Against all odds the mission continues!

Let me start by saying what a weekend. CSBRacing showed up in numbers at Jennings GP for the first round of the WERA North Florida Region races. Our newest Teammate, Howard Bryce, put on a show this weekend. He went out in his very first race and took fifth place with a very respectable lap time. Howie followed that up with a fourth place finish in the second race, dropping a second off of his lap times. The new guy was on fire, on the track and off. Howie would have pulled off a third place finish, but he pulled the same move that former Superstar roadracer, Kenny Roberts Sr.once did, and mistook the white flag for the checkered flag. He sat up right past the finish line, saying yes, "I got third", only to question why everyone was still racing when the white flag ... white flag, oh no. Let's just say, he'll never make that mistake again and I guarantee that we will see our new Teammate on the podium quite a bit this year.

Next we had Mr. Andrew League. This was Andrew's first time to officially race under the CSBRacing Banner. He has struggled to get to the track since he bought his SV650 five years ago. Let just say this young man is determined and never gives up. Things didn't go exactly right for Andrew Saturday morning and he missed both of the practices, but like I said, he never gives up. Andrew was registered for the Solo 20 that day and had never ridden the track. I had to ask, "Are you really going to race the Solo?" Andrew just smiled and said, "I've been watching videos of the track". With a new set of tires on the bike, Andrew headed out for the Solo 20. For someone that had never ridden the track, he did exceptionally well and rode every lap of the Solo 20. We will definitely see good things from this young man in his racing and ministry future.

Now for my weekend. It started off really rocky and only got worse. On the way down to Florida, I started to pull off from a red light and the truck was straining to move. My heart sank, since my truck has 115,000 miles on it. I just new the transmission or rear end had dissolved. I pulled over, got out and started to walk around, only to find out that I had a flat tire. I looked at that flat tire and said, "Praise God, I can fix that". The rest of the trip to Florida was uneventful, but Saturday morning was not. The call for first practice came and I jumped into my new leathers, boots, and gloves. Fired up the R6 and took her out for my first practice as an Expert, only to find that the new leathers were so tight and stiff, I could hardly move. I only made one lap and came in. Second practice, I pull on the old duds and headed out, but this practice was plagued by the crash demons. All I could think about, was that I was going to crash. I cut the session short and came in ... shaking. I've never had that kind of feeling in my twenty seven years of riding motorcycles. For the first time in my life, I didn't think I could do this anymore. I headed to the Registration Tower and withdrew from the weekend. My Teammates and friends couldn't believe it and tried to provide me with kind words and blessings. Walking through the pits, I ran across a fellow racer and his wife that I had met the year before. I was explaining to them what had just happened and he kept trying to get me to go back and register. He told me I couldn't leave. I let him know that I wasn't leaving, that I would be staying to hold Chapel Service on Sunday. His eyes lit-up, and he said, "If you'll race tomorrow, then I'll come to your Chapel Service". His wife couldn't believe her ears. She pleaded with me to race, because she could hardly ever get him to go to Church. At that time and moment, I was actually done. I had all intentions of turning in my resignation to the Team. As the day drew near to a close, I started to relax and be my old self. I started to question myself and ask what's going on? I knew I could do this, I needed to go back out there. So I made up my mind to give it another shot. As I was headed back to my trailer, I stopped off at my old friends canopy and informed him that he would be going to Chapel on Sunday, because I was going to race. Saturday night in my trailer, I got down on my knees to talk with GOD. I started out telling HIM that I needed to know what HIS plans were for me, then I stopped and said that I wasn't giving HIM an ultimatum, but I would like to know what he wanted me to do. If HE had a different plan for my life, then I was fine with that and I would walk away from racing and motorcycles. I just wanted to know which direction I was supposed to go, and I was willing to do whatever HE asked of me.

Sunday morning, I suited up and headed back out for practice. The first practice wasn't to bad. It seemed like I had just showed up at the track and was getting my legs under me, but I still wasn't completely comfortable. I talked with the WERA Officials about letting me drop back to Novice, since my real focus was about the witnessing and not racing. They sent out another Expert to follow me in the second practice. Well, wouldn't you know it ... I got within 2 seconds of my best lap time during practice, but they still felt it was best for me to move down. I was actually relieved, this meant I could focus on what I felt was my real purpose at the track.

After the riders meeting on Sunday, we headed to the classroom for Chapel. Let's just say it was the largest crowd, that I've ever had the pleasure to talk with at a WERA event. Howie started us off with an opening prayer and I delivered the message that GOD had laid on my heart. Afterwards, we had several folks come up and thank us for what we were doing and I can't remember who, but someone came up to me and said, "I guess you got your answer".

Oh ... and my friend from last season game to his first Chapel Service at the track, only to follow that up with two podium finishes. I think he'll be back.

Mark