GetnJgyWitit
Tue 10/10/06, 6:30PM
Alright Kurt you want a race report!? Here you go!
Well I've had a few races since my first report, but I've been a bit lazy!
The Infineon AFM 4 Hour race, where do I begin? It was one hell of an experience! We named our team Team Crashtacular because I crashed 3 times last year and we Brienne is known for crashing other people's bikes! I was going into this race on a track that I'd never been on before, with a race organization that I've never ridden with before, and pretty much on a bike I've never ridden before, more on that later. I was completely out of shape and since I've moved up to San Francisco I haven't been as healthy or as active as I was in San Diego. I didn't really have any expectations for this race, I just wanted to finish.
After working on the bike a few nights before the race weekend I get it all up to par to pass tech (thanks Kurt for lending me the billet clutch cover). So Thursday night I loaded everthing up and headed to the track. The one nice thing about living up here is I am less than an hour from the track! :D The race was on Saturday, practice was on Friday. After not getting much sleep Thursday I finished prepping the bike friday morning with some tire changes and went through tech. The weather sucked in the morning. It was really cold and and the cloud cover/fog made the track damp and slick. My teamate, Brienne Thomson, and I both decided since niether one of us had been on the track before we were going to wait until it dried up a bit before we went out on it. Brienne and I had talked a few times over the phone about the set up of the bike and what tires to run, and blah, blah, blah weeks before the race. So while we were waiting for the track to dry up we took turns sitting on my bike and trying to make it comfortable for the both of us. So after I adjusted everything on the bike to fit her the bike pretty much felt strange to me. But I looked at it like I've ridden the bike before and I know how it handels, brakes, accelerates so I should be able to adjust to it quickly.
The last session before lunch came up and we decided to send her out and make sure she felt comfortable on it. She suited up and I got the bike warmed up for her and as she started to get on the bike I said something to her that I say to everyone that's never ridden my bike. "It's GP Shift!" "WHAT!?!?!" She yelled at me. I thought she was kidding! Who races and doesn't use Gp shifting? She refused to go out with it like that, so I quickly flipped it back to street shift and got her out there. But now I have to learn how to ride the damn thing with street shift! After almost throwing myself over the handle bars about four times trying to up shift and accidentally down shifting I finally got it right.
During practice our lap times weren't all that impressive, but not bad for never being there before. The next morning was race day! Kurt Spencer gave us some pointers the night before and we were pumped up and ready to start. We decided that she would start the race and I'd try and finish it. We figured it would be three pit stops with rider changes and fuel. We agreed that we would ride until the fuel light came on and we figured it would take about an hour for that light to come on. So the race starts and the air is super charged with excitement! We were racing my little sv out there with some of the most bad ass riders on the AFM on liter bikes!:eek: :D I was nervous as hell and I just kept looking to make sure Brienne came around every lap. After about an hour she signaled she was coming in. I was ready to rock and roll. She came in, we fueled up and I hopped on and took off. I can't say that I was passing people left and right, but I had my share of passes. I remember seeing Tom's team out there and Shandra's team out there. It was comforting to see some people I knew. I just kept my head down and focused on the track in front of me, which is difficult when you are watching the Formula Pacific guys come inches from your front tire as they stuff you into the next turn and then fry up the rear tire in your face exiting the corner! It was the best seat in the house! LOL I was in awe of eveyones' riding ability out there. In the practice sessions of only 15 minutes I was getting winded and my legs were getting tired. I was a bit worried about being able to make it an hour! I just kept plugging away. I would look up at the pit board and watch the time keep clicking away. My lips were super dry and had the worst cotton mouth ever only after about 20 minutes! I was really happy to see the 60 minute sign on my pit board. I was out there for an hour and I just kept riding waiting for the gas light to come on. I figure it should be on any lap. I just kept going and going and going. I was starting to worry that gas light didn't work! "Brienne came in, it had to of worked." I kept telling myself. Finally after a little over an hour and a half my light came on! "Ohh Sweet Jesus!" I signaled I was coming in and that was the longest lap of my life! I came in and my legs didn't want to move. I had the hardest time getting off the bike. It hurt to stand and hold the bike while Brienne hopped back on. I didn't know how I was going to make the last stretch of the race. We filled the tank and off she went!
I sat in the chair and got some fluids back in me when I noticed my lips were bleeding. And not just a little, but a lot. I guess they were really chapped! I got out of my leathers and took some advil and started walking around and riding the mt. bike trying to keep from getting tight. I knew I had to go back out. My hour and a half run out there might have saved us an extra pit stop so Brienne might finish the race on this run right now! She was out there for over an hour when she signaled she was coming in! I got my leathers on and was ready to rock and roll. There was only about 10 more minutes left in the race when she came in! The gas light was on and she needed fuel. She came in and we put gas in the bike and she looked like she wasn't going to get off. I could see she wanted to finish the race. It was costing us time in the pit to switch riders as well! I slapped her on the back of the helmet and said "GO!" She took off like a bat out of hell ripping down the Hot Pit lane when the speed limit is 30mph! "Oh Shit!" I thought to myself. I was affraid we were going to be docked laps for exceding the speed limit in the pits. Sure enough one of the officials came to pay us a visit and fined us for the speed violation, but we didn't get docked any laps! WooHOO!
The race ended and Brienne did a big nasty burn out on my bike! Which I've never even done! LOL And then we got the results! We did well! We had to compete in the 600 class which sucks, but Twin Works Factory proved that you can dominate the race on the SV! They won the entire 600 class on an SV! We did good, but not that good. We finish 12th out of 19 in the 600 class and we were the 3rd sv across the line out of 9! Needless to say were were pretty happy! The part that did bumb us out was that last pit stop made us drop 2 spots. We could have finish 10th if we didn't need that last stop! Then I find out later that Brienne didn't ride till the light came on her first run out there! LOL ohh well. I am very happy with the way it turned out. That track is pretty intimidating, but my favorite now!
Thank you to BuyMoto.com, Catalyst Racing Composites, thanks again Kurt for lending me the clutch cover, Zoran and Kurt Spencer for keeping me entertained and your wealth of knowledge! Thank you Amiee for lending me your canopy after mine took a dump! Thanks Darren and Jerry for helping out with the pit stops!
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Well I've had a few races since my first report, but I've been a bit lazy!
The Infineon AFM 4 Hour race, where do I begin? It was one hell of an experience! We named our team Team Crashtacular because I crashed 3 times last year and we Brienne is known for crashing other people's bikes! I was going into this race on a track that I'd never been on before, with a race organization that I've never ridden with before, and pretty much on a bike I've never ridden before, more on that later. I was completely out of shape and since I've moved up to San Francisco I haven't been as healthy or as active as I was in San Diego. I didn't really have any expectations for this race, I just wanted to finish.
After working on the bike a few nights before the race weekend I get it all up to par to pass tech (thanks Kurt for lending me the billet clutch cover). So Thursday night I loaded everthing up and headed to the track. The one nice thing about living up here is I am less than an hour from the track! :D The race was on Saturday, practice was on Friday. After not getting much sleep Thursday I finished prepping the bike friday morning with some tire changes and went through tech. The weather sucked in the morning. It was really cold and and the cloud cover/fog made the track damp and slick. My teamate, Brienne Thomson, and I both decided since niether one of us had been on the track before we were going to wait until it dried up a bit before we went out on it. Brienne and I had talked a few times over the phone about the set up of the bike and what tires to run, and blah, blah, blah weeks before the race. So while we were waiting for the track to dry up we took turns sitting on my bike and trying to make it comfortable for the both of us. So after I adjusted everything on the bike to fit her the bike pretty much felt strange to me. But I looked at it like I've ridden the bike before and I know how it handels, brakes, accelerates so I should be able to adjust to it quickly.
The last session before lunch came up and we decided to send her out and make sure she felt comfortable on it. She suited up and I got the bike warmed up for her and as she started to get on the bike I said something to her that I say to everyone that's never ridden my bike. "It's GP Shift!" "WHAT!?!?!" She yelled at me. I thought she was kidding! Who races and doesn't use Gp shifting? She refused to go out with it like that, so I quickly flipped it back to street shift and got her out there. But now I have to learn how to ride the damn thing with street shift! After almost throwing myself over the handle bars about four times trying to up shift and accidentally down shifting I finally got it right.
During practice our lap times weren't all that impressive, but not bad for never being there before. The next morning was race day! Kurt Spencer gave us some pointers the night before and we were pumped up and ready to start. We decided that she would start the race and I'd try and finish it. We figured it would be three pit stops with rider changes and fuel. We agreed that we would ride until the fuel light came on and we figured it would take about an hour for that light to come on. So the race starts and the air is super charged with excitement! We were racing my little sv out there with some of the most bad ass riders on the AFM on liter bikes!:eek: :D I was nervous as hell and I just kept looking to make sure Brienne came around every lap. After about an hour she signaled she was coming in. I was ready to rock and roll. She came in, we fueled up and I hopped on and took off. I can't say that I was passing people left and right, but I had my share of passes. I remember seeing Tom's team out there and Shandra's team out there. It was comforting to see some people I knew. I just kept my head down and focused on the track in front of me, which is difficult when you are watching the Formula Pacific guys come inches from your front tire as they stuff you into the next turn and then fry up the rear tire in your face exiting the corner! It was the best seat in the house! LOL I was in awe of eveyones' riding ability out there. In the practice sessions of only 15 minutes I was getting winded and my legs were getting tired. I was a bit worried about being able to make it an hour! I just kept plugging away. I would look up at the pit board and watch the time keep clicking away. My lips were super dry and had the worst cotton mouth ever only after about 20 minutes! I was really happy to see the 60 minute sign on my pit board. I was out there for an hour and I just kept riding waiting for the gas light to come on. I figure it should be on any lap. I just kept going and going and going. I was starting to worry that gas light didn't work! "Brienne came in, it had to of worked." I kept telling myself. Finally after a little over an hour and a half my light came on! "Ohh Sweet Jesus!" I signaled I was coming in and that was the longest lap of my life! I came in and my legs didn't want to move. I had the hardest time getting off the bike. It hurt to stand and hold the bike while Brienne hopped back on. I didn't know how I was going to make the last stretch of the race. We filled the tank and off she went!
I sat in the chair and got some fluids back in me when I noticed my lips were bleeding. And not just a little, but a lot. I guess they were really chapped! I got out of my leathers and took some advil and started walking around and riding the mt. bike trying to keep from getting tight. I knew I had to go back out. My hour and a half run out there might have saved us an extra pit stop so Brienne might finish the race on this run right now! She was out there for over an hour when she signaled she was coming in! I got my leathers on and was ready to rock and roll. There was only about 10 more minutes left in the race when she came in! The gas light was on and she needed fuel. She came in and we put gas in the bike and she looked like she wasn't going to get off. I could see she wanted to finish the race. It was costing us time in the pit to switch riders as well! I slapped her on the back of the helmet and said "GO!" She took off like a bat out of hell ripping down the Hot Pit lane when the speed limit is 30mph! "Oh Shit!" I thought to myself. I was affraid we were going to be docked laps for exceding the speed limit in the pits. Sure enough one of the officials came to pay us a visit and fined us for the speed violation, but we didn't get docked any laps! WooHOO!
The race ended and Brienne did a big nasty burn out on my bike! Which I've never even done! LOL And then we got the results! We did well! We had to compete in the 600 class which sucks, but Twin Works Factory proved that you can dominate the race on the SV! They won the entire 600 class on an SV! We did good, but not that good. We finish 12th out of 19 in the 600 class and we were the 3rd sv across the line out of 9! Needless to say were were pretty happy! The part that did bumb us out was that last pit stop made us drop 2 spots. We could have finish 10th if we didn't need that last stop! Then I find out later that Brienne didn't ride till the light came on her first run out there! LOL ohh well. I am very happy with the way it turned out. That track is pretty intimidating, but my favorite now!
Thank you to BuyMoto.com, Catalyst Racing Composites, thanks again Kurt for lending me the clutch cover, Zoran and Kurt Spencer for keeping me entertained and your wealth of knowledge! Thank you Amiee for lending me your canopy after mine took a dump! Thanks Darren and Jerry for helping out with the pit stops!
http://www.dropshots.com/photos/63477/20060930/173338.jpg
Photo Sharing (http://www.dropshots.com/) - Upload Video (http://www.dropshots.com/) - Video Sharing (http://www.dropshots.com/)