Road Racerhead v.2 #11
March 17, 2006
By CJ
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Well, it’s time for another edition of Road Racerhead, and I’m not really sure where to start. I guess I’ll do it the same way Charles Dickens did in A Tale of Two Cities, whose opening lines have since been borrowed by many better men than I:

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

Leticia, a lucky Bike Week survivor. Andrew Northcott photo

Chuck D. was referencing the French Revolution, but he might just as well have been talking about Daytona Bike Week 2006. It was a week that was blessed by perfect weather, great racing in three-and-three-quarters of the four road races, and a positive vibe throughout, but it was marred by sub-par attendance, record deaths, and botched officiating of the crown-jewel Daytona 200.

Last week’s report, filed from Daytona, dwelled on the positive, so please forgive me if I seem to be focusing on the negative for a bit today.

According to a Daytona Beach News Journalstory by Scott Wyland (one assumes he’s not the Stone Temples Pilots front man of the same name), no fewer than 19 motorcyclists were killed at this year’s Bike Week. Emergency personnel also responded to 283 motorcycle crashes and took 133 patients to hospitals. Only eight of the 19 fatalities wore helmets, and of those three “had their helmets fly off.”

I don’t know if Anthony Fania Jr. is counted amongst those 283 crashes, but the New Jersey resident certainly did crash, around lap 55 of the Daytona 200 near the entrance to pit lane, and when race officials couldn’t immediately see where he had ended up, they called out the pace car that has been the subject of so much consternation the week that followed.

Fania has a habit of being involved in very public and controversial Daytona 200 crashes. For those who don’t remember, he’s the one who crashed with Aaron Yates a couple of years ago and was subsequently the recipient of a head butt and kick from the Yoshimura Suzuki rider. This time, he told www.roadracingworld.com that he thought it was Geoff May he had touched before going down, and he insists that it was May at whom he was directing those two middle fingers raised proudly over his head and caught on live television. It certainly looked on TV as thought he was gesturing at the crowd, but either way, I can think of better career moves.

Anyway, what followed was equally embarrassing. Race control—unable to immediately see where Fania had fallen—called out the pace car, and as everyone now knows, said care pulled out in front of fourth-placed Eric Bostrom and fifth-placed Miguel Duhamel (who had crashed earlier in the race) instead of race-leader Jake Zemke. This despite the fact that item number four on a document called “Daytona Pace Car Information,” handed out to riders by the AMA, contains the following: “The pace car will merge onto the track with the flashing lights on, and will make every effort to safely move to a position in front of the race leader as it approaches the chicane.”

In a press conference later that night, AMA Road Racing Manager Ron Barrick (who was driving the car) said that although there “should’ve been plenty of time to be able to pick up the leader,” and “we assumed we were going to be able to pick up the leader right then and there,” he got in front of the wrong rider because he “wanted to get out on track and start controlling the bikes at that stage.”

Teams claimed that from what he was saying over the radio, it sounded like Barrick didn’t actually know who the race leader was, but we should probably give him the benefit of the doubt on that one. However, the wisdom in having the road race manager—who is responsible for making level-headed, informed decisions during the race—drive the pace car in the first place is questionable at best.

The pace-car incident gave this year’s Daytona 200 a black eye. Andrew Northcott photo

When asked why he drove the pace car, Barrick responded: “I guess because I’ve got the most experience at doing that and know the procedures without having to think about them,” and when I asked him if he could adequately make important decisions while driving the car, he replied, “That’s a good question I guess. Certainly it’s a stressful situation. You’re concerned about everything that’s going on. There’s definitely a lot to think about all at once. But I think I’m still able to think about all the different scenarios that could occur.”

Okay, but even if Ron can negotiate the racetrack while simultaneously making decisions, throwing in traffic-directing on top of that is asking a bit much. That’s why item number five on that aforementioned document contains the following: “If the car merges in front of riders prior to the leader, the passenger will wave you past on the right side. The car will remain to the left side of the track or on the apron until it is ready to move in front of the race leader.”

The key word there is “passenger,” and there was no passenger in the pace car with Barrick. When asked in the press conference why this was the case, Barrick replied: “ Just basically we were short on personnel.”

Anyway, the procedure of having a passenger in the car wasn’t followed, and the procedure of waving riders by to get the leader behind the pace car wasn’t followed, and the result was that when the pace car pulled off, all of the top contenders except for Jake Zemke, Josh Hayes, and Jason DiSalvo were almost a full lap down.

Several of the pace-car procedures on this document weren’t followed. Andrew Northcott photo

When asked why he didn’t wave the field by, Barrick replied: “It would have probably meant bringing nearly the entire field past the pace car. And of course, when they do that, then they’re going to want to run at speed, catching back up, so then you are no longer controlling them with speed.”

Supposing that makes sense, I’m still not convinced pulling the pace car off while the field is still split is the right call, and given the errors and confusion at the time—and assuming waving the field through wasn’t practical—then officials should have just thrown a red flag and sorted the mess out prior to a restart.

So, did the failure to follow prescribed procedure affect the race results? There’s no way of knowing for sure. Personally, I think Zemke still would have won, but it’s impossible to ignore the fact that Eric Bostrom and Miguel Duhamel would have had a much better chance with a tightened field—especially considering the Daytona draft—than they did from almost a lap down.

Barrick seemed to disagree, saying: “I think ultimately, the results will show that the riders finished in the same order that they were in before the pace car came out. Obviously the riders in first, second and third were able to close up the gaps on each other a little bit while the pace car was out, and in essence, at that stage, Eric Bostrom and Miguel Duhamel were obviously well behind the first three at that stage.”

But following that logic, why not just throw the checkered flag when Fania crashed? Anyway, that's my take on it. To see what Zemke thought, check out his Tuesday Conversation from this week, and to see what Yamaha Racing Manager Keith McCarty thought, check out his Between the Races.

Still, the mess doesn't mean Zemke's first-ever Daytona 200 win isn't well-deserved or worthy of congratulations; it's just a shame it was tainted by something outside his control.

Chuck Norris hasn’t got anything on Mat Mladin. Andrew Northcott photo

One last note on the pace-car incident: This week, someone sent me an email about the Hell’s Angels suing Disney over claims that their logo had been used without consent. I forwarded it to “Backmarker” author Mark Gardiner, whose column last week dealt with the Angels and other motorcycle gangs. Gardiner replied, “Actually, Disney is suing the AMA too. Apparently they heard that the 200’s pace-car incident was totally Mickey Mouse.”

Okay, enough about the negative; now for some silliness (with apologies to www.chucknorrisfacts.com):

1. Guns don’t kill people. Mat Mladin kills people.

2. It takes Mat Mladin 20 minutes to watch 60 Minutes.

3. Mat Mladin does not sleep. He waits.

4. The chief export of Mat Mladin is pain.

5. Mat Mladin doesn’t go hunting. Mat Mladin goes killing.

6. Wilt Chamberlain claimed to have slept with more than 20,000 women in his lifetime. Mat Mladin calls this “a slow Tuesday.”

7. There are no races, only countries of people Mat Mladin has beaten to different shades of black and blue.

8. When Mat Mladin was denied an Egg McMuffin at McDonald’s because it was 10:35, he roundhouse-kicked the store so hard it became a Wendy’s.

9. When Mat Mladin falls in water, Mat Mladin doesn’t get wet. Water gets Mat Mladin.

10. Mat Mladin doesn’t actually write books; the words assemble themselves out of fear.

Ben Spies was the only rider to challenge Mladin at Daytona. Andrew Northcott photo

Okay, so those Chuck Norris “facts” might be exaggerating it a bit, but following Mladin’s masterful win in the Daytona Superbike race on Saturday morning, his competition has to be pretty intimidated. Yes, Yoshimura Suzuki teammate Ben Spies hung with him just about as well as I’ve seen anyone do in a while, and I’m hopeful for some good racing this year, but that last-lap, chicane-exit move by the champ was an example of wily race craft that takes years to acquire. As I saw it happening, I wondered aloud why Spies had taken the bait, but the Texan explained in the press conference that his bike wasn’t geared for the draft. Whatever the case, Mladin showed once again that the path to the AMA Superbike championship leads through him.

Spies was the only one who even had a chance against Mladin by the final minutes, and considering it was only a 15-lap race, that has to be worrisome to Honda and Parts Unlimited Ducati. Yes, Honda’s Miguel Duhamel made the podium, but he was over five seconds in arrears of Mladin, with top Duck finisher Neil Hodgson another tick back. Ducati’s Ben Bostrom could only muster a seventh, and Honda’s Jake Zemke struggled with arm pump to finish eighth.

It was good to see some green in the Superbike class at Daytona. Andrew Northcott photo

On the other hand, I thought Kawasaki’s Tommy and Roger Lee Hayden were pretty impressive in their Superbike debut, and here’s a St. Patrick’s Day shout-out to the boys in green. I gave them props last week for their strong rides in Daytona’s Thursday Supersport race (Rog took the win and the points lead), but their rides in the premier class were at least as impressive—particularly Tommy’s steady top-five finish. Roger was a bit more aggressive in his efforts to make the podium, and that ended up biting him via a nasty-looking high-side. Laurel Allen checked in with Rog this week, and it sounds like he’s doing okay following the high-side he took during his Superbike debut at Daytona:

“For those who watched Roger limp away from his Daytona Superbike crash in obvious pain,” Laurel said, “good news: Following a recent MRI, the Kawi rider was able to describe his injury as 'nothing major.' Although the small fracture Roger sustained on the side of his right foot is preventing him from riding the Infineon test this week, he’ll be back on the bike in plenty of time to make the late-March test at Barber.”

Puma is making motorcycle boots. CJ photo

To get an idea of what Kawasaki’s entrance in the Superbike class this season means, turn on your TiVo and re-watch the Daytona race, this time imagining what it would be like without the two green bikes in there, fighting for a top finish. It’s amazing what a difference it has made. Now imagine what it would look like to have two or three more blue bikes in there, and you’ll have an idea of what we can expect next year if Yamaha follows through on their veiled promises to campaign Superbike in 2007.

The top-finishing non-factory team was Jordan Suzuki, whose Jason Pridmore and Jake Holden both made the top 10 on their metal-flake gold machines. The squad dropped us a note this week to say that they’ll be featured in a three-minute feature that will air on TNT this Tuesday at 8 p.m. (EST) during the NBA pre-game show for the Houston-Dallas game, as well as NBA post-game show after the Phoenix-Utah game scheduled for 1 a.m. The same three-minute feature will also run in July when TNT takes over NASCAR coverage. Set your TiVo!

Incidentally, Nike may be the first mainstream athletic-shoe company to sponsor road racing, with Nike’s support of Michael Jordan’s Jordan Suzuki team, but it looks like Puma is the first to offer an actual motorcycle boot. I spied this unit while prowling the pits at the MotoGP IRTA test at Circuit de Catalunya a couple weeks ago. Puma motorcycle boots aren’t yet available in the U.S., but they should be before too long.

Vincent Haskovec did some rehab in 3rd Street Boxing Gym. Lisa Keating photo

According to photographer Lisa Keating, Geoff May spoke for about an hour with Vincent Haskovec before the Daytona 200 race. “Vincent was on [Geoff’s] mind all week,” Lisa said in a note she recently sent me. “He wanted to show his continued support. If you saw the interview with Vincent on Speed, maybe you noticed the T-shirt he was wearing. It was from 3rd Street Boxing Gym. Enclosed is a photo of my friend and Vincent’s friend, Paul Wade, a pro boxer who owns the gym and visited and worked with him while he was in San Jose for rehab.”

Speaking of Speed, I just checked out the coverage of last week’s racing, and I was impressed with the coverage—especially the half-hour warm-up before the 200. Commentators Dave Despain, Ralph Sheheen, Freddie Spencer, Greg White, and Jason Pridmore did a great job of getting viewers up to speed for the race, with grid interviews and a lengthier chat with Jeremy McWilliams. Also, props to amateur camera-operators Linnea Deguzman (girlfriend of Miguel Duhamel and filmer of a cool behind-the scenes piece) and Danny Eslick (who carried the bike cam). Oh, and that Vincent Haskovec profile was very cool. Too bad they were on commercial breaks when Duhamel crashed and when the pace car pulled on the track!

By the way, attendance may have been down at Daytona Bike Week, but I still listened to enough loud bikes during my stay there that this humorous video clip really hit home.

Oh, and the AMA boys are up at Northern California’s Infineon Raceway yesterday and today for a test, although rain has prevented them from getting much done.

MotoGP season starts next week, and you can take part via the Road Racer X Fantasy Racer MotoGP Fantasy League.

Now that round one of the 2006 AMA Superbike series is in the books, the riders get a pretty long break before the season begins in earnest. There’s still more than a month before round two, which will take place at Barber Motorsports Park on April 23. The MotoGP series kicks off in just one week, though, with the season-opener in Jerez, Spain.

The 2006 MotoGP season is shaping up to be a good one, and if you want to vicariously participate in it, one of the best ways to do so is through Fantasy Racer’s MotoGP Fantasy League, for which we at Road Racer X have signed on as the title sponsor this year. That means entry is free, so if you’ve always talked about what the various teams and riders should have done differently, you now really have no excuse not to walk the walk. I’m definitely planning on running a team. If you’d like to do likewise, head over to www.fantasyracer.com before the season gets started!

Judging by how pre-season testing has gone, we might see some new bike brands among the lead group this season. Among the teams to have posted impressive lap times in testing are Camel Yamaha (of course), Ducati Marlboro, Kawasaki, Suzuki, and even Tech3 Yamaha and Team KR.

Can Nicky and Honda get on track by the time they get on track? Andrew Northcott photo

Honda seems to have reason to worry, and I’m concerned with the dearth of fast times by Nicky Hayden, despite his turning in marathon-like numbers of laps. Here’s hoping that Honda will be able to improve the all-new RC211V that they’ve convinced him to race. One wonders why they don’t just let him race the improved 2005 version that most of the Honda riders have spent their testing season on, but perhaps they know what they’re up to. When Sete Gibernau’s Gresini Honda blew up at the final 2005 round in Valencia, it showed that that bike may be close to the end of its development cycle. Posting quick lap times in testing is one thing, but winning races means making it to the finish, and one would assume that the new bike is much further from the ceiling. It certainly doesn’t seem to be lacking power, so hopefully Honda can get that stability problem worked out soon. One other thing to consider: Nicky has always been a racer, and when the testing is over and it’s on, he has been known to turn in some surprises.

Of course Valentino Rossi and Camel Yamaha are still the team to beat, and they pretty much dominated testing up until last weekend’s final test in Jerez.

Is Rossi sandbagging? And will he race Fernando Alonso on bikes? And will he stay in MotoGP next year? Andrew Northcott photo

There, the team apparently struggled with chatter from their Michelin tires, prompting The Doctor to say the following in a Yamaha press release:

“Yesterday, I was confident that we could find some big improvements today, but honestly, that hasn’t happened, and now I am quite worried. The vibration has remained, and at the moment, we don’t know how to solve it. Yamaha and Michelin have done a lot of good work today, and we’ve tried many different tires and settings, but we are still slow. This is the last test, and throughout the whole pre-season period, we’ve always been fast and the bike has felt good, but this test has been completely different. At the moment, I am not sure what will happen in the race; we’ll have to wait and see. I hope that Jeremy, together with the Japanese engineers and the Michelin technicians, can use all the data they have now to understand the problem and see how to solve it.”

That’s certainly alarming, but I can’t help but think that it sounds just a little over the top. Is it possible that Rossi is trying to pull a last-minute rope-a-dope on his competition? Either way, it’s doubtful that anyone will be expecting anything but an incredible performance from the champ when the war finally gets underway next week.

Dennis Noyes just sent me a spreadsheet with a breakdown of the fastest long run by every rider at Jerez who, over three days, made a run of 10-straight laps or more. Although Sete Gibernau had the fastest average (1’41.614”), on Bridgestones, it’s interesting to note that Rossi was a close second with 1’41.663” (next were Dani Pedrosa, Toni Elias, Shinya Nakano, Loris Capirossi, and Nicky Hayden).

“I came to the conclusion that Rossi may have a problem with chatter on the new big tires, but not enough of a problem to put him off the pace,” Noyes said. “If this is the pace he can run with a problem, I wonder what he’ll do when the problem gets solved?” Thanks, Dennis!

Will Carlos Checa get Dunlop a MotoGP podium this season? Andrew Northcott photo

Jerez also promises to offer a full-on tire war, with the possibility of Michelin, Bridgestone, and Dunlop all offering competitive donuts for MotoGP. In the Jerez test, Bridgestone came out on top, lap-time wise, though it remains to be seen what will happen with full distances on race tires. Michelin is always to be taken seriously (they took the top four spots in Jerez last year), and although Dunlop didn’t do much at the Jerez test, they definitely raised some eyebrows at the previous week’s test in Barcelona.

Michelin boss Nicolas Goubert was not among those who were surprised by Dunlop’s Barcelona showing at the hands of Carlos Checa and James Ellison, who are not only running Dunlop rubber, but whose Tech3 Yamahas are in yellow-and-black livery with prominent Dunlop stickers. I talked to him briefly in the Michelin rig, and he said the following regarding Dunlop:

Checa pulls a Rossi, removing his left foot from the peg during downshifting in Barcelona. Liam Shubert photo

“Dunlop has a terrible image in MotoGP, which is not what they deserve. We’ve been fighting with Dunlop for years in Superbike—whether it’s British Superbike or World Superbike and so on. I do think we’ve managed to keep an edge over them, but it was tough. When I hear that in 500cc or MotoGP, Dunlop has got a big disadvantage, I know perfectly well it’s not true. I’m not surprised at all by what Carlos is doing. These people know how to make competitive racing tires. We’ll make sure we’ll stay ahead of them [laughs], but they’re competitive.”

Speaking of Checa, Liam Shubert sent me this photo from Barcelona, which shows the Spaniard downshifting at the end of a straight. I thought it was interesting, as Checa appears to be doing that foot-off-the-peg thing that Valentino Rossi is often spotted doing.

And speaking of Rossi, did you catch our “Breaking News” item this week about his challenging Formula One champ Fernando Alonso to a duel? As you may or may not know, Alonso was recently quoted as saying of Rossi during a press conference: “He might finish fifth or even get on the podium [in F1] some time, but I could do the same on the bikes if I was given enough time to practice.”

Well, Italian sports weekly Gazzetta dello Sport quoted Rossi as saying this week: “I read that if Alonso is able to make some practice then he can put a MotoGP bike on the podium with me. Well, I think we should drive a Formula One car, a World Rally car and a MotoGP bike, add the times together and then we will see who is the fastest.”

Alonso responded (also in Gazzetta): “Valentino triple challenges me? I find it something very enjoyable. So I reply I’m ready for it.”

Can you come up with a better design for the Suomy helmet Capirossi will run at the USGP? CJ photo

I know the chances of this actually happening are slim to none, but man, if anyone could actually organize such a contest, they could stand to make some serious coin. Hey, aren't F1 and MotoGP now owned by the same people?

Incidentally, while the pace car was racing around Daytona International Speedway last weekend, Alonso was driving to victory at the opening F1 round in Bahrain. Also worthy of note is Michael Schumacher’s runner-up finish in the Ferrari. Why should motorcycle folks care about that? Well, because reports this week have Schumi so inspired by the result that he’s considering staying with Ferrari next season (many had expected him to retire). With Ferrari also expected to sign Kimi Raikkonen for ’07, that wouldn’t leave any room for a certain Italian MotoGP star. If things pan out this way, perhaps Rossi will instead race another red Italian machine next year.... (Look at that, the '06 season hasn't even started yet, and I'm already spreading rumors about '07.)

See this photo? It’s of the Suomy helmet that MotoGP racer Loris Capirossi normally was wearing at the recent IRTA test at Circuit de Catalunya. But it’s not the helmet design that “Capirex” will be sporting at this July’s Red Bull USGP. Instead, he’ll be wearing a Suomy helmet designed by one talented Road Racer X reader, who will get an all-expenses-paid trip to the race, will meet Loris, and will go home with the (autographed) helmet.

Think you’ve got what it takes? Click here. Road Racer X reader Greg Sampson recently contacted me to let me know about Will Gruy (last year’s USGPRU runner-up), who will apparently be contesting the FIM Superstock 600cc class this year on a Yamaha R6 for an Italian team. Congratulations, Will, and good luck on racing in Europe.

Speaking of racing in Europe, this video clip has to be just about the coolest opening to a movie that I’ve ever seen.

Okay, that’s it from me, except to say enjoy your St. Patrick’s Day without getting into any trouble. And speaking of trouble, here’s Miriam Deitcher with the dirt track lowdown:

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First place trophy, yes. Honda money, no. Dave Hoenig photo

It usually takes me a few days to recover from Bike Week, but this year the recovery period is taking much longer. The nasty cold I’ve been nursing for the past couple of weeks can’t help. Staying at the Ale House until “last call” four nights in a row wasn’t the smartest thing I could do. And yeah, I probably should’ve gone to bed—instead of heading to the Ocean Deck—after the Daytona 200. For me, Daytona is a lot like Vegas—there’s so much happening that basic human needs like sleeping and eating become afterthoughts.

Although I did lots of cool things during Bike Week, it’s easy for me to pick my favorite Daytona 2006 moment: watching 22-year-old Bryan Smith win his first National at Municipal Stadium on Wednesday night. I know I’m not supposed to have a favorite racer, but if I were to have one, Smith would be at the top of the list. He is the real deal both on and off the track, and I have a feeling we’ll be seeing #42 on top of the podium many more times this year.

There’s been lots of talk about new contingency money in the AMA Flat Track series this year—money that, in theory, will offset decreased purses riders may see at select tracks. So how much Honda money did Smith taking home after winning Daytona? None, because Smith’s bike didn’t use a stock frame—a Honda contingency requirement. Although Smith sure could’ve used the cash, he’ll take the win over the money any day. Reminds me of a MasterCard commercial. Finishing second on a stock Honda frame: $1,000. Winning your first National on a framer: priceless.

The day after crashing hard, Atherton needed major help from his friends. Miriam Deitcher photo

Smith’s favorite Daytona moment? “Standing on top of the podium with the Progressive girls,” said Flyin’ Bryan—who holds a one-point lead (over Jake Johnson and Sam Halbert ) in the AMA Flat Track Singles series coming out of Daytona. With two of five rounds in the books, Smith has a legitimate shot at the Singles championship.

Hanging out in Daytona this year just wasn’t the same without my friend Kevin Atherton—who is just as entertaining to watch at after-race parties as he is on the track. Unfortunately, Atherton’s stay in Florida was cut short when he high-sided and then did a face-plant into the Municipal Stadium turn-four dirt during his heat race Wednesday night. The crash was brutal, knocking poor Cupcake unconscious for a good four minutes. After an overnight hospital stay, Atherton checked himself out—against the doctor’s recommendation. Let’s hope Atherton, whom I last saw walking (barely) around the pits on Thursday, with friends on either side literally holding him up, is making a speedy recovery—and that he’s his usual self by Memorial Day. After all, the Springfield Mile without Atherton is like a cupcake without frosting.

Although other AMA Pro Racing disciplines have been full of controversy lately, AMA Flat Track has been relatively drama-free. Perhaps that’s why a few folks are trying to stir the pot by asking “Why was Travis Pastrana allowed to race?” After all, his first time on a flat track bike was the day before the race. Plus, other big-name racers have been denied the opportunity to race in the series—like Kurtis Roberts at the Springfield Mile a few years back.

I posed the question to AMA Flat Track Manager Bruce Bober, who indicated that AMA Pro Racing is much more liberal with granting provisionals for singles races vs. twins races—for obvious safety reasons. “If Kurtis Roberts wanted to participate in a singles event, yes I would’ve let him,” Bober said. “We review each person individually. I know [Pastrana’s] an experienced motocrosser, and he’s done well at Supermoto, so I gave him a provisional for the Daytona short track.”

Think Smith liked the Progressive girls? Jim Grant photo

So was Pastrana’s attempt at the sport good for the series? “There was a lot of hype about it. Everybody knew that he was coming here to race, and that makes the show that much better,” said Bober, who was surprised that Pastrana didn’t make the night show. “I really thought he would’ve made the 60-rider field,” Bober said. “I was shocked he didn’t make it.”

This is my seventh year running with the AMA Flat Track circuit and I’ve never seen as much energy in the pits as when Pastrana came out to the track. Yeah, it’s way cool when the Hayden boys show up, but as famous as they are, they’re kind of like family to the flat track community. You know, “cousins” Nicky, Tommy and Rog—who went off to the city and done good and occasionally come back to hang out. When Pastrana was at the track, the buzz was different and it was awesome. Not only do I hope we see Pastrana at Springfield and/or Peoria this year, I hope he brings some of his racing buddies with him.

I checked both the MotoGP and AMA Superbike schedules, and it looks like all three Haydens are theoretically available to come out to the Springfield TT on May 27. Think of how amazing it would be for the Kentucky clan to sweep the podium—again. They better practice up though, because I’ll be willing to bet “cousins” JR, Henry and Jake would give them a run for their money this time around....

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!