I hope the kid down the street on the dirt bike has told his parents to look for life insurance quotes to get coverage for him because things aren’t going to be so pretty around here. This kid has been driving me crazy for months now. I think he must have got a dirt bike for Christmas, and now he rides it up and down the road all the time.

You know I’m not the type of person to stop anyone from having fun, but this kid has got to stop. I don’t mind him riding his dirt bike. What I do mind is the fact that he rides it up and down the road in the middle of the night! I know I don’t spend a lot of nights actually sleeping, but when I do he wakes me up. I’m a very heavy sleeper, and our bedroom is on the other side of the house, so I know if he’s waking me up he’s waking the rest of the neighborhood up, too.

Now that I know where he lives and who his parents are I might have to go have a little talk with them. I wonder if they even know he’s riding it up and down the road at night, or if he’s sneaking out to do it. His parent’s are really nice people, and they’re not the type that I see letting their kid ride his bike in the middle of the night on a school night. The kid is 14 or 15.

Did you catch the Daytona 200 yesterday?  I did, and I wasn’t very happy with the whole Miguel Duhamel black flagging.  He was black flagged because after he completed his first lap he pitted and switched to his backup motorcycle.

AMA rules states that any rider who was at the start grid or had to drop out of the race is only allowed to switch to the backup bike after the rider in the lead has completed 3 full laps, and the rider switching to the backup has to receive permission to do so from the Chief Steward or Race Manager.

Yes, he was legitimately black flagged.  He broke the rules.  I just wasn’t happy about the way the AMA handled the situation.  Instead of immediately black flagging him, they allowed him to race for awhile, and they finally pulled him out of the race on the black flag with 13 laps to go!

AMA says they waited so long to black flag him because they were reviewing the situation and making sure they were making the correct call.  When the bikes were swapped out the Honda race team did ask for permission, but they didn’t ask the Chief Steward or Race Manager.  They asked someone who gave them an incorrect answer.

Still, three laps weren’t completed by the lead racer before he swapped out the bikes.  To me that’s a cut and dry case.  Why take so long pulling him off the track?  I would be infuriated if I was allowed to race that long only to find out I was black flagged.

You can read more about it at the AMA site.

Check out these cool Wiley X motorcycle glasses. I’m definitely in need of a new pair of sunglasses before we head to Deal’s Gap next week. (Yep the trip is still on at this point. Cross your fingers the weather will hold!)

Now you all know I don’t condone wearing just the glasses without the helmet, but I almost always wear glasses inside my helmet in the summer. I could use my tinted visor, but I don’t like it for one reason. Almost every time I choose to wear it we end up staying out on the bike after dark, and it’s hard as hell to see with a tinted visor at night. I’ll stick to my glasses that I can slip in my pocket. The sunglasses are also great for those super hot days when you want to crack your visor a little. Even cracking it just a bit makes my eyes water too much, but the glasses stop that.

Motorcyclenews.com reported yesterday that their will be no World Superbike race in Indonesia this year. The track was deemed safe to ride, but no reason has been given for the cancellation. Motorcycle News reports that the Indonesian government withdrew their backing for the event, so this could be an issue over funding.

There will be 14 rounds for the 2008 season. You can check out the final race schedule here.

As much as I would love to attend a World Superbike race, I just can’t do it. I will however be attending going to Atlanta in August for the AMA Superbike racing at Road Atlanta. Hopefully I’ll be able to pick up some schwag, even something as small as those personalized pens made up for different events will do, but I want something I can be able to give away to you guys when I return!