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Gotta say Merwin is really a fun place to race. Mix of woods & moto is cool and the track flowed nicely. Always appreciate the effort the owners & FM guys put into these races, can't thank you all enough.

Now on to the report from the 1000's:

Lined up with the usual suspects and which included a few new faces. 18 or 19 bikes in the class so good turn out for the 1k's. Chatted with Bill Thomas on the line secretly thinking I must beat him into the woods . Bill's a good guy and a good racer + he's a tough pass. Waited for the board to drop-BOOM game on. Fast start and my 4 banger just could not hold off Bills smoker into corner one, entered the woods 4 or 5th behind Bill. [Hole-shot Weimer must have been off smelling daisies 'cause we're all usually chasing him into the sticks-:D ]

Ripping thru the trees Sexton and I briefly locked foot pegs which bumped me off line a bit. Rather than taste oak, was eager to let him bye. Into the grass section we go, then before re-entering the woods, Sexton went Pete Rose into the corner hard but glad to see he was safe & ok. Later in the lap Bill took a wide line, I went inside full throttle for the pass just barely making the sharp corner -- Smokey and the Bandit style . Uneventful rest of the lap playing catch up & crossed 4th thru lap 1.

Caught Jason & the 1022 bike for 2nd thru lap 3. Then Lap 4 decided to take a dirt nap, cough up 30 seconds and watch 1022 pass by. [24 hours later I'm still feelin' that get off -- walking around like a peg leg pirate today] Thought my goose was cooked at that point but ended up catching 1022 somewhere before fishing lap 5 back in 2nd. A quick glance at the podium thru scoring ramped up the adrenalin & throttle for lap 6. I Don't know who 1043 was but I never saw him the entire race, I crossed 2nd.

Fun race, good finish couldn't ask for more. Thanks all.

I don't really have a race report but I do have a participation report.

As I am sitting on the line I'm trying to think to myself, do I want to get the hole shot and then just let people pass me in the woods or do I want to just start dead last and see what I can do? Well, I decided to go for the hole shot but no surprise to anyone my version of the hole shot was about 5th from last going into the trees. My first lap was fun as I found myself following the infamous Orange Crush for a couple of miles. I swear I passed him but I must have imagined that. I was following him and was right with him trying to plan a pass and I must have seen a squirrel or something because the next thing you know I'm out riding by myself in the trees. That's the way it seemed like I spent most of my day, by myself. The only company I had was about 20 different 800 riders passing me. Speaking of which, the topic rev or not to rev was something I never understood until Sunday. It really is an issue once you find yourself in the middle of the 700 class. I got to meet the entire 800 class as I pulled over and waved them bye. A second speaking of which is I'm glad to see Dan's post on the message board about the 10 class starting behind the 700 instead of the 800 class. The 10 class all have horns on their handlebars, right? Don't worry 10 class, if I hear a horn I will pull over.

My last lap was such a peaceful one. I was in a section where all the sudden I see Diamond Dan in his red Hawaiian shirt on his quad and yell to him what a beautiful day it is as I passed. Then shortly after I see him again and I yell how perfect it is outside and he just smiles nodding his head like Im a loon. Then not much farther I see him again and I'm thinking I ought to just follow him because he obviously knew a better way through that place then I did but I never saw him again on the trail. As I was finishing up my 5th lap I was very thankfull to see Dan holding the finish flag. It was good to participate Sunday but I was ready to quit. Actually I was ready to quit after the 2nd lap but that's another story. Looking forward to beating my wrist up more at Walters Ranch.