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Race Report - LRRS Amateur #434 9/4/2010
Look for bold text if you are only interested in results.
Pre-Race
I arrived at the track exhausted but optimistic. I had finally picked up my new toyhauler trailer late Thursday night. The downside being that I had to work straight through until I went to work on Friday to get it ready for use. The drive was actually not as bad as I expected, the XTerra pulled the trailer without complaint (a concern since the total weight is getting close to the max towing capacity of the truck) and the roads were mostly clear, I assume from the threat of the supposed hurricane Earl. Thankfully the weathermen had their usual accuracy and all I saw was an occasional shower.
Saturday AM practices
I got a good night’s sleep (surprisingly comfortable!) and was ready to roll early. The bike felt loose but I didn’t run into any issues and both practices went well with my average speeds in the :24’s and a best that was only .8 seconds off of my personal best, at a pace that I can best describe as comfortable. I would guess I was running around 80-85%%. I was attributing that looseness to the fact that I had been riding my Ducati for the past month and I haven’t been on the track in a while. I looked forward to my first races with great anticipation.
Amateur GTL (endurance)
This is the second race of the day which was a welcome change from the Novice bracket where I normally had to wait 6-7 hours after practice before getting back on the track. Being a newcomer I was gridded in the last row on the inside (9A) which frankly, sucks. I got a great start and shot past the two rows ahead of me but for some reason the bike wouldn’t shift into 3rd so I lost all that I gained by my start as I bounced off the rev limiter 3x before I finally got it to go into gear. That got me pissed a bit so I put my head down and went to work.
There was a TON of traffic as this was a big group (I think 15 in this race) and I was having difficulty gaining ground. Honestly I lost track of positioning as we started to mix with the expert wave ahead of us and I was surprised to find that I was passing some of the expert class on EX500s.
I managed to catch up to David Dayon (#611) who also bumped to amateur this weekend and couldn’t get around him. I followed him for 4-5 laps until I saw the flagger walking out which means the fast guys are closing on their last lap so I had 2 more. I took David on the outside of turn 1 and put my head down. I knew I was still at the back of the pack but I was determined to finish ahead of him. I knew that David was fast coming out of 2 so I had to work hard if I wanted to keep my lead but once I got to 4-9 I would be in good shape. With that in mind I went into 3 hotter than usual, went off my line to where the pavement gets bumpy and lost my front end. I have the front video pointing right at my wheel and you can see where the front end compresses going over the transition and then extends fully and obviously wasn’t enough to keep contact. I should have been lighter on the gas so as to not transfer so much weight back. Thankfully live and learn despite this was the very definition of “went in hot, ran out of talent” as the saying goes.
It is amazing to me how you have so much time to think during a crash. I specifically recall feeling the front grab and let go twice before it finally gave up. I was thinking “maybe I can keep it up” each time it grabbed before finally thinking “aw shit, that’s done it”. I hit hard on my head and left shoulder as I twisted when the bike went down. I recall watching the bikes windscreen fly over my head as I was momentarily looking at the sky, thinking “that cant be good” and the next thing I knew I was pushed hard into the tire wall. I immediately got to my feet and grabbed for my bike (go go adrenaline!), wanting to get it up and back into the race until I realized that during my asphalt surfing I had managed to rip the visor clean off of my helmet. I couldn’t believe that I had crashed out of my first amateur race, but it was so.
DNF but I did manage to make a new personal best of 1:22.153 and had 5 of my 11 laps in the 22’s and a bunch in the 23s. Overall this was an improvement despite the DNF.
Part1
YouTube- LRRS7-GTL-P1.wmv
Part2
YouTube- LRRS7-GTL-P2.wmv
Amateur Lightweight Superbike
I spent the time between GTL and LWSB running around, getting parts for the bike and putting it back together. I literally was turning the last bolts as they called for pre-grid. My adrenaline picked a bad time to leave me; as I threw my gear on and knew something was wrong with my left shoulder as I reached up on the shelf to grab my spare helmet but ignored it and made it to pre-grid just as they were letting us out onto the hot pits. The first turn was a nightmare as I realized that I couldn’t put any weight or use any pressure on my left arm/shoulder at all. I had to make all my bar inputs with my right. I used my legs and the tank to support my weight completely.
I was gridded up with Kurtz, Christian, and Pang as well as a few others in what was a pretty full field of 12 bikes. Again since this was my first time in this bracket as an amateur I was in last place but a much better grid position of 7D (last row but outside). I once again got a good start and shot past the bulk of the traffic and ended up going into T1 in 4th place. I kept up with the front 3 for about half a lap although they were steadily pulling away from me. I was definitely timid in T3 and wasn’t comfortable on the bike, just recovering from my crash and not having half of my body working with me. My lap times showed it as I was a full 2 seconds off of my pace and I was very stiff on the bike, as a consequence I got tired very fast. I managed to hold onto 4th place until the 5th lap where my lap times started to suffer and I got passed. One more lap even slower than the rest and I was passed by two other riders, one being Pang.
Exhausted, I managed not to lose any more positions and finished in 7th place with a best lap of 1:23.841. All in all I was happy with the finish if not my lap times. Later than I had hoped, I finished my first race in the Amateur bracket.
I went to the medical center to have my shoulder looked at and although they can’t confirm since they don’t have an x-ray machine on premises he believed that I had fractured my scapula and pulled a muscle there (rhomboid) as it is actually sticking out a bit from my shoulder blade, kind of like a knot out of my back.
YouTube- LRRS7-LWSB.wmv
Sunday AM practices
I only did the first practice of the day with my head throbbing and my shoulder still mostly useless although a little better than the day before. The practice went well and I felt close to my pace. The fact that I couldn’t support much weight at all really helped to force me to use that “jellyfish” position from the last race weekend which basically causes me to flop on top of the bike and be very loose. Nothing much to report otherwise, average lap times for practice were in the low 24’s which is fairly decent for me during practice as I rarely get to my race pace.
I couldn’t hear the announcements where I was pitted and missed my 2nd practice session of the day. I would have liked the time to build more confidence but it simply wasn’t to be.
Amateur Lightweight GT
This is race 10 of the day which is a long wait after my last practice so I am going into the race pretty cold and feeling sore and stiff. I still cannot raise my left arm over my head or transfer much weight to it so I knew this was going to be interesting.
It was a smallish grid this time around of 7 bikes and once again was gridded in the last row on the inside due to me just bumping up to this bracket. I am beginning to develop some confidence in my starts as I seem to now be able to gain some ground here and this race I ended up 3rd into turn 1. My turns were very lazy and lacked precision; I was wide in almost every turn and late to get on the throttle. My inability to correctly navigate 12 still plagues me and my slow exit speeds left about a 1 second gap between myself and the two bikes in front of me.
I fell to 3rd place as I was passed on the inside line through the 2-3 straight by David Dayon on lap 3 or 4, can’t remember. Nice guy but frankly I am getting sick of losing to him when it is well within my ability to stay in front. I got hung up on an expert on what looked suspiciously like an 848(!) and David increased his lead to half of the straight and I went to work on reeling him back in. Two laps later and I had narrowed the gap to about 50’ or so until I got passed over the hill by Rick Doucette (Expert #6) which meant instead of having 1.5 laps left to catch David, I had the next 7 turns which I knew wasn’t a possibility given my physical condition and the simple fact that on any given day, David is a faster rider than I am.
I resigned myself to 4th place and dialed it back enough to maintain my pace but not risking another crash. Final finish was in 4th place but only managed a best lap time of 1:23.442.
YouTube- LRRS7-LWGP.wmv
In Closing
Despite the crash and injury it was a pretty good weekend. That laps that I had in my GTL were all very good in the 22s and 23s which made me happy since I have been struggling with consistency. I am absolutely loving the trailer. It is so much better to be able to stay on site. I am able to hang with the folks at the track and get up whenever I feel like it rather than hurry through everything. Once again I would like to thank my wife for her continued support, my non-existent sponsors without whom this would not be possible, and the RSP guys for their help, advice, and continued enthusiasm that we all have for each others racing.
Honorable mention goes to Christian for playing with his banana near my bike.
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Originally Posted by Fitz
