They said there'd be days like these
Its been a rough few days. I'd thought about sitting this weekend out for financial reasons.Back to school expenses, etc. But given it was a one day event, thought what the heck.
Had my PSSR day on Friday and feelt pretty comfortable at a good (for me) pace.The turn one demons were gone. So I thought I'd work on my entries in 3 and 4.Our points leader was guest instructing, so I asked for help in 3 and 4 later in the afternoon. I'd never get to take advantage of that opportunity.Half way through the 2nd session of the day, I tucked the front in T3, tried once to save it, but didn't have the experience to know what to do with it once it caught again, so I lost it again and let go. I slid off behind it and watched it flip in the dirt, and lost sight of it in the resulting dirt cloud, then found it about 30 ft. away still running.The bike fared ok. Had to replace a clip-on and do some bodywork, and required some welding work from Dave at R&D to repair my broken fairing stay.Kudos to Dave, he did a great job. The repair held up under even more abuse. More on that in a minute.
After the welding, I'd thought about going back to the track to re-assemble the bike to save some stress in the morning, but not knowing whether I'd be able to convince the gate that I'm not camping and already stretching my budget, and remembering at the last minute that my new tires and tools were locked in the R&D trailer sent me home to concentrate on my fiberglassing. At least I was lazy enough to decide not to bring my bodywork repair materials to the track. I got the necessary repairwork done and went to bed to replay my crash over and over.
Saturday came and I found myself struggling to get the tires changed and the bike reassembled before the warmups. I had to have help taking it to tech while I ran my gear over to get it inspected during the rider's meeting. Thanks again Steve and Dave for helping I wouldn't be able to even run some of these weekends if it weren't for you guys. You too Sven, if you're reading this in your Comfy hotel in NYC !
I felt like a fish out of water on my warmup sessions. My rear warmer was on the blink again, and didn't get enough heat into the new rear.I was wobbly and slow and wondering if I'd get black flagged and sent into the slow warmup group, forgetting that the day was so compressed, the warmups were by class vs. by laptime. Everyone was passing me even though it was a warmup. Again, I was wondering why I was there.That all changed when the qualifiers came. I'd had time to fix my rear warmer, got the tires scrubbed in during warm-ups and felt good on the sighting lap.I found that I was gridded 2 from the outside wall, which meant if I got a good start, I'd be in the middle of the swarm tipping in to T1.I hate the outside, too many guys get crowded off the track in the 1st lap melee. When the green dropped however, the demons were gone. It was down to the business of racing. I was hungry to trophy and had my sights set.
I got an ok start and shuffled my way over to the inside. I know I passed a few bikes on the start, and got passed a few times as well. I did manage to get a few passes in in the 4 laps but found myself down 2 positions for the main - on the inside! I love starting from the inside. It would pay off dividends in the later races, as I ended up starting from the inside for the rest of my races.
The supersport quallie went about the same. I started from the inside and got around what felt like quite a few bikes and found a hole to tip into 1 somewhere midpack.I got passed by few guys and a guy on a new Kawi who I watched decided to try to stick with him. He danced around trying to get a line around a slower guy in two.He finally got a chance in 3 and I followed, but didn't make it before 4. I gave up the position and concentrated on a good pass to try to re-catch the Kawi.He was gone. I settled into running my pace and getting a few more passes in. Same grid position as before. Cool!
Superbike main came up and I got a great start. I motored around quite a few bikes and slipped into a hole on the inside line going into T1.No problem. I kept her tight and fell into a line of bikes through the infield. I was especially careful entering T3, but didn't let the mishap the previous day slow me down. Its my weak corner, but I managed to hold my own through it and never got into a defensive drag race to T4.I got a great pass inside on T7. I love late braking that corner and throwing the bike around.I showed the guy a wheel on the brakes on the inside line and when he turned to look at me, I knew I had him.Still not knowing if he'd drive hard to hold his position I took the turn as tight as I could and ended up apexing on the curbing and motored through 8 and 9 and never saw him again. I picked the next guy to work on. A familiar red RR, Andre! Hey, I knew that guy. He had a great drive out of 9 and a strong motor, so I just worked on reeling him in on the brakes. It worked. I got in his draft matching his drive out of 9 and got by him mid-straight. 17th place! Up from 28th starting position. Not bad. I had the line going into T1, so I broke and shifted in my comfort zone and tipped in to start driving on the next guy, when a blue bike came up underneath me at the apex. I recognized the rider. He is an animal in the turns. He did the same move on me in Novice and I was stoked to see his move. When he ran wide and slowed down, things changed quickly. If I would have just concentrated on looking at 1A and held my line I would have been fine. However, when he drifted wide and slowed, I thought for sure we were going to contact and I looked for a way around him and the line was right off the track, which is where I went. I got the bike stood up and successfully slowed before the tirewall. I turned back toward the track and looked to see - no one. The pack was gone.I motored back onto the track, put my head down and rode hard. I managed to catch 2 guys before the checker. Meanwhile the leaders came by to show me just how far back I'd dropped. I've been lapped before by the first 3 riders, but this time I got to see who was running 4th and 5th, etc. One of the bikes I caught was a senior bike as well.I wasn't last. Looking at my laptimes later, I found that off track excursion only cost me 20 seconds. It felt like an eternity.
The Supersport main wasn't so good. I gridded inside again, but found that Andre, gridded ahead of me, also wanted the inside line. So I ended up following him into 1.Remembering where I got him before, I concentrated on sticking to him until the drive out of T9. He got a great drive but didn't drift to the wall on the exit.I drove out and pinned it and let it drift to the wall and came up on Andre's draft. I crossed his draft, passed and kept my head down.Not knowing if he'd try to outbrake me, to retake his postion I took the inside line, and broke way later than I was used to. It was the longest 150mph stoppie of my life.The bike wagged side to side, and all I could concentrate on was keeping the back tire behind me and getting it on the ground before turn in.I was successful, but didn't downshift during all that craziness. I rolled on to aim for 1A and nothing, no drive and running wide very fast.I made the same mistake as before, I shifted my eyes off of my target and looked where the bike was going, right of the track, almost the same place as before.Same drill, stood her up, modulated the back brake, but it wasn't slowing. (6th gear vs 3rd) no engine braking to help, and the wall was coming up fast.I decided that I was going to have to ditch 'er. I'd never bailed on a bike going that fast in my life. I decided to try and get it into a slide and somehow miracuously save it in the gravel. Wasn't going to happen, I got it sideways, but took my foot off the back brake and she bucked me like an angry bull.Great, my first high-side. I landed on my elbow and hip, and don't know what my right hand did, but it hurt immediately.I bounced up, shut off the bike, and ripped my glove off, expecting to see my fingers pointing the wrong way.They weren't and I could wiggle them, so I went to the wall just miffed at myself. The corner workers were there from all directions.One of them even had to run over from T1. You guys are awesome, thanks again!We looked the bike over, found it was in ok shape, and not leaking. I started it, and watched it for a while.Satisfied it wasn't going to leak, I got the thumbs up to ride it back to the pits on the cool down lap.I re-entered at T2, and cruised back with my foot out off the race line just in case.Giving Tony in T7 a shrug and a shake of my head. Now my index finger looks like a purple bratworst and I can't bend it.Its taped to my middle finger and Its on ice. Great, my first broken bone. All things considered, it could have been much worse.
The bike isn't bad. Another clip on, some body work, and oh, the subframe is twisted. It felt like it rode straight, so maybe I got lucky on the frame and forks.We'll see. So, after a dramatic weekend, nothing was gained but nothing was lost. I'm still in 5th place for SuperSport Senior and 4th in SuperBike senior.I did get to see David Gill, a guy who graduated Novice with me, throw down some 16's and clinch the third place trophy. Congratulations Dave!
I'm impressed by these Joe Rocket leathers. They've held up well to the abuse I put them through over the weekend.Thanks again Dave from R&D Machine for the pit space and your and Steve's help.Likewise, thanks again Matt G., for relating what I'm going through and for your encouragement.
Had my PSSR day on Friday and feelt pretty comfortable at a good (for me) pace.The turn one demons were gone. So I thought I'd work on my entries in 3 and 4.Our points leader was guest instructing, so I asked for help in 3 and 4 later in the afternoon. I'd never get to take advantage of that opportunity.Half way through the 2nd session of the day, I tucked the front in T3, tried once to save it, but didn't have the experience to know what to do with it once it caught again, so I lost it again and let go. I slid off behind it and watched it flip in the dirt, and lost sight of it in the resulting dirt cloud, then found it about 30 ft. away still running.The bike fared ok. Had to replace a clip-on and do some bodywork, and required some welding work from Dave at R&D to repair my broken fairing stay.Kudos to Dave, he did a great job. The repair held up under even more abuse. More on that in a minute.
After the welding, I'd thought about going back to the track to re-assemble the bike to save some stress in the morning, but not knowing whether I'd be able to convince the gate that I'm not camping and already stretching my budget, and remembering at the last minute that my new tires and tools were locked in the R&D trailer sent me home to concentrate on my fiberglassing. At least I was lazy enough to decide not to bring my bodywork repair materials to the track. I got the necessary repairwork done and went to bed to replay my crash over and over.
Saturday came and I found myself struggling to get the tires changed and the bike reassembled before the warmups. I had to have help taking it to tech while I ran my gear over to get it inspected during the rider's meeting. Thanks again Steve and Dave for helping I wouldn't be able to even run some of these weekends if it weren't for you guys. You too Sven, if you're reading this in your Comfy hotel in NYC !
I felt like a fish out of water on my warmup sessions. My rear warmer was on the blink again, and didn't get enough heat into the new rear.I was wobbly and slow and wondering if I'd get black flagged and sent into the slow warmup group, forgetting that the day was so compressed, the warmups were by class vs. by laptime. Everyone was passing me even though it was a warmup. Again, I was wondering why I was there.That all changed when the qualifiers came. I'd had time to fix my rear warmer, got the tires scrubbed in during warm-ups and felt good on the sighting lap.I found that I was gridded 2 from the outside wall, which meant if I got a good start, I'd be in the middle of the swarm tipping in to T1.I hate the outside, too many guys get crowded off the track in the 1st lap melee. When the green dropped however, the demons were gone. It was down to the business of racing. I was hungry to trophy and had my sights set.
I got an ok start and shuffled my way over to the inside. I know I passed a few bikes on the start, and got passed a few times as well. I did manage to get a few passes in in the 4 laps but found myself down 2 positions for the main - on the inside! I love starting from the inside. It would pay off dividends in the later races, as I ended up starting from the inside for the rest of my races.
The supersport quallie went about the same. I started from the inside and got around what felt like quite a few bikes and found a hole to tip into 1 somewhere midpack.I got passed by few guys and a guy on a new Kawi who I watched decided to try to stick with him. He danced around trying to get a line around a slower guy in two.He finally got a chance in 3 and I followed, but didn't make it before 4. I gave up the position and concentrated on a good pass to try to re-catch the Kawi.He was gone. I settled into running my pace and getting a few more passes in. Same grid position as before. Cool!
Superbike main came up and I got a great start. I motored around quite a few bikes and slipped into a hole on the inside line going into T1.No problem. I kept her tight and fell into a line of bikes through the infield. I was especially careful entering T3, but didn't let the mishap the previous day slow me down. Its my weak corner, but I managed to hold my own through it and never got into a defensive drag race to T4.I got a great pass inside on T7. I love late braking that corner and throwing the bike around.I showed the guy a wheel on the brakes on the inside line and when he turned to look at me, I knew I had him.Still not knowing if he'd drive hard to hold his position I took the turn as tight as I could and ended up apexing on the curbing and motored through 8 and 9 and never saw him again. I picked the next guy to work on. A familiar red RR, Andre! Hey, I knew that guy. He had a great drive out of 9 and a strong motor, so I just worked on reeling him in on the brakes. It worked. I got in his draft matching his drive out of 9 and got by him mid-straight. 17th place! Up from 28th starting position. Not bad. I had the line going into T1, so I broke and shifted in my comfort zone and tipped in to start driving on the next guy, when a blue bike came up underneath me at the apex. I recognized the rider. He is an animal in the turns. He did the same move on me in Novice and I was stoked to see his move. When he ran wide and slowed down, things changed quickly. If I would have just concentrated on looking at 1A and held my line I would have been fine. However, when he drifted wide and slowed, I thought for sure we were going to contact and I looked for a way around him and the line was right off the track, which is where I went. I got the bike stood up and successfully slowed before the tirewall. I turned back toward the track and looked to see - no one. The pack was gone.I motored back onto the track, put my head down and rode hard. I managed to catch 2 guys before the checker. Meanwhile the leaders came by to show me just how far back I'd dropped. I've been lapped before by the first 3 riders, but this time I got to see who was running 4th and 5th, etc. One of the bikes I caught was a senior bike as well.I wasn't last. Looking at my laptimes later, I found that off track excursion only cost me 20 seconds. It felt like an eternity.
The Supersport main wasn't so good. I gridded inside again, but found that Andre, gridded ahead of me, also wanted the inside line. So I ended up following him into 1.Remembering where I got him before, I concentrated on sticking to him until the drive out of T9. He got a great drive but didn't drift to the wall on the exit.I drove out and pinned it and let it drift to the wall and came up on Andre's draft. I crossed his draft, passed and kept my head down.Not knowing if he'd try to outbrake me, to retake his postion I took the inside line, and broke way later than I was used to. It was the longest 150mph stoppie of my life.The bike wagged side to side, and all I could concentrate on was keeping the back tire behind me and getting it on the ground before turn in.I was successful, but didn't downshift during all that craziness. I rolled on to aim for 1A and nothing, no drive and running wide very fast.I made the same mistake as before, I shifted my eyes off of my target and looked where the bike was going, right of the track, almost the same place as before.Same drill, stood her up, modulated the back brake, but it wasn't slowing. (6th gear vs 3rd) no engine braking to help, and the wall was coming up fast.I decided that I was going to have to ditch 'er. I'd never bailed on a bike going that fast in my life. I decided to try and get it into a slide and somehow miracuously save it in the gravel. Wasn't going to happen, I got it sideways, but took my foot off the back brake and she bucked me like an angry bull.Great, my first high-side. I landed on my elbow and hip, and don't know what my right hand did, but it hurt immediately.I bounced up, shut off the bike, and ripped my glove off, expecting to see my fingers pointing the wrong way.They weren't and I could wiggle them, so I went to the wall just miffed at myself. The corner workers were there from all directions.One of them even had to run over from T1. You guys are awesome, thanks again!We looked the bike over, found it was in ok shape, and not leaking. I started it, and watched it for a while.Satisfied it wasn't going to leak, I got the thumbs up to ride it back to the pits on the cool down lap.I re-entered at T2, and cruised back with my foot out off the race line just in case.Giving Tony in T7 a shrug and a shake of my head. Now my index finger looks like a purple bratworst and I can't bend it.Its taped to my middle finger and Its on ice. Great, my first broken bone. All things considered, it could have been much worse.
The bike isn't bad. Another clip on, some body work, and oh, the subframe is twisted. It felt like it rode straight, so maybe I got lucky on the frame and forks.We'll see. So, after a dramatic weekend, nothing was gained but nothing was lost. I'm still in 5th place for SuperSport Senior and 4th in SuperBike senior.I did get to see David Gill, a guy who graduated Novice with me, throw down some 16's and clinch the third place trophy. Congratulations Dave!
I'm impressed by these Joe Rocket leathers. They've held up well to the abuse I put them through over the weekend.Thanks again Dave from R&D Machine for the pit space and your and Steve's help.Likewise, thanks again Matt G., for relating what I'm going through and for your encouragement.
