warmseth
Mon 3/20/06, 4:03PM
Well this weekend marks the least fun I've had on a bike in my short road racing experience so far. In a sport like this I think you're always balancing fear vs. fun and if the fear outweighs the fun, it just isn't so much fun...know what i mean vern?
It started with me being a little "off" feeling. Saturday practice my head was so out to lunch I found myself shifting standard shift again, when I've had my shifter set to gp for the last six months. I guess in regrds to the shifting, i was just so spaced that i was reverting to 20 years of motorcyling instinct. The first two practice sessions I was adjusting my lines, throttle chopping and doing just about everything wrong. the wind was picking up and i was getting this weird kind of "soft chatter" through t8 that was tripping me out. on my third practice session i finnally started to get my groove together and was feeling pretty good. on the fourth or fith lap of that practice session I was headed for t8, 6th gear wot. tipped it in was holding a steady line, then all of a sudden at about the apex of 8 the front washed and I was lowsiding my way across a great great deal of pavement. My guess is that the wind picked the front up and I was just too far back in the seat and not over the tank to keep the front down. During my long slide my right ass cheek got hot enough that I decided to place a bit more weight onto my left. I started to roll too much to my left and I stuck my left hand down to balance myself and avoid a tumble. That ripped my left pinky backward and as I type I'm still not sure if I broke it or not (doctors appt. tonight to see). All told the damage really was minimal relative to the 120-130ish mph I was doing when I dumped it. Broken brake lever, ground down peg (to about 1/2 inch), ground down clip-on and throttle tube, and a comprimised clutch cover gasket. oh, also the fairing took enough of a beating to complete cross the fairing stay ears in a big twisted X. and my windscreen was completely missing. I rode the crash truck back to the pits and started working to fix my bike for sunday's racing. Big thank you to Zoran for loaning me a clutch cover and throttle tube. And to Kelly Baker for loaning me a power drill.
I got a decent night's sleep at the motel 6 in beatiful dowtown lancaster and woke up to a pleasantly plump but not too sore hand. got out to the track. I missed first practice session still getting the bike back in order. second pracitce session I was just feeling things out. Taking it pretty damn slow. I was NOT feeling confident in corners (particularly right handers). I was getting passed by a lot of guys. Apex of turn 9 Mr. Ramirez and I got aquainted a little more closely than i would have liked when he went for a pass on the outside and sort of t-boned into the side of me (i'm sure he'd say I was acting the fool somehow but I maintain that while slow as molasses in January, I was holding consitent lines). Anyway, that collision sent us both wide out of 9 and into the dirt. He kept it upright. As I approached the ditch and was pumping the rear brake I knew I wasn't going to make it. I locked up the rear and fishtailed before going down in the soft dirt at relatively slow speed. I picked up the bike and started it right up and dirtbiked back to the pits.
Two wrecks in as many sessions does NOTHING for one's self confidence.
Race #2 (formula twins lightweight) was my first race and i had a good grid position (#5). I got a prety good start but at the turn in for T1 I chickened out and let a whole gang of people pass me. Through T2 I felt the cold wind beating against my sore extended pinky, taunting me. I never reached my potential that race, I got passed by just about everybody and ultimately I was 4-5 seconds a lap slower than I had been last month. I was glad to have survived without dropping it again.
I flaked out on bott midleweight. There was no point in getting in the way there when I'm near the slowest guy in that race even when I'm at full speed.
Race #10, 550 superbike. I felt much better. I thought I must be going faster than I had durning FT-lw. Turns out I was going a second or two slower. :(. I guess everybody else was too 'cause I finished a little better than I had during race #2. During this race I got passed by a whole bunch of people and then I was all by myself. At least that's what I thought. Had I looked behind myself I'd have seen a freight train of six riders who mercifully never passed me.
Overall, pretty miserble time for me. Just takes all the joy out of it for me when the fear outweighs the fun. But I just need to get some crash free laps between me and those incidents and I hope to get back on track. I hope they run 500 superstock with us in FTlw again next month 'cause that was fun getting passed by JC, Ryan Sturz, Clinton,and Eric Angel and putting a little chase to. If I'm in better shape next month, I might acutally hang with them for more than a corner or two.
If nothing else at least I can say I know what lowsiding at full speed feels like and I am grateful it turned out better than Chuck Baird's wrieck in T8 in Heavyweights on Sunday. I hope he's ok. His bike certainly isn't!! :(
It started with me being a little "off" feeling. Saturday practice my head was so out to lunch I found myself shifting standard shift again, when I've had my shifter set to gp for the last six months. I guess in regrds to the shifting, i was just so spaced that i was reverting to 20 years of motorcyling instinct. The first two practice sessions I was adjusting my lines, throttle chopping and doing just about everything wrong. the wind was picking up and i was getting this weird kind of "soft chatter" through t8 that was tripping me out. on my third practice session i finnally started to get my groove together and was feeling pretty good. on the fourth or fith lap of that practice session I was headed for t8, 6th gear wot. tipped it in was holding a steady line, then all of a sudden at about the apex of 8 the front washed and I was lowsiding my way across a great great deal of pavement. My guess is that the wind picked the front up and I was just too far back in the seat and not over the tank to keep the front down. During my long slide my right ass cheek got hot enough that I decided to place a bit more weight onto my left. I started to roll too much to my left and I stuck my left hand down to balance myself and avoid a tumble. That ripped my left pinky backward and as I type I'm still not sure if I broke it or not (doctors appt. tonight to see). All told the damage really was minimal relative to the 120-130ish mph I was doing when I dumped it. Broken brake lever, ground down peg (to about 1/2 inch), ground down clip-on and throttle tube, and a comprimised clutch cover gasket. oh, also the fairing took enough of a beating to complete cross the fairing stay ears in a big twisted X. and my windscreen was completely missing. I rode the crash truck back to the pits and started working to fix my bike for sunday's racing. Big thank you to Zoran for loaning me a clutch cover and throttle tube. And to Kelly Baker for loaning me a power drill.
I got a decent night's sleep at the motel 6 in beatiful dowtown lancaster and woke up to a pleasantly plump but not too sore hand. got out to the track. I missed first practice session still getting the bike back in order. second pracitce session I was just feeling things out. Taking it pretty damn slow. I was NOT feeling confident in corners (particularly right handers). I was getting passed by a lot of guys. Apex of turn 9 Mr. Ramirez and I got aquainted a little more closely than i would have liked when he went for a pass on the outside and sort of t-boned into the side of me (i'm sure he'd say I was acting the fool somehow but I maintain that while slow as molasses in January, I was holding consitent lines). Anyway, that collision sent us both wide out of 9 and into the dirt. He kept it upright. As I approached the ditch and was pumping the rear brake I knew I wasn't going to make it. I locked up the rear and fishtailed before going down in the soft dirt at relatively slow speed. I picked up the bike and started it right up and dirtbiked back to the pits.
Two wrecks in as many sessions does NOTHING for one's self confidence.
Race #2 (formula twins lightweight) was my first race and i had a good grid position (#5). I got a prety good start but at the turn in for T1 I chickened out and let a whole gang of people pass me. Through T2 I felt the cold wind beating against my sore extended pinky, taunting me. I never reached my potential that race, I got passed by just about everybody and ultimately I was 4-5 seconds a lap slower than I had been last month. I was glad to have survived without dropping it again.
I flaked out on bott midleweight. There was no point in getting in the way there when I'm near the slowest guy in that race even when I'm at full speed.
Race #10, 550 superbike. I felt much better. I thought I must be going faster than I had durning FT-lw. Turns out I was going a second or two slower. :(. I guess everybody else was too 'cause I finished a little better than I had during race #2. During this race I got passed by a whole bunch of people and then I was all by myself. At least that's what I thought. Had I looked behind myself I'd have seen a freight train of six riders who mercifully never passed me.
Overall, pretty miserble time for me. Just takes all the joy out of it for me when the fear outweighs the fun. But I just need to get some crash free laps between me and those incidents and I hope to get back on track. I hope they run 500 superstock with us in FTlw again next month 'cause that was fun getting passed by JC, Ryan Sturz, Clinton,and Eric Angel and putting a little chase to. If I'm in better shape next month, I might acutally hang with them for more than a corner or two.
If nothing else at least I can say I know what lowsiding at full speed feels like and I am grateful it turned out better than Chuck Baird's wrieck in T8 in Heavyweights on Sunday. I hope he's ok. His bike certainly isn't!! :(