OMRRA #39 - Race Report - Round 4

[Visolara]

You ever have those days where you wish you could just rewind it and do it over?  That's exactly how I felt Saturday.

I was at the track Thursday and Friday with CTT and it was great.  I was able to work on a few things, and pickup my pace from the last round.  I was hovering in the 1:20s and dipped into the 1:19s a few times.  Still not what I was doing earlier in the year, but not to bad either for track day pace.

Saturday morning came, and I was ready for some racing!  Weather was ok, it was mostly overcast, but there was no rain to be seen.  Temps were dry and mild.


Race One:   Middleweight Supersport - 7th place finish
I was gridded on the outside of the second row, not a bad spot to start from.  The first wave went, then the flag was up for our start.  The flag dropped, and I killed the bike.  I pulled the clutch and pushed the start button but by then the entire pack and the wave behind us passed me.  I was dead last heading into T1.  Screaming in my helmet, I put my head down and started passing people.  I got back to mid pack within two or three laps, started picking riders off one by one.  I caught up to my team mate David Lane and followed him for a lap looking for a spot to pass, he was faster then me on the straights (well most everyone is when compared to a 240/250lb guy in gear on a 75HP bike ), so I had to get him early in the infield if I wanted to stay ahead of him.  I was going to try and squeeze by on the outside exiting T2, but he drifted a little to the middle so I held the inside and entered T3 with more speed then him and went for an outside pass under power.  I got by him and felt a bump, I cut his line and his front wheel touched my bike.  I quickly looked over my left shoulder and didn’t see him, then right, and there was the dust cloud.  I got out of the throttle and was honestly about to pull off track and make sure he was ok, but when I looked back I saw he was up and flailing his arms in the air.  He was ok, but probably pretty pissed at me.  I got passed by a couple riders when I checked up to make sure he was ok.  I had work to do, so I put my head down and ended up finishing 7th.  Not bad considering I entered T1 behind all 17 riders.  Sorry about the crash Dave. 


Race Two:   450 Superbike - 14th place finish
I was pretty shaken up from the first race, and pretty much felt like a piece of poo (no not you Chris!).  This race had its own plague of problems.  I think it was either lap one or two, but my bike died entering T3, at first I didn't really know what was going on, I thought I was in the wrong gear or something, so I dropped it down one, and still nothing.  It was about then, mid lean in T3 that I noticed I had no power and the bike was not running.  I threw my hand up to signal the riders behind me, and rolled off track.  I pushed the start button and it started, I looked back and there was another dust cloud.  I didn't see what happened, but I had the stomach sinking feeling it was a result of me again.  I rode to the T6 exit and saw the corner worker waving the debris flag and pointing at me.  So I shut the bike off and jumped off it and looked at it.  I thought maybe I was leaking something, or something was hanging off, I really had no idea but the bike had just died, so I figured it was me.  When I didn't see anything wrong with the bike, I looked back at them and shrugged my shoulders, they then shook their hands at me and pointed for me to "GO" and pointed behind me with the debris flag (it was another rider who got asspacked when I stalled in T3).  I then got back on the bike, started it, and got going.  I rode hard, but there was no way I was going to catch many positions.  Finished 14th.  To the two riders that collided, I am sorry, this just was not my day and you two had to pay for it.


Race Three:    Middleweight Superbike - DNS
After crashing out my team mate in race one, and causing another in race two, I was pretty much done for the day.  I needed to do something to make myself feel better.  So off to the tower I went to talk with Janice.  She confirmed if I put his numbers on the bike, and his AMB, David could run my bike for the last race.  I stepped out, and let Dave ride so he would at least get a completed race in this weekend.  It made me feel pretty good, and I think he was happy to have gotten out there and completed his first race this season.  He took 10th, which was pretty nice for his first complete race of the year.


This past weekend had a strange "feel" going on.  So many friends crashed.  Lance, Luke, and Do all transported to the hospital.  I'm relieved they are all ok and will be back to race another day.  John, and his bike catching on fire was nuts!  and last, but certainly not least, David, I am so sorry for the pass that took you out.  I’m glad I was able to get you back out there so you could at least get a full race in.  I will help you get your bike back together and you will be out there in September.  To the other two riders I never got to meet you, I am truly sorry, I wish I could just rewind and start the day over.  Obviously that's not going to happen, so I can only hope your ok, and there wasn't to much damage.

I want to thank my team for everything this weekend, our pits were alive with family, and friends, I also want to thank my boss's boss (Praveen) for coming out to check out the racing.  Thanks also have to go out to the rest of the SV grid as well, sorry if I was a little aggressive in the first race, I am also sorry for not raising my hand when I stalled the bike, I think it was Brian Schilt who almost grazed me.  I know what I'm supposed to do, and didn't.  I have had a rash of bad starts the past two weekends, and it really throws me off.  If I passed you and it was sketchy, please accept my apology, I will work on correcting it.

Lastly, thanks to OMRRA, all its volunteers, and my sponsors.  Without you, I may have not pissed so many people off this last weekend. 

[ryandalling]

Dude... I saw you run a couple laps in practice... and it looked good to me. Practice was smooth for everybody, no pickups at all. Then racing started and it went South really fast. I think everybody was riding with a bad vibe. I hear the one day race weekends are always like that.  I had this pit in my stomach at the end of the day. It really sucked to see that many people transported. We picked up a 12 year old girl who low sided on 3. When we got to her she was sitting on the fence balling her eyes out.... guess she was leading at the time. She wasn't crying cause of injury... just cause she lost the lead. We let her ride in the truck on the way back. Makes you realize the strength it takes to go out there each month. It's racing... win, lose, or crash...if you were all afraid to wreck your bikes... nobody would be out there. It provides entertainment, fear, excitement, and sadness....I am proud of you for your work, and for letting David use your bike. It did not go un-noticed that you are a really stand up guy.

 Let me know if I got any parts to help David out.

[NEIKOS]

G-zus!  How many people you take out Mo?

Hope you and everyone are OK.

[Mother]

hey maurice

I know I'm not a racer like you guys

but

I grew up at race tracks since I was a bout 9 y/o

and the very over used phrase

"that's racing"

is very applicable here

none of those crashes were intentionally your fault

and intention is key to blame

the pass on david lane was sketch but again, that is racing

you took him by more than 3/4 bike length, it was his responsibility to back out of the throttle

and as far as the other two guys

you had a failure

race bikes/cars fail, it happens

again, up to them to get out of the throttle

don't beat yourself up too badly

however the gesture to David Lane was cool

and he needed to repaint that plum covered nightmare anyway

(or had he painted it that rape baby blue you guys chose?)

 

[ryandalling]

It was repainted that baby blue.

[Mother]

It was repainted that baby blue.

 

well then it needed to be crashed

[Visolara]

It was repainted that baby "destine to crash" blue.

fixed it for you.

[ryandalling]

Don't be so hard on yourself... or the color... is there gonna be any room on the team for another... come next year? I already got the blue tank. 

[Mother]

Don't be so hard on yourself... or the color... is there gonna be any room on the team for another... come next year? I already got the blue tank. 

I thought you were married

and you still have a blue "tank"

 

[ryandalling]

I thought you were married

and you still have a blue "tank"

 

I am married... not dead... duh. 

[krolik]

John's Monster/749 combo caught on fire?!?!

[Visolara]

John's Monster/749 combo caught on fire?!?!

John a friend of Amy crashed in T1 and his bike caught on fire.

Jon (Desmosome) just ran out of gas in his last race. 

[desmosome]

That desmosome guy is stooopid.... 

[krolik]

Jon (Desmosome) just ran out of gas in his last race. 

That leads to fewer firey crashes though.

[ryandalling]

John a friend of Amy crashed in T1 and his bike caught on fire.

I got the joy of riding in back with the bike... and a fire bottle... to put out the bike if it flared up again in the truck... as it was still really hot... and leaking gas, oil, and break fluid.