Chapter 5
Wendsday
Mark woke up in his bed at the hotel. He looked at the clock. It was 6:37 AM. He had been sleeping in his own bed since his shoulder had been hurt. Mark tried to go back to sleep but he could'nt get into a confortable position, so he got up and went down too breakfast. After he had already eaten some cheerios the rest of the team came down to eat.
"Mark's up before us?" Kasey said
"That's a first" Matt laughed.
After everyone got done eating Jordan said "Today were going to go to a local Supercross track"
"I wanna try riding today" Mark said.
"I dont think thats a good idea." Jordan told mark " If you fell on it to hard you could get hurt even worse."
"Well I need to practice if Im gonna win saturday" Mark complained.
"Tommorow you can ride but today you need to rest that shoulder" Jordan said.
"Fine" Said Mark sadly.
The Supercross track was an hour drive from the hotel. When they got there the parking was so crouded you'd think it was race day.
"Okay guys Be careful and dont get landed on" Jordan told everyone who was riding. Mark just walked over to the bleachers and watched.
A man sitting behind Mark saw his TPA sweatshirt that said PETERSON 83 on it and said:
"You racin the USMXN series?"
Mark turned around to talk to the guy and said "Yep. Are you?"
"Me? Yeah right. No my son Bobby is racing 85A."
"Thats the class I race" Mark told the Man.
"We missed last weekend at LA." Said the Man, "There he is right there, Number 21" He pointed to a kid on a YZ85. He was very fast. "Why aren't you out there practicing?"
"Dislocated my shoulder Monday" Mark said "My team manager says I can't ride 'till tommorow"
"He's smart, you could fall and get hurt even worse." The man said. Mark grimaced.
"Thats the same thing jordan said"
"Whats you're name?" The guy asked.
"Mark peterson, number 83" Mark said as he and the Man shook hands. Just then The mans son walked up.
"Mark, I'd like you to meet my son, Bobby Andrews" Mark and Bobby high fived in greeting even though they didn't know each other. Bobby had vey short browne hair that looked like he had had it buzzed a week or so before. Mark was about about a head taller than him. Mark was 5'2 so he was guessing that Bobby was about 4'7.
"Do you know if Blake Gopys racing the series?" Bobby asked Mark.
"Yeah He is" Mark replied.
"He's such an idiot" Bobby said.
"Yeah I know, he tried to knock me off my bike at the last corner in LA." Mark and Bobby talked for a while then Bobby went back to riding.
The team got done riding at 6:30 and headed back for the hotel where every one ate at the hotel restaurant and then went to bed. The next day they went back to the supercross tracks.
After Mark started his CR85 up he got his gear on as he let it warm up.
After he pulled it off the stand he headed toward the opening in the gate to get onto the track.
Riding hurt marks shoulder a little bit but he was fully confident that he would be able to win on saturday.
That Night the team went to the movie theatre. Mark, Kasey and Matt wanted to see an R rated comedy, but jordan said Keenan couldn't watch it so Mark went with Keenan to see a PG movie while the older guys went to see the comedy.
Jordan only let them buy a limited amount of candy and popcorn so they would stay in good shape, but After the older guys went in their movie, Mark and keenan snuck back out to get more candy and Pop.
The team didn't get back to the hotel until 11:25, so they all went straight to bed so they would be well rested to go take a look at the track the next day.
As MARk walked to the track from the TPA trailer he saw Bobby Andrews and his Father sitting at their trailer. He walked over to them.
"How's agoin?" Bobby asked Mark when he saw him walking over.
"Pretty good" Mark replied, "My shoulder could be better but we all get hurt once in a while."
"Mark this is my twin sister Stephanie" Bobby said as a Very pretty girl walked out of the Andrewa motorhome.
"Hi" stephanie said. Mark stared at her. She had to be the prettiest girl his age he had ever seen.
"He..Hello" he stuttered,"well I better go walk the track so I'm ready tommorow" With one last look at stephanie he waved and walked over to the rest of the TPA team.
"Hey Mark have you got yourself a girlfriend?" Kasey snickered.
"Shut up" Mark said back.
"That girls hot" Said keenan.
"She's to old for you" Mark said.
The track had lots of uphills and downhills and huge whoops.
"You're gonna have to be careful in these whoops" Matt told Mark "If you're front end drops you're dead."
"And be sure to seat bounce the
step-ups." Kasey said. The tracks jumps were moslt big doubles and big step-ups, barely any table tops.
"The forcsast says that there's 80 Percent chance of showers tommorow, so it might be a mud race" Said Les, the Mechanic. TPA racing has 2 mechanichs, their names are Les, and Lester.
Mark glaanced up at the sky. It certainly looked cloudy, but he hoped it wouldn't rain. Mud had never been his favorite kind of riding.
"Time to get up!" Jordan said loudly coming into the teams hotel room. Mark opened his eyes and looked at the clock.
"Dude, its 5:30 AM!" Kasey said.
"Well we want to get their early" Jodan said "Now Get up!"
They piled in the van and started driving towards the track. Luckily this track was only 20 minutes from the hotel. When they got there at 6:05 they opened the back of the semi trailer and unloaded their bikes. Les and Lester started them all up just to make sure they started allright.
"Hey mark I changed your rear tire last night for the conditions that it looks like were going to have today." Lester said. Mark looked up to the sky where it was dark gray. A few minutes later they heard the sound of raindrops on the awning.
Lester held an umbrella over Mark as he sat at the staring gate
of his qualifier. He glimsed Bobbys sister Stephanie in the crowd. She waved. Mark started to wave back when he realived she was waving to Bobby a couple of gates to right of him.
The card holder stood out in front of the gates and held up the card. Mark increased his revs a little! The card turned sidewayz. Mark INcreased his revs even more. The gate dropped. Mark got out of the gat pretty quick and got on the gas. He was almost to the first corner. He got the holeshot! Mark fell twice in the mud but still got 3rd. He saw that Bobby Andrews had won the heat race. Mark walked over to congradualate him.
"Nice race" He told Bobby as they high fived.
"Nice holesot"
"Thanks" Mark said. As he walked away he saw stephanie walking toward Bobby with her dad. She smiled at Mark. He felt his insides melt.
He walked back to the TPA awning with a dazed look on his face thinking about her smiling at him. Mark hit himself hard in the head. Why was he going all mushy over a smile? Lots of girls had smiled at him before. But there's somethink different about this one. He hit himself hard again. He needed to focus on the race, not on girls.
Mark spent he rest of the time until the main event listening to his IPOD. He was race number 9 and they were on race number 7. He alerted Lester and he pushed Marks bike to the starting bike while Mark walked beside him. Mark saw Bobby and gave him a thumbs up. He returned it looking nervous.
When they got to the gate Lester got a shovel and scooped the mud out of the starting rut.
Once mark got on his bike and started he was getting nervous. Lester patted him on back and said "Don't worry kid, you'll do fine." The card guy was standing infront of the gates now. He lifted the card up and pointed at the first person moving down the line. Then Marks bike died! He quickly raised his hand to let the cardman know.
Lester hurried up and changed the Spark plug really fast. Mark got back on the bike and started it up again. The card went up. It went sidewayz! The gatedropped.
Mark was on the gas right away, determined to get the holeshot. Suceeded but slowed down as his backtire almost came out from underhim. Blake gopy saw this as an oppertunity to pass him. He did. But Mark was on his tale.
After 1 lap Blake was still in the lead but he missed a rut and lost control. As Mark took the lead he saw Bobby Andrews trying to pass him. He quickly got on the gas but not quickly enough because Bobby passed him. For 2 laps Mark was on his tale. As he came across the finish line jump he saw the white flag. He only had one lap to pass bobby or he would get 2nd place again.
He saw lester holding his pitboard. it said 'INSIDE RUT'. Mark tried this. He was gaining on Bobby. He finally cut him off on a bowl turn. Yess! He only had 7 turns till the finish line jump. Mark felt a bumping on his back tire and saw Blake Gopy trying to pass him. How Did he get back up here? Mark thought. But that didn't matter because he had just came around the last turn. Mark raised his arms in victory as he flew across the finishline.
-------------
A/N- That's the longest chapter I have written yet, but I think it's pretty good. I really like how Mark has a crush on Bobbys sister,.