LOUDON, NH (September 13, 1998) - Well, this past weekend was one of
ups, and downs, literally!  

Paul was the only one racing this weekend, Adam having sold his bike to
move into a team management position, Kevin stuck in NYC, and Rob
sitting the weekend out in preparation for the upcoming Vintage
Nationals.  Still, the team put in an impressive showing, proving that a
good pit crew can make the difference between a DNF and the top of the
podium.


The short version...

Adam and Crystal were stuck in Boston on Saturday, but planned to come
to the track on Sunday.  Paul was tearing up the track in Saturday's GT2
endurance race, running his fastest times ever: consistently down in the
1:24's.  He was about to take fifth position away from another racer
when he over-cooked it coming out of turn 11.  He fought for control as
the front end pushed and he caught the bike on his knee, but the front
tucked and he went down.  The triple clamps were badly twisted and the
front brake lever was broken, so he was out of the race, with only 3
laps to go!  Saturday night, the team tried to fix the bike, but
concluded it was a goner.  Sunday morning, Adam and Crystal showed up
while Paul and the rest of the team was cornerworking, and went about
straightening the front end.  Using a patented technique, "A & C
Trackside Suspension Services" straightened the triple clamps.  Eric
Wood of Woodcraft saved the day, signing on as a sponsor and providing
the team with some fantastic new clip-ons.  The damage repaired, Paul
went out and finished first in Unlimited Grand Prix!


The long version:

Paul arrived at the track at 8pm on Friday night.  Kit was already
there, sleeping *on* her bike (she really likes her bike). After setting
up camp in a prime spot just inside the tunnel, getting the pit set up,
and the bike ready for tech in the morning, TDR got to bed by 11pm!

Saturday:  The team woke bright and early to a beautiful morning, a bit
brisk, but nice.  Paul went and signed up for two races, GT2 on Saturday
and Unlimited Grand Prix on Sunday.  He took the bike through technical
inspection and went out for his first practice.  Kit opted to cornerwork
all day.

Paul started off nice and slow, as it was his first practice of the
weekend, the track was cold, the tires were cold and new, and he was
rusty.  But the bike felt good, and he was feeling good, so he started
picking up the pace.  He started off with a 1:36 (!) lap, and ended up
with a 1:27 lap by the end of the first practice.  The second practice
was crazy.  There were a gazillion (technical term) bikes out there, and
he was spending all of his time trying to get around the other bikes. 
He did, however, manage to click off a 1:25.8 lap!

Racetime! Paul was gridded near the back, in row 8.  One of these days
he'll learn to  pre-register!  He got a pretty good start and moved up
to about 10th place going into turn 1.  As he  entered turn
3, there is a waving yellow... two experts had gotten tangled up with
each other.  By the time he got to turn 5, the red flag was out.  Back
to the pre-grid.

After a short delay, they went back out for a second warm-up lap and
re-gridded.  On the second start, Paul didn't get nearly as good a
launch, and was only mid-pack entering turn 1.  He put his head down and
made a charge for the lead bikes.  Slowly but surely, he started to work
his way through the field.  The bike was working well, and Paul was
feeling confident.  It was later discovered that he'd dropped his times
a bit, consistently down in the 1:24's and low 1:25's.  Around the
mid-point of the race, the lead expert bikes start to lap Paul. Each
time an expert bike would pass him, he'd jump on their tail as long as
he could, passing a few more juniors and learning a few more tricks each
time.  As the race was coming to a close, he started pushing it, to
catch up with the lead bikes, which weren't far ahead. Each lap, Paul
would close the gap by half a second or more, determined to get a top 5
finish.  On lap 17, coming out of turn 11, Paul felt the front tire
start to slip away from him.  He put his knee down to try and regain
traction, catching the bike on his knee slider, but the front end tucked
under and he went down.  Paul and the bike slid to a stop just off the
line.

The combination of the location of his crash, and the fact that the US
Marshalls were short staffed meant that Paul ended up doing his own
pick-up.  Paul is a cornerworker (when he isn't racing), so he's used to
picking up crashed bikes... but usually not his.  A quick check of the
bike confirmed he was out of the race: broken front brake lever. So he
moved the bike to the inside wall and took a few minutes to catch his
breath.  Some cornerworkers came over and moved the bike into the
paddock, where it was discovered that the front end was pretty well
twisted.  The bike was rolled the bike back to the TDR pits, where it
was parked for the day.

That night, the team set to the task of seeing if the F2 could be
salvaged for the Sunday race.  Paul, Rob and Bruce loosened up
everything on the front end, shook it straight, and then tightened
everything back again.  Unfortunately, every time it was re-tightened,
the front end would resume its tweaked status. Looking down the fork
tubes, they both looked straight, but the front-end just would not line
up. Paul swung by Peter Kates' garage to see if there was anything he
could do, but he had no way of fixing anything at the track -- he could
just tell us if things were bent.  They could tell that ourselves. 
Easily.  After about 6 or 7 attempts, the patient was called. Time of
death: 8:13pm.  He's dead, Jim.

Everyone l gathered under the canopy, and enjoyed a fine meal prepared
by Chef Kit.  (Didn't know she could cook, did ya?  Neither did she.) 
The wonderful late summer evening was spent talking, bench racing, and
hanging out under the stars.  Around 10pm, everyone called it quits, and
retired to their tents.

Sunday: With no bike, Paul signed up to cornerwork all day.  It was hard
for him to be sitting there, watching the practices and wishing he was
out there, but it was another gorgeous day, and he decided to make the
most of and enjoy it as much as possible.

Crystal and Adam arrived right at the start of practice, and, not having
been present during the previous night's attempts to fix the bike,
decided to give it a shot.  After stripping the bodywork off, removing
the wheel and the forks, it was obvious what was bent: the lower
triple-clamp.  Using a patented and highly secretive technique, "A & C
Trackside Suspension Services" straightened the triple clamps and put
everything back together again -- straight as an arrow (sort of)!

At the lunch break, when Paul returned to the pits, he couldn't believe
that he had a straight bike.  How'd they do it?  Adam and Crystal
wouldn't say, but they teased him that since he didn't use a very
scientific way to bend it, they didn't have to use a very scientific way
to bend it back.  (No, they didn't ride around crashing it until it got
bent straight.)  At the lunchtime riders meeting, Eric Wood was cornered
by the team and signed on as a new Team Daemon sponsor, supplying them
with new CFMotorsports clip-ons.  Damn these things are trick!  One
quick trip to Street and Comp later, and they have a new brake lever. 
Now, back to the pits to put the finishing touches on the bike.

Once everything was together, Paul took the bike for a little trip
around the pits.  Rode straight, turned well, stopped great... hey,
back in business here!!  Paul took the bike to get re-teched, then
slapped the tire warmers on and waited for his race, the last race of
the day: the Unlimited Grand Prix, AKA the Michelin/MotoRace Dash for
Cash.  Paul went to check on grid positions: row 5, position A, pole
position for the second wave.  The bike felt good riding around the
pits, but was it stable for race speeds?  We soon found out...

Race time. Waiting until third call, then, in a flash, the tire warmers
come off and the bike comes down off the stands.  Paul headed out to
pre-grid, and took the warm-up lap.  He later reported that the bike
felt good, even at speed.  Paul kept reminding himself, "Just finish the
race!"  He took his position on the grid, all by himself on row five. 
The first wave gets the green flag and roars off, and Paul prepares for
a new "1 board" to go up, but the starter didn't wait! The green flag
flies again... Paul wasn't quite ready, but he got on
his way, deciding to take it easy for a few laps.  Only four seconds off
his pace, he circulated the track trying not to crash, which would have
made all of the rebuilding effort for naught.  The leaders lapped him,
but he finished the race as the first junior, picking up a
first place trophy!

Overall, it was another great weekend.  The bike is going to PK
Suspension tomorrow to make sure everything is straight and working well
before the AMA Amateur Grand Championship.  Big TDR thanks to Bruce
Leung for helping out and to the many TDR racers and pit crew that made
the weekend go so smoothly.  Thanks to "A & C Trackside Suspension
Services" (under exclusive contract to Team Daemon Racing) for making
the bent F2 straight again.  A great big THANK YOU to Eric Wood of
Woodcraft and CFMotorsports for bailing us out of a tight situation and
signing on as a team sponsor.  Many thanks to our other sponsors as
well... HJC, North Reading Honda/Kawasaki, Street and Competition, Sport
Cycle Products, Parametric Technology, etc.  We couldn't do it without
you guys.