The last race of the season had arrived for the guys overseas. My dad has been over there for three weeks racing with Balooshi. Dad called me and said that Sheik Khalid would like for me to come over to Qatar to race the last race of the season. As you all know I sold the bike Angie was riding to him a couple of months ago. The plan is for one of his guys to learn about the bike and begin racing it. So Ang and I headed out on Tuesday afternoon for Qatar.

We arrived on Wednesday evening in Doha. As we were coming in it looked really dusty. We went to the track and everyone was testing for the last race. The sand and wind were blowing really bad. I was happy with the way the bike performed last time so I didn’t test. Ang and I got in bed at a decent hour because we were exhausted from flying for 12 hours.

It was out of bed at 2:30 p.m. Yeah, I know that sounds crazy but that is how they operate over there. They get up late and stay up late. Its absolutely too hot to work or race during the day. We got up and did the usual morning routine and decided to take a walk next door to the mall. When we walked outside it took our breath away. It was already 100 degrees. That’s no exaggeration. The best description I have of it is opening an oven that is heated up to about 350degrees. That’s what it feels like outside. We walked around the mall to pass the time until it was ready to go to the track. We had pizza from sbarro for lunch. Ang and I headed to the track at 4pm. It took us an hour to get there because of traffic. First round of qualifying began around 7pm so we changed valve springs on the motor. It didn’t take us long to do that since I had an awesome crew girl. Ha-ha. I was number 1 qualifier with a 6.988 @ 305.70 kph, which is about 191 mph. I elected not to make the second qualifier. We got back to our room around 3:30 a.m.

It was race day and they always give you another qualifying pass in the afternoon. I once again elected not to make the pass. Von Smith went to the number 1 spot on the last qualifying pass and we were all pumped up. He had to do well and beat the blower car for the Bahrain team to win the championship. First round Von Smith and Balooshi won. That was exciting because that meant he was one round away from the championship. I won first round but I was disappointed because the bike slowed to a 7.09. The weather conditions had changed from the previous day as far as the amount of water in the air. I think I just missed the tune up a little. Second round Balooshi lost to the Bahrain blower car and Von Smith got a bye round. So Von and the Bahrain blower had to race for the Championship title. Von had already somewhat clinched the Championship but if the Bahrain blower car won the race and set the record then he would win the Championship. Von Smith had a .020 light and never looked back. The Al-Anabi team won the Championship. Congrats to them. I ran the finals and it wasn’t so great. I had an awesome light (.009) and 1.05 60-foot time and the bike wouldn’t shift. One pass out of 50 the Buells will not shift and I guess it was pass number 50. I was pissed to say the least. I wanted to bring another win home for Sheik Khalid. I did my job it but its just one of the things that happens sometimes. The track had a lot of oil downs so we didn’t finish the race until 4 a.m. We had to leave to go to the airport at 5:30. One thing that was really ironic was it starts to get daylight at 4:15 a.m. When Ang and I left to go to the airport the sun was up but wasn’t 100 degrees yet. It was about 85. We got a ride to the airport. Ang decided to talk to the driver asking him about a building she was looking at. As he is talking to her he floors the car. He thought the light had turned green but it was the lane beside us. He immediately slams on brakes and now we are laughing. He puts the car in reverse and backs up. I told her not to talk to him anymore. He leaves the car in reverse so when the light turns green he floors it again. He slams on brakes again and finally we make it safe to the airport. By this time Ang and I are laughing hysterically. We checked in and got on our plane. Dad, Ang and I arrived in NYC a little late. Our next plane left at 4:15p.m. We got off Qatar airways around 3:30 p.m. We literally ran as fast as we could to make it through customs. If our plane would not had been delayed 15 minutes we would not have made it home.

Dad and I discussed dropping by the All-Star race on the way home. My sister Amanda had already put all of us on the list to get in. Mom came down and met us and we all got there about 10 laps to go in the pre-race. Scott Speed finished 20th but he said they made a lot of progress on the car. Amanda and Scott came to the Red Bull Energy Station and met us. We all had a great time. We left the race when the first 20-lap race was over. We got home around 11pm and we were exhausted.

We had a great time in Qatar and would like to say thank you to Sheik Khalid for having us once again over there. Thanks to Amanda for getting us in the All-Star race. I can’t wait for Chicago. I am still eager to win my first race this season for my Schumacher Team. Ang still doesn’t have anything until Indy so we hope to change that. She is 11th in points and I would really like to see her in the Top 10 by the end of the year. If anyone would like to help us get her out there please contact one of us. We need to keep her out there racing.