Click all pics to enlarge.

     OK, so now am going to write about the April race. The newest member of Catfish Racing, Jason Reisin, left Long Island to head up to NHIS on Thursday night. Hawk GT, tools, and all his gear stuffed into the back of his minivan. He had to take the Penguin roadracing school on Friday. Mudshark, Cheryl, and myself went up Friday after work. I found Jason sleeping the back of his minivan at about 1:00 AM Saturday morning. After walking the dogs, having a few beers, setting up the motor home, having a few beers, cooking, eating, and drinking a few more beers, we decided to get some sleep. After all, it was past 3:00 AM. About ten to six, yes that's right boys and girls, less than three hours later, Jason comes into the motor home and wakes us all up. I threw on a pot of coffee cuz the three of them are all addicted to that first cup. After about two hours on registration lines between Jason having to get his license, all three of us having to get our AMA cards, and transponders, we all missed first practice. 

     So Jason was the first one to go out in second practice. Since he just finished the Penguin school he had to go out in amateur red. Mudshark and I went out in amateur yellow, well Mudshark tried to go out in amateur yellow. Since the track changed the hot pit lane from last year Mudshark started to go the wrong way to the right of the cones. When they told him he was going the wrong way, his bike stalled. I was up ahead and didn't realize, so I jumped out for second practice and thought he was behind the whole way. I pulled in after practice and asked him how the bike felt, that's when I found out he didn't even ride. OK, so fast forward to race six on Saturday, GP singles Mudshark goes out and gets about halfway through the race and disappears. We see him come pushing his bike back into the pits yet again. After about eight second of trying to figure out why his bike just stalled, we figured we should probably look at the fact that the carbs fell off. Yes folks, that's right, the carbs were just hanging there by the cables. So at this point he has about a total of four laps and he's only got race twelve left for Saturday. Jason and I go out in race eight, my bike is running like complete crap, feels like it's starving for fuel at speed but in the pits it runs fine. I think the vacuum activated diaphragm pump can’t keep up at full throttle. Of course I didn't bother to bring my electric fuel pump with me. Why would I need it? The thing ran great in the garage. Well out of 26 entries in lightweight supersport and 40 entries total, Jason got a last and 21st in class no points. After all it was his first real race. I got a 21st overall, and a twelfth in class no points. Not bad, I was just riding around, starving for gas, and just trying to loosen up. As our motto says " Catfish Racing, striving for mediocrity! "I figured I’d run it for the weekend and just do the best I could. Now we all had to get ready for race twelve. Pretty cool, all three members of Catfish Racing would be in the same race, in two different classes. Jason and I would be in middleweight sportsman, while Mudshark would be in super singles. Well, if you know us by now, you know it just wasn't meant to be. Mudshark's bike ran until he got to the starting line, than just died. He figured out that when a routed his fuel line after reinstalling his carbs that he pinched his fuel line trying to keep it out of the way. So Jason and I line up for race twelve. I don't get a great start, but I guess it was OK. It was a pretty uneventful first half of the race. The cross flags come out and I am running in, get this, third in class. And I can see the leaders. I was about sixth overall. Just starting lap six going into turn one, I guess at about 75- 80 MPH, an EX500 from production twins tried to pass me underneath. When he realized he was too hot, he tucked the front and took my Hawk right out from under me. I never even knew he was there. Jason did much better in race twelve with 32 entries, 25 who showed up he ended up with a sixth in class and seven points. Not bad for only his second race. I'll finish this up later. It's getting late.

Damage Report

     My Vansons are scuffed, Spidi carb 1 gloves are scuffed, Garnea boots are scuffed, Shoei RF700 is junk,

I fractured my right ankle, and heal. If you enlarge the pics below I circled the broken spots.

Click to enlarge.

Last I heard, the guy who took me out had a bruise on his shoulder. I should have a real cast tomorrow, it was too swollen to cast last week so they gave me sort of like a half cast. 4-6 weeks in the real cast and hopefully I won't be able to tell the weather any better than the guy on TV.

This is me, Catfish, trying to heal up after my crash.

These are some pics of my cast. Pretty bitchin' right? I should have my X-rays back tomorrow and I'll figure out a way to get them on here as well. 

     I'll definitely miss the May, race but hopefully will be back in time for June. Well, I put this down for a day and now I'm in a full cast. From just below my knee down to my toes. I have another appointment with my orthopedic surgeon next Tuesday, the sixteenth. They're going to x-ray through my cast to see if the bones are healing or have shifted. With a little luck, if I'm real strict this week, I may be allowed to put some weight on my foot after that. Once I can do that, I should be able to take my Aprilia out for a ride.

Catfish

This page was last updated on:

06/05/2004