Love the net

Here you go guys. Try www.gtconnect.com go to sports in today's paper ( may 8th ) Racer makes his pro debut. Not bad;)

That is nice to read. I know it has been a lifetime of hard work , diligince and patience on both parts...Father and Son.. My boy is 4 and I have had him on a Pw 50 for about a year, off and on. I say off and on becuase being a Drill Instructor limits my time with the family. Between wrecks and my wanting him to advance farther than he is wanting to go, it is sometimes frustrating. I started riding dirt bikes at when i was 4, but i seemed to have a little more interest in them, than he does now. Hopefully he will be more interested as time goes by. I do not want to be to pushy with him, and turn him off to the sport, but also i would love for him to have this in common with me. I know you are proud and can understand the DEDICATION it has taken on both parts for your son (im assuming from previous post)and yourself. I will be wathcing for him. I would also take any advise on how though the years you helped, guided and motivated him (the younger days). Semper Fi sorry for the incorrect grammer:)

Thanks for the kind comments:) My pro career ended before Jonah was born when I was 27. I never pushed him towards bikes, or racing, he struck me as being too laid back for that sort of thing:p I still did track days, and had every cutting edge ( well, MOST ;) ) machine that came along, and occassionally I took him along to watch as a little guy. But we played baseball up into HS where he was the SS, basketball, etc. I bought him a Z-50 when he was about 7, but while he enjoyed it, it didn't really float his boat;) He started wanting a bike his sophomore year, and within 1 1/2 years we'd gone thru 4 motorbikes and he was racing mx on a KX-250. We went all over, and he had pretty good success as a begginer, but when he stepped up to the Jr. level he ran into guys that were as talented as him, but that had been doing it steadily since they were 5! He could run in the upper 1/3 in races, but was always riding over his head ( IMO ). He was ALWAYS BALLS on fast stuff, and I started wondering how he'd take to rracing. A Dr. friend put him on an FZR-400 in the first novice race at PIR in 99'. NEVER had turned a wheel on the streetbike. From the 7th row he passed 52 guys ( most on MUCH faster bikes ) and won the race by over 20 seconds:eek: We petetioned him to expert certification after the local pros vouched for him and he came in a very close 3rd in his first 450sb Expert race. TONS of natural ability, that's it. From there it's been straight up:) Do I wish I'd have started him earlier? NO.......... I LOVE watching him, but it's VERY tramatic when they don't come around when you are timing them. And as much as I love the sport, and am ( obviously;) ), very proud of him, I've made it clear that anytime he wants to bag it, that's cool with me................................ but as long as HE wants to persue this, it's my job to keep him from making the poor choices that ended my run. I'd say relax the reins, let'em be kids, play sports etc etc. I was watching DiSalvo's dad this wknd and he IS a little league Dad, tough to watch. Good luck:thumbup

I've found that my daughter does a lot more when it's HER idea, rather than me nagging...:yesnod She's finally started asking to ride her bike rather than the other way around:lol I agree with you that taking the laid back approach is the positive way to go despite my sometimes overzealous urges to the contrary......I don't know why that's so hard for parents to comprehend:D Hey Olddog, why does that newspaper article not mention you guys racing at RA, and didn't REM mention Philomath in one of their songs??:)

Hmmmm..... have to ask my daughter;) The reason RA wasn't mentioned is that we won't be able to make it:( Jonah rode our new 250 ( which runs GREAT ) at all 3 of the outings, but his machine ( a 97 model ) has done nothing but eat the top piston every time out:mad: We have a new black box for it, and a dyno reserved for Saturday to get the damn thing running. The new bike needs a total freshening from the crank up, and it's 3 days driving for us to get there. We decided rather than rush around NOT being sure if Jonah's bike would run or not, that we will test here at a club race in Portland that wknd instead, just to be sure. We already missed 2 rds, so it's not as if there is a championship at stake or anything anyways. Jonah told me he'll do at least 1:11's this time at Portland:eek: , and I don't doubt it since the first time he raced and won on it he did low 13's. The plan is to hit them all after RA, so we'll see. We are pre-entered for Laguna and most of the rest ( can't wait to see him go there;) ) so we'll see. This year it's just getting to learn as many of the tracks as possible, and get the kid comfortable. Who knows after that.;)

We were looking forward to meeting you guys.....:( That coupled with the fact that the 250 class receives no coverage on Spudvision means we'll be totally dependent on you to give us an unbiased account of what's happening:lol You can do that can't you?:D

I obviously AM biased;) But i like to think I'm even handed at looking at things. Soreson, Salveria, all those guys are good folks, and damn fast:eek: you can go to the www.amaproracing.com website, click on a rider and compare lap times. You will see the 250's are faster than all but the very quickest factory 600 guys. I'll keep you posted:hellobye