him, then Chris started behind Mark and had passed him within 6 corners. Then he pulled off and let Mark pass, then got behind Mark to try to pass him again. After a few repeats of this, Mark got tired of it. He pulled to the side of the track and gestured Chris to pull up next to him.
They took off their helmets and Chris said: “What’s up?”
“How come you keep letting me pass you?” Mark asked.
“So I can practice passing,” he said. “What’s your name?”
“Mark Peterson,” Mark answered. He saw Chris’s eyes widen.
“You’re the one I’m tied in the points with?”
“Yep, that’s me,”
“Oh,” Chris said, “I guess you and me will be battling for the points lead, huh?”
“Yea, I guess,” Mark said.
“So do you wanna go ride?” asked Chris.
“Ok,” Mark said. This time Chris headed out first, and Mark followed. Mark was doing all the jumps on the track by now and could keep up with Gillworth. But there was a section that Mark could fly through faster than Chris. It was a series of table tops. Mark memorized what he needed to do. ‘The first one, after you get into the air, you have to throw it sideways a little to land straight, because the face and the landing weren’t lined up straight,’ he thought to himself. ‘Then there are two 50 foot tables in a row, then a big on/off table top.’ Mark passed Chris through this section a couple of times. Other than this section, the two were pretty evenly matched. Mark felt confident that if he could get out in front at the start, then he could gain time in his fast section and pull far enough ahead to win.
After another hour or so of riding Mark pulled off and headed back to the rig.
“So what do you think?” Jeff asked.
“About what?”
“About Gillworth,” said Jeff. “Do you think you can beat him?”
“Yeah probably. If I can get the holeshot,” Mark answered. Just then, Mark’s cell phone began ringing. Mark checked his caller ID. It was Bobby.
“Hello?”
“Hey Mark, what’s up?”
“Oh we’re here at the track that they’re having the races at,”
“Really? What’s it like?” Bobby asked. Mark told him all about the big braking bumps and jumps and Gillworth and everything. After he was done Bobby said, “Cool. Well anyway, we just got into Florida and my dad say’s that tomorrow we can pick you up and go to Disney World tomorrow!”
“Sweet!” Mark said. He had never even been to Disney World despite living in California. “Yeah, I’ll come.” They made arrangements to meet.
When Mark told Jeff what was going on he said, “Good, that’ll give me some time to rebuild your engines.”
Mark said, “What? I barely have 2 hours on my 85 mod!”
“Yeah, well, we’re gonna want all the power we can get against Gillworth, huh?”
The next day, Mark, Bobby, Stephanie and Payton were sitting in the Andrew’s motor-home on the way to Disney World. “You didn’t tell me that She was coming,” Mark muttered in Bobby’s ear.
“Stephanie invited her,” Bobby said.
“What’re they talking about?” Mark asked. They both looked at the two girls laughing and talking, but it seemed like Spanish to the two boys. They shrugged their shoulders and started talking about this weekend’s race.
When they got there, they all got out and went to buy their tickets. After 30 minutes of standing in line, they finally got in. After they made plans to meet with Bobby’s parents in a couple hours, the 4 kids set off.
“Let’s go on that ride!” Bobby said pointing to a huge rollercoaster. They got in line and waited for another 15 minutes until they were near the front of the line.
“I think I’ll just watch you guys this time,” Mark said nervously. He had never been on a rollercoaster before.
“Oh common!” said Bobby. “You’ve got to.”
“It’s really big,” Mark said looking at the big loops.
“You’ll jump fifty foot triples, but you won’t get on this?” Bobby persuaded.
“Ok fine!” Mark said and walked up the stairs and picked a cart with Bobby and put the safety bar down. When the carts started their ascent for the first drop, Mark was saying “Uhhh, I want to get off now.”
As they came to the peak right before the drop Bobby said, “Too late,” and they dropped down 100 feet, while Mark screamed his head off.
When they got off, Bobby was doubled up in laughter. “What’s so funny?” Payton asked.
“Mark screams like a girl!” Bobby said.
Over the next 4 hours, they went on rides, ate junk food, and anything else you do at Disney World. At the end of the day they were all exhausted. They fell asleep on the way back to the hotel.
When they got back, Mark went up to his and Jeff’s room. Jeff was there working on some of Mark’s supermini motor.
“What the-,” Mark said. “Why did you bring the top end in the room?!”
“Well it got hot out there so I brought it in here,” Jeff said.
“What happens when you get grease all over every thing?” said Mark.
“What are maids for?”
At the hotel restaurant the next morning Bobby and Mark were sitting next to each other eating cereal.
“What’re you doing today?” Mark asked.
“I’m going to an ORV park, wanna come?” said Bobby.
“Yeah, ok,” Mark said, “I’ll load my bike in your trailer so that we don’t have to bring the semi.”
Mark got his Supermini out of the semi and loaded it and his gear in Bobby’s trailer. They drove a little ways until they got there. There were lots of people there. They unloaded the bikes, put their gear on and headed off.
Within an hour of riding, Mark and Bobby had found the best spot to ride at. It wasn’t that hard to find because there were lots of people gathered around the jump. It was a jump that launched you like 10 feet high in the air, but you only jumped like 5 feet lengthwise. There was a sign in front of it that said:
WHIP CONTEST 2:00 p.m.
5 dollar entry fee
50 dollar prize money
“What time is it?” Mark asked.
“Probably about 1:45,” Bobby said. “Let’s go get some money!” They rode back and got 5 dollars each. By the time they got back to the jump, someone was collecting entry fees. The guy looked at Mark and laughed but still took his and Bobby’s money. They got one round of practice. Then they each took one run doing the biggest whip they could. Mark got the feel for the jump in practice. He was ready for the real contest. The first five people did moderate sized whips. Mark knew he could do better. Bobby was next. He put his YZ 85 into gear and launched himself into the air and layed it over. Mark was surprised at how big it was considering how small Bobby was. Then it was Mark’s turn. He launched into the air and did as big of a whip as he could. When he landed and looked around, everyone’s mouth was hanging open.
As the last person did the whip, he knew that he had it won. When they announced that Mark was the winner, everyone was looking at him like he was David Copperfield or something.
Mark had a lot of fun that day, but little did he know what kind of surprise he was in for the next day.
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There it is guys hope you liked it. Thank you olderndirtmom for proof reading this.