Another great night at the track by the state border, Ascot Park. I didn’t do as well this round as round 2, oh well… For me, all my mind was on, was my son wanting to try MX racing for the first time. He has been riding now for 3 1/2 years (Z50 for 2 years and for the past year and a half, an XR80). He loves to ride the trails, but MX was something he just didn’t want to try till this past weekend. His mom talked him into at least trying it once. He reluctantly said he would try. On the trip down he was getting exciting about racing. When we got there we set up our pit and he was itching to get on his bike. We went down and signed up and waited for the practice sessions. Once the moto order was announced I was bit bummed. The over 40 moto was right before his moto. I thought, that sucks, I wouldn’t be able to be there at the start line with him for his first start. But, the track operator watered the track before the first set of motos and of course the peewee classes are first, and it wasn’t a pretty sight to watch all those minis sliding around on the slick stuff. The track operator had the ATV’s go out after the watering, but there were still some very slick spots. SO, they had to re-run a few peewee motos, AND I got to be there for his first start. (Side note, I did miss the start for the first over 40 moto due to the wrangling around of the peewee moto order, again, oh well…) His start was slow off the line (to be expected, the track has a concrete start pad), he did very well, kept it on two wheels and finished 10th out of 11 racers (in his class he was 9th out of 10 racers.). In this particular series, the first eight positions get plaques or trophies. I told him between motos that all he had to do was finish one place higher to get a trophy. He was stoked about the racing. After the second moto (in which he finished the same as the first moto) he was bit bummed. When I finally got him to talk he said, “I thought if I got a good start that I would finish higher.” I told him that he had a great race and shouldn’t be bummed about his finish. I told him that it is all about the trying.
And now comes the good part…
…mx547 went down to the tower and spoke to the track operator about getting my son a trophy. He did this with out me asking. mx547 is s regular at this track, so he has got some pull. Well, mx547 told me what he did, so I woke up my slumbering son (it was around midnight by this time) and had him walk with me to the tower to get my trophies. I told the operator what motos I was in, got my trophies, and then asked about my son’s finish. He told me, then he got out a trophy for the boy. My son’s whole attitude did a 180 at that point. He was so excited! He ran back to our pit and showed mx547 and his daughters his new trophy. He was so excited about his new trophy that he didn’t sleep on the ride home till the last hour of a two-hour drive…
…Thanks, mx547…