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Arrived Friday just before 6pm... got my infield pass & headed in before registering. I met up w/ the rest of the usual suspects & McBiggity went back to the registration hut w/ me to help me get my shit sorted. I got my number (#182), transponder & registered for my races. Fun stuff.
Saturday I got up nice & early to get everything together, double check my bike, register for the Rookie Race, chat w/ Jeff Wood about it etc. & in the midst of everything, ended up missing both practices. No biggie, I'd much rather take my time & be methodical than rush like a mad man & forget something.
I used the rookie race as a practice & did alright. I started in the second wave, got a good start, complete w/ a sweet 12" high power wheelie & I kept it to 8-9/10ths pace. I ended up w/ a best lap time in the 1:37 range.... I was ok w/ that & knew i had PLENTY of places to improve, so i wasn't disappointed. Finished about mid-pack & actually passed some of the heavyweights that were in the first wave.
Second race on Saturday was Light Weight Sportsman. I started pretty close to Biggity & actually kept him in sight for about the first 1/2 of the race while we were workin through traffic. Eventually he was able to get past some guys that I couldn't & I kinda lost him towards the end. Again I finished about mid-pack & shaved off 4 seconds, dropping my PB to a 1:33.2
That was it for Saturday
Sunday morning, I get up nice & early once again (i've never been a morning person in my life, seriously... wtf??? ) and made a quick bike inspection....... uh oh..... TONS of white foamy crap in my oil sight window... praying that it was just some kinda film, i opened up the filler cap & sure enough, there was white shit all on the inside.... blown gasket... water's getting into the oil somewhere.
I took a look around, found some minor oil leaks (nothin major, it's an EX remember ), cleaned em up & discovered a leaky base gasket on the left side of the casing. I talked w/ some people about it & ended up changing the oil & filter, getting the crap oil outta there and flushing out most of the foam.
After that I went & talked to BJ Worsham (very good to meet ya, bro! :ok: ), told him I changed the oil out but there's still some film in there and he said "dude... it's an EX... run it"... So i did
I went out in GTL (missed both practices AGAIN) and got another good start. I kept Brian Oxx in sight for the first 3 laps, but then going through the bowl i felt the bike stutter..... aw shit.
I limped it back to hot pit, leaned it up against the wall & shut it off. got off the bike, looked at what i could & fired it back up. Everything seemed normal but I wasn't about to take a chance so i rode back to the pits.
Turns out I believe the stutter i felt in 6 was caused by low gasoline. Well... there was actually plenty of gas in there but my petcock was flipped to "ON" instead of "RES", which means it wasn't getting all the fuel from the tank. But when we looked in there we could see alot of sediment, some rust & general crap. So i removed the gas tank, completely drained out what was in there, took off the petcock, put some more gas in there to flush it all out & reassembled. Good as new.
Oil was still super milkey, but level was ok, as was the water level. (just dirty w/ oil)
After a LLOONNGG wait for race 14... Production Twins... aka THA MAIN EVENT I finally went out w/ Darrell, Mike (Biggity) and Chad Falcone. There were about 12 of us in the PTwin wave, I was gridded in 5d... back outside. Right behind Mike, right next to Chad and right in front of Darrell... this is gonna be FUN.
Green flag moves & we're off. I got a great jump, pulled along side Mike and drifted low for turn one. I ended up getting underneath Tom Joyce and passed his son going into 1a for the lead... WOO HOO!!! I ended up putting in a pretty good first lap and actually held the lead for the entire first lap & 1/2... COULDN'T BELIEVE IT! By then I started thinking about backing off a little. The start & first lap took a good amount out of me & i still had 6 & 1/2 laps left.
Connor passes me... Tom passes me... Mike.... someone else.... then Chad and I diced it up with him for laps 3 through 5. He'd get me in turn 1, 6 and 9 I think in those three laps and i'd get him between 12 - 1, 2 - 3 and 4 - 6 under power.
By lap 5 i had worked myself far enough ahead of him that I didn't see him again till the cool down lap after the checkered.
I made another pass and started closing in a little on Mike and Tom who were in 2nd and 3rd. We both came around turn 11 and I saw a bike down right by pit entrance. I didn't get a good look at the rider, but saw that he was standing up and ok... I had my suspicions that it was darrell but knew the rider was alright so I put it out of my mind, put my head down & continued chasing Mike & Tom in the fight for what I thought at the time was 2nd place.
I followed them into 1, 1a & 2 and was about 50 yards behind, slowly creeping up. As they drove out of two they both passed a lapper on the inside... It was gonna be close, but I decided right then & there that I wa NOT going to be behind that lap traffic coming into 3 and was going to pass him on the left as well.... I put my head down, twisted that throttle as far as it would go & tucked as tight as I could to the bike...
Catching up to the lap rider fast he starts drifting over as we're approacting the braking zone for three... I bang an upshift to 5th, still hard on the gas. He's drifting... drifting... drifting.... SHIT. He hits the brakes just before the ripples and now there's only about 2 feet between him and the grass... I aim for the opening, STILL at full throttle, go over the ripples, BLAST past him. had that lapper not been there, there's NO way I would have gone into 3 this hot, but I committed, I did it, now was the time to execute.
So i come flying into turn 3 faster than I ever have and i'm FAST approaching Mike who still hasn't even turned in yet.... I release the throttle between the first & second cone and KIILLLL the brakes like i've never killed em before... I feel the back end get SUPER light, dances around on me a little and I see Mike getting bigger FAST. I bang one downshift instead of two & I'm a little to his inside STILL killing the brakes. Mike set up nice & wide making my only option to go up the inside... Had i tried to go to his outside or stay behind him I would have either ended up on top of him or on top of the tire wall, so I aimed for daylight on his inside as we both turned in. I pull even w/ him just before the apex STILL on the brakes, front end starting to push & my knee on the ground. He sees me, realizes i'm not about to back off, gives me a little room and I move up his inside and start heading up turn 4 in 4th gear instead of 3rd.... I just lived through the biggest pucker moment in my life and now i'm bogging my engine heading up the hill.... DOH!!!
Luckilly Mike ran wide enough that he wasn't able to get a good drive up four, over 5 & into 6 so i held my position and started chasing Tom whos only 20 yards in front of me. I stayed behind him the rest of lap 7 and we get the white flag. I follow him into 1 right behind him, through 1a, two, into 3... he runs wide and leaves the door open for me coming out of 3 and into 4.... I shoot for the apex of 4 and get past him...
Somehow, some way i was able to hold him off for the next 45 seconds, came outta turn 12 for the front straight with him RIGHT on my rear tire w/ Mike not far behind & took the checkered.......
Now i'm thinking... "no way...... there's no way in hell.... where's the guy in 1st place??? DAMN he musta checked out, there's no one in front of me! Where is he??? I finished second, right?"
I see Tony, Rene and Ken C. all standing on pit wall by turn 1 all "hailing" me and clapping, but STILL COULDN'T BELIEVE IT.... There's NO WAY I just won that race... NO WAY.
handshakes, thumbs up & high fives w/ the other riders all through the warm-up lap, along w/ a big shove from Chad in turn 9 for a great race...
Later on I was clued into the fact that that rider that went down in turn 11 was in fact Connor Joyce.... Tom's son and leader of the race up until that point. Had he not gone down, he woulda had the race in the bag. It was his to lose & for that I feel for him. He was definitely bummed out.
For me, I still think luck had alot to do w/ it. Connor going down, lap traffic holding up Tom & Mike and actually PUSHING me to go faster and Tom running wide all attributed to my first win ever in my first p-twin race ever. Had those things not happened I probably would have finished 4th, maybe 3rd, but I was able to take advantage of the situation, stay composed and consistant (see unofficial lap times from my on-board timer below) and use all the energy I had left to control the bike and stay upright for the win. Definitely a race that'll never be forgotten.
Unofficial Lap times
lap 1 - not recorded
lap 2 - 1:32.08
lap 3 - 1:31.83
lap 4 - 1:30.93
lap 5 - 1:30.31
lap 6 - 1:30.35
lap 7 - 1:30.32
lap 8 - 1:29.23 (fastest lap and personal best)
Overall I was able to drop my best race times by a whole 8 seconds (or more, depending on what the official results say) and was able to take home a first place plaque for the mantle (that one of the NESR bastids nabbed when I wasn't lookin & is probably holding for ransom, but i'll get it... and so will they
A HUGE thanks to everyone that helped me out this weekend... Especially Mike for registration guidance and my water pump; Dan for use of his tools & electricity; Jim F for transporting my bike up there; Hucklefucker for some grub and everyone else that helped me out this weekend... Definitely an awesome group of guys, all of you.
Oh & I was able to make it to my indoor soccer game last night where we DOMINATED! Kicked some major ass & won it 12-0... I got an assist or two and was accredited w/ the shutout (i'm the goalie)