codzilla70
Mon 5/22/06, 9:08AM
It should be May practice report but here goes.
Once again I’d like to thank my wife, the class sponsors and all you SV peeps.
Also a special thanks to the crash truck guys, we kept’em busy this month.
Well this month didn’t go quite as planned but I did make some progress in my times.
On Sat we got to the track at about 8am and met up with Kurt and the TWF guys. (thanks for saving us some room Kurt) There was a great showing of SV racers this weekend and the competition was looking good. My first practice I just cruised and still managed to get into the 33s which is good for my first session. I continued to just put laps in for a couple more sessions when I started to notice my front sliding a tad in a couple turns so I figured it was time for some new rubber.
After I got some new tires I got down to a 1:31.9 which is the fastest I’ve ever gone so I was real excited to get to the Solo race. When it came time for the Solo race I was feeling really, really good. All those miles on the stationary bike where looking to payoff this month. At the start I have no idea what position I was in but I was near the front of my race. I passed a couple guys in 2 and a couple more in 4. When I was coming down the hill from 4 to 5, I could see the leaders just a little bit ahead of me and I new I could catch them. Well they say to finish first you must first finish and who’d a thunk it, they’re right. When I got to the apex of 5, I got back on the gas like normal but this time the rear just came around on me and I low sided it on the left side. It was strange to be holding onto the handle bars and looking at my font number plate in the face. I remember thinking “this isn’t right”. I let go of the bike and slid on my left side for a little then rotated around on my back with my legs in the air. Now I was going backwards on my back and my legs sticking straight up. As I slid I could see other racers going by. Once I left the pavement all I remember was tumbling and here that “ummf, ummf" sound coming from my nose as the air was being knocked out of me from impacting the dirt. I can’t remember what position I came to rest in but I hear my legs once again where skyward. (What’s up with that?) It took me a couple seconds to get my breath and regain focus before I stood up but I guess it was too long cause the ambulance came over to ask me if I was OK. I felt OK but my hands where hurting my left thumb and my right pinky but I wasn’t going to tell them that. I figured if something was really hurt I’d deal with it myself. When the crash truck showed up they loaded the bike and drove around the track a bit delivering stuff and picked up another bike, this of course drove my wife crazy wondering what was happening. Sorry sweetie they had some other customers that had needs and I was done.
When I got back to the pit Zoran and the gang started helping me asses the damage. I love how optimistic he is about repairs, very inspirational. Thanks TWF! Then Kurt noticed the race was over and Tom hadn’t returned yet. Then the crash truck shows up with Tom. So now we got 2 crashed bikes to try and get back together and the pit was a bee hive of activity, Zoran bouncing back and forth between bikes giving instructions. As it turned out I would not be able to get back on track anytime soon, as when I went down the shift shaft was forced from the left side of the engine to the right breaking the engine case on the right side due to my preference to GP shift pattern. Most of the other damage I can fix myself, so now the search for a new engine begins and my hopes of a championship are dim as I will be out for a bit. Tom was able to get back on track and salvage some points though, good job dude! I don’t feel the weekend was a total loss as I did manage some fast times and learned a few things in the process and will now be forced to learn a lot more about my bike. Now I’ll just be support for the other racers till I get running again.
Congrats to Kurt Spencer on a new lap record and his wins and to all you guys that finished right side up on Sunday. I’ll see you next month ! (Albeit from the bleechers)
:D
Once again I’d like to thank my wife, the class sponsors and all you SV peeps.
Also a special thanks to the crash truck guys, we kept’em busy this month.
Well this month didn’t go quite as planned but I did make some progress in my times.
On Sat we got to the track at about 8am and met up with Kurt and the TWF guys. (thanks for saving us some room Kurt) There was a great showing of SV racers this weekend and the competition was looking good. My first practice I just cruised and still managed to get into the 33s which is good for my first session. I continued to just put laps in for a couple more sessions when I started to notice my front sliding a tad in a couple turns so I figured it was time for some new rubber.
After I got some new tires I got down to a 1:31.9 which is the fastest I’ve ever gone so I was real excited to get to the Solo race. When it came time for the Solo race I was feeling really, really good. All those miles on the stationary bike where looking to payoff this month. At the start I have no idea what position I was in but I was near the front of my race. I passed a couple guys in 2 and a couple more in 4. When I was coming down the hill from 4 to 5, I could see the leaders just a little bit ahead of me and I new I could catch them. Well they say to finish first you must first finish and who’d a thunk it, they’re right. When I got to the apex of 5, I got back on the gas like normal but this time the rear just came around on me and I low sided it on the left side. It was strange to be holding onto the handle bars and looking at my font number plate in the face. I remember thinking “this isn’t right”. I let go of the bike and slid on my left side for a little then rotated around on my back with my legs in the air. Now I was going backwards on my back and my legs sticking straight up. As I slid I could see other racers going by. Once I left the pavement all I remember was tumbling and here that “ummf, ummf" sound coming from my nose as the air was being knocked out of me from impacting the dirt. I can’t remember what position I came to rest in but I hear my legs once again where skyward. (What’s up with that?) It took me a couple seconds to get my breath and regain focus before I stood up but I guess it was too long cause the ambulance came over to ask me if I was OK. I felt OK but my hands where hurting my left thumb and my right pinky but I wasn’t going to tell them that. I figured if something was really hurt I’d deal with it myself. When the crash truck showed up they loaded the bike and drove around the track a bit delivering stuff and picked up another bike, this of course drove my wife crazy wondering what was happening. Sorry sweetie they had some other customers that had needs and I was done.
When I got back to the pit Zoran and the gang started helping me asses the damage. I love how optimistic he is about repairs, very inspirational. Thanks TWF! Then Kurt noticed the race was over and Tom hadn’t returned yet. Then the crash truck shows up with Tom. So now we got 2 crashed bikes to try and get back together and the pit was a bee hive of activity, Zoran bouncing back and forth between bikes giving instructions. As it turned out I would not be able to get back on track anytime soon, as when I went down the shift shaft was forced from the left side of the engine to the right breaking the engine case on the right side due to my preference to GP shift pattern. Most of the other damage I can fix myself, so now the search for a new engine begins and my hopes of a championship are dim as I will be out for a bit. Tom was able to get back on track and salvage some points though, good job dude! I don’t feel the weekend was a total loss as I did manage some fast times and learned a few things in the process and will now be forced to learn a lot more about my bike. Now I’ll just be support for the other racers till I get running again.
Congrats to Kurt Spencer on a new lap record and his wins and to all you guys that finished right side up on Sunday. I’ll see you next month ! (Albeit from the bleechers)
:D