High Point 2005
I was all loaded up and ready to go. I had my camera, pit-bike and all my riding gear in the back of the truck. My buddy Tim showed up at my house about 8:00AM Saturday and away we went. It was raining at home and continued to rain for the entire three hour trip from Erie to Mount Morris. I exited I-79 at exit one and headed towards the track. The road was a two lane blacktop route with a speed limit of 40 miles per hour. I would challenge anyone here to try and do over twenty on it though as it twists and turns up the mountain.
I found where I needed to go, NPG Will Call. Thanks to MotoEast Magazine I had a Media Pass waiting for me along with hopefully a vest allowing me access to the track. I was in luck as I did get the vest. Anxious as I was, I hustled over to the truck and got ready. I got the rain gear on, loaded up the backpack and took off to the pits. As I was wandering around the talk was that the Saturday program would most likely be scrapped due to the rain, but at around 2:00PM the sun came out and word was that it was on. Everything was delayed about an hour to let the track dry up a little but it was still a muddy mess. Practice would be held followed by qualifier races for the 250 class. There weren't enough 125 riders there to run Saturday qualifiers.
At first only a few brave souls took to the track for practice. David Vuillemin led the pack around, he was one of the few factory guys that volunteered to go out and he was flying. Davi Millsaps also took advantage of a little fun on the mud. Qualifiers ended and it looked like it would be a good evening. I headed over to the Parts Unlimited Tent to sign up for the evening's Pit-Bike Race. It was now about 5:30PM and we didn't need to show up for the night race until 7:15PM so off to the truck to get ready. A little bit after 6:00PM, the sky darkened and the rain revisited us, this time though it rained hard with a few flashes of lightning thrown in. I saw a few brave souls headed over to Pit-bike track for the race, being that it was still raining I decided to chicken out and not race. I am glad that I did as I went over to watch the show. It was a mess! Guys were slipping and sliding everywhere. It looked like a war zone with bodies and bikes strewn out everywhere.
The highlight of the whole weekend was finally getting to meet the guys from DMXS. I am a huge fan of the show and listen all the time. I met Kevin Kelly in the parking lot and talked to him for a minute when low and behold, the man himself David Izer came around the corner. What a treat! I ran into David and his wife Donna a few times over the weekend and witnessed first hand the famous Georgia driving style of Izer as he showed me what his Lincoln Town Car Rental could do in the gravel parking lot.
After the Pit-Bike Race it as time to find our hotel. Originally we just planned on camping at the track but at the last minute I found a room at an inn in nearby Waynesburg, PA. It was called the Holiday Motel so I wasn't expecting much. I got a kick out of the Indian clerk that checked me in. Room tirtytree he said as he gave me the key. The pungent aroma of cigarette smoke and cheap air freshener greeted us when we open the door. As I perused the room it was apparent that we weren't at the Ritz Carlton, but still it was better than sleeping in a cold wet tent.
It was somewhere around 11:30PM that we called it a night and turned in. Suddenly at exactly 2:45AM I thought that the world came to an end. A loud crash knocked me out of my slumber. It came from the room next door to us. The best that I could figure out from the next 2 hours of sheer mayhem ended up being quite a story. It appeared that our neighbors were two couples that just got in from a night of drinking. Craig was pretty pissed at his wife Lori. The bartender at the establishment that they were drinking at apparently took a liking to Lori and was hitting on her. The loud crash that we heard was a beer bottle that was thrown at the lovely Lori by her proud husband Craig. For the next hour Craig and Lori battled hard, the "F" word was a pretty popular term as the two lovers exchanged words. Another crash was heard as Lori returned fire with a beer bottle shot of her own just missing Craig's head. That was it, Craig would have no more, the room was in his name and apparently he was on probation of some sort as he kept mentioning that he didn't want to go back to prison.
Finally the other couple tried to step in and bring the peace back. It ended up being a fight between Lori and the other female. I never did get the other couple's names but they were there none the less. I think the buzzes started to wear off as slowly they all calmed down and assured each other that they were still friends and that they did indeed love each other. The last that I heard was Lori saying "Let's all have sex".
Morning came and it was time to hit the track. A quick stop at the Hardees Drive Through and away we went. I headed back to Gate 2 were I parked the day earlier with a pass supplied by the fine folks at NPG. I was assured by the farmer that owns the land that the pass would be good for Sunday too. He told me to just put the pass on my dash board. Well I got into the lot and a lady came chasing me telling me to stop. I explained the whole thing to her and she wasn't buying it. She wanted me to back up and leave. I gave in and paid her the ten bucks to park there. She waved me on and I headed down the mud soaked field. It didn't take long to figure out that my two wheel drive pickup wasn't going to make it. Just then the farmer came up and wanted to know what the hell I was doing over here, it was for four wheel drives only. So I got it unstuck and backed out. There was parking on the other side in the gravel lot for cars that was where I was to go. Upon arriving there I was told that it was for cars and trucks were to park in the muddy field. I got it through to the guy that I was parking here, end of story.
With all that done, I got what I needed out of the truck and headed to the track. I met up with Sean Hamblin to do an interview with him for MotoEast Magazine. He was happy to do it and I took a few pictures with him and his bike and wished him luck. I took a lap through the pits and headed to the track for practice. The track was still pretty muddy as the riders went out. After practice I went to the Media Center to take a rest. It was there that I got my first taste of Monster Energy drink. I liked it, so much that I think that I killed six of them throughout the day.
This was my first time out on the track at a National race shooting pictures. It is hard work. I give the regulars credit. The hills at High Point are much bigger when you have to walk up them. The racing was great in both classes with some good battles going on. I took a bunch of pictures and had a pretty good experience. Hopefully I will get the opportunity to do it again someday. The ride home was uneventful as I was happy to get home and see my little boys and my wife. I would like to thank Jason Fordney of MotoEast Magazine for making it happen.