First Race!!
 

Well I have the first one under my belt and the verdict is in....... I am hooked!!!!

Saturday was cool. Getting to meet guys like John Tomlinson and Dave Scott, Bruce Seroff, Gene Stephens, Gino Marrone (sp?), and all of the other racers was awesome. It nice to be welcomed into the sport when you are new. Tech inspection was good too because I was able to spend a little time with the inspector and he showed me things that he would be looking for and what things I needed to pay attention to.

Sunday morning went well. The physical was a piece of cake, in fact I over relaxed for the BP test and the nurse told me I barely had any blood pressure!! Of course I blew .000 on the BAC test. We were quick to get the boat in the water before the physicals and meeting to get a good spot and to not stress. Of course I had left the bilge pump running all night so my port battery was dead and could not be revived. BruceK and my single crew member ran to Wally Mart for a new battery and we were back in action.

Race time - We idle out in to the middle area to do the parade lap...nerves are there, sweaty palms, but man am I looking forward to this!!! Pace boats starts and we run the lap and stop at pin 4 to mill. First the PX boats are picked up by the pace boat and they are off.. and I mean off!!! I was afraid that Bacardi would be coming back around before we left!! Pace boat picks us up and we are heading toward the start line. I had to start 100 feet back but it was all good. I never saw the green flag, Bruce just jammed the throttles and we were off. We were on the outside and picked a few boats off before pin 1. As we got around the pin I could see Gino just hauling ass away through some really crappy water. The wind had been blowing for days out of the NW and that end of the lake had a big cross wake that made the boat roll back and forth. It was a hand full through there. At pin 2 we turned into the wind and the wakes are right on the nose for about 3 miles... easy cruising WFO. At pin 3 we went wide and left a lane for Gino and just ran wide open to 4. A nice sweeping turn through 4 and back down the front straight past the stands. At this point we were all alone for about a lap until Bacardi caught us on the upwind leg from 2 to 3. That was unreal!!! All I could smell was burnt race fuel.....mm mmm Gooood!! I made a few rookie mistakes. I lost sight of pin 4 and drifted wide. Luckily Para-Dice gave me a high speed fly by and helped me find my way back on course. A nice splash of cool lake water to bring me back to my senses!!!! (it was only rooster spray caught in the wind). It was freakin awesome to be out there. My sealed GPS showed 89.6 mph at the end of the race. BruceK has the boat on the money all the time.

I really think that I owe a thanks to a few key people for making the experience what it was. Steve David is the epitome of professionalism. He spent time going over procedures, answering questions and concerns and just making me feel like a part of the community. Bob Bull spent time on the phone and in person in the weeks prior to and even on race day talking to me. He was also a very large part of the reason that I decided to race APBA. Dee Kimes was great too..... she actually can keep me in line!! I am very much looking forward the rest of the season with APBA.

PS: By the way, I looked everywhere but I couldnt find any Mike A's..... I even checked the Porto-Potties!!!

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This shot is Poetic.... my family and Bruce's family and there we are in the background racing!! Lucky shot!

man, that is addicting!!!!

Great description. My first race was there in '99, and everything you said nailed it perfectly.

Best of luck the rest of the season!

Congrats Brett and Bruce! Well Done!

Julie

Julie,
tell Matt I may need those P5X's, I just cant remember the size!! Did he take notes that day?? The acceleration with those props is just what the doctor ordered for P3!!!!!!!!!

Brett will we see you in Miami??

Congratulations!

Nice recap and as new racers (2003) we know how you feel.

Stay safe,
Rick

Hey-Congratulations..Your ride looked great on land, in the basin and on the course..

Good luck for the rest of the season and rcing career...

I have some additional photos you may want at:

http://community.webshots.com/user/gdfatha/1

Take care...

marc

We will run P3 and if the water is rough enough we will run F2 as well. I need this year to get some more experience under my belt and work on pushing my limits without compromising safety.

Oh boy is he hooked.

Glad to hear ya had fun.....:D

Now if I can only get him to say something over the intercom. :rolleyes: I had to keep checking in with him to see if he was allive. He had the white knuckle thing going on especially between 1 and 2 :D
For his first race, Brett did excellent, he truly wants to learn and do things right. We had a great time and St Cloud is probably the best place to have your 1st race since it is of a smaller venue.
P.S. Brett, I hear they are calling for 8-10's off Daytona this weekend... Time to Practice!

Brett, Bruce congrats to you both! Pretty wild huh! Well you guys did better than Dave and my cousin Val did first time out with that boat. She's a good running boat with a lot of ba!!s. Have FUN and most of all be safe. Augie

Congratulations !!

You guys looked great out there !!

Wow! It's kind of cool seeing it described from the perspective of the driver. It's not something you read every day. Thanks for the description! Congrats on a great start of your racing career. As a fan I will be watching you with interest and look forward to your future wins.

Congrats Brett & Bruce! Your boat looked great at all times but especially nice while running full throttle around the course.

If he was like me........it's hard to talk when you have a huge smile on your face for an hour straight!

Great Recap!...Best of Luck to you guys this season!

:cool:

Congrats guys
 

Welcome to the Party Pal, Now that boat and mine have a little score to settle. I still have an orange and yellow skid mark on my hull from Val and Dave in turn two. Are you ready to rumble? Cant wait to run with you guys, See ya in Miami Smitty P class rules!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congrats d-hlaw, St. Cloud was my first race also. I know exactly how you felt before the race. Crossing the line from fan to racer is a huge step but a Great one. Also the feeling of being out there is hard to describe
( you did well). The fact that you finished is an accomplishment . 89mph is extremely fast and takes lots of focus and communication to ensure safety. When the big boys go buy now thats another aw some story. Great luck , be safe. Jo

Yo, Bret !!!!

Great to meet ya bud...See ya in Miami

Whooops!!!....sorry Bruce

How can I can forget you???? Nice to meet you too

I would also like to add that the APBA officials were nothing but proffessional and helpful to all of us. They are eager to listen to the racer's needs and are trying very hard to repair whats been damaged. Hopefully, more of you will come out and support Marathon.

Steve David...its been a pleasure chatting with you. Thanks for all your help this weekend.

Dee.... Thankyou for putting up with our time consuming decision process. Especially those Pitman Photo guys...GEZE !!

Bob Bull and Jim Poplin ...thank you for keepin it goin.

and thanks the rest of the APBA staff.

Great race and good luck the rest of the year. Bill

The always gracious and effervescent Dee Kimes:mad: ;)
Gotta love that woman.:D
Congrats and welcome

Thumbs Up!!!!!!!!!!
 

Sweet, nice story and glad to hear you had a safe race.now get that boat into F2 and kick some butt..

Brett

I see your hooked

Nothing like your 1st race, no matter how many you will be in ,thats the one you'll remember the best.
Your play by play was great.
Keep up the good work.

Steve

I think that might have been the case.:D Congratulations guys the boat looked great.

Thanks to everyone for all the kind words and luck. I would also like to say, thanks and a great job to Jim Simmons as well, who had his 1st race in F2 with his boat "Simmons Marine"(originally AKA Twisted Styx) For people who do not know Jim, he used to crew chief for Twisted Styx and last year purchased the boat from them. He did an excellent job in his first race driving although we had a mechanical issue (tail pipe loss) which caused us to retire early from the race.

I also want to add that Gino and Marks F1 boat is probably the fastest thing around. When we finally caught them and passed it was a long straight and they were running 87mph!! That boat hauls ass!!!!!!!!!!

i would like to thank everyone for getting bret to start racing now my leagal fees are going up

That boat NEEDS F2's numbers on it!!!! see ya in marathon?????