5
No big crashes from anyone in Center 8 this weekend! First time in maybe ever? Other than that, it was another tough weekend for me. Best time came in my last race, 1:27.1, so I still have not validated my yellow plates this year. The scary part is that I actually felt like I was executing my plan and going pretty fast. Looks like I'm going to have to work to get back to my prior PB of 1:24.0.
The 'highlight' of my weekend came in Lightweight Superbike, when I got my shift lever pedal tip wedged under a strap on my boot on the first lap and couldn’t shake my foot free from the shifter. I noticed it going up 4 when I couldn't grab my usual upshift, and spent the second half of the lap trying everything to kick my foot free. It was stuck on there GOOD, I was kicking in every direction with everything I had. I didn't get a good look at it until the exit of 10, and even then I couldn't quite see how it was stuck, so I decided to pit in. It was the strangest thing that has ever happened to me on the racetrack, and I couldn’t recreate it in the garage, even while sitting on the stands and looking down at my foot while trying to get it stuck again.
The whole thing is upsetting to reflect on. It would have been stupid to continue the race with my foot stuck to the shifter, but before my big crash last year, the will to stay in the race would have outweighed the risk of crashing with my foot stuck to the bike. Whats worse, as I came onto hot pit, I was able to kick my foot free. I wasn't sure if I was allowed to roll through and pit back out, so I headed back to the garage. Pre-crash me would have at least tried to pit back out, and let the officials stop me if it wasn't allowed. The racing gods gave me a cop-out, and I took it. And that's how I know my head is still not in the game, even more so than my lap times.
Anyway, I will be back at it for the Classic, and I'm confident that I will get back into real AM times. The bike is performing awesome after the most recent bit of love from Computrack Boston (see my previous race report), and its really just the rider that needs tweaking now. I'm also hoping to get a bit of help from finally switching to a 46t rear sprocket, and maybe even trying GP shift again (very easy to switch back and forth with the Woodcraft rearsets, while still keeping my shift linkage/knuckle tucked out of harm's way).
Getting schooled by Ryan, my garage mate and newly minted AM racer. Thanks for the cool pics nhbubba
Reply With Quote