Monsterdood
Mon 7/17/06, 2:55PM
Warning: Parts of this post are not for the weak of stomach....
So here's the drill on race day: Wake up at 5AM, hop in the truck at 5:15 and start driving the 100 miles to Willow. Get to Willow Springs at 7AM and immediately pull the wheels off the EX because the rubber is shagged. Take tires to Michelin tent for their extra contingency and find out there are no tires in the right size for me so I take them to Dunlop and find out they don't have DOT's either. Get slicks instead, take tires back to pit and realize I'm missing a wheel spacer. Spend 20 minutes scouring the pits, the Michelin tent and the Dunlop tent and on a 2nd pass, find it buried in the dirt where I had unloaded the wheels from my truck. Get the wheels on, check pressures, add transponder and get to tech.
I missed the first practice session but did the 2nd one and did a 1:38 so things were starting to look up.
There was a small grid in 500ss and I started from spot 25 (the back row) instead of the front row (18) by mistake. Turns out 25 was my starting spot for the 500MP race not the 500SS race, doh.
Still, I get a good start and am neck and neck with JC until he pulls me with that fizzer power. Ryan gets by me too before turn 1 and I spend 6 laps chasing them around in 3rd grabbing my 1st podium in 500ss (Angel was MIA or else I would have gotten 4th like last month)
For 500MP I gridded on the front row like I was supposed to and got a good start but again JC powers ahead into turn 1, but wait Sturz is still behind me, I better stick to the inside (since I started at the leftmost of the track). Well Ryan passes me like I just shot his dog and left me a choice to either hit him or run up on the curb on the inside. The bike goes crazy as I run over the inside curb at something like 70 mph (maybe faster I don't know), me feet are kicked off the pegs, I'm dabbing / dragging my left foot going towards the desert but was able to make an awesome turn at the exit to stay within spitting distance.... and I am pissed off.... I start riding like a mad man and do a 1:37.8 in the hopes I can return the favor and then whammo, JC gets run off the track coming out of 4. He kept the bike and his speed up and was able to rejoin just a little ways behind me so I knew he would catch me.
Did I mention I have a knarly flu / cold thing going on right now? Well one thing about the 104F heat and a cold is that it is hard to stay congested as crap just continually drains from your sinuses. Well I take a peak behind me to my left on the front straight, the negative pressure flips up my visor and literally sucks a ton of snot straight of my nose and onto my glasses and my face shield. When I look forward again, I can't see out of the left side of my visor or see through my glasses. Great, I just got hit by my own snot bomb.
JC gets by me, I grab 3rd, my first podium in 500MP and I clean off my glasses and visor for the one I really care about, BOTT LW.
I'm gridded on pole and take my rightful position, get an okay start but Larry got a better one and got the hole shot into 1. I got a drive out of 1 and crept next to him into 2 and made the pass on the inside for the lead. Meanwhile the Vintage Heavyweights are zipping past us and then going slower in turn 2 and I pass one of them. I close up on another one going into 3 and settle a few feet behind him for the turn.
Going up the hill out of 3, I see his rear tire just come around with a power on low side. I stay in the corner as much I can and almost missed him but the spinning bike was staying on the exit line and I couldn't turn anymore and I ran over the rear tire, the bike and maybe part of the rider. Right when I hit the bike I picked mine up straight, kept it upright and ran into the dirt. I really tried to ride it up the dirt hill and hopefully back onto the track, but my line put me on a sideways slope and the front just washed down the hill side and I was dumped off on the right.
I was in the class points lead, I had the lead of the race and I was impacted by another race class going off as the same time as us, that stinks! I was a little upset while I was standing waiting for the crash truck, but luckily I wasn't really hurt and the bike wasn't really that bad. I know I could have kept racing it and maybe salvaged a decent finish, but they don't let us do that sort of thing and usually I like that rule (when it's the other guy's crashed bike), but this time I thought it stunk.
So two trophies, decent rookie points with my 500MP finish, a snot bomb, and a mild crash. Every weekend is something new!
So here's the drill on race day: Wake up at 5AM, hop in the truck at 5:15 and start driving the 100 miles to Willow. Get to Willow Springs at 7AM and immediately pull the wheels off the EX because the rubber is shagged. Take tires to Michelin tent for their extra contingency and find out there are no tires in the right size for me so I take them to Dunlop and find out they don't have DOT's either. Get slicks instead, take tires back to pit and realize I'm missing a wheel spacer. Spend 20 minutes scouring the pits, the Michelin tent and the Dunlop tent and on a 2nd pass, find it buried in the dirt where I had unloaded the wheels from my truck. Get the wheels on, check pressures, add transponder and get to tech.
I missed the first practice session but did the 2nd one and did a 1:38 so things were starting to look up.
There was a small grid in 500ss and I started from spot 25 (the back row) instead of the front row (18) by mistake. Turns out 25 was my starting spot for the 500MP race not the 500SS race, doh.
Still, I get a good start and am neck and neck with JC until he pulls me with that fizzer power. Ryan gets by me too before turn 1 and I spend 6 laps chasing them around in 3rd grabbing my 1st podium in 500ss (Angel was MIA or else I would have gotten 4th like last month)
For 500MP I gridded on the front row like I was supposed to and got a good start but again JC powers ahead into turn 1, but wait Sturz is still behind me, I better stick to the inside (since I started at the leftmost of the track). Well Ryan passes me like I just shot his dog and left me a choice to either hit him or run up on the curb on the inside. The bike goes crazy as I run over the inside curb at something like 70 mph (maybe faster I don't know), me feet are kicked off the pegs, I'm dabbing / dragging my left foot going towards the desert but was able to make an awesome turn at the exit to stay within spitting distance.... and I am pissed off.... I start riding like a mad man and do a 1:37.8 in the hopes I can return the favor and then whammo, JC gets run off the track coming out of 4. He kept the bike and his speed up and was able to rejoin just a little ways behind me so I knew he would catch me.
Did I mention I have a knarly flu / cold thing going on right now? Well one thing about the 104F heat and a cold is that it is hard to stay congested as crap just continually drains from your sinuses. Well I take a peak behind me to my left on the front straight, the negative pressure flips up my visor and literally sucks a ton of snot straight of my nose and onto my glasses and my face shield. When I look forward again, I can't see out of the left side of my visor or see through my glasses. Great, I just got hit by my own snot bomb.
JC gets by me, I grab 3rd, my first podium in 500MP and I clean off my glasses and visor for the one I really care about, BOTT LW.
I'm gridded on pole and take my rightful position, get an okay start but Larry got a better one and got the hole shot into 1. I got a drive out of 1 and crept next to him into 2 and made the pass on the inside for the lead. Meanwhile the Vintage Heavyweights are zipping past us and then going slower in turn 2 and I pass one of them. I close up on another one going into 3 and settle a few feet behind him for the turn.
Going up the hill out of 3, I see his rear tire just come around with a power on low side. I stay in the corner as much I can and almost missed him but the spinning bike was staying on the exit line and I couldn't turn anymore and I ran over the rear tire, the bike and maybe part of the rider. Right when I hit the bike I picked mine up straight, kept it upright and ran into the dirt. I really tried to ride it up the dirt hill and hopefully back onto the track, but my line put me on a sideways slope and the front just washed down the hill side and I was dumped off on the right.
I was in the class points lead, I had the lead of the race and I was impacted by another race class going off as the same time as us, that stinks! I was a little upset while I was standing waiting for the crash truck, but luckily I wasn't really hurt and the bike wasn't really that bad. I know I could have kept racing it and maybe salvaged a decent finish, but they don't let us do that sort of thing and usually I like that rule (when it's the other guy's crashed bike), but this time I thought it stunk.
So two trophies, decent rookie points with my 500MP finish, a snot bomb, and a mild crash. Every weekend is something new!