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Well it started off by getting to the track, unloaded, and to bed by 3:30AM on Saturday morning. Got 3 hours of sleep then got the bike to tech and got everything ready. Skipped first practice and just ran the second to try to conserve my tires. I felt completely foreign in practice and felt like this was a bike I hadn't rode...well...ever. I had no flow and nothing was coming naturally. I tried to put practice behind me and concentrate on not concentrating on it haha.
First race of the day was GTU. I was gridded 2nd row. Got a pretty good start and ended up 5th going into T1. On the 2nd lap I get passed By Riley Rogers in T3 and keep up with them until I have an extremely messy lap. I lose concentration and miss my downshift for T6 and go wide. I then also go way wide in T9 trying to make up time and finally finish the sloppy lap with a decent 11-12a. A few laps later Alex Guilbeault passes me on the inside of 3 with his famous T3 pass. I try to execute the strategy that Gino and I talked about but couldn't. I ride him all the way until T12a when his rear slides out and he almost highsides. I get by him and shoot down the straight. My sights are now set on the 53 of Gene. I finally get by him in T6 thanks to the great blocking of Brett Babian (thanks dude). I run a few laps and start to get very tired. I had forgotten about proper body position so my left arm was killing me and my legs were both shaking every time I got off the bike. Due to that I started to slow down....anddd he comes back in T1 with 2 laps left and passes me on the brakes in T1. I push myself to keep up, but find myself falling behind. Managed to finish 6th behind him with a new pb of 1:16.013.
Second race was MWGP or the dash. I was gridded 3D...YES! Perfect grid. Just as we were finishing our warmup lap it started to sprinkle. The threat of rain had been looming all day and now it might deliver. The flagger drops the green flag and we all wait. It seems that they were trying to make a decision whether to run the race or not. Everyone starts revving their engines to try to pressure the staff to make a decision. The flagger then picks the green flag back up and the 2...then 1 board drops. Green flag waves and I get a great start. End up getting 5th into T1 behind Houk. I lose my rear a little on the T2 pavement triangle and barely collect myself when Houk's rear slides out. He chops the throttle and his front slides out from taking all the weight. His bike goes right and he goes left. I stand by bike up to try to brake, but he ends up being right where my bike is pointed. I hit him, do a handstand on my bars, and then get flung up into the air and onto the pavement. Finally stopping when I hit the airfence. I then just have enough time to see Sean Pigott (Pigman) headed towards me. All I can remember is seeing that black and white 66 headed like a train that jumped the tracks right at me. All I have time for is to think...oh shit. He manages to just hit the airfence the throw me into the other piece of airfence. I finally stand up against the wall and look around with confusion. All the amateurs are now coming through and the red flag is out. Thank god. Houk is ok and standing and so is everyone else. Pigman makes sure I'm ok then rides off. I get my bike up after everyone has left and ride it back to the pit. Turns out the forks are all twisted up, peg and rearset bracket are bent, go pro and lap timer both took a beating, fairing stay is broken, front brake reservoir mount, and a few other little things. I decide that I will not be racing on Sunday after that and tell everyone that I'm just not into it mentally after the off. Pete insists I try to fix the forks. So everyone digs into it and we loosen the bottom clamp, take the wheel off, and get everything straight again! Gino takes the bent bracket and peg off and leaves it there for when I get parts. We finish off the night with some Canadian jokes at the bar and hanging out with RSP and T1A crews.
I get up the next morning at 6:30...and...I want to race. Why the hell am I here if I am not racing?!
I get right to work on the bike and get the front wired and together, Mike Weyant goes and gets me a new rearset bracket from Street and Comp, Adam Butler gets me a new aluminum race stay from Street and Comp, Pete helps me zip tie the front master reservoir, Geno and Lou help me get the tank guard stuck to the tank again after the zip tie broke, John Linn jumps up in my truck and takes my rear wheel off of my FZ6 so I could change tires fast between races, and Chuck helps with the assembly too. I miss both practices, but tech it and get it ready to rock. Before I tech Tyler Sweeney goes into geek mode and flashes my ECU. He puts 1:1 throttle on it, eliminates engine braking, raises my rev limiter, raises the idle to help with an oiling problem the 06-07 models have, and puts my custom map on the stock ECU as well. He told me to be very careful because of the new power the bike will have with the 1:1.
As my first race MWSS approaches I am posed with the question of what tires to run. It has just stopped raining and the track is still wet and the air is humid. Will the track dry during the race? I consult my team as well as Tyler Sweeney. Sweeney first says to go with full rains, but I question it because I don't want to burn up my rains. He then suggest that I run a rain front and DOT rear. Gino and Pete then join the conversation and agree. We get to work swapping the front with the help of Mike Weyant and Chuck Boucher to get it done in time while keeping the front on the warmer for the MWGP which had been rescheduled to Sunday. The race starts and I get a killer start. I am in second place right behind Scott Greenwood. My rear slides out when I try to get on the gas in T2 and a few people get by. Rear tire traction gets into my head and I try to analyze when it will be an issue. The guys with the full rains just pull away. I just see the halfway flag when the red flag starts waving. Rider down in T2 I believe. We go back to grid and the staff asks us whether we want to restart or call it a race. The vote determines we will race. The course is drying up nicely now, so this will be interesting. I get another killer start and end up in 3rd place behind Greenwood and Hildebrand. Killmeier passes me and I start chasing them down. Killmeieier is exactly shadowing Hildebrands lines so I know I have an opportunity to pass him, as Hildebrand is tentative with his rains. I managed to get by Killmeier and set my sights on Hildebrand. After following him for a lap it's apparent how hard his traction control is working. His rear is sliding just perfectly when he gets on the gas. I make my move going into T1 and manage to squeak by him on the brakes into T1. It wasn't a lap later that Killmeieier passes me back in T12 on the inside. I don't remember where but I again pass Killmeieier for 2nd (I think it was in the bowl). Last lap and I am still in 2nd. I push hard through 9 and 10 to try to lose him, but I also know he is on Dot's which are favorable in these conditions now. I round 11 and head towards 12 when I see him on the inside...DAMMIT! I should have known he would try that again and should have ran 11 wide and took 12 tight! I tried to resurrect a run down the front straight, but he manages to keep everything he had. I am still completely STOKED! My first expert podium! 3RD! This was beyond my wildest dreams and a complete dream!
I am tired of writing so the last 2 races will be short.
MWGP-15 out of 18.
MWSB-11 out of 12. Yeah I have no idea what happened the last 2 races. Something got in my head.
Again...just want to thank everyone. All my sponsors in my sig, my team mates, and my friends. I really couldn't have done it without you guys this weekend. And especially Tyler Sweeney. It's a whole new bike now. Can't wait to see what I can do with it. Thanks bro.
-Christian LRRS/CCS HasBeen ECK Racing
2011 Pit Bike Race CHAMPION!
That turn two mess was ugly! I'm glad you were able to salvage your weekend and it sounds like your bike is better (performance wise anyway) than it was prior to the roll. Maybe it's a good thing you didn't have your girly drinks Saturday night. They probably wouldn't have helped your attitude in the morning and it was good to see you there ready to roll. You're pretty fast for a kid!
LRRS EX #7
Low Down Racing
- Woodcraft - Armour Bodies - Computrack Boston - Lifeproof -
Great and eventful weekend for you smutty! Good team you guys have!
That's the no1 thing that's worrying me about racing though. I'm mechanically stupid. I can barely do any work on my bike and it seems like your bike took a beating and you fixed it while on track which is amazing IMO.
Great job getting back on and taking that podium. the thought didn't even occur to me to run 1 rain tire. even if I did I wouldn't have known which one to go with on which end. good to know for the future.
low 16s ain't no joke. you're getting real close to group 9.
pit with some people you know. everyone is willing to help get you back out there. whenever someone crashes other friends typically come over to see how their doing. if they're ok they next go to the bike to see how much work its gonna take to get back out there.
LRRS Am #331
Graphic Tailor / Woodcraft / Armour Bodies / Suomy / Cycle Performance Autobody / Shorai / ChickenHawk Racing
no to take over smutty's thread but i cant even change my own wheels man lol.
the people I was gonna pit with this year though are mad cool. Bob already helped me a ton at the first Bomo TD of the year
Mad skillz bra..It was AWESOME to watch you in that MWSS race. Unbelievable given the events of Saturday, way to bounce back.
Nice job out there, Smutty.
-Brian
15 S-Works Venge
Wow man a PB when you felt like crap AND a 3rd after a crash and rebuilding your bike? AMA for you my friend!
I second the wow, nice recovery on Sunday!
'02 SV650 street|woods|race LRRS #128
next BoMo days we'll teach you to change wheels. its super easy. and if you were gonna pit with Bob and the 2 strokes guys then I think any repair work would be easily taken care of. better method though is to not crash.
So Smutty you did buy that upper fairing stay from S&C? that thing was sweet
LRRS Am #331
Graphic Tailor / Woodcraft / Armour Bodies / Suomy / Cycle Performance Autobody / Shorai / ChickenHawk Racing
Watching MWSS from hot pit was awesome. You got a lot of fans out there man, we were going crazy.
Glad we were able to get you back out there for Sunday, nasty stuff on Saturday.
Last edited by JettaJayGLS; 08-14-12 at 12:47 PM.
A man of many names...Jay, Gennaro, Gerry, etc.
Awesome job man! Now tell me more about this ECU flash............seriously i'm interested.
LRRS #313
Historic Turn 2
Glad to see everyone was able to walk away from that.
Seriously. Thank you for all the kind words. I wouldn't have been able to get there without help from pretty much everyone at one point in time. I'm glad to call you all friends. (Except Doc).
Yep! It was too sweet to pass up. In my head I said,"ok...if it's more than this I am not going to get it." Then he told me the price and...yeah....I got it lol.
Makes your bike faster and helps eliminate an oiling problem in the 06-07.
Basically gets rid of emissions stuff so your butterflies are all the way open at full throttle, raises the idle to keep oil pressure up, eliminates engine braking (kinda like a secondary slipper clutch), and raising the rev limiter helped me carry my drive past the tree house to 9. As I was redlining a little before the tree house before.
-Christian LRRS/CCS HasBeen ECK Racing
2011 Pit Bike Race CHAMPION!
You're an animal. Good job on the podium.
LRRS 878 Clapped out Gixxah
You are flying bro! I'm jealous. And no, I haven't drank your peachtree.
CCS/LRRS EX #226
LOW DOWN RACING
Current stable:
2008 hyper 1100
2007 crf450r
2009 yz450f
2008 sikk mx 125 minimoto
Smutty....what can I say. Awesome performance!!!!!!!
It was great watching you out there!
BAM! Fantastic weekend despite the crash. Podum and knocking on 15s in your first year in EX Middleweight???!! You suck.
LRRS/CCS EX #29
434Racer Performance Parts / Motul / Sportbike Track Gear / Knox / Dyno Solutions / Tony's Track Days / MTAG Pirelli / Nexx Helmets / Woodcraft / GMD Computrack
Thoroughly impressed, kid.![]()
-Pete LRRS/CCS #81 - ECK Racing, TonysTrackDays
GMD Computrack Boston | Pine Motorparts/PBE Specialists | Phoenix Graphics | Woodcraft | MTag-Pirelli | OnTrack Media
The Garage: '03 Tuono | '06 SV650
You should go back to racing an ex. Clearly you aren't cut out for this big bike stuff.
Bah!
Cliff's Cycles KTM
NETRA enduro B-vet
Close your eyes, look deep in your soul, step outside yourself and let your mind go.