morbidelli17
Sun 2/18/07, 5:00PM
I decided to take it easy this year, go try some new tracks with WERA West, and deliberately skipped the first month at Willow to make sure I didn't get sucked into another battle for a class title.
I really didn't think this all the way through.
WERA's first round got cancelled by gale-force winds, and it was gonna be months before I got to race again. The withdrawal symptoms were starting already - the cold sweats, the hallucinations that I'm actually quick - and WSMC was coming up, so I said to ZenSandy, we'll go, we'll have fun, no pressure, just one race.
Right.
We made it to the track with a couple of niggling little problems on Saturday afternoon. The breeze posed the biggest problem - it was blowing pretty hard. We'd rented garage space with Shandra and Chris and Eric, and they were saying things like, "No, it's not your tires going off, it's the breeze." Great - two months away from the track, and this is how I start. At least the first guy I saw when I got out of the truck was Pete Ellis, who has the other SV500. Right then, I pretty much knew I was racing for second this weekend. It really did take some of the stress away.
But I went out there and ran a couple of sessions, and had a good time. I caught a NICE draft down the front straight and hauled ASS going into turn one once. Bitchin'. I ended the day with a 38-flat as my quick time, and I was re-learning all the things I was doing to go quick.
Sunday morning, I popped on a different rear tire - I went up to a 165 triple-compound Dunlop slick. My friends told me it was more confidence-inspiring; Dennis at Dunlop told me it would last longer. I think he's right; I've got a 155 rear at home that has the exact same mileage on it, and if you set them side-by-side, you can see that the 155 is way more torn up.
Oh yeah, John Ulrich came by me on the front straight and waved at me, and I kinda felt like, great, I gotta show my boss that I know how to ride one of these things. So I REALLY pushed that sucker in Turn Two; I mean bouncing, sliding, throttle pinned, and I looked down at the instrument gauge and I was flat flyin' outta there! I mean, if I'm reading this correctly, like 8 MPH faster than the lap before. That was excellent!
The race - ah yes, the race.
For whatever reason, the club decided to start Vintage Heavyweight and Battle of the Twins Lightweight in the same wave. Both grids were large for their classes. So we had like 20+ bikes charging into Turn One at the same time. Great.
And not only that (remember I said I hadn't thought this 'month-off' thing all the way through?) I was second to last on the grid, because I screwed up and forgot the new pre-entry cutoff date, and I didn't have any points from January. I needed a telescope to see the starter. And I was stuck behind a number of slower-starting bikes. Traffic was gonna suck.
It did.
I got an OK start, but still wound up pretty far back. I had to pick my way through traffic; dicing with guys in my class, I was also mixing it up with the slower Vintage bikes. A friend of mine came across my bow in Turn Five on the first lap, and I had to grab the brakes, stand the bike up, and wait for it to stop shaking. Man, I hate traffic.
OK. Get to work.
Make quick work of Thomas. Follow Tony on his KTM Supermotard through some backmarkers, then pass him on the front straight. But I leave the door open going into Turn One, and he slams back past on the inside. I swear, the nerve of these people, insisting on attempting to pass me! And he's hard to pass; he's about 8'3", all elbows and knees, and when he sticks a knee out to corner, he takes up about half the track. And he likes to slide around, so going to the outside is right out. Next lap, I get him on the front straight, slam the door, and head out after Ed on the Ducati.
Thankfully, Dan "ChemGuy" DeBry, who had gotten a good start and was running away from me, had eliminated himself from the contest by low-siding in Turn Five. I saw the waving yellow, and I saw him running from the crash site. Glad he's OK. Man, he's had some hard luck.
That left Ed in second and me in third with about two laps to go (Pete, as predicted, was LONG gone by this point.) I was about five seconds back. I made up all but .18 seconds by the flag.
Third, a real trophy, a little contingency money from Dunlop, and the fastest lap I've ever run in BOTT Light - not bad for a low-stress race weekend.
This is how bad traffic was for me: My best lap time was only 1.5 seconds off of Pete's best. But after six laps, Pete, who had clearer track, had more than a 30-second gap on me.
Next month, I'll be third or fourth in points, I'll have a front-row starting spot, and I'll be trying to shadow Pete - and maybe ambush him on the run to the flag.
I'm thinking.
I really didn't think this all the way through.
WERA's first round got cancelled by gale-force winds, and it was gonna be months before I got to race again. The withdrawal symptoms were starting already - the cold sweats, the hallucinations that I'm actually quick - and WSMC was coming up, so I said to ZenSandy, we'll go, we'll have fun, no pressure, just one race.
Right.
We made it to the track with a couple of niggling little problems on Saturday afternoon. The breeze posed the biggest problem - it was blowing pretty hard. We'd rented garage space with Shandra and Chris and Eric, and they were saying things like, "No, it's not your tires going off, it's the breeze." Great - two months away from the track, and this is how I start. At least the first guy I saw when I got out of the truck was Pete Ellis, who has the other SV500. Right then, I pretty much knew I was racing for second this weekend. It really did take some of the stress away.
But I went out there and ran a couple of sessions, and had a good time. I caught a NICE draft down the front straight and hauled ASS going into turn one once. Bitchin'. I ended the day with a 38-flat as my quick time, and I was re-learning all the things I was doing to go quick.
Sunday morning, I popped on a different rear tire - I went up to a 165 triple-compound Dunlop slick. My friends told me it was more confidence-inspiring; Dennis at Dunlop told me it would last longer. I think he's right; I've got a 155 rear at home that has the exact same mileage on it, and if you set them side-by-side, you can see that the 155 is way more torn up.
Oh yeah, John Ulrich came by me on the front straight and waved at me, and I kinda felt like, great, I gotta show my boss that I know how to ride one of these things. So I REALLY pushed that sucker in Turn Two; I mean bouncing, sliding, throttle pinned, and I looked down at the instrument gauge and I was flat flyin' outta there! I mean, if I'm reading this correctly, like 8 MPH faster than the lap before. That was excellent!
The race - ah yes, the race.
For whatever reason, the club decided to start Vintage Heavyweight and Battle of the Twins Lightweight in the same wave. Both grids were large for their classes. So we had like 20+ bikes charging into Turn One at the same time. Great.
And not only that (remember I said I hadn't thought this 'month-off' thing all the way through?) I was second to last on the grid, because I screwed up and forgot the new pre-entry cutoff date, and I didn't have any points from January. I needed a telescope to see the starter. And I was stuck behind a number of slower-starting bikes. Traffic was gonna suck.
It did.
I got an OK start, but still wound up pretty far back. I had to pick my way through traffic; dicing with guys in my class, I was also mixing it up with the slower Vintage bikes. A friend of mine came across my bow in Turn Five on the first lap, and I had to grab the brakes, stand the bike up, and wait for it to stop shaking. Man, I hate traffic.
OK. Get to work.
Make quick work of Thomas. Follow Tony on his KTM Supermotard through some backmarkers, then pass him on the front straight. But I leave the door open going into Turn One, and he slams back past on the inside. I swear, the nerve of these people, insisting on attempting to pass me! And he's hard to pass; he's about 8'3", all elbows and knees, and when he sticks a knee out to corner, he takes up about half the track. And he likes to slide around, so going to the outside is right out. Next lap, I get him on the front straight, slam the door, and head out after Ed on the Ducati.
Thankfully, Dan "ChemGuy" DeBry, who had gotten a good start and was running away from me, had eliminated himself from the contest by low-siding in Turn Five. I saw the waving yellow, and I saw him running from the crash site. Glad he's OK. Man, he's had some hard luck.
That left Ed in second and me in third with about two laps to go (Pete, as predicted, was LONG gone by this point.) I was about five seconds back. I made up all but .18 seconds by the flag.
Third, a real trophy, a little contingency money from Dunlop, and the fastest lap I've ever run in BOTT Light - not bad for a low-stress race weekend.
This is how bad traffic was for me: My best lap time was only 1.5 seconds off of Pete's best. But after six laps, Pete, who had clearer track, had more than a 30-second gap on me.
Next month, I'll be third or fourth in points, I'll have a front-row starting spot, and I'll be trying to shadow Pete - and maybe ambush him on the run to the flag.
I'm thinking.