dirtbike_freak
Member
- Dec 10, 2006
- 211
- 0
- Thread starter
- #526
Just to let you know, i didn't give up on the story i've just been busy.
Please read my story
- Thread starter dirtbike_freak
- Start date
- May 31, 2002
- 1,229
- 2
welcome aboard, now that you're here, check out the site and stick around a while :cool:
flyingfuzzball
Member
- May 10, 2007
- 957
- 0
hey 150r guy i have been meaning to ask
have you been bending your bars since you got fat bars :)
have you been bending your bars since you got fat bars :)
GETMETOCA
Can't Wait For Tuesdays
- Mar 17, 2002
- 4,768
- 0
That is probably a good idea as well. I was thinking that his work would fit right into the Xtreme Teen Genre... or YA (Young Adult) genre. There's an emerging brand of young writers out there that incorporate Xtreme sports as the background for their stories. This new book that came out called "SLAM" by Nick Hornby is a good example. I don't think SLAM was written by a young person, but it was written for the same audience. Skateboarding is the hook here.
JD_MXRacer
Member
- Nov 27, 2006
- 411
- 0
150rguy said:
if it has the cross bar isnt it not fat bars? i thought fat bars were only the ones w/o a crossbar because theyre like thicker.
JD_MXRacer
Member
- Nov 27, 2006
- 411
- 0
one time during a bmx race i was trying out some aluminum bars. i landed hard and the left bar bent straight down to 90 degrees. my hand slipped off and I fell. then like 5 other people ran into me and fell lol.
dirtbike_freak
Member
- Dec 10, 2006
- 211
- 0
- Thread starter
- #546
I decided to split the last chapter into 2 chapters its so long. Once olderndirtmom gets it back to me, I'll post it.
flyingfuzzball
Member
- May 10, 2007
- 957
- 0
MAN i saw you posted something and was like sweet. the last chapter. AND NOW THIS!!!!!! OMG.
OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG IM GONNA FIND OUT WHERE YOU LIVE AND COME AND STEAL THE CHAPTER OFF YOUR COMP.
but then again. by the time i figure out where you live. figure out how to get there then actually get there. it will probably be here. then i wont have a comp and wont be able to read it. kinda counter-intuitive i guess ill just sit at my comp til you post it sooooooo
WHAT NOW?? WHAT NOW?? YEA THATS WHAT I THOUGHT YEA YEA YOU WANT A SOME OF THIS I WILL......*trails off screaming at fake people kinda like that crazy dude who lives down the street and scares all the little kids as they walk past him to school cuz he does freaky things like decorating for the 4th of july in october. man that dude is frea....*trails off again like someone bored out of their mind because he can stay up late cuz he doesnt have school tomorrow but has nothing to do....*still trailing off.***
i hope that amused someone. im bored.
just remember olderndirtmom everyone is searching for your errors. MUWHAHAHAHAHAHA
i think im done now. im not sure. i might start typing again. no im done. k now im waiting for the chapter........
OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG IM GONNA FIND OUT WHERE YOU LIVE AND COME AND STEAL THE CHAPTER OFF YOUR COMP.
but then again. by the time i figure out where you live. figure out how to get there then actually get there. it will probably be here. then i wont have a comp and wont be able to read it. kinda counter-intuitive i guess ill just sit at my comp til you post it sooooooo
WHAT NOW?? WHAT NOW?? YEA THATS WHAT I THOUGHT YEA YEA YOU WANT A SOME OF THIS I WILL......*trails off screaming at fake people kinda like that crazy dude who lives down the street and scares all the little kids as they walk past him to school cuz he does freaky things like decorating for the 4th of july in october. man that dude is frea....*trails off again like someone bored out of their mind because he can stay up late cuz he doesnt have school tomorrow but has nothing to do....*still trailing off.***
i hope that amused someone. im bored.
just remember olderndirtmom everyone is searching for your errors. MUWHAHAHAHAHAHA
i think im done now. im not sure. i might start typing again. no im done. k now im waiting for the chapter........
dirtbike_freak
Member
- Dec 10, 2006
- 211
- 0
- Thread starter
- #548
Chapter 22
The schedule was posted on the USMXN website. It was Monday evening. Mark had compulsively logged on to check results for the umpteenth time that day. This time when he pulled up the schedule page, he found this:
Washougal MX Park
Wednesday- Gates open/Sign-in
Thursday- Practice
Friday- Racing begins
Saturday- Day Two Racing
Sunday- Last and final day of racing.
“Jeff!” Mark called into the living room where Jeff was watching TV. “You better come look at this,” Jeff came into the room and scanned over the schedule on the screen.
“What?” he asked.
“We have top be there by Wednesday,” Mark told him.
“Yeah, I know,” Jeff replied.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I thought you knew. We’re flying there early Wednesday morning,” Jeff informed Mark. “They’re going to have an RV for us to sleep in,”
“Sweet!” Mark exclaimed. “But why are there three days of racing?”
“Because there are three moto’s,” Jeff said.
“WHAT?!” said Mark. Three motos meant that Mark would have to win at least 2 motos. “I can’t believe this!”
“Well believe it because it’s true.”
Mark had spent most of Monday practicing at the track at his house. His little brother Carson had been complaining about how rough it was and how it needed to be groomed. So their dad had torn down a lot of the jumps and rebuilt new ones. Now they had a 35 foot triple, a 30 foot double, and two ten foot table tops in a row. Jumping both table tops in one jump was almost 40 feet total. Mark was still trying to get up the nerve to jump. Bobby hadn’t tried it either.
Bobby was staying with them that week while his Dad drove the trailer to Washington. Bobby slept in Mark’s room with Mark. He was going to take the plane with Mark and Jeff. He had been riding Mark’s stock 85 practice bike.
Just then Bobby ran in and yelled, “Mark, I did it!”
“Did what?” Mark asked startled.
“The two table tops!” Bobby yelled. “Come-on.” They both ran outside and Bobby got on his bike. Mark got on his Supermini practice bike and rode over. He stopped next to the jump. He watched Bobby come around the corner, shift up to third. BRAAAAPPPP. He cleared the whole thing!
Mark was convinced he could clear it, too. He started his bike up and did a lap of warm-up. When he came to the double he shifted and pinned it. He landed way in the flat. He had overshot by at least 10 feet. The suspension bottomed and he was ejected from the bike. Mark jumped up and ran to the bike.
“That was awesome!” he exclaimed. Just then he noticed that the rear wheel was bent and broken. He groaned. “That was my favorite set of wheels!” The rims were yellow and the hubs were red. The spokes were even blue.
“Don’t worry. We’ll get that replaced,” Jeff said.
“But that’s like 500 bucks!”
“Have you forgotten?” Jeff asked him. “You’re factory- sponsored by Suzuki. They pay for everything.”
Mark’s 9 year old brother, Carson, started up Mark’s old CR85 and rode some laps on the track. While Jeff was replacing the wheel, Mark grabbed Jeff’s pitboard and started taking Carson’s lap time. Mark was seeing some major improvement in Carson’s riding since he had been gone. His lap times were about 2:10. Mark’s average lap time was 1:47. Bobby’s was 1:54.
Mark watched his brother rail a corner, hit a triple, and then he came into the corner right before the 2 table tops. Mark was sure he wasn’t gonna do it, but then Carson shifted into 3rd and soared over the whole thing. Mark ran down to him, but Carson just turned around and did it again.
‘Man, he’s really good,’ thought Mark. ‘If he keeps on like this, by the time he’s my age he’ll be better than me. There’s no way I could’ve done that jump when I was nine.’
“Let me ride that bike,” Mark told Carson. Carson got off and Mark put on his helmet. He took a lap a round the track then pulled up next to Carson. “I was gonna do that double, but this bike’s way too slow.”
“No it’s not,” Carson said. “You’re just used to a factory bike.”
Mark walked to the garage so he could get his 85 practice bike, but when he saw it, the whole top end was off and it wasn’t back together yet.
So Mark walked over to the line of Carson’s bikes: a 125, a 65. Then he saw his little Cobra 50 super mod. Mark took it out of the shop and tried to start it. It took a while, but he finally got it going. He rode the tiny bike down to where Carson was riding and signaled him to come here.
“Why do you still have this?” Mark asked.
“Because I ride it sometimes,” he said.
“Wanna bet that I can beat you riding this while you’re riding the 85?” Mark asked. “If you win you can ride my factory bike.” Carson had been pleading all day to ride Mark’s bike, but Mark said no. He didn’t want Carson to get used to it and then not like his own bike.
“Okay.” They shook hands and went over to the start of the track. There were no starting gates so Bobby signaled them to go. Carson got the holeshot, and Mark tried to make a pass, but couldn’t accelerate out of the corner. By the 5th lap Carson had lapped Mark.
“Dang, I thought I could beat you,” Mark said shaking his head. “Alright you can ride it when Jeff gets done with it.”
Mark spent the next day hammering down some hard laps on his 85 practice bike with Bobby. He had been doing the two table tops all day. He didn’t know why he hadn’t done them the day before because now they seemed easy.
At 2:00 they parked their bikes and went into the house to relax for the rest of the day. They went to bed at 8:00 because their flight left at 5:00 AM.
BEEP BEEP BEEP. The alarm went off in Mark’s room and he got out of bed. He pulled on some jeans and a Rockstar Energy tee-shirt and woke Bobby up. They walked down stairs where everyone was waiting for them. Mark’s mom had a suitcase for her and Mr. Peterson.
“Mom, you’re only gonna be there 5 days. You didn’t need to pack your whole closet!” Mark told her.
“Oh well,” she shrugged.
.
They took 2 cars to the airport, because they couldn’t all fit into the back seat. Mark found himself crammed between Bobby and Carson in the back seat.
“Eww, didn’t you take a shower last night?” Mark asked Carson.
“Uhh no,” Carson answered.
Mark huffily lectured his little brother: “You should take a shower every night. Or at least put on deodorant!” After about 15 minutes they arrived at the airport. They sat in the hard plastic seats at their gate waiting to load. It was starting to get light out about now. Mark had just fallen asleep when he was shook awake by Jeff. Jeff had just been lecturing Mark on the importance of air filter changes.
“So like I was saying, if the dirt gets past that filter”-
“Jeff,” Mark yawned, “I thought the reason I have a mechanic is for you to do all that stuff.”
“Well it is, but I might not be around someday so you’ll need to change your own air filter.” Just then the plane started boarding. Mark and his family got in line. They were happy to give the lady their ticket so that they could finally go sit in the comfortable seats and go to sleep. Suzuki was paying for the family’s plane ride to Washington so his whole family could attend the final race. They would also have an RV for them to stay in
“Why didn’t Suzuki get us first class seats?” Mark asked Jeff.
“Good question,” Jeff said dryly. “I’ll have to talk to Bud about that.” Mark looked longingly at the first class leather seats as he went by.
For an hour Mark sat next to Bobby in silence thinking about the race.
Bobby looked at his friend. “Are you nervous?”
“For the race? Yeah,” Mark said moodily. “I feel like I have something to prove.”
“Prove to who?” Bobby asked.
“I don’t know,” Mark muttered, “Suzuki maybe.”
“Or maybe just to yourself,” Bobby said. “If I win all three motos this weekend and you get second all of them, will you still win the series?”
“Yeah, but why would that happen?” Mark asked.
“I think riding with you has made me faster this week!” Bobby laughed happily to his friend.
They got off the plane and walked out into the baggage claim area to get Mark’s parent suitcase.
As they were walking to the exit Mark asked “Jeff, how are we getting to the track?” Before Jeff had a chance, Mark’s question was answered when he saw Bud Smith wearing the Factory Suzuki pit shirt.
“I didn’t think you guys would want to walk to the track, so I came to pick you up!” Bud called out to them. Jeff introduced Mark’s parents and brothers to Bud.
“Very nice to meet you,” he said, shaking Mark’s dad’s hand. They walked into the parking lot where they got in to a large van. It wasn’t like one of the nice vans that Mark had ridden in with TPA. There was a dent in the side and on the seat there was a stain that looked like someone had puked on it. Mark tried very hard not to get this seat. Carson ended up getting it.
“Sorry about the crappy van.” Bud said, “We rented it. This was the only one there was.”
“Oh it’s fine,” Mark’s mom said. “We’re very glad we didn’t have to drive up! Thank you so very much for the plane ride.”
“Oh and about the flight,” Mark started, “Why didn’t we get to sit first-,” Mark mom flashed him a look and Mark stopped.
“What’s that Mark?” Bud asked.
“Nothing I was just agreeing with my mom. Thanks for the plane ride,” he quickly recovered under his mom’s glare.
“No problem buddy,” Bud said. It was about 9:45 and it was starting to heat up. So was the van, and it didn’t have any air conditioning.
“Why’d you rent a van? Just to pick us up?” Mark asked.
“Yeah, and I need to pick up some more of the team tomorrow.” Bud answered.
“The rest of the team?” Mark asked confused.
“Yeah some of your teammates are coming up to watch you,” Bud said.
“Really?!” Mark exclaimed. “Sweet!”
The forest thickened as they got farther and farther into the mountains. “Are we there yet?” Mark asked impatiently as he glanced out the window at some passing houses.
“Almost,” Bud said. After another 15 minutes, they came to a line of cars and trailers. The line was moving surprisingly quick, but not quick enough. Their van was stuck behind a diesel truck and it was smelling pretty bad when they entered the gates of the track. They dropped Bobby off at his trailer. Mark shouted after him: “I’ll see you in a couple of hours!”
They pulled up next to the semi. Mark hopped out and ran through the grass to the semi where his bikes were sitting on stands. Mark pulled out his brand new mountain bike that Pro-Taper had given him. He was already pedaling away toward Bobby’s trailer while Jeff started getting the tools to rebuild Mark’s engines. Mark rode slowly by all the trailers, seeing who was there. He spotted TPA’s semi and rode over to it. Mark still couldn’t believe that they were sponsoring Blake Gopy.
Kasey and Matt were sitting at a picnic table, Mark went over to them.
“Well, well ,well,” Kasey said. “Look who we have here.”
“It’s Mister “I’m to good for TPA!” Matt said.
“Listen guys, I’m sorry-,” Mark started.
“It’s okay,” Kasey cut him off.
“I would have done the same thing,” Matt told him.
‘So you guys aren’t mad?” Mark asked, surprised.
“Nah,” Matt said shaking his head. “Jordan was though. I don’t know if team managers ever take it well when a rider quits.”
“How mad” Mark asked.
“Mad enough to hire that little brat to be our 85 rider!” Kasey exclaimed.
They spent a few minutes criticizing Blake. Finally Mark grew restless. “I’ve got to go and walk the track,” he told them. He rode down to Bobby’s trailer. Stephanie was there, but he didn’t see Bobby.
“Hey Mark,” Steph said when she saw him.
“Hi,” Mark said.
“You look hot. Do you want anything to drink?”
“No thanks,” Mark said. He was tempted, but he needed to find Bobby. “Where’s Bobby?”
“He went looking for you,” she said. “He should be up by the track.” The Andrews were parked near the bottom of the pits. It was a steep hill back up to the top. Mark shifted his bike into first and started pedaling up the hill. He glanced over at Chris Gillworth’s trailer, where he was surprised to see Chris Gillworth and Bobby sitting in chairs. Mark rode over to them and sat down.
“What’s up?” Chris asked.
“Nuthin much,” Mark said.
“We were talking about the track,” Bobby commented. “Do you guys wanna go walk it?”
The agreed and all three of them got on their bikes and headed up to the track. The trees shaded them from the 85 degree heat until they pulled onto the track. Chris pulled off his shirt followed by Mark and Bobby. Chris had a six pack and all the girls were glancing at him as they road their bikes down the dirt. When they got to Horsepower Hill, the long and straight uphill, they hopped off their bikes and started pushing them up the hill. All the while Chris was telling them about his trips to Loretta’s and other nationals.
“I wanna go to Loretta’s next year,” Mark interrupted.
“It’s fun!” Bobby said.
“You’ve been there?” Mark asked surprised.
“Yeah, I raced 85 7-11. I broke my arm in 3 places first lap of practice,” Bobby told them.
“That was you?!” Chris asked. “I remember that! I was there!”
“Yeah… I got it fixed and then stayed for the rest of the week. It was fun.”
Mark, Chris and Bobby continued walking the track and talking about regular stuff like school, girls, teachers, bikes, girls. By the time they had walked the whole track, it was around 4:00. Mark asked the other two if they wanted to go back to the Suzuki semi to hang out.
“Nah I’ve got to go find my parent and sign up,” Chris said. Mark road his muddy bike back to the trailer where he found Jeff working on one of his bikes as usual.
“You ready to go sign up?” Mark asked.
“Yep, let me wash my hands.” Jeff went in the trailer and came out a minute later. “Lets go.” They walked over to the tower where the sign up was. The lines were extremely long. They got in the right line and stood there.
“I think we’ll be here a while,” said a man standing in front of Jeff and Mark.
“Yeah it looks that way,” Jeff replied, looking around at the hundreds of other people fanning themselves and waiting to sign up.
“You’re Mark Peterson, huh?” the man asked. “Josh races you.” He put his hand on his son’s shoulder. Mark took him to be Josh. He was a tiny kid. Couldn’t be over 4 foot 5.
“Yeah that’s me,” Mark told them. “How’d you do last weekend?”
“I got 12th,” Josh said. “I heard you got second. I was right next to you in the start. Why didn’t you go when the gate dropped?”
“My bike died,” Mark grimaced.
‘Oh, that sticks,” said Josh nodding. “But at least you got back to second. You passed me. You’re so fast!! You like don’t even let off the gas to go through a corner!”
“Uhh, thanks… It just takes practice,” Mark answered modestly. “Where are you guys from?”
“Florida. That track that we were at last weekend is our home track,” Josh’s dad replied. They talked to Josh and his father until they were at the front of the line and signed up. The conversation made the heat and long wait a bit
The schedule was posted on the USMXN website. It was Monday evening. Mark had compulsively logged on to check results for the umpteenth time that day. This time when he pulled up the schedule page, he found this:
Washougal MX Park
Wednesday- Gates open/Sign-in
Thursday- Practice
Friday- Racing begins
Saturday- Day Two Racing
Sunday- Last and final day of racing.
“Jeff!” Mark called into the living room where Jeff was watching TV. “You better come look at this,” Jeff came into the room and scanned over the schedule on the screen.
“What?” he asked.
“We have top be there by Wednesday,” Mark told him.
“Yeah, I know,” Jeff replied.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I thought you knew. We’re flying there early Wednesday morning,” Jeff informed Mark. “They’re going to have an RV for us to sleep in,”
“Sweet!” Mark exclaimed. “But why are there three days of racing?”
“Because there are three moto’s,” Jeff said.
“WHAT?!” said Mark. Three motos meant that Mark would have to win at least 2 motos. “I can’t believe this!”
“Well believe it because it’s true.”
Mark had spent most of Monday practicing at the track at his house. His little brother Carson had been complaining about how rough it was and how it needed to be groomed. So their dad had torn down a lot of the jumps and rebuilt new ones. Now they had a 35 foot triple, a 30 foot double, and two ten foot table tops in a row. Jumping both table tops in one jump was almost 40 feet total. Mark was still trying to get up the nerve to jump. Bobby hadn’t tried it either.
Bobby was staying with them that week while his Dad drove the trailer to Washington. Bobby slept in Mark’s room with Mark. He was going to take the plane with Mark and Jeff. He had been riding Mark’s stock 85 practice bike.
Just then Bobby ran in and yelled, “Mark, I did it!”
“Did what?” Mark asked startled.
“The two table tops!” Bobby yelled. “Come-on.” They both ran outside and Bobby got on his bike. Mark got on his Supermini practice bike and rode over. He stopped next to the jump. He watched Bobby come around the corner, shift up to third. BRAAAAPPPP. He cleared the whole thing!
Mark was convinced he could clear it, too. He started his bike up and did a lap of warm-up. When he came to the double he shifted and pinned it. He landed way in the flat. He had overshot by at least 10 feet. The suspension bottomed and he was ejected from the bike. Mark jumped up and ran to the bike.
“That was awesome!” he exclaimed. Just then he noticed that the rear wheel was bent and broken. He groaned. “That was my favorite set of wheels!” The rims were yellow and the hubs were red. The spokes were even blue.
“Don’t worry. We’ll get that replaced,” Jeff said.
“But that’s like 500 bucks!”
“Have you forgotten?” Jeff asked him. “You’re factory- sponsored by Suzuki. They pay for everything.”
Mark’s 9 year old brother, Carson, started up Mark’s old CR85 and rode some laps on the track. While Jeff was replacing the wheel, Mark grabbed Jeff’s pitboard and started taking Carson’s lap time. Mark was seeing some major improvement in Carson’s riding since he had been gone. His lap times were about 2:10. Mark’s average lap time was 1:47. Bobby’s was 1:54.
Mark watched his brother rail a corner, hit a triple, and then he came into the corner right before the 2 table tops. Mark was sure he wasn’t gonna do it, but then Carson shifted into 3rd and soared over the whole thing. Mark ran down to him, but Carson just turned around and did it again.
‘Man, he’s really good,’ thought Mark. ‘If he keeps on like this, by the time he’s my age he’ll be better than me. There’s no way I could’ve done that jump when I was nine.’
“Let me ride that bike,” Mark told Carson. Carson got off and Mark put on his helmet. He took a lap a round the track then pulled up next to Carson. “I was gonna do that double, but this bike’s way too slow.”
“No it’s not,” Carson said. “You’re just used to a factory bike.”
Mark walked to the garage so he could get his 85 practice bike, but when he saw it, the whole top end was off and it wasn’t back together yet.
So Mark walked over to the line of Carson’s bikes: a 125, a 65. Then he saw his little Cobra 50 super mod. Mark took it out of the shop and tried to start it. It took a while, but he finally got it going. He rode the tiny bike down to where Carson was riding and signaled him to come here.
“Why do you still have this?” Mark asked.
“Because I ride it sometimes,” he said.
“Wanna bet that I can beat you riding this while you’re riding the 85?” Mark asked. “If you win you can ride my factory bike.” Carson had been pleading all day to ride Mark’s bike, but Mark said no. He didn’t want Carson to get used to it and then not like his own bike.
“Okay.” They shook hands and went over to the start of the track. There were no starting gates so Bobby signaled them to go. Carson got the holeshot, and Mark tried to make a pass, but couldn’t accelerate out of the corner. By the 5th lap Carson had lapped Mark.
“Dang, I thought I could beat you,” Mark said shaking his head. “Alright you can ride it when Jeff gets done with it.”
Mark spent the next day hammering down some hard laps on his 85 practice bike with Bobby. He had been doing the two table tops all day. He didn’t know why he hadn’t done them the day before because now they seemed easy.
At 2:00 they parked their bikes and went into the house to relax for the rest of the day. They went to bed at 8:00 because their flight left at 5:00 AM.
BEEP BEEP BEEP. The alarm went off in Mark’s room and he got out of bed. He pulled on some jeans and a Rockstar Energy tee-shirt and woke Bobby up. They walked down stairs where everyone was waiting for them. Mark’s mom had a suitcase for her and Mr. Peterson.
“Mom, you’re only gonna be there 5 days. You didn’t need to pack your whole closet!” Mark told her.
“Oh well,” she shrugged.
.
They took 2 cars to the airport, because they couldn’t all fit into the back seat. Mark found himself crammed between Bobby and Carson in the back seat.
“Eww, didn’t you take a shower last night?” Mark asked Carson.
“Uhh no,” Carson answered.
Mark huffily lectured his little brother: “You should take a shower every night. Or at least put on deodorant!” After about 15 minutes they arrived at the airport. They sat in the hard plastic seats at their gate waiting to load. It was starting to get light out about now. Mark had just fallen asleep when he was shook awake by Jeff. Jeff had just been lecturing Mark on the importance of air filter changes.
“So like I was saying, if the dirt gets past that filter”-
“Jeff,” Mark yawned, “I thought the reason I have a mechanic is for you to do all that stuff.”
“Well it is, but I might not be around someday so you’ll need to change your own air filter.” Just then the plane started boarding. Mark and his family got in line. They were happy to give the lady their ticket so that they could finally go sit in the comfortable seats and go to sleep. Suzuki was paying for the family’s plane ride to Washington so his whole family could attend the final race. They would also have an RV for them to stay in
“Why didn’t Suzuki get us first class seats?” Mark asked Jeff.
“Good question,” Jeff said dryly. “I’ll have to talk to Bud about that.” Mark looked longingly at the first class leather seats as he went by.
For an hour Mark sat next to Bobby in silence thinking about the race.
Bobby looked at his friend. “Are you nervous?”
“For the race? Yeah,” Mark said moodily. “I feel like I have something to prove.”
“Prove to who?” Bobby asked.
“I don’t know,” Mark muttered, “Suzuki maybe.”
“Or maybe just to yourself,” Bobby said. “If I win all three motos this weekend and you get second all of them, will you still win the series?”
“Yeah, but why would that happen?” Mark asked.
“I think riding with you has made me faster this week!” Bobby laughed happily to his friend.
They got off the plane and walked out into the baggage claim area to get Mark’s parent suitcase.
As they were walking to the exit Mark asked “Jeff, how are we getting to the track?” Before Jeff had a chance, Mark’s question was answered when he saw Bud Smith wearing the Factory Suzuki pit shirt.
“I didn’t think you guys would want to walk to the track, so I came to pick you up!” Bud called out to them. Jeff introduced Mark’s parents and brothers to Bud.
“Very nice to meet you,” he said, shaking Mark’s dad’s hand. They walked into the parking lot where they got in to a large van. It wasn’t like one of the nice vans that Mark had ridden in with TPA. There was a dent in the side and on the seat there was a stain that looked like someone had puked on it. Mark tried very hard not to get this seat. Carson ended up getting it.
“Sorry about the crappy van.” Bud said, “We rented it. This was the only one there was.”
“Oh it’s fine,” Mark’s mom said. “We’re very glad we didn’t have to drive up! Thank you so very much for the plane ride.”
“Oh and about the flight,” Mark started, “Why didn’t we get to sit first-,” Mark mom flashed him a look and Mark stopped.
“What’s that Mark?” Bud asked.
“Nothing I was just agreeing with my mom. Thanks for the plane ride,” he quickly recovered under his mom’s glare.
“No problem buddy,” Bud said. It was about 9:45 and it was starting to heat up. So was the van, and it didn’t have any air conditioning.
“Why’d you rent a van? Just to pick us up?” Mark asked.
“Yeah, and I need to pick up some more of the team tomorrow.” Bud answered.
“The rest of the team?” Mark asked confused.
“Yeah some of your teammates are coming up to watch you,” Bud said.
“Really?!” Mark exclaimed. “Sweet!”
The forest thickened as they got farther and farther into the mountains. “Are we there yet?” Mark asked impatiently as he glanced out the window at some passing houses.
“Almost,” Bud said. After another 15 minutes, they came to a line of cars and trailers. The line was moving surprisingly quick, but not quick enough. Their van was stuck behind a diesel truck and it was smelling pretty bad when they entered the gates of the track. They dropped Bobby off at his trailer. Mark shouted after him: “I’ll see you in a couple of hours!”
They pulled up next to the semi. Mark hopped out and ran through the grass to the semi where his bikes were sitting on stands. Mark pulled out his brand new mountain bike that Pro-Taper had given him. He was already pedaling away toward Bobby’s trailer while Jeff started getting the tools to rebuild Mark’s engines. Mark rode slowly by all the trailers, seeing who was there. He spotted TPA’s semi and rode over to it. Mark still couldn’t believe that they were sponsoring Blake Gopy.
Kasey and Matt were sitting at a picnic table, Mark went over to them.
“Well, well ,well,” Kasey said. “Look who we have here.”
“It’s Mister “I’m to good for TPA!” Matt said.
“Listen guys, I’m sorry-,” Mark started.
“It’s okay,” Kasey cut him off.
“I would have done the same thing,” Matt told him.
‘So you guys aren’t mad?” Mark asked, surprised.
“Nah,” Matt said shaking his head. “Jordan was though. I don’t know if team managers ever take it well when a rider quits.”
“How mad” Mark asked.
“Mad enough to hire that little brat to be our 85 rider!” Kasey exclaimed.
They spent a few minutes criticizing Blake. Finally Mark grew restless. “I’ve got to go and walk the track,” he told them. He rode down to Bobby’s trailer. Stephanie was there, but he didn’t see Bobby.
“Hey Mark,” Steph said when she saw him.
“Hi,” Mark said.
“You look hot. Do you want anything to drink?”
“No thanks,” Mark said. He was tempted, but he needed to find Bobby. “Where’s Bobby?”
“He went looking for you,” she said. “He should be up by the track.” The Andrews were parked near the bottom of the pits. It was a steep hill back up to the top. Mark shifted his bike into first and started pedaling up the hill. He glanced over at Chris Gillworth’s trailer, where he was surprised to see Chris Gillworth and Bobby sitting in chairs. Mark rode over to them and sat down.
“What’s up?” Chris asked.
“Nuthin much,” Mark said.
“We were talking about the track,” Bobby commented. “Do you guys wanna go walk it?”
The agreed and all three of them got on their bikes and headed up to the track. The trees shaded them from the 85 degree heat until they pulled onto the track. Chris pulled off his shirt followed by Mark and Bobby. Chris had a six pack and all the girls were glancing at him as they road their bikes down the dirt. When they got to Horsepower Hill, the long and straight uphill, they hopped off their bikes and started pushing them up the hill. All the while Chris was telling them about his trips to Loretta’s and other nationals.
“I wanna go to Loretta’s next year,” Mark interrupted.
“It’s fun!” Bobby said.
“You’ve been there?” Mark asked surprised.
“Yeah, I raced 85 7-11. I broke my arm in 3 places first lap of practice,” Bobby told them.
“That was you?!” Chris asked. “I remember that! I was there!”
“Yeah… I got it fixed and then stayed for the rest of the week. It was fun.”
Mark, Chris and Bobby continued walking the track and talking about regular stuff like school, girls, teachers, bikes, girls. By the time they had walked the whole track, it was around 4:00. Mark asked the other two if they wanted to go back to the Suzuki semi to hang out.
“Nah I’ve got to go find my parent and sign up,” Chris said. Mark road his muddy bike back to the trailer where he found Jeff working on one of his bikes as usual.
“You ready to go sign up?” Mark asked.
“Yep, let me wash my hands.” Jeff went in the trailer and came out a minute later. “Lets go.” They walked over to the tower where the sign up was. The lines were extremely long. They got in the right line and stood there.
“I think we’ll be here a while,” said a man standing in front of Jeff and Mark.
“Yeah it looks that way,” Jeff replied, looking around at the hundreds of other people fanning themselves and waiting to sign up.
“You’re Mark Peterson, huh?” the man asked. “Josh races you.” He put his hand on his son’s shoulder. Mark took him to be Josh. He was a tiny kid. Couldn’t be over 4 foot 5.
“Yeah that’s me,” Mark told them. “How’d you do last weekend?”
“I got 12th,” Josh said. “I heard you got second. I was right next to you in the start. Why didn’t you go when the gate dropped?”
“My bike died,” Mark grimaced.
‘Oh, that sticks,” said Josh nodding. “But at least you got back to second. You passed me. You’re so fast!! You like don’t even let off the gas to go through a corner!”
“Uhh, thanks… It just takes practice,” Mark answered modestly. “Where are you guys from?”
“Florida. That track that we were at last weekend is our home track,” Josh’s dad replied. They talked to Josh and his father until they were at the front of the line and signed up. The conversation made the heat and long wait a bit
- May 31, 2002
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ok I wanna be the first to ask again.. "Whens the next chapter" :laugh: just kidding. Great chapter, and I'll be waiting for the final results.
ohh and olderndirtmom, great job to you too for all your work, only saw one typo in this chapter :nener:
ohh and olderndirtmom, great job to you too for all your work, only saw one typo in this chapter :nener:
