I had a great time this weekend. Even the 80mph slip&slide I did out of 6 was a blast, although I wish I would have felt the ground more before trying to stand up.. I patted it once, then went "ok, I'm stopped". WRONG. Tuck & tumble. Came away without a scratch tho, and got me and my bike off track before anyone else came around.
To anyone else reading this.. first day in the rain, even if you're running rain tires, LISTEN to what they're telling you. I was stepping out the rear on turn 6 the last five laps before that, and as it started drying out.. traction changed. The good news is when you're hanging off the bike right, you don't fall that far. Easy crash.
Sunday was much better but my confidence was shaken from the previous day and after seeing the rider down in the first session, it totally chilled me out. I couldn't find the stomach to twist the throttle until I was out of the turns completely, and it slowed me way down. Around lunch I was getting very discouraged but a pep talk from Murf had me working on other things and it took my mind off of it.
(Thanks Murf, you salvaged my day dude!)
So I forgot all about trying to go fast, and worked on body position, lines, brake markers, shifting points, turn in points, etc. It worked out real well in the end and I was riding consistently. Not fast, but consistent. Not quite the adrenaline rush but much more productive I think.
Big thanks to Tom at Turn One Racing for getting my parts in, and for having spares on hand after my crash. Big thanks to Joe at Turn One Racing for solving my brake fade problem (good call man!), getting my rain tire setup working, and for the track-side repair of my crash damage. I wouldn't have been able to ride Sunday if it wasn't for those guys, and my weekend would have been a wash.
Big thanks to Murf for the pep talk and help with my problems on turn 5 - what you suggested worked like a charm and I was carrying about 20mph more speed through the rest of the day, and not getting stuffed in the brake zone by people passing me on the outside.
To those in B.. please don't pass on the outside DURING turn 5. If you can carry the speed and get back inside before the brake markers, it's not a big deal. But I watched three guys screw up there Sunday before I fixed my line later and started carrying more speed through. When they did this, I had to tighten my line, let off the throttle give plenty of room for them to scoot over before the brake markers - but each of those three times they'd run wide out of 5, straight down the middle of the track in to 6, and miss their brake & turn in points.
Don't get me wrong, most of the passes were cleanly set up, but I don't want to catch flak again from a CR that I stuffed someone when *I* was the one getting passed illegally in a turn and I gave plenty of room.
Why not just wait until after 6 and take the pass on the back straight, rather than risk your day? If you show me a wheel coming out of 5, I'll know you are there and I'm GOING to let you by on the back straight!
CR's please cover this in the B meeting on the next BHF day. Seems to be a reoccuring problem. Last time someone got hurt there, and an intro rider went down as well. Maybe stick a corner worker on the inside of 5 in the empty tower to spot the illegal passes? And caution people about the tight turn / tight brake marker if they DO try to pass? Very easy to get in big trouble on a liter bike.
Anyway off the soapbox.
