0
I took the penguin school on friday and figured some stuff out and have a good baseline for next year if I return. I def. got a key to another door as I felt I was stuck for awhile. Its funny how some people make excuses for why they aren't getting faster and blame it on the bike.....and I was one of them! There is no power, or its the suspension etc....
Saturday races were less then stellar as I was terrible on the starts again and finished in 10th and 11th. I battled it out with a couple people but didn't have the nuts to go side by side in some corners and nudge them out. I would make up huge amounts of time on late braking and corner speed only to be spooked and just follow their line and get passed by guys that I passed earlier......Ugh!
That night we were all sitting by the camp fire when Toad came bombing by on his scooter and hit a picnic table and almost took me out which was funny. He brought his mini cooler and explained he was looking for bon fires. I remember when I was a rookie he helped me out a lot with the sv and he is def a stand up guy for me. He gave me a lot of good advice in between beers and chest poking.
Sunday GTL -So I Tagged someones bike that was on the ground and almost got taken out myself in turn 6. At the restart I was caught up in an incident with brady and chris aho as we were 3 wide but they were edging me out with better speed. chris got crunched into me and man did I go soaring! I do remember seeing the red of chris's bike and then getting launched. I went over the handlebars and hit my head first, and then saw ground sky ground sky over and over. I think I may have gotten tagged by someone behind us but not sure. I lay in a crumpled heap and started to black out as the edge of my vision was going but I stayed with it. I felt foggy for sure and I tried to get up and move but everyone came running over to me and told me to stay down. They asked me all the normal questions of do you know where you are,name, #, etc..... I got taken away and checked out and was released right away.
Chris Aho was a stand up guy and came by with a look of horror on his face. He looked worse then I did! What can you say? Shit happens and thats racing.......It was not his fault at all. The worst part was my wife as she was not stoked at all and of course everyone back home has asked me to give it up.
What I learned- Don't ever-I mean ever- Cheap out on a helmet. The impact that I felt was like me standing in a carnival and some big dude with a sledge hammer swinging down as hard as he could. If there is a next time I will for sure wear a mouthpiece as my jaw was flapping. I have not had any headaches so god willing I may be clear of any concussion. My leathers have 3 holes and rips in them and the back protector I had came in use also.
My Thanks to Arai for making a damn good helmet. My Pit mates who were a tremendous help in fetching the bike while they had races coming up and just being good people all around. Tyler,Brad,Dave,Mike,Sal,Sean,Doug I can't thank you guys enough.Thanks to woodcraft as some of the damage should be easy and Saved a lot of the bike. Unfotunately my forks are twisted like twizzlers. Maybe time for a sv conversion to a Gsxr front end? Thanks to the Medics and corner workers who responded in an instant! Should be 100% in a couple days and be good to get back down to the Gulf of mexico.
Reply With Quote
. I had no idea you had gone down until after the race, it would have changed my mindset for sure. Really glad you had a good helmet and you and the bike weren't worse off. And I really hope to see you back next year.
