Well the 2nd round of the season is over. Tray had a good spill at Roebling 2 weeks earlier so we were not sure how his ankle would hold up for the weekend if he would be able to ride at all.  I flew into Atlanta to pick up my motor home and trailer on Wednesday.  Tray and Ned were finishing up work on the new KSSS GSX-R600’s for the day when Tray decided it was time to try out his ankle with a little Trials ride.  An hour later he returned with a little smile and said if he could find a bigger boot size his ankle should be alright.  We packed up that night and headed to Talladega Thursday afternoon.

Friday morning Tray did a few laps on the endurance bike and his sprint bike.  I knew we were good for the Endurance race when Tray in his normal fashion did a few blistering laps, returned to the pits to say “Feels Good” like it was just another day at the office.  Lunch came and the sky started to get dark with tornado warnings in the area.  Wera officials decided to move up the qualifying sessions to right after lunch which made everybody scramble to get tires changed and on warmers.  Tray qualified 3rd behind Jensen and Opie with a lap in the low 58’s.  The rest of the day tornado sirens went on and off.  We were lucky that the storms missed us. Some heavy rain and wind was about it.

Saturday’s Endurance race came and of course the weather man was wrong again.  It was suppose to be 70’s and sunny.  It turned out to be low 60’s and cloudy with light drizzle.  Tray started with a good start with westby on a 600 trying to keep him in check.  45 minutes into tray’s stint he came by pointing at the rear tire.  Everybody scrambled and got ready for him to come in.  Of course I was up next but had wandered to the bathroom not knowing Tray had just blistered the rear tire.  Lets just say I made it back just in time.  The last few minutes of my stint it started misting.  It wasn’t slick yet but Chris was up next so I knew he would have a crazy 3rd stint.  Chris did exactly what needed to be done and kept the competition at bay by staying smooth and not letting them gain any time on use.  Tray finished up the race with some fastest laps of the race at the end.  Mark and Tony gave the slow it down signal 20 minutes until the end.  Tray looked like he was have to much fun but with 4 laps on the field it was time to go into cruise mode.

Sundays races started off with the a superstock race.  Tray and Jensen ran up front the whole race. It was a good battle until the last half of the race.  Tray ran in the 56’s and 57’s but just didn’t have enough for Jensen.  The last race was F1 and it again was an exciting race.  With tray not being able to ride at roebling he had to start in the back.  F1 this year is gridded by points.  He ran through the field and finished a respectable 4th. 

In Tray style he spent a few hours cleaning his bike, leathers, helmet, trailer, and organized everything from a to z and headed back to Road Atlanta to finish up getting everything ready for our 3 day KSSS school.  He still has a little limp but you would have never known anything was hurting the way he rode over the weekend.  A true Iron Man.