01/07/2004: Okay, it's true, I've been woefully negligent in keeping this news section updated. To sum it all up, the rest of the year was pretty, well, shitty, for the most part. We crashed at Hallet on a drying track and finished 6th in class, 10th overall. Many thanks to Ty Stranger-Thorsen for some inspired and entertaining riding while making up the ground we'd lost in the crash - that was fun to watch! Results.

Then there was Barber, and the twin evils of crash and mechanical. Scott got taken out in the first hour by a novice enthusiastically diving for pit out with no warning. Not to be outdone, after fixing the crash damage Ty took the bike out for a short ride and came back in a little while later in the back of the crash truck, sans one intake valve tip. Apparently nobody makes a 4mm valve stem that can last a whole season of endurance. Lesson learned. Results.

And to wrap it all up, between Barber and the GNF I decide to go break my leg in a bizarre trials riding accident. NOTE: always wear the proper riding boots for the occassion. Observe the horror of the fractures and the fix (for you medically-inclined peeps, that ORIF). So we borrowed the mighty Jeff Walker back from AOD for our final hurrah for 2003. Jeff and Scott raced to a respectable 3rd in class, 7th overall finish and a more upbeat way to end the season while I crutched around the pits and my ankle swelled up. Results.

08/15/2003: Two red flags shortened the 6-hour at Summit Point to about 4 1/2 hours. The first red flag, for a bike on the track in turn 5, was extended when the second ambulance had to be rolled for a spectator who passed out in the pits. Red flag number 2 flew when rain started to fall and Team Info Tech's Bradley Champion succumbed to a slippery highside in turn 10. But while other people were having a bad day, your friendly Neighbor-hood teammates were having some inspired rides. Scott bettered his best lap time at Summit, and I (Melissa, that is) dropped a full second off my best lap time. We are really liking the R6! The end of the race saw us in 3rd place in class, 6th overall for our best overall finish of the year. Results.

07/24/2003: Our 8 hour at Grattan (really a 7 1/2 hour due to scheduling constraints) went off without a hitch - mostly. 21 bikes out of the 28 bike field were 600s, and the competition was fierce. We were doing really well, staying in the top 10, until a bad rear wheel change caused by a stubborn axle relegated us back to 14th overall. We rallied back to 13th overall and 7th in class, and finished there. Special thanks to Bruce Stanford for helping us out with the rider roster in a pinch. Bruce, you assimilated quite nicely! Results.

06/25/2003: When the news isn't great, I'm not that eager to post it here. Three races have gone by since the last update. Nashville Super Speedway, on May 9th, could be classified as an utter disaster. Scott couldn't make it as he was in New York crashing cars and running flying winches for the filming of the new Spiderman movie so he left the racing to me, Jeff (on loan from AOD), and Roman. So, who didn't wonder, after seeing all the Yamaha hype about that new completely cast frame, how it would hold up after a crash? Jeff, always the highly-motivated self-starter, took it upon himself to satisfy everyone's curiousity in practice. Answer: amazingly well. After a few cartwheels and pirouettes, our A bike frame was still ready for more, as was Jeff. The forks, however, are a little bit flexy. But we were able to get it back together for race day warm-up, although we decided to race the B bike instead.

Jeff started the race for us, I went second, and then I handed the bike off to Roman. I'm not sure what position we were in then but I thought we were doing okay, until the red flag flew and our bike didn't come back in. Roman and another rider had come together in turn 1, and the other bike had run over Roman, fracturing his pelvis in three places. Roman was taken by ambulance to a local hospital but the other rider had sustained serious head injuries and was choppered out of the track. Race over.  We were credited with 6th in class, 12th overall. Results.

Next up was VIR on May 23rd. It rained. 21 of 35 teams crashed. We were one of them - Scott went down at the bottom of the hill before the front straight, where a lot of teams were going down. The pinnacle of the race for NOTB, however, was when I came flying into the pits at the end of my stint for a front and rear wheel change to an intermediate front and street rear tire, as the rain had mostly stopped and the track was drying out. During a pit stop, a team is allowed 7 people on hot pit lane, including the riders, to work the pit stop. For a front and rear wheel change, plus re-fueling, you need: one person to hold the fire extinguisher, one person to re-fuel, two people to do the front wheel, and two to do the rear. Including the dismounting rider, that's seven. Usually, we don't change the front during a race and there is somebody to catch the bike. Imagine my surprise as I slowed nearing our pit and, intent upon opening the gas cap and making sure the bike was off and in neutral for the rear wheel change, I started to fall over when I stopped because there was no one to catch the bike. Luckily the bike landed on the spare tire Tim had placed to catch the front wheel coming off the bike. I hit the ground rolling and popped up immediately to replace Scott on the rear wheel change so he could get ready to go. And we've only been doing this for how many years? Of course now I regret to inform you that since you have been made privy to my embarassing little secret by reading about it on my website, the black helicopters are already on their way to the physical location of your IP address. Please finish your will and any last business now. Results.

Then there was Talladega on June 21st. Scott was once again hanging out with his new pal Sam Raimi (who also directed the movie Army of Darkness, by the way) on the set of Spiderman II in LA and couldn't take time away from the glitz, glamour, and Stage 3 Tit Kits of Hollywood to come ride, Roman was still convalescing (almost off the crutches - that boy heals fast!), and Jeff was needed by AOD so it looked like I was going to be the sole NOTB rider. This left me despondant and uncharacteristically utterly unmotivated to ride at all. I was ready to skip Talladega altogether but decided to at least go to help AOD. Thankfully, Sam was able to talk some sense into me when we got there, and even figured out a rider schedule for me that included both him and Jeff, who was doing double-duty riding for AOD as well. We finished 2nd in class, 7th overall, and I even had fun during my stint despite the fact that 70 minutes at Talladega is brutal on the puny girl arms. Results.

05/02/2003: Who doesn't love a podium spot? Carolina started off with a chilly, wet practice that demanded lots of shivering, hot coffee, and changing of socks, but race day dawned sunny and warm. The four hour race was run entirely without red flags and we finished 2nd in class, 7th overall! Now that's more like it. Results.

04/03/2003: It always takes a few days to settle back down after being away at a race. We returned from the opening round of the season at Jennings a few days ago, where we finished 5th in class, 11th overall. Results. Most notably, and in stark contrast to our experience at Jennings last year, our motor completed the entire race without any problems. We would have preferred no red flags as well, but you can't have everything! We now look forward to the 4-hour at Carolina and some even better luck.

03/17/2003: They live! The first ride on the new bikes goes off without a hitch. See the press release on RoadracingWorld.com here.

03/03/2003: From the ever-evolving primordial ooze that is Neighbor of the Beast comes some new developments for 2003. Most notably, we have forsaken the GSXR in favor of what we hope to be a more formidable endurance middleweight, the lovely and talented 2003 Yamaha YZF-R6, AND, to fill the immense void left when Army of Darkness stole our Jeff Walker, we welcome into the fold one Roman "Vanilla" Kilgore. You may recognize Roman as the cover boy for Corsa Leathers. Now he will find new fame as "that guy with the baggy pants on that team with the girl and that other guy with the subscription to 'Bon Appetit'". Roman, your 15 minutes start now...Also new for this year, NOTB finds support from Yamaha and Graves Motorsports, among others, in what we hope will be our most successful year ever. Bring it on!

News from the 2002 endurance season is now here.
News from the 2001 endurance season is here.

Neighbor of the Beast in Roadracing World Magazine

Letters from the Belly of the Beast columns:

October 2002
May 2002
December 2001
April 2001
December 2000
November 2000
September 2000
August 2000

Riding three AMA Supersport bikes at the Dunlop D208 Press Intro: These Guys Are Nuts (Sep 2002)

Melissa covers the Suzuki Formula Hayabusa Racecar Intro (June 2002)

Neighbor of the Beast teams up once again with Army of Darkness for the 2002 Open Class Racetrack Shootout

Curing Shiftless GSX-R Racebikes (April 2002)

Melissa tests the 2001 Ducati 996R at Valencia, Spain for Roadracing World

Ducati's Automatic Shift System (May 2001)

Neighbor of the Beast teams up with Army of Darkness at the 2001 Daytona 600