Page 31 of Revved up & Ready

“Fuck, yeah, we should!” she answers with genuine excitement.

Allie holds my hand as we each choose cookies and head over to the screens for an update. Luke points him out for us. “He’s been dicing it up with Ludlow, the guy on the white bike right there, number two, for the last three laps.”

“Still?” Allie sighs. “That guy’s got to get out of the way already.”

Luke chuckles. “Cam just has to be patient. He’ll find his window.”

I don’t know anything about Cam as a racer, but in general, I doubt anyone would describe the guy as patient.What happens if he’s impatient?My heart pounds again.

Luke explains that Cam is in third now—not fourth like he was when Allie left—because one of the front runners’ bikes had a mechanical failure, so he’s out. Before I can properly lose it about that, he says the guy rode his bike off the track.No crash.

I nibble nervously on the edge of my cookie as I scan the screens and land on a map showing the racers’ numbers traveling around the track.I like this one.Can’t actually see any motorcycles, but I can tell what’s going on. I find207and watch it gain on2during the straightaways but lose ground in the turns. Sometimes the numbers get so close that one covers the other, but I try not to think about what that means Cam is actually doing.

“He’s about to come through,” Allie tells me, squeezing my hand and pointing to the section of track next to the pit. “You want to watch?”

Deep breath in.“Sure.”Deep breath out.

We line up against the low wall, making sure not to block the pit board that gives him information about his position, how close the person behind him is, and what lap number they’re on. The crowd of bikes is much thinner than it was at the start, with the racers mostly in groups of three to five as they pass by the pits.That’s a little less stressful.

Number two comes out of the turn first, but Cam is on him in an instant, passing him just like he did on the other straightaways. My fingers tighten on the low concrete wall as he flies by us. Adrenaline pumps through me, only now it’s from excitementandfear.He could totally take this guy.By the time I’ve finished the thought, their bikes are disappearing around turn one, and I can’t see well enough from where we’re standing if he managed to keep the lead.

Pulling Allie with me, I rush back to the screens.

“There it is. Rightthere,” Luke says.

Even though I’m watching the same screens as he is, I don’t see what he’s talking about. Cam’s fallen behind bike number two, Ludlow, again. When Cam leans into the turn, it looks like his bike kind of skips, the tires jumping on the track instead of riding smoothly.Is he crashing? No, no, no. He can’t. This can’t—My chest tightens, and I squeeze Allie’s hand.

“It’s okay,” she whispers. “Just a little chatter.”

“What the fuck is chatter?” I ask.

I must have yelled my question because Rick answers me from across the tent in a reassuring dad voice. “It’s what those little bounces are called. Cam knows his edge. It’s nothing to worry about.”

What would happen if he didn’t know his edge? How is that nothing?Looking back to the screen, I see Cam level out and stay on his bike. And Luke was right because he pulls ahead of Ludlow as he comes out of turn three and maintains it intoturns four and five, putting serious distance—in reality less than a second—between him and Ludlow when he pulls into the next straightaway.

Without Ludlow to contend with, Cam gains on the bike out front. I find myself deeply invested, wondering what he’ll have to do to get to first.If he’s going to risk his life, he might as well win.Now I wish I’d learned more about racing, oranythingabout racing before today.

Allie and I rush back to the wall to see Cam race past the pits again, and I have to stop myself from waving.I don’t want to distract him.

“How does he get first?” I ask Luke when we return to the screens.

“Probably won’t on this one,” he answers.

My mouth drops open in shock. “I can’t believe you just said that.”

“Second place after starting sixth is great,” he chuckles. “They’re on the last lap. He’s not close enough to get first in the next thirteen turns, but he’ll keep pushing.”

Last lap? Already?It feels like the race just started.

“He’ll get twenty points. Solid start to the season,” Allie says, then explains the points system while we wait, watching the finish line. The top fifteen finishers of each race get points, ranging from one point for fifteenth place to twenty-five points for first. All of their points for the season get added together, and that’s how they determine the championship.

It happens exactly like Luke said it would. The first-place racer crosses, and even though it’s only a second or so later, when Cam crosses, it’s obvious it would have taken more than a lap for him to make up that distance.

When Shane crosses seventh, Allie says, “I like to root for her too. She’s the only woman who races superbikes. There are a handful in 600s, but she’s the only one at this level.”

The only woman in superbikes.Cam’s thirty, and this is his first year at this level. But she pulled it off at twenty-two?She’s impressive.

Allie leans over, “This is the cutest part.”

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