Dateline: Friday, November 17, Portland, OR.
It’s Friday night at See See Coffee, and the place is abuzz. There’s a party shaping up, which itself is no unusual occurrence at the shop. Thor is busy shuffling motorcycles around. Again, nothing new... These bikes belong to Andy DiBrino (that's me with him above). And they’re beautiful and fast.
There are three. His Yamaha R6, the Harley XG750 flat tracker (that Thor built), and the brand new Indian FTR750 Scout - his prize for winning the Super Hooligans series this year. A month earlier he was crowned OMRRA - Oregon Motorcycle Road Racing Championship - Champ for the 2017 season, edging out the runner-up by a mere seven points. He won the SuperHooligan title by just one point. The guy is charming, gracious, and fast. Not unlike Thor, who is now busy readying the projector for a slide show, and the music for the night, his smile is ernest and his energy contagious. Pizza is free, and so is the beer.
Andy is surrounded by family, friends, supporters, and fans of racing...oh, and the See See faithful who can be overheard declaring 'I just saw a party shaping up while I was driving home, so I stopped.' I’m here for all of those reasons. I’m a fan of Andy’s after camping next door to him and his dad at DirtQuake USA this summer, where, in grand fashion, Andy beat Joe Kopp in the Super Hooligans main with a spectacular pass, catapulting himself from from 3rd to 1st passing Kopp and the second place rider [Brad Spencer Jr] aboard a Ducati Scrambler.
Andy’s dad, Keith, came to the party on crutches nursing the fusion of the tibia and fibula in his right leg. With a giant grin (you immediately see where Andy gets it), he explains “Doc says 6-8 weeks...I say more like 4! I’ll be racing again at Salem this winter!”
I reminded him of our first meeting at DirtQuake, and down at the final race of the AFT series in Perris, CA...then congratulated him on his boy’s success.
“We’re outta pizza...” I overheard that and looked at Thor...”I’ll go get ‘em. You got enough to worry about here,” I said. He did, including a water balloon the size of a small hammock forming in the paint above the hallway to the toilet...
I was happy to do it. It was but a small sign of my appreciation for all of the good times I’ve shared with the See See bunch. I’ll see Andy, Keith, Thor, and a bunch more of the See See family down at Salem and around the shop.
Another successful See See party in the books.
