After a lot of trackdays and dialing-in, the bike was ready to run in the AFM 2004 season.

Second Place.

Note the scrape marks on the left hand side of the fairing. I was dragging that side big time. I talked to an old Fox rep from the 80's. He suggested using a longer shaft on the existing shock. He also said he had just sold a bunch of old Fox parts to Phil at Aftershocks. Well, Phil set me up with a custom shock with 10mm adjustable ride height. Rick designed the "Super-Dino" stickers and our friend Boggs printed them up.

Thunderhill practice Turn 7, May, 2004.

Before the wreck, T6 Infineon, May 2004.

Well, Phil and I decided to adjust the ride height to 6mm for the April races at Infineon. Turns out we were rained out and I had to wait until May to fully test it. They say you can't win races in practice but you can lose them. I was running freaking great lap-times and practice was almost over. I decided to chase someone down instead of letting him go. I wound up hitting a bump in Turn-6, which levered the bike off the ground and sent me tumbling for 100+ yards. I was really, really bummed, not to mentioned injured. Three cracked vertebra and a smashed foot weren't keeping me from racing. I fired-up my '86 250 and completed the race for points. I raced the rest of the season with that damaged back and pain for the most part.

Corner workers checking me out after the crash.

I finished the race, and knew I had a lot of work to do before the next race at Thunderhill in just two-weeks. My leathers passed inspection, so I knew I could race in them. The bike also needed a lot of work. The Monday after the race, I was crawling around the bike (because I couldn't stand up) to get it ready for having the frame straightened over at GP Frame and Wheel.

A sad sight.

I went ahead and had Gerry fix up the frame while I handled the bodywork. I pulled the upper and rear panels off the 750 and repainted them, added new numbers on the rear, replaced the lowers and replaced the pipe. I had a spare Yosh pipe from a parts bike I bought, so it got pressed into service. Luckily all the fluid lines and pegs survived, so I didn't have to replace those.

Turn 11 at Thunderhill June 2004. New bodywork and windscreen readily apparent.



First place trophy. I was in a lot of pain and struggled to even finish the race. I had to get help to even get into my leathers and onto the bike.



2004 Super Dino Champs! From Left, Terry Cheney (1985 GSX-R 750), First Place, Teammate Rick Williams (1987 GSX-R 750), Second Place, and me Third Place.


2004 Season wrap-up:

I had another minor incident in July when someone tagged me in T11 at infineon, but it was a low-speed crash and we all got out of it unscathed. That weekend some knucklehead also lent this racebike to a buddy. His buddy proceeded to wheelie the bike into our pits damaging both mine and Rick's bikes. With some last minute luck and late-night parts finagling, I was able to get both bikes up and running for the following race. I rode like crap but we were at least able to finish. The rest of the season was mainly battling pain and some fear trying to get my laptimes competitive again. By our season-ender at Infineon, I was able to break through my mental issues and drop my lap times down to what they were before the wreck. Also during the last race, I was having transmission gear-fork issues. Kept popping out of second into neutral. Normal for these when they get high-miles, but I'm glad it was at the END of the season. I confirmed the issue with a trackday at T-Hill in October 2004. But, for me, it was off to San Antonio, Texas and taking a break from racing.

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