morbidelli17
Mon 10/16/06, 10:04AM
"OH NO!!!! NOT A-M*$&@#$&%$(@-GAIN," I thought, as I watched rider after rider go zipping past me into Turn Three. Jim Rau, Monsterdood, ChemGuy, some dude on a supermotard, and - yes - even the bastards in that catering truck. Apparently, enchurritos were the special this month.
This weekend had started so well. I had regrouped after last month's disappointment in Battle of the Twins Lightweight, talked to myself about what I had done wrong, and vowed to fix it. The weather forecast called for rain on Friday and Saturday, so ZenSandy and I cancelled plans to practice Friday (saw Grudge 2 instead; perfect date movie, she spent the whole time curled up in a ball on my lap) and went up to dump the bike into the pits on Saturday.
But when we got there, the weather was, well, damned near perfect, maybe a bit breezy. So I took the opportunity to get in a few practice sessions; in particular, I wanted to be sure to learn what conditions were likely to be in the late afternoon, since BOTT Light was race 15. This worked to my advantage. I learned quickly that I was still tearing up slicks, so the Dunlop guys switched me to a DOT. I spent a lot of time wandering around the pits this weekend with my damaged rear tire, asking anyone who looked smart if they could read what was happening - like some kind of bizarre tea-leaf thing. Thanks, Shandra. Thanks, Alex. Practice times were a bit slower than I wanted, but the bike felt OK.
Sunday morning: 1st practice horribly slow. 2nd practice a bit better. Riders meeting a bitter, bitter time. I ran Jesus' number on my front fender; ZenSandy placed a sticker for him over her heart. Then we in BOTT Light had to deal with this guy who's been trying for a year now to get permission to run his 650 Ducati twin in our 500 Twin class. I think it's a stunningly stupid idea, but others disagree. I respect their right to be wrong (hey BOTT Light guys; check out #947's "I run 1:40s or so" claim on mylaps.com). Nicest thing that happened was when KurtSV and I ran nose-to-tail through Turn Two, and Kurt said to me afterward, "You get through Two really well." Excellent. One corner down, eight to go!
1st race, 550 Superbike: I line up behind a guy on a 125. Man, those things come off the line slow. I get into a tussle with Charlie "Big Daddy" Coyner and Dan "ChemGuy" DeBry and some other guy on an SV650. We go back and forth; I am learning to pass, to battle, to fight on the track. I'm not used to this; back in the pack where I've run for a decade, we don't scrap much at all. Lap times are OK. Most importantly, I'm learning to run these lap times without leaving the door open for people to go by on the inside.
I pull in, look at the bike, look at the tire, and tell ZenSandy, "I want to change ..." and she says, "Leave it. Ride it."
She's right. I take a nap.
BOTT Light: I get an excellent start and send that thing flying through Turn One. I'm leading, but I'm closing on these two guys from Vintage Heavyweight who started in front of us. They're nose-to-tail, and I start to pass on the outside in Turn Two - then they go side-by-side, both run wide, and I'm in the gray area of the track, blocked, with nowhere to go.
After the parade of BOTT Light riders went by, I regroup. I'm seventh, ahead of Larry, behind the catering truck. I find myself in a battle with Andy's friend Tony on his supermoto and one of the guys from Vintage Heavyweight. He was always just slightly better than me going into Three, and I couldn't figure out a way to stuff him. I'm watching Monsterdood and Rau dice, and I see that they're not getting away, so I try to be patient. Finally, at halfway, Vintage comes out of Nine and - for some reason - looks behind him. He nearly saw me run him over. I had to chop the throttle to avoid nailing him, blew past, and never saw him again. I went past Supermoto guy; he tried to put a wheel on my line going into Two, and I took my line - aggressively. I felt a little bad about that, but not too bad.
I closed quickly on Monsterdood, passed him on the front straight, and - having learned my lessons - took a much tighter line going into Turn One.
And Turn Two.
And Turn Three.
Still gotta work on tightening the entrance to Five; Monsterdood was giving it everything, and he came by in Five on the last lap and took the line through Six. I was anticipating that, though, modulated the throttle a bit, and drafted him down the back straight, through Nine and passed him on the run to the checkers.
This time, I was happy with second; I beat everyone except Rau, the lap record holder for our class and a former class champion. Most importantly, I learned to be much more aggressive in defending my position on the track.
Fast lines don't mean anything if you can't use them.
Five points between Chris and I, two races to go, and three riders other than us who are right at our lap times.
Gonna be a ball.
This weekend had started so well. I had regrouped after last month's disappointment in Battle of the Twins Lightweight, talked to myself about what I had done wrong, and vowed to fix it. The weather forecast called for rain on Friday and Saturday, so ZenSandy and I cancelled plans to practice Friday (saw Grudge 2 instead; perfect date movie, she spent the whole time curled up in a ball on my lap) and went up to dump the bike into the pits on Saturday.
But when we got there, the weather was, well, damned near perfect, maybe a bit breezy. So I took the opportunity to get in a few practice sessions; in particular, I wanted to be sure to learn what conditions were likely to be in the late afternoon, since BOTT Light was race 15. This worked to my advantage. I learned quickly that I was still tearing up slicks, so the Dunlop guys switched me to a DOT. I spent a lot of time wandering around the pits this weekend with my damaged rear tire, asking anyone who looked smart if they could read what was happening - like some kind of bizarre tea-leaf thing. Thanks, Shandra. Thanks, Alex. Practice times were a bit slower than I wanted, but the bike felt OK.
Sunday morning: 1st practice horribly slow. 2nd practice a bit better. Riders meeting a bitter, bitter time. I ran Jesus' number on my front fender; ZenSandy placed a sticker for him over her heart. Then we in BOTT Light had to deal with this guy who's been trying for a year now to get permission to run his 650 Ducati twin in our 500 Twin class. I think it's a stunningly stupid idea, but others disagree. I respect their right to be wrong (hey BOTT Light guys; check out #947's "I run 1:40s or so" claim on mylaps.com). Nicest thing that happened was when KurtSV and I ran nose-to-tail through Turn Two, and Kurt said to me afterward, "You get through Two really well." Excellent. One corner down, eight to go!
1st race, 550 Superbike: I line up behind a guy on a 125. Man, those things come off the line slow. I get into a tussle with Charlie "Big Daddy" Coyner and Dan "ChemGuy" DeBry and some other guy on an SV650. We go back and forth; I am learning to pass, to battle, to fight on the track. I'm not used to this; back in the pack where I've run for a decade, we don't scrap much at all. Lap times are OK. Most importantly, I'm learning to run these lap times without leaving the door open for people to go by on the inside.
I pull in, look at the bike, look at the tire, and tell ZenSandy, "I want to change ..." and she says, "Leave it. Ride it."
She's right. I take a nap.
BOTT Light: I get an excellent start and send that thing flying through Turn One. I'm leading, but I'm closing on these two guys from Vintage Heavyweight who started in front of us. They're nose-to-tail, and I start to pass on the outside in Turn Two - then they go side-by-side, both run wide, and I'm in the gray area of the track, blocked, with nowhere to go.
After the parade of BOTT Light riders went by, I regroup. I'm seventh, ahead of Larry, behind the catering truck. I find myself in a battle with Andy's friend Tony on his supermoto and one of the guys from Vintage Heavyweight. He was always just slightly better than me going into Three, and I couldn't figure out a way to stuff him. I'm watching Monsterdood and Rau dice, and I see that they're not getting away, so I try to be patient. Finally, at halfway, Vintage comes out of Nine and - for some reason - looks behind him. He nearly saw me run him over. I had to chop the throttle to avoid nailing him, blew past, and never saw him again. I went past Supermoto guy; he tried to put a wheel on my line going into Two, and I took my line - aggressively. I felt a little bad about that, but not too bad.
I closed quickly on Monsterdood, passed him on the front straight, and - having learned my lessons - took a much tighter line going into Turn One.
And Turn Two.
And Turn Three.
Still gotta work on tightening the entrance to Five; Monsterdood was giving it everything, and he came by in Five on the last lap and took the line through Six. I was anticipating that, though, modulated the throttle a bit, and drafted him down the back straight, through Nine and passed him on the run to the checkers.
This time, I was happy with second; I beat everyone except Rau, the lap record holder for our class and a former class champion. Most importantly, I learned to be much more aggressive in defending my position on the track.
Fast lines don't mean anything if you can't use them.
Five points between Chris and I, two races to go, and three riders other than us who are right at our lap times.
Gonna be a ball.