The 2004 season has begun! Stumpy kicked off the year at Heartland Park in Topeka, Kansas March 28. He finished on the podium in third place in the Heavyweight Superbike class in addition to several top ten finishes. He lead laps of every ten lap race he entered but one on the 2.6 mile road course.
This was Stumpy's first race as an expert. With hopes of ending in the top ten, the podium finish was a great accomplishment. "All day Saturday, I went out in the rain and practiced on this track that I'd never been to and thought I got it down pretty good," said Stumpy. "I didn't know until I was out there actually racing the other fast guys on Sunday if I was actually going fast." In Heavyweight Superbike, he finished behind road-racing veteran Larry Denning of Kansas and fast up-and-comer Brian Hall of Chicago, Illinois.
After the jubilation of the podium finish, Stumpy met some bad luck while leading the Middleweight Supersport race and crashed when he lost the front of the bike on some damp pavement. "I was going in this downhill carousel-type turn pretty hot and my front tire just slid right out from under me. I was down before I could do anything about it." Unhurt, he picked his bike up out of the thick mud and came in for a pit stop to check it over and was able to go back out. He finished the race in 18th. "I was disappointed that I fell as I felt I would have finished in front, but I was relieved the bike wasn't out of commission so I could race in the last race of the day," said Stumpy. After this weekend, he is ranked 6th overall in the CCS Great Plains region.
Race results: Middleweight Superbike - 9th place/21, Heavyweight Superbike - 3rd place/17, Middleweight Grand Prix - 6th place/15, Unlimited Grand Prix - 11th/20, Acropovic GTU 30 Minute Endurance - 7th place/20, Middleweight Supersport - 18th/19 (crash), Heavyweight Supersport - 9th place/14
