stephen-
first off. seriously, congratulations on this season. sitting frustrated, watching a couple of your races from the stands, you looked racier than i'd ever seen on the track. you don't control the grids and you took every race of the season...sounds like an indisputable championship to me. it killed me not to be up there racing with you, not 'cause i think i would have taken the championship, but because i just plain wanted to be out there racing along/infront/behind/around with you. we both had better bikes this past season and it's just a damn shame we didn't get to enjoy them together. sure, i really want to win some races and it's more fun to battle for a podium spot, but nothing is more fun than the battles we've had back in the mid-pack....or that i've had with MikeO, or a back-of-the-pack Sanel RD350, or d'Angleo at summit, or just with clancy in his own mind. basically, championship points are just fodder for forums and trash talk and simply represent what you already knew...you had a great season. again, congrats...and i hope i can give you a good run as you defend your title.
so hell yeah, it'd be great if we could fill up a grid at VIR. i had a bitch of a time just showing up last year with car troubles and didn't get to the gate until after 3am, then didn't get in the gate until after 7am. no time for final prep, no time to set up pits, just enough time to register, get dressed and go out for practice. once out, the bike was really slow with what turned out to be a floating vavle seat. hell, even clancy passed me on the straight a couple of times in practice. (i love how clancy considers chris marshall's old national champion, braced frame, fancy suspension, water-buff front brake, pvl bike, a clapper)
that said, it was an amazing day. that track is so different from NHIS or Summit. first, it provides a ton of racing, a good lap is right around 2:00min. then, my little tangled up mess of a bike never handled so well as it did on that surface, i didn't find a bump or a groove or a rough transition anywhere (inluding when i blew T3 late in the day and went into the runoff). the elevation changes are an absolute hoot, nothing about the layout looks complicated, but most corners are a real puzzle. then there was the weather, i had to shovel a path of snow from the front of my garage to get the bike out, i had been working on the truck at night in 4deg temps...then all of the sudden, 30 hours later, i'm out on a race bike in the 70deg sun.
so stephen, or any other of you northern guys, my house is just off I-84 on your way to VIR or Summit (just about 5.5hrs from NHIS, 5hrs from Summit, and 9hrs from VIR). anytime you want to make one of the WERA races, you're more than welcome to stop over. You can spend a night or we can re-load for a carpool, or just stop for coffee and a caravan. but whatever, let's do this thing. USCRA and WERA are BOTH great clubs...racing is racing and it's what we all get off on.
best-
tt