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Man where do I begin? How far do I go back?
Following the crash in weekend #6 I dropped Henry Hawk off at PK’s place. Come to find out 20-25’ in the air does a # to a bike. I’ll start fro the front. Grass in the rim (not dente), Number plate, tweaked top triple, destroyed Daytona temp gauge, dented tank, frame with .5 deg of twist, destroyed Air tech tail section, mangled sub frame, destroyed rear shock (PK has never anything like this before), swing arm .2 deg out, Destroyed Technomagniso rear rim, Chain roller, Catch can. PK rebuilt the shock, straightened the frame and straightened out the top triple and I had him refresh the forks.
I pick up Henry on Wednesday Aug 27 (3 days before #7 race weekend) and drove over to Matt Stone’s house to pick up a tail section from Matt Sedlier AKA TOMATO). While there Stone offers up “if you need any help Friday give me a call.” The more I thought about what I had to do I felt that his help would be needed. I told Matt that I would be calling him. Thursday, after work I end up working on the bike to 11:00pm. Up Friday 4:30 to go to work. I get home from work and work on the bike from 2:00-12:30(Sat am) I worked on getting the bike back together and packed. I owe Matt Stone the biggest thanks of gratitude for showing up at my house around 4:00 and left around 10:30. Without his help I would not have made it Saturday.
Saturday:
I wake up and head up to the track @ 5:00. I get there @ 7:00 to get the bike out to continue to work on things that I needed to get from S&C. I see Miles to get a tire mounted for the now stock rear rim and I have him pot the front tire off to get the grass out between the tire and rim. I also pick up some #’s for the new tail section and oil because of the clutch change I also performed on Friday. I get everything mounted and squared away in time for 1st practice. As I head out to get the bike teched before practice the bike starts sputtering and back firing by Brian Ox’s bus. I rev things and the power is not there. I figured that one of the float bowls must be stuck. I end up making it to tech then proceeded back to the pits to tear the carb’s apart and see what is wrong. Tomato. noticed that the bike was not running right as well and came over to see what was wrong. I pull the carbs off and begin to drain one of the bowls into a cup. It looks like syrup (thick) coming out at first then it looked like coffee then it got all kinds of chunky. This ain’t good. After a complete carb clean I decided to check tank’s filter. I could not even pull the filter out. There was sooooooooo much debris in the tank. WTF. Why did this happen. I had come to the conclusion that after the crash I left the bike in the rain during the quick downpour and lightning storm that blew thru some water meandered its way into the now dented tank and sat there for 3 weeks. I had no idea that water had infiltrated the tank. So I poured the gas all over the wood pile for later on that night and still had a ton of gas to get rid of. I emptied the remainder into a white bucket. I could not believe that crap that came out of the tank. I put everything back together and I make it out to 2nd practice. Suspension needs adjustments. I stop in and see PK and he does his push, push and tightened up the rebound 3 clicks. We discussed the sag settings tha I set the bike to and we cam up to a conclusion that the fatty riding the bike needs to either loose some weight or get a 1600# spring. Thanks for that one Pete.
Sunday:
1st practice : rear does not feel planted. Really stiff. I pull in after and check that rear tire pressure and it was up around 33 psi. No wonder why it felt like crap. I managed to and place a few low 19’s just trying to feel the bike in this condition. 2nd practice felt much better with a few clicks Rebound clicks some lower 19’s.
#9 ULSB
Grid 2A. Jurgen is on 1D. Damn he already has the lead and we have not even started yet. Green. I loft the front quite high. I apply a little clutch to bring it down while applying more throttle to only bring it back up. Not good. I snap it into 2nd and she slowly settles down. In the mean time Jurgen is running 1st into 1 along with Nick R. for 2nd and Andy Hull beginning to drop in. I can no let this happen. I take the really shallow line to the apex and have to bend the bike around as not to encroach into any real-estate that Andy will need. I drop pin and have my sights set for getting around Rock. I’m not exactly sure where I got him but it was because of a mistake he did and I flew right past him. Now I have Jurgen in my sights. Game plan. WOW WTF, where did he pick up this speed? He has found some time in some places I could easily get around him. O.K. Lets rethink things. I’ve got some time to figure this out. It had to be Lap 5 where I wanted to test the waters. Let’s out brake him and take it slightly wide and let him know that we are here as he has not looked back once. Perfectly executed and I knew just what he would do. He dives under me into 4. No problem. That is what I thought he would do. Next lap I get one hell of a rhythm thru 1-2 and gaining as I’m just on his rear tire. I look ahead form T2 and see Dolla Bill. If this works out I know what Jurgen is going to do and I know what I have to do. Entering T3 braking zone. DB is on the left side, Perfect just hold you line DB. I know Jurgen is going to make a pass on the right. I am planning to go the right of Jurgen and take it straight to the apex and hold the inside line to keep Jurgen from ducking in under me. Guess what? It worked for a lap & ½ for the win. Thanks DB. I knew that J would be committing to a latter breaking as to quickly get past you and maybe check up for the tighter turn into T3. I just need to take it deeper and sharper.
Recap: Stressed & tired like hell last week, all for a hard fought battle on Sunday. I also, some how managed to help a pew people out.
I have to thank everyone who offered support and helped out to get me back on the track. You all rock.
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Originally Posted by 5TOEZ
