Night 5 (Sunday...shoulda been Saturday)

Both our guys place in the top 10 for the finale of East Bay racing!

I flew into Tampa on Saturday evening, and unfortunately brought the cold weather with me.  Saturday night's races were cancelled due to rain, so they ran on Sunday afternoon.  Shane started outside pole in his heat, and had a very impressive run, coming up short (once again) in a battle with Jared Landers, who passed him on the last corner coming to the checkered.  It was a crucial move on his part, as only the winner transferred to the main event.  And it wasn't too disappointing, cause Jared Landers (of Batesville, Arkansas) is sort-of a big deal!  I mean, he did win just about every race here in Florida last year during the winternationals!

Shane is then in a B-main, and finishes 2nd (the top 4 transferred).  That set him in 9th row outside on the starting grid for tonights 75 lap main event.  He did exceptionally well, starting 18th and finishing 8th after the grueling 75 laps.  They were allowed one manditory pit stop to fuel up, and get water, but nothing else.  If you chose to change tires, you would be put to the back, which only a couple guys opted to do.  One of them being Jared Landers, who flew from the back of the pack to the front in a hurry.  He took the lead, but Rodney Wing had other plans in mind...Like becoming the first driver to ever win the East Bay Winternationals twice!  He did succeed in doing so, with a pass on the white flag lap!

Dale won his heat with a pretty big lead over 2nd place, which put him 6th row outside for the feature.  He raced his way to a10th place finish in the main event!  And we are now headed to Volusia Speedway near Daytona Beach, where racing will start on Tuesday!  Thankfully they have a day off...The cars are looking pretty beat up, and could use a little cosmetic fixing!

Night 4 (Friday)

Things are starting to turn into a blur... tonight's results look similar to last night, and I can't seem to keep track of who finished where!  Shane started 5th in his heat and finished 5th.  I can't remember much of his B-main, but I think he finished 8th. Tonight he was chosen for the strawberry dash, which him and Brady Short put on a heck of a show, with Shane coming up short on the last corner.  It was such an exciting race, and fun to watch....I sure got my $50 worth of fun (the cost for the pay per view).  Well, that race, and the killer move that Dale Mathison put on to take the lead in his heat, was worth of every penny!

Shane did not make the main event tonight.  I figured he'd be getting a little bummed out with his performance, but he says what he's doing is the best he can do with what he has to work with.  He said the car is setup perfect and hasn't felt better. Tonight he was flat footing around the entire track, and he still can't pass anyone.  I told him if he goes again, he better have the 'right' motor to be able to keep up... He replies with "then I won't have an excuse to suck".  It was a good laugh!

Onto Dale....He was the announcers pick to keep an eye on in his heat, and boy did he ever call that!  I can't even explain it in the amount of intensity it was. But basically he got held up by a couple cars in the beginning, and was running 5th.  He broke free from them, and drove into turn 3-4 harder and faster than anyone I have seen in my life, and surprised the crap out of the announcer.  This killer slide job put him in the lead (is it still a slide job if no contact is made and I don't think either of the other guys had to lift, cause by the time they saw him, he was gone!)  The video people have instant replay, and every time they replayed it, my jaw would drop in amazement! 

Feature time was not quite as exciting....He (Dale) was running 6th, and was holding his own when apparently he got a little high in corner 4, and as another car was passing him, that car slid up (I'm assuming he thought he had Dale cleared, but clearily did not, when they made contact.  The announcer said Dale was starting to come down, but I thought he had two choices: hit another car, or hit a concrete wall. So that sent Dale to the pits, ending his night. 

*Note: this my recollection of the way things happened.  There is always three sides to a story: yours, their, and the truth!
*I probably won't be doing updates as much when I'm in Florida (it's vacation, so I should really stay off the computer). But Dale's got his laptop along, so if I get bored I'll update this.  Sunday and Monday there is no racing, that is when we will head to Volusia Speedway (near Daytona Beach).  The weather prediction is looking horrible, with lots of rain in the forecast, so we'll have to see how much racing they get in.

Night 3 (Thursday)

So tonight's race didn't go the greatest.... Shane started his heat 2nd row inside and finished 3rd, which was just one shy of making the main event.  He then had to run a B-feature, which he started pole and finished 6th...Not so good!  So that was the end of his evening.  They do have a race for non-qualifiers called The Strawberry Dash, but the way I understand it, they do a random draw of the non-qualifiers, and he wasn't chosen tonight.

Dale (Mathison) had a strong run going in his heat, when all of a suddened he slowed with troubles (I think it was a flat tire).  He also had to run a B-feature, which he placed 7th (I think).  He was chosen for the Strawberry Dash, and was running 4th when he and another car tangled, causing another tire to go down. He seems to have a very fast car, just needs a little more luck.  And you know they say: "It's one part hard work, one part skill, and one BIG part luck"

And the winner is.......Rodney Wing! 2 nights left at East Bay, then off to Volusia Speedway!

Night 2 (Wednesday)

Well, the second night of racing could be considered a success!  Shane won his heat in a side by side battle to the checkered flag, and finished 17th in the A-main. I know what you're all thinking.....17th doesn't sound like a success to me!  At this point, Shane is not proving to be of much competion come feature time, but he has accomplished his goal both night thus far: to make the main event!  And he has won both of his heats so far, so we are proud of him for that!  Tonight in the main event, his right front tire's valve stem was leaking, and after the race, they checked the pressure, and it only had 3 pounds in it. Need I say that it wasn't the best handling car to drive?!

The real success tonight though, was none other than Diamond Dale Mathison :)  He finished 2nd in his heat, so that transferred him to the A-main.  I think he started 15th-ish, and moved up to 5th in the main event.  He had some bad luck last night, but he sure made up for it tonight! 

Tonight's feature winner was # 36 Brady Short.  And I believe there were 52 modifieds tonight. Sadly, the stands were emptier than my living room.... We hooked the computer up to the big screen, so all of us stuck back in MN can enjoy the races (live via pay-per-view). I'm guessing as the weekend nears, more cars will enter the gate, and more fans will enter the stands! 

That's all for now!

Night 1

Well, night one of Florida racing is in the books.  Shane faired 'so-so'...He was 3rd fastest in his group for time trials, so that put him outside of the front row for his heat (they took the 4 fastest times, and inverted them for the heat line-up). The inside guy initially took the lead, but Shane ended up passing him on the second lap to win his 'first race' of 2010.

Here comes the 'so-so' part....He redrew a 7 for his feature starting spot, and was running the bottom of the track in 6th place, then decided to try high, and fell back to 8th.  Then, with 10 laps to go (or was it 10 laps in?) he got a little too high, and banged the wall coming out of turn 4.  Needless to say, they have a little work to do tomorrow (but what better do they have to do anyway, right?!)

I'm not familiar with many (hardly any) of the guys racing down there, so I can't congratulate the winner, cause I forgot his name (and I could probably look it up, but I'm way tired...and why I am up past 1am on a week-night anyway)...I do know he was from Florida, and 2nd place was Dave Hess from Pennsylvania. And the only reason I remember that, is because last time we raced in Florida, we pitted next to, and hung out with him most of the time!

And, We're Off...

Well, not exactly "we", as I am sitting on the couch typing away, watching some boring judge show, as the kiddos are napping after a somewhat of a hectic morning.  I was so busy worrying about Shane having everything he needed, that I completely forgot to pack myself.  I will be flying down for part of the time, but I wanted to send my clothes with the guys so that I wouldn't have to worry about luggage at the airport.

So, we said  our good-byes which  went something like, "You gonna miss me?"  "Um, probably......Are you going to miss me?"  "Probably  after a  few days"  Oh, can't you just feel the love?!

 Did I forget to mention the destination?!  Warm and sunny (hopefully), Florida!!!  In my 28 years, I have never flown alone, so this will be something new for me!  My only fear, of course, is A) getting lost during the plane change, B) the pilot crashing, and C) a man next to me with a bomb is his underwear, oh, and D) riding in the taxi from the airport to the race track.  Something about being alone in a car with a stranger gives me an uneasy feeling!

The races don't actually start til Tuesday, which I'll watch via webcast, hoping that Shane does better than he did the last time he raced south.  I think he made the main event only twice out of the 12 nights (and wrecked it the final night).  He's going with low expections, knowing that this is a whole new ball game, and the fact that he's running a spec Wissota motor, when most of the guys have an open motor (more horsepower is what I was told, other than that, don't ask me what the diffence is).  He debated on getting an open motor, but the cheapest he could find one for was $13,000.  That just isn't in our budget (I mean his budget...we don't share money).  And to spend that much for only 2 weeks worth of use is not justifiable. 

So long for now, and I'll try to update finishes when I get a chance! 

Hopefully we didn't forget anything!

A-mod

Well, here it is.....The new grafix on the A-mod. Well, at least for Florida anyway (we'll see if it stays in one piece)!!!

Oops, forgot the wheel covers! 

Happy Birthday MASON!!!

January 11, 2007

8 pounds 2 ounces

20 inches long

Sorry the pics are yellowish...they were scanned!

And bald til he was 1 year!

We love you, Mason!!!

First post of 2010

Is it twenty-ten, or two thousand ten?  What do you find yourself saying? I use a little of both...twenty ten sounds a bit futuristic, but two thousand ten doesn't follow past pattern.  When it was 1999, we all said nineteen ninety nine, not one thousand nine hundred ninety nine, cause that would be really long and wierd!  Well, either way is fine with me.... Happy 2010!!!

Sorry, I don't have a whole lot to say lately...It's kind of boring around here!  We went to a waterpark hotel with some of Shane's fam in Brainerd for New Year's Eve...the kids had a blast!  Mason was brave enough to go down one of the slides by himself (after 50 previous times with Shane or I), and even went on the BIG slide twice (with tears the whole way up the flights of stairs).  He would whine while walking up there, but once they took off, he was pretty excited and had to give me "high-five" afterwards! (I didn't want my camera to get wet, so sorry no pics.)

This past Saturday we caught some snocross races in Elk River, MN.  How crazy are we to take our 'almost 3 year old' out in the frigid temps (like 15 below 0)?  But every time I asked him if he was cold, he'd say "No, I'm fine!"  And he was covered head to toe (except his eyes), so it wasn't as bad as I though it would be.  Thankfully Ebert's let us warm up in their hauler/semi, or I would've froze my face off! Dan (Ebert) did outstanding, as usual!  The day we were there was qualifying, and Dan won 3 out of his 4 races, and took 2nd in the other.  Sunday was the finals, which we missed out on to watch the Vikings dominate their game as well! (Again, sorry for no pics, I figured my camera would freeze!)

The "Bemboom" cousins with their zhu-zhu pets (minus Cassie, she's a little old for toy hampsters)!

Mason taking pics of everyone (me with my ornaments from my Godchild, Madi)

The "Sabraski" cousins with their new toys!

Attempting a snow angel!

Well, for not having a lot to say, that looks pretty long....