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WaBMXnews
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Contact Mike Raich at mm.raich@... to post your track information on WaBMXnews...
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Bakerview BMX -- Mount Vernon, WA -- http://www.bakerviewbmx.net
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McCollum Park BMX -- Everett, WA -- http://mccollumparkbmx.wordpress.com/
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Moses Lake BMX -- Moses Lake, WA -- http://www.moseslakebmx.org
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North SeaTac BMX -- Seattle, WA -- www.seatacbmx.org.
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Port Angeles BMX -- Port Angeles, WA -- www.pabmx.com
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River Valley BMX -- Sumner, WA -- www.rivervalleybmxracing.com
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Vacation Time, August '08.....................
Marlene and I went on a little vacation this month, August '08....
After a day or two, on our first contact home we learned Lynn Markham had passed away...
Lynn Markham....
A friend, a confidante, a member of our bmx race crew for years, and an all around nice guy... Over the years, Lynn worked many crew positions at the races, stager (which he hated as much or more than anyone out there, but never complained if it needed to be done), infield official, starter, finish line, chief scorer (he often had some races scored completely after the first or second moto had been run), and anything else that needed to be done at the races... He showed proficiency as a tractor operator, in helping build indoor tracks, was able to assist in whatever was needed the tracks....
One night at the indoor when our old trailer-starting gate was giving us a particularly difficult time; Lynn came into the sign up area and said something to the effect, "damn it Mike, we have to do something about that gate, it's time we built a new one".... "Can I have Alan announce we are starting a drive to raise funds for a new indoor gate?".... I said fine, he went out and explained to Alan Mazuti, our announcer that night, what his plan was and it was time to step up, and Alan started the announcing for the new gate fund raising.... Thus Lynn was instrumental in starting the effort to develop the big steel trailer-gate used for the last years at Peninsula Indoor, the Canadian Grands, South Prairie BMX, and the first race it was used for, the double points race to open the Kitsap County Fair back in whenever...
Lynn was instrumental in changing the way we handled trophies at River Valley and Peninsula Indoor BMX... Lynn had taken over handing out trophies at River Valley, and along with that he worked on trophies while at the track... What few people knew was that when his racers were young, he and his kids were at River Valley nearly every night, the kids rode, practiced and played, and practiced some more, literally for hours each night.... Lynn would work in the trophy shack while the kids rode... At first, he would prepare the various trophies we had for distribution; but very quickly on, he started to repair the various damaged or broken trophies all tracks seem to accumulate, and turned them into recycled (new looking, if not new, but totally recycled) trophies... Our buyback program with Lynn running it started to make the track money, as we saved hundre
ds of dollars in trophy expenditure , Thanks to Lynn... He understood what the track needs were and the value of what he was doing to save the track money, thus making the track more profitable, all by himself...
Working with trophies took a new big step to that proverbial next level when Lynn got involved in the double points trophy work... At one of his first races handling double points trophies, he started a discussion with me about how we calculated the purchase of double point trophies, and how many sets of trophies we would purchase for any given event... He quickly came to the conclusion that we could order 1/2 of what was "needed" and would have trophies left over due to the buyback program that was already in place at the northwest tracks... Again, Lynn had saved the track money... Cutting the double points orders in half literally saved the track several thousand dollars each season... As i told him many times, Thank You Lynn...
Our hearts go out to his family, suffering with his loss... May he rest in peace...
Although we only spoke infrequently these last few years, as he visited the track to see what was up, and what had changed; the hardest reality when a friend passes on is knowing that you can no longer just pick up the phone, or e-mail them and expect to communicate with them any longer....
Good Bye Lynn... R.I.P.
...mike & Marlene Raich
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Jill Kintner, "OLYMPIAN"
While on vacation, we were able to catch Jill Kintner on T.V. at the Olympics...... Congratulations Jill.... Nice Going....
We all know Peter would have been screaming for Gold, but i think he would be most happy for you bringing home a medal... and I know he always was, and still is, very proud of you.... Good Job Jill.......
Best wishes and continued successes...
...mike & Marlene
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When we arrived home and i started going through the e-mails i found another sad note..... With Thanks to Ken Pliska for sending the following on the passing of Noel Grossman...
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