Ok folks!

[PJ]

I then ran into turn 7 the best I ever have and held Ed off for the WIN.

Nice! Beating Ed is an accomplishment. Beating him after taking a stop and go penalty is amazing!!

[spyderchick]

Nice! Beating Ed is an accomplishment. Beating him after taking a stop and go penalty is amazing!!

And Ed, the gentleman sportsman that he is, gave J the big thumbs up and told him how much fun he had dicing with him. 

[eeky]

1984 WERA GNF. I was the defending champion in D superbike riding the Inglis Cycle Center RZ 350. There was a young up and commer from Texs, Kevin Schwantz, also competing in that class on aother RZ.

Kevin won every race he entered at that GNF except D superbike. Mr. Schwantz was the single most exciting road racer I have ever seen in my life and I had the best seat in the house.

It was a classic confrontation between two vastly different styles of riding. Kevin was on the edge of control, or over it going into every corner. I was using my usual style of slightly giving up corner entry speed to optimize corner exit speed. Kevin was faster to the apex and I was faster off the apex.

I watched Kevin get away with outragous saves corner after corner, lap after lap. The image of Mr. Schwantz passing me on the brakes going into tun 7 with smoke pouring off the front tire, handelbars wagging back and forth, bike jumping and snapping, is forever burned into my brain. I can replay those images today just as clearly as the day they happened 22 years ago.

I don't remember the number of passes and repasses but it was quite a few. What I do remember was the intensity of the battle. Lap times kept dropping as we pushed each other harder and harder.

I was 28 years old at the time and had been racing for 13 years. This was the first time I had ever visited the zone. I didn't even know it existed. That place in your mind where concentration and commitment become so completly total and focused that everything else around you ceases to exist. Pain, fear, exhaustion, risk, the real world no longer mattered. I learned some things about my self that day. I realized for the first time just how powerful the human mind can be. I also realized just how dangerous it is to race at that level. 

I got a better drive onto the back straight on the last lap and hung on to win by about a bike length.

I haven't seen or spoken with Kevin since that race but I suspect if asked he would also remember it quite clearly.

Ed Key

[JBraun]

1984 WERA GNF. I was the defending champion in D superbike riding the Inglis Cycle Center RZ 350. There was a young up and commer from Texs, Kevin Schwantz, also competing in that class on aother RZ.

Holy crap Ed, you have a story about racing Kevin Schwantz.... and winning.  How cool is that?

Who wants to try and top that story???

[KBOlsen]

Ed wins.  That was BEAUTIFUL!

[EX#996]

Holy crap Ed, you have a story about racing Kevin Schwantz.... and winning.  How cool is that?

Who wants to try and top that story???

So.....

If Ed beat Schwantz....  and Paul beat Ed (Ok - it was in the rain)....



.... then Paul can say - awwww, nevermind.  LOL!   


Dawn   

[spyderchick]

1984 WERA GNF. ...

I haven't seen or spoken with Kevin since that race but I suspect if asked he would also remember it quite clearly.

Ed Key

Ok...now I'm pissed. You have never ever told me that story. 

But I'll forgive you, because it brought a huge grin to my face this morning! 

[EX#996]

Ok...now I'm pissed. You have never ever told me that story. 

But I'll forgive you, because it brought a huge grin to my face this morning! 

Yep, I'm going to share that story with Paul.  I'm sure he'll enjoy it as much as I did.

Dawn  

[tshort]

Round trip air tickets to Orlando - $300.  Hotel room for a couple nights during Biketoberfest - $200.  Getting the hole shot and leading a lap at Daytona - you guessed it - Priceless.  That was the ROC in 2003, amateur T-bikes.  Parents, brother and an old friend were in the stands watching.  Started from second row, I believe, and ended up taking T1.  On the exit couldn't believe what I was seeing: nothing but clear track.  Figured there must've been a huge pileup behind me or something.  For the remainder of the infield and up onto the banking I just kept waiting for someone to blow by me but it didn't happen - at least not until coming off of NASCAR 4 and down onto the front straight.  Two guys got past, and hung with them the rest of the race.  Geared way tall, I was out powered by them, but as long as I hung in their slipstream I was able to keep up.  The three of us freight-trained our way around five laps, with a few position changes and lead swaps, and I ended up in third. 

Like most of you, I've got a lot of wood piled up at home, but the one that puts a smile on my face the most-  by a mile - is the green one that says Daytona on it.

[PJ]

I haven't seen or spoken with Kevin since that race but I suspect if asked he would also remember it quite clearly.

Great story involving two of my racing heroes!

Wish I could have seen that one.

Thanks for sharing, Ed.

[K3 Chris Onwiler]

That place in your mind where concentration and commitment become so completly total and focused that everything else around you ceases to exist. Pain, fear, exhaustion, risk, the real world no longer mattered. I learned some things about my self that day. I realized for the first time just how powerful the human mind can be. I also realized just how dangerous it is to race at that level. 

Ed Key

Damn.  I'd have sworn it was Ted McGee telling that story.  Red Mist, anyone?