Monsterdood
Mon 7/9/07, 1:48PM
Braking Sandwich: Noun, 3 Riders entering a sharp corner at the same time and all wanting the same piece of track.
So I was the meat in a braking sandwich in race 1 at Fontana. I got an okay start but so did everyone else and I was a little slow in the sweeping left going into turn 3 so I had a dude outbraking me on the inside and another on the outside and as the outside rider arced in, I had no where to go and had to let off to avoid contact.
So I was cruising around in 6th or so out of 7 and only had the novices to play with from behind me. I figured I would wait until Trey and/or Chris A. came by and try to tag onto them to learn the track a little better.
Well I blew the infield horshoe turn big time and Trey just scooted on by on the inside but Armatrout was still behind me.
I knew he was strong on the entrance to turn 3 so I tried to stay a little towards the middle to make it harder to pass but damn if he didn't come right on by. He was slower on the decreasing radius turn onto the inside straight that lap and I was able to get a drive and outbrake him into the tight right hander at the end of that straight. I held him off the rest of the lap and up to turn 3 again.
This time I hugged the extreme inside of the track and he didn't come through. But in my worrying about track position and protecting my line, I realized I missed the braking marker since I was on a way different part of the track than normal and I had to give up on making the turn and run through the grass. Maybe I could have made it, but it wasn't worth it to try so I used the runoff room I knew was there and ran across the grass and up the banking in the ovals turn 2.
I got back on track in last place and stayed there to the end.
So I'm racing at Fontana to get comfortable on different tracks and to try to improve my skills, but at this point with a short first practice session and a pretty crappy race, I was thinking I would rather have skipped the race altogther. I wasn't getting the track and didn't feel like I wanted to get it.
F-2 was the 2nd to last race and I put my best game face on and got a good start slotting into 2nd. The guy in 1st absolutely took off like he had about 20 more HP and I later found out he was DQ'd so maybe he was in the wrong class.
I was feeling better and faster and was cruising in 2nd place (which later turned out to be 1st). I was doing alright and held that to lap 2. I went into the horseshoe turn really deep on the outside on a normal line and this other dude was equally deep but on an inside line. I left him room on the inside, but he later said he was a little out of control and wasn't going to make the corner and ended up block passing me motocross style. It wasn't real bad, and I can sympathize with braking too late on the inside (Cody?) and he just bumped me out wide. James on the red SV came through too, but I was able to square it off and get on the gas really early and drive back by him to fall in behind the guy who bumped me.
I forget who passed who, but James and I had some good racing for 2nd place on that lap. At the end of the front straight, after taking the white flag, we were absolutely side by side going towards the turn 1 off the banking. I was committed to go deeper than deep but apparently so was he and I finally let off to get the bike turning left and fall in behind him. He picked it up a notch on that last lap and there was no where I could get close enough to even try a pass so I had to settle for 4th which later turned out to be 3rd.
And by later, I mean when I got home and checked MyLaps. I waited around for a while after the race and they never posted the results or the times and I was just pretty happy with having a good race, not blowing any turns, and running what I thought were some decent times so I took off content in finishing in 4th.
I guess if I had waited longer I would have discovered I finished 3rd and could have gotten my plaque, but I guess that'll teach me to leave before something is posted.
Other interesting notes is that after pulling into the pits after that last race, my bike was making a horrible grinding noise. I checked the front brake pads and sure enough they were worn out. One pad was on the backing material and the rest had mere milimeters of material left. I swear I had 1/2 the pads left before the race, but that track plus me using Organic pads instead of sintered pads just ate them right up. The rotors really aren't scarred or marked so I think the pads ran out on that very last lap. I'm just glad that last race was shortened to 4 laps.
Also, Jump had a bit of an off in the 2nd practice session as he tried to pass someone through the grass in turn 4-5 and lost it. He was just sitting upright in the middle of the track chilling but they had to take him to the hospital as he had a mild concussion. So he sat out the races, but seemed okay later when he came back to the track (or at least okay by Kevin's standards)..... I think he would have won the classes so too bad for him.
Oh, and there was some good on and off track competition between various racers, but that is for someone else to tell.....
So I was the meat in a braking sandwich in race 1 at Fontana. I got an okay start but so did everyone else and I was a little slow in the sweeping left going into turn 3 so I had a dude outbraking me on the inside and another on the outside and as the outside rider arced in, I had no where to go and had to let off to avoid contact.
So I was cruising around in 6th or so out of 7 and only had the novices to play with from behind me. I figured I would wait until Trey and/or Chris A. came by and try to tag onto them to learn the track a little better.
Well I blew the infield horshoe turn big time and Trey just scooted on by on the inside but Armatrout was still behind me.
I knew he was strong on the entrance to turn 3 so I tried to stay a little towards the middle to make it harder to pass but damn if he didn't come right on by. He was slower on the decreasing radius turn onto the inside straight that lap and I was able to get a drive and outbrake him into the tight right hander at the end of that straight. I held him off the rest of the lap and up to turn 3 again.
This time I hugged the extreme inside of the track and he didn't come through. But in my worrying about track position and protecting my line, I realized I missed the braking marker since I was on a way different part of the track than normal and I had to give up on making the turn and run through the grass. Maybe I could have made it, but it wasn't worth it to try so I used the runoff room I knew was there and ran across the grass and up the banking in the ovals turn 2.
I got back on track in last place and stayed there to the end.
So I'm racing at Fontana to get comfortable on different tracks and to try to improve my skills, but at this point with a short first practice session and a pretty crappy race, I was thinking I would rather have skipped the race altogther. I wasn't getting the track and didn't feel like I wanted to get it.
F-2 was the 2nd to last race and I put my best game face on and got a good start slotting into 2nd. The guy in 1st absolutely took off like he had about 20 more HP and I later found out he was DQ'd so maybe he was in the wrong class.
I was feeling better and faster and was cruising in 2nd place (which later turned out to be 1st). I was doing alright and held that to lap 2. I went into the horseshoe turn really deep on the outside on a normal line and this other dude was equally deep but on an inside line. I left him room on the inside, but he later said he was a little out of control and wasn't going to make the corner and ended up block passing me motocross style. It wasn't real bad, and I can sympathize with braking too late on the inside (Cody?) and he just bumped me out wide. James on the red SV came through too, but I was able to square it off and get on the gas really early and drive back by him to fall in behind the guy who bumped me.
I forget who passed who, but James and I had some good racing for 2nd place on that lap. At the end of the front straight, after taking the white flag, we were absolutely side by side going towards the turn 1 off the banking. I was committed to go deeper than deep but apparently so was he and I finally let off to get the bike turning left and fall in behind him. He picked it up a notch on that last lap and there was no where I could get close enough to even try a pass so I had to settle for 4th which later turned out to be 3rd.
And by later, I mean when I got home and checked MyLaps. I waited around for a while after the race and they never posted the results or the times and I was just pretty happy with having a good race, not blowing any turns, and running what I thought were some decent times so I took off content in finishing in 4th.
I guess if I had waited longer I would have discovered I finished 3rd and could have gotten my plaque, but I guess that'll teach me to leave before something is posted.
Other interesting notes is that after pulling into the pits after that last race, my bike was making a horrible grinding noise. I checked the front brake pads and sure enough they were worn out. One pad was on the backing material and the rest had mere milimeters of material left. I swear I had 1/2 the pads left before the race, but that track plus me using Organic pads instead of sintered pads just ate them right up. The rotors really aren't scarred or marked so I think the pads ran out on that very last lap. I'm just glad that last race was shortened to 4 laps.
Also, Jump had a bit of an off in the 2nd practice session as he tried to pass someone through the grass in turn 4-5 and lost it. He was just sitting upright in the middle of the track chilling but they had to take him to the hospital as he had a mild concussion. So he sat out the races, but seemed okay later when he came back to the track (or at least okay by Kevin's standards)..... I think he would have won the classes so too bad for him.
Oh, and there was some good on and off track competition between various racers, but that is for someone else to tell.....