morbidelli17
Mon 5/28/07, 9:40PM
"I do NOT believe this ..." I'm thinking as I'm sliding down the track.
I'm the only guy in this race. Everyone has said to me, "You'll win this for sure," and I've kept saying, "You never know ..."
And sure enough ...
Day started out not bad. It's my first ever race away from Willow Springs, and I'm learning the track as I go. I'm entered in D Superbike and Clubman Expert with WERA, and I've had two short warmup sessions, dropping my lap times considerably between sessions one and two. I'm pitted with Sp8s, ZenSandy's hanging loose and chillin', Ed Sorbo, RRW's uberwrench, is there, and I'm thinking 'bout where I'm gonna hang all my first-place trophies at the end of the day.
Then this happens.
In D Superbike, I go into Turn Eight/Nine at Cal Speedway, where I've pushed the front once before, but I thought it was an aberration. I've been blowing this corner all day long, and last session out, I tried tossing an extra downshift going in and driving out harder. It seemed to work, so I tried to do it again - but downshifting and braking while leaned over just overloaded the front. If I wasn't on my knee already, I was right there, so I just slid quickly to the edge of the track, stood up and waved to the stands with both hands over my head so ZenSandy knew I was OK.
The crash truck guys brought the bike back. As per course rules, I had to ride back in the ambulance, where they asked a bunch of questions to make sure I didn't have a concussion. I did pretty well until we got to geometry. What the hell IS an Isocoles triangle, anyway? Stuff is sore, but nothing's broken.
Other than the brake lever, everything else could be fixed quickly. I scoured the pits and someone loaned me a partially broken one; Ed started bending stuff back into place. ZenSandy went over my protective gear and pronounced it OK. I cannot tell you how happy I was to have another race, to have one more shot at getting back on the horse immediately.
Clubman was three guys on SuperMotards and me. Two of them got off to a good start, then the third guy comes around me going into the first turn. I'm still a little unnerved, but I think to myself, dammit, I am NOT going home without a trophy.
So it takes a lap or two to settle down - I kept blowing the three-four turn into the infield, then spending the rest of the time trying to make up for it and finding myself too far back to roast those guys on the straights.
Finally, I hit three-four relatively well, hang with one of the motard guys through the infield, get a good drive out onto the banking and draft past him - drafting past people on the banking rocks!
Never saw him again. Finished in third, best lap only .4 seconds off my best of the day, so the crash didn't slow me much.
As it turns out, that guy I passed was in another race altogether, so I'd have had my trophy anyway. But I really needed to suck it up and chase someone down. This is my first crash on the track EVER in roadracing, and I really needed to see how I would do afterward. So far, so good.
Looking forward to Willow Springs again in June - unless we race WERA in Vegas. I dunno, the nightlife in Rosamond is pretty hoppin ...
p.s. ZenSandy and I ran a 5K the next morning. Some senior citizen lady comes running out of her house, falls in next to us, and starts tugging on my ponytail. And I'm thinking, "I do NOT believe this ..."
I'm the only guy in this race. Everyone has said to me, "You'll win this for sure," and I've kept saying, "You never know ..."
And sure enough ...
Day started out not bad. It's my first ever race away from Willow Springs, and I'm learning the track as I go. I'm entered in D Superbike and Clubman Expert with WERA, and I've had two short warmup sessions, dropping my lap times considerably between sessions one and two. I'm pitted with Sp8s, ZenSandy's hanging loose and chillin', Ed Sorbo, RRW's uberwrench, is there, and I'm thinking 'bout where I'm gonna hang all my first-place trophies at the end of the day.
Then this happens.
In D Superbike, I go into Turn Eight/Nine at Cal Speedway, where I've pushed the front once before, but I thought it was an aberration. I've been blowing this corner all day long, and last session out, I tried tossing an extra downshift going in and driving out harder. It seemed to work, so I tried to do it again - but downshifting and braking while leaned over just overloaded the front. If I wasn't on my knee already, I was right there, so I just slid quickly to the edge of the track, stood up and waved to the stands with both hands over my head so ZenSandy knew I was OK.
The crash truck guys brought the bike back. As per course rules, I had to ride back in the ambulance, where they asked a bunch of questions to make sure I didn't have a concussion. I did pretty well until we got to geometry. What the hell IS an Isocoles triangle, anyway? Stuff is sore, but nothing's broken.
Other than the brake lever, everything else could be fixed quickly. I scoured the pits and someone loaned me a partially broken one; Ed started bending stuff back into place. ZenSandy went over my protective gear and pronounced it OK. I cannot tell you how happy I was to have another race, to have one more shot at getting back on the horse immediately.
Clubman was three guys on SuperMotards and me. Two of them got off to a good start, then the third guy comes around me going into the first turn. I'm still a little unnerved, but I think to myself, dammit, I am NOT going home without a trophy.
So it takes a lap or two to settle down - I kept blowing the three-four turn into the infield, then spending the rest of the time trying to make up for it and finding myself too far back to roast those guys on the straights.
Finally, I hit three-four relatively well, hang with one of the motard guys through the infield, get a good drive out onto the banking and draft past him - drafting past people on the banking rocks!
Never saw him again. Finished in third, best lap only .4 seconds off my best of the day, so the crash didn't slow me much.
As it turns out, that guy I passed was in another race altogether, so I'd have had my trophy anyway. But I really needed to suck it up and chase someone down. This is my first crash on the track EVER in roadracing, and I really needed to see how I would do afterward. So far, so good.
Looking forward to Willow Springs again in June - unless we race WERA in Vegas. I dunno, the nightlife in Rosamond is pretty hoppin ...
p.s. ZenSandy and I ran a 5K the next morning. Some senior citizen lady comes running out of her house, falls in next to us, and starts tugging on my ponytail. And I'm thinking, "I do NOT believe this ..."