Let's try it again. The weather is kind of "iffy" but we finally get to go racing! Sprinkes in the area and only about 45 degrees. It's gonna be a cold night.

Since I don't have any kind of pit crew this year, I am kind of wondering how this is going to work out by myself. Fortunately, I have made quite a few friends here at the track over the last year or so, so if I need any help, there are people willing to give me a hand.

Hot laps felt pretty good, however, I kind of got stuck behind some slower cars and couldn't really get it up to full speed. The car does feel like it really wants to go, though!

After hot laps, I felt that the car was pushing a bit, so I adjusted tire pressures in both the right side tires. Now I get to start on the outside pole in the very first Saturday night race for 2004! Let's see what she's got! At the drop of the green flag, this new motor took off like nothing that I have had before. By turn two, I had the lead all to myself. During the whole race, I never had anyone get up beside me far enough to see them. The car was pushing pretty badly in the middle of one and two, so I had to work a little harder than I wanted, but by the time the checkers flew, I was told that I had a good 3-4 car length lead over second place, Jeff Coster. That was a real confidence booster, because Jeff was second in season points last year. Last years points champion, Justin Selkin finished in 4th.

Before the start of the feature, I decided that I needed to change tire pressures again to get rid of that push. I went down a couple of pounds in the right front and up a pound in the right rear. Now I get to start the feature on the inside of row 2 right behind Jeff Coster and Dave Beman, Jr.

Green flag!!! Jeff and I took off right away and by turn two, we had both cleared Beman and the fight was on! I was a bit faster than Jeff and was trying to find a way to get around him. At the end of the first or second lap, I was trying to go around Jeff on the outside as we entered into turn one when he started to wiggle a bit. The next thing I knew, his left front tire came off and was headed my way! I had visions of running over his tire and doing a Dukes of Hazzard style jump! Luckily, I just missed it as it rolled by the left side of my car. Well, that puts me in the lead! This is a good start to the year! After several caution laps to get Jeff towed off the track, we get to go back racing. The rest of the race is kind of a blur because there were several cautions due to flat tires and a couple spins. The Reader's Digest condensed version of the rest of the story is that I lead the next 3 or 4 laps and never saw anyone get up beside me, so I was starting to have visions of winning my first big trophy. I had to keep telling myself just to be smooth and don't make any mistakes. On about the 4th caution flag, I let off the gas and saw the 2EZ of Scott Borkowski go flying by me on the inside. That was the first indication that I had anyone really challenging me. After we got going again, Scott pulled to the inside of me and we battled side by side for about a lap and a half before he finally cleared me. After that, my car started to get a bit loose and I had nothing for him. For the next 6 laps or so, I just went to school. He has been racing for a long time and is a good driver, so I followed him (and tried different lines to see if I could get back by him, but to no avail) and tried to learn as much as I could...watching his braking points, where he was turning in, his line through the corners, etc. By the time the checkers flew for the feature, I had to settle for a second place finish. No one else had gotten up on me far enough to see who was back there. Turns out that Tracy Thompson, Brett Larsen, and Justin Selken rounded out the top 5.

This was a very good start to the season! Winning my heat and having my best A Feature finish yet! I just hope everything keeps going smooth so I can keep up the momentum!

See ya next week!

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