Got to the Arena Cross race on Sunday March 24th, 2002 in Wilkes-Barre Penn. All the top riders in my class were there, so it would be a good test for the bike .

Kept stalling the bike over tight but very deep whoops. It could have been a couple of reasons. New boots don't offer much feeling until they get broken in. Also idle was too low or maybe it was because of a filter skin I run on the front air filter. So I decided to remove the filter skin and turn up the idle slightly. Never gave it a second thought and was gonna remember to keep my foot off of the brake but when the gate dropped I forgot.

Took the holeshot in my heat race even lifting the front wheel down the straight. No stalling at all. No problem clearing the 25' doubles on the tight track. It was mostly first gear! Only time in second was racing down the front straight. Thumpers sound so cool indoors!

I won my heat and in the main I had 2nd gate pick and lined up next to 1,3,4 place in points. The gate dropped and the bike took off on one wheel. The CRF got the hole shot. Through the whoops I stumbled a little letting the honda in front.

At the end of the whoops the bike ripped out of my arms(still sore today)reving full throttle. Don't know if it was bike or rider error(too far back on the bike. You know how responsive the throttle is if you own one!) the bike rolled 15' on the rear wheel before slamming down hard on its left side bending the exhaust up into seat and ripping the mounting bolt holding side plate on. Also twisted the rear fender at the same time.

When I ran to the bike it was pegged at the rev limiter and I hit the red button. Picked it up, hit the magic button(gotta love F.I. never worry about flooding)and took off in last place with 5 laps left. I ended up passing 10 riders for fourth place(right on 3rd,just not enough time to catch and pass).

I couldn't even walk afterwards and put the bike away. Very swollen(Ankle?), the doctor thinks its broken, but I think its badly sprained.

Outdoor season starts this weekend and I hope I can put my boot on to race. I havent checked out the bike yet and dont know if I tweaked the subframe or not. When I bought the bike I was given extra slightly used plastic and a factory silencer so as long as I didn't bend the frame it shouldn't cost me anything but pride. I like the look of it with the old exhaust on it. It looks like the "e" model silencer.

This is my first year racing so I'm so stoked to race this bike. No one knows what to make of it,one guy asked if it was a 125! Gotta love it!

Also - I forgot about the bike carving through turns cutting under CRF's YZF's. I am a novice but this bike will turn where ever you point it. No complaints!

Talk to you later. Sorry about the long story!

Thanks

Kevin