Race Report: July 07 - 08, 2001
Bruce was the lone TDR rider this weekend. Paul was off checking
out the World Suprtbike Action in Laguna Seca, Scott was still having bike
woes, Kevin was stuck in the city, and Dane is still injured. There
were many red flags this weekend, as well as a terrible crash in turn 2
involving a rider and cornerworker, seriously injuring them both (see News
section), but Bruce made it through unharmed.
Find all of the weekends race results at the LRRS website here.
Definitely a weekend to put behind us. Not because I didn't
come home with any trophies for the first time all year, but because two
corner workers were among the many that were injured this past weekend.
Four air-lifts and countless red flags made it a weekend to forget.
I arrived at the track around 10p on Friday night and Scott and Kit were there to help me make short work of unloading. An Aprilia RS250 was already in the garage and belonged to Kevin's friend Ron. I was the only one on the team racing this weekend so we had plenty of room. Nils and Calvin also showed up Saturday morning.
I had my sleep deprived self to bed a bit after 11p but 6:30a came way too early. I managed to be first in line at the pre-entered window though and was on my way to tech shortly after 7a.
Practices were so-so for me. A lot of red flags through out the morning caused numerous delays. I installed new Woodcraft rearsets on the 748 prior to the weekend and found them much more to my liking over the stock pegs. The position was more forward and the solid pegs provided a more sure-footed feel. I was fairly mellow on the Duc because I didn't have a race on it today. I didn't sign up for MW Supersport because I planned to head over to Jolly Roger for dirt track racing right after LW Sportsman.
The weather was near perfect all day and although I made an effort to drink plenty of water, I failed to drink enough. By mid-afternoon I had a pounding headache and realized I had gotten a bit dehydrated. Nils provided me with an Aleve but it had zero affect on my head.
The red flags continued to fly until the afore mentioned corner worker incident took place. This led to a lengthy delay while everyone was tended to. The already thin ranks of workers was further reduced and a call went out for more corner workers or we wouldn't be able to finish out the day. I was still feeling like crap with some mild bouts of nausea so I was half hoping they'd move the remaining races to tomorrow.
Well, everyone stepped up and there were a lot of volunteers to
corner work so the racing resumed. I needed to score points to maintain
my third place position in the season standings so put on my leathers and
hoped I wouldn't barf in my helmet.
Race
9: LW Sportsman (MuZ) - 5/13 entries (8 pts)
A mediocre start found me in about 10th coming out of T2.
I worked my way through the pack fairly quickly and soon had Matt and Ted
in my sights. We had to contend with backmarkers from LW SuperSport
and I failed to make up any ground on them. With the races shortened
to 6 laps and the condition I was in, I realized I wasn't going to catch
them. I had a comfortable margin back to 6th place so I didn't push
it for the last couple laps and settled for 5th. Not an inspired
ride but I'll take it. Ted gained some ground as far as the championship
points but I'm still a fairly solid third.
It was about 6p at this point and I still felt like poo. It was going to take at least an hour to get to Jolly Roger so I was going to miss the heat races as well as practice. However, I had faxed them earlier in the week asking them to put me on the grid as I'd be a little late so I felt obligated to show up. Well, by the time I got there the feature races were just starting, I still felt bad, and in the end I decided not to race. After watching a few races I started back to Loudon. It's a small miracle that I made it back without incident as I found myself dozing off numerous times on the way back. I really should have pulled over somewhere to nap but, well, I didn't. As soon as I made it back to NHIS and parked in front of our garage I promptly fell asleep. I woke up about an hour later, got out of my truck, crawled into my tent, and was sound asleep seconds later.
Saturday was definitely a day I could have done without.
It rained during the night and the track was still wet for the first round of practice. I opted to skip the first practice and give the track a chance to dry out. I don't remember seeing a single bike out in the first expert red session.
Race
4: SuperTwins (Ducati) - DNS/12 entries (0 pts)
A light mist had been falling for the last couple races but as
long as the program kept moving the track was fine. Unfortunately
we were held on pre-grid while something (brake fluid?) was cleaned up
in T12. This allowed the track to build up some moisture but it wasn't
too bad when we got to our warm-up lap.
I got an OK start and wasn't last going in to T1. Tommy was
in front of me and I was able to stay with him. On the second lap
the race was red flagged. I saw Robbie down on the outside of T11
as we came around to pit in. Given the way the weekend had been,
the damp track, and the way I'd been feeling, I decided to just pull in
and not make the restart.
Race
9: SuperSingles (MuZ) - 4/6 entries (9 pts)
The weather was still very iffy. Drizzle, mist, nothing,
back to mist, etc. I opted to stay with the Pilots as the race line
tended to stay dry and I didn't have any help for a last minute wheel swap.
There was a light mist falling when third call came but the line still
looked dry. Well, once again we were held on pre-grid for what seemed like
an eternity. The track was now clearly wet and our tires were stone
cold.
On the warmup lap a Junior from the Formula Forty wave stuffs it under me going into T9. Moron. Karma always catches up though and I was not disappointed to see him on the ground in T2 during the race.
At the start Doug launches with the second wave (MW Sportsman). Doh! But he catches a big break as two laps in we get a red flag when a couple Experts from the Formula Forty wave toss it away in T12. It wasn't until we were back on pre-grid that Doug learned he had jumped the start. :) More delay as T12 is cleaned up yet again.
The track is now quite wet and tire tracks are clearly visible as we take our warm-up lap. It has, however, seemed to have stopped raining. A mediocre start finds me behind Brian and Nick in fifth with only Paul C. behind me. The track is slippery but after a few laps a dry line starts to develop. The early laps find Brian and Nick trading places a few times and I'm content to let them battle it out in front of me. As the dry line forms Brian gets ahead of Nick for good and starts to pull a gap. I know that I have to get around Nick so Brian doesn't get away. I do so on lap 5 and start to reel in Brian. Unfortunately it starts to drizzle and, though I'm still gaining, progess is slower than I'd like. White flag and I'm about a second behind Brian. Coming out of T10 it's about a half second. Out of T12 and Brian slows so much that I think he's missed a shift. I get on the throttle and my rear tire just spins. Ah, that's why Brian was going so slow. I grab a shift and try to get under the paint. Brian crosses the line less than 5 hundredths of a second in front of me.
With my fourth and Doug finishing second, we're now tied for second place in the championship standings. Jeff continues to run away with first so it's going to come down to a battle for second.