Hi all! Well, Houston bit me again. I have yet to win a round at Houston Raceway Park and it drives me nuts, especially this past weekend. We had a great bike and we never really got a chance to show it.

We had a new motor that I had tested between Gainesville and Houston that ran rather well in testing, so we decided to give it a shot on Friday. We were on a heck of a pass first session on Friday, but then the motor went sour. We stuck a piston and ended up slowing up a ton at the top end. We did still however end up third quickest that round, so we knew that motor would have been bad to the bone if it hadn’t of gotten hurt. However we just sucked it up and busted our butts in between rounds to change motors. We barely made it up in time to run, but when we did finally get to run we put down a stout 6.968 at 191.76 mph and took over the No. 1 spot.

We were thrilled! Even though we knew Saturday qualifying was still to come, we were pumped. Then Saturday came and it rained all day. The field was set and we would stay on top for the fourth time in my career. Going into Sunday we felt confident in all aspects except maybe the Tree. Since we ended up No. 1 we got to choose which pair we wanted to go out. Of course, I chose last. Well, being last has its good and bad parts, in that we get to watch all the other pairs run down the track however in this case that was not a good thing. The rollout on the Tree in Houston was short; because most of the field tries to Tree the Tree on Saturday (which it rained then) no one knew how tight it would be in the bike class. Every pair but one ahead of me went red. I tried to get it out of my mind and went up there and held the clutch as tight as I could, but the rollout was just sooo short that I went red by .003. That is actually pink, not red; just kidding.

I was so mad at myself, because we had, in my opinion, the fastest bike out there. I have never won a round at Houston and still have yet to. It frustrates me so much because my bike and my team are so great. We dropped one position, but still stand third in the points so we will just have to wait till Atlanta to go get ‘em.

Even though Dad has been with me at the last few races, he is staying busier than ever at home. He had the season-opener Quick 8 Pro Mod race this past Saturday and was No. 1 qualifier and won the race. The track was 47 degrees in the finals, so getting the car down the track was going to be the key to win, and he did. If anyone can get a car from A to B, he can. He also had a match race on Easter Sunday and won by winning two out of three races. Hopefully he will rub some of that my way. He will be racing this weekend in Montgomery, Ala., so check him out.

Just wanted to keep you guys up to date. Hope all is well and I hope everyone has a great Easter. Oh yeah, I almost forgot: Dad is almost done building his new website so you guys will have to check it out in the next few days at www.rickiesmithracing.com.