A few weeks ago we went to the Loretta Lynn’s area qualifier at Baja acres. I took Preston to the practice day by myself and drove four hours, practiced for twenty mins and drove four hours home. Wow. We skipped out on the second practice as it poured torrential rain. It wasn’t worth sending him out on the track after that. The next morning we were up at 3am and on the road before 4am. It was a lot of driving, but worth it. Preston raced great, there were a few super fast kids including Johnny Weber a Factory Cobra rider and Michigan’s fastest rider Leland Golaszewski. The first moto Preston came in third. The second moto, Preston got the hole shot and rode fantastic. Johnny passed him, but he was keeping up with him. On the last lap a kid was down on a jump, Preston was heading right for him. I had to shut my eyes as he went off the jump as the kid was starting to get up. He clipped his helmet but managed to stay on the bike. He lost a few seconds and Leland was able to pass him, but he passed him back and finished 2nd. This gave him a second overall for the day and qualifying first for the regional. After the race he was upset that he had hit the rider that was down. There was nothing he could have done, luckily the rider was fine. It could have been disastrous!
The May 2-4 weekend we stayed home. It was Brooklyn’s 4th birthday and her first that hasn’t been spent at a track. Haha. I can’t believe my baby is 4. She was happy with her new 2 wheel scooter :). The following weekend we decided to hit up one more Area Qualifier, this time in Byron Illinois. Again, there were so many super fast riders and the practice day was rough. We had spent the night driving so of course Justin and I were exhausted. Preston was riding really well. Justin had told him to get on the gas more on the downhill as he was losing a few seconds each lap. So of course Preston does it and hits a breaking bump and goes flying over the bars. His bike cart wheeled as I stood waiting. I was on the other side of the track behind a fence and I saw Justin was nowhere in sight and Preston stumbled as he got up. I asked a random lady to keep an eye on Brooklyn while I jumped the fence, almost ripping my pants and losing a flip flop. Lol. I ran to Preston who was so upset. His bars were completely bent. I thought at that moment we were done. Jeff Ward had brought our bike and we had drove the civic down (most people compete for the biggest rig at the track, we’re going for the smallest) so we only brought one bike. Luckily all that was wrong was the bars and we were able to buy a set from another rider. Preston went out for the last practice and said he was fine to race the next day. Race day was great, Preston rode fantastic. I was a little worried that he’d be scared after his crash. On the last lap of the second moto another rider was on his tail, he came down the same downhill so fast and almost went over the bars, proving to me that nothing fazes him. He ended the day with 4th overall and qualifying second for the North Central Region.
Our first regional is June 6-8 at Red Bud in Michigan. The top 7 make it to Loretta Lynn’s. It will be tough, last year Preston came 25th out of 60 riders and to me this year is even harder. There are so many super fast riders in the 7-8 class. All he can do is try his hardest. Thanks again to all our sponsors and to MXP.