Well we've been working on getting our Harley-Davidson XR-750 back together for the season. 

The motor is getting some TLC with new pistons and rings, new valve springs, new push-rod seals, and a new primary chain. The bottom end has only has about 3 races on it so it should be good to go for the year. 

Mike at Boughner Racing Suspension has my 750 Shock and a set of forks that's he dialing in for me for this year. We're gonna try some new stuff and hopefully it should work out. I believe Mike to be the best in the business when it comes to suspension. 

2 sets of exhaust pipes were sent out to Thermal Tech Coatings (www.thermaltechcoatings.com) in Hopewell, Virginia to get a Ceramic-Metallic chrome thermal barrier coating inside and out. This coating reduces exhaust temperatures, looks good, and also prevents oxidization. But it also looks good. 

2 wheel hubs, a footpeg bracket, some knockoff nuts, some exhaust pipe brackets, bar backs, and a set of triple clamps are on their way to M and Z Anodizing in Dallastown, Pennsylvania to get hard anodized black. 

My frame, 3 rims, another wheel hub, and my spokes are getting powdercoated black as soon as I get my frame back from a machinist, where we were tweaking some stuff back into line after it was sent cartwheeling at Hagerstown, Maryland. I'm going to do a set of wheels i've never seen do ne in the dirttrack world, and the hubs, spokes, and rims will be black, with silver nipples (black nipples were way too expensive). I think they will look really cool

Other than not a whole lot new. I fly out next Thursday to Los Angeles, California to check in with Ron Wood, Jim Kelly, and the fine folks at Agv and Dainese. Will stop by Ron's shop on Thursday to make sure everything fits me good, and then headed to Agv / Dainese to pick up my new product for the year. New helmets, leathers, boots, and gloves. Then on Saturday we have the practice day at Willow, and following we will race on Sunday. I'm looking forward to not only riding again, but getting some seat time on Ron Wood's BMW before Springfield. I think the thing will be really surprising at Springfield on the Mile. I just hope I can fool Ron enough so that he doesn't fire me after seeing how bad I ride a cushion on a twin! 

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Daytona Bike Week

Well, it's been a while and that's nice. I know I was going to update this but I got a little busy, and updating from the races was much more of a pain than I had anticipated. When you're the last guy in the night program it's a little tough to not be focused on how we can go faster than the 47 other dudes we're trying to race. I struggled a bit and didn't do near as well as I had hoped, but you win some and you lose some. The Municipal Stadium has been very inconsistent in years past, and somehow I have consistently been just a hair shy of making of the main. So I guess she finally caught up with me and shuffled me to the back.

We'll start from the begin....

Monday Night
About 30 of us went go karting. Myself, Doug Lawrence, Jeremy Dereuyter, Brett Pankey, Jr Schnabel, Kim Schnabel, John Lewis, Don Taylor, Hagertoy Boys from Canada, Joe Bisha, Ryno, John Lewis' girlfriend, Austin Greenland, DJ Slosser, Joe Hartrich and the rest of his clan, and many more. I think there was 27 total on the track at once, for 30 minutes straight. It looked like LA Traffic gone wrong. People were everywhere, cars broken, on top of guardrails, under guardrails, head ons, side swipes. It was a great time. Can't wait for next year!

Tuesday
We worked on bikes in the driveway washing bikes, changing tires, and getting stuffy ready for Wednesday. (i know you're thinking how can you wash a bike that wasn't dirty)... Long story i guess?

Wednesday
The first GNC race of the year. I usuallly go Okay at the stadium, and once again i did "Okay" by qualifying 23rd. I was happy as the new program was harder ot make and I was just looking forward to getting to the night program and then getting it on. Unfortunately I kind of didn't really get it on in the night program. I was fighting my bike quite a bit and I was just trying to avoid the pile ups going on in front of me. I had a good start in my semi and was running 3rd or 4th from the 2nd row when my line up high went away and I couldn't make the rough lower line work. Come to find out we had a little shock issue with a set up we were testing. Good news is Mike Boughner was down there, and he fixed it for us for the next day!

Thursday
As soon as we got to the track I went to work peeling off the rear shock of my 07 Yz 450 so that Mike Boughner could make the changes he felt necessary for the day. The track wasn't that great, and I really struggled to get a feel for the bike and ended up qualifying 48th. Hey last guy in, but in is all that matters. I had a 3rd row start for my heatrace, but Daytona anything can happen. Unfortunately it happened, just not how i wanted it to. I did some bar banging and whatnot in the first corner, and ended up on my side. With no red flag. Not how we were looking to start out the night. I was over a straightaway back from the guys in front of me, but I picked it up, took off, popped a big wheelie, and just tried to have fun for the rest of the race. In a few laps though I was reeling those guys in and thought I could catch them by the end. I really wanted to get up there and just slam them and put on a show for the fans, so they could all laugh at the guy who was riding way too serious for last place! But I came up about a bike length short, I prolly woulda just put us both in the bales.

I did have a little bit of fun with Joe Kopp tho. After his incident of being accused of filling his rear tire with water the night before... We had a little gold fish named Nemo Kopp, or we named him that anyways, and we proceeded to give him to Joe during the break between practice and the races. Haha. The look on Joe's face was priceless. Glad he laughed at it! I was kind of afraid I'd be stuffed and mounted like a Moose and in his shop!

Lining up for the semi I knew I had my work cutout as there was 3 rows, 18 riders, and 3 were going to the main, and i was in the middle of a sandwhich of riders I hope to never find myself between again. I had a bad first corner (gamble gone wrong) but I managed to fight my way up to 11th. I was really disappointed but the track just wasn't as race as the night before and thats all I could muster up. I felt bad as my dad, Mike Boughner and my sponsors had done their best for me and I let them down.

Friday
Rented mopeds with Rob Pearson, Jake Latimer, DJ Slosser, Kevin Anderson, Austin Greenland, Myself, Kristin Mester, Ashley Rider, Josh Koch (who made his first main the night before!) all rented mopeds and reemed the hell out of those poor little things riding around Daytona Beach. We had a great time, maybe too much fun, we were verbally scolded by numerous government officials. But no tickets (except for Kevin Anderson). What Would Dave Aldana Do? It was a good time. Then my dad cooked a bunch of food back at our house and everybody was over there eating and playing touch football. This included my father and i, the Brett Pankey family, Doug Lawrence and family, Bryan Smith and family, Don Taylor and crew, John Lewis and Crew, Jake Johnson and Jodi Lewis, Hartrich family and crew, and the crew of canadians from across the street. Was a great time before we headed to watch the 200. Poor Danny Eslick. All i can say.

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Nemo Kopp wants to ride in Joe's rear wheel tonight.

Nemo Kopp #3

Nemo wants to ride in Joe's rear wheel tonight...

Lunch from piggly wiggly and tonights dinner special

Currently hanging out with the Weidmans at the 301 laundromat in beautiful Orangeburg, South Carolina where were probably going to get rained out again.