I'll make it short and let Drew tell everyone all about his races....
But this weekend was the realization of the harsh reality of competition with racing. It is NOT like track days as much as we would like to think....
We get there Thursday at 4am and have to relocate in the pouring rain because a spot that was not marked off or blocked off at all - and one of the very few remaining spots in the paddock - was "reserved" for someone's buddy. The guy never showed.
It rained all morning- we missed practice.
Cue Friday Morning... I wake up and ask Drew where his race tires are, because i remember them being in between the bikes, with the canopy down. We were sleeping in our tent 2 feet away from them. Some one stole them. Yes. Someone was greedy enough to take the ONE set of race tires we brought (i had brought a nicer set of take-offs to race on donated by Joe Vital himself. Pretty sad. Now we have beat tires on both bikes and one set of take offs to run all weekend. Interesting.
600 CC Novice practice was group 1 - that's me! It was damp and kinda drizzling but I needed to get at least some siting laps in on this track. I made it out for my first practice ever at Road Atlanta and kinda fell in love with the track. It was interesting to crest some of those hills not having any idea where the track was going because I was one of the few people who actually went out for the damp practice.
Drew's practice was group 3 and the track was still rather damp, but it had stopped raining. I watched him do almost a lap, come through turn 12 with a Ducati on his tail. I was busy getting my bike ready and didnt watch the rest of practice, but Drew didnt come back. I asked the guy pitted near us (the one who's friend never showed and made us move for) if there were bikes down as he was out in that practice too. He said a few but all the guys were OK. I wait, i know Drew is okay as there was no ambulance or anything. I see him coming down on the crash truck. He is inside it with his helmet still on. This is a bad sign as I know the helmet still being on means he's pissed. It turns out that the Ducati freaked out and T-boned Drew hard in turn 2. It threw him up onto the windscreen with no controls and he was headed towards a cement wall, so he rolled off. The bike fell, stood back up, continued all the way down the hill and T-bone the wall at about 70 mph. TOTALLED. The entire bike is squished. Forks, triples, front and rear wheel, neck of the frame, the needle on the tach even got knocked off and the swingarm and subfram both bent.
So now we have been on the track all of my 1 practice, his 1 lap and we have so far lost our only set of race tires and had someone punt him off his bike and total it. The guy did apologize, I'll give him that.
I continued to practice for the second time that day and got my times down. No races for us Friday, but I told Drew that if he would take it easy, he could race my R6 and at least show his face there. We took care of all the logistical things needed to be done for that...
Friday night. We go to bed at 9 because of the long stupid day. 11PM and the guy next to us has his construction grade generator near our heads just outside the tent. He starts it up. Its loud and I cant sleep so i get out to move the truck.. He isnt running anything on it!! Apparently he just came back completely hammered and decided to start it then forgot to turn on any lights (this is what he told us the next day). He turned it off after about 30 min. 2AM comes around and the guy on the OTHER side of us is blasting music .. 2AM! And he was supposed to race the next day too. Drew got up and asked him to turn it down. He acted surprised that it was bothering anyone. I got about 3 hours sleep. GRRRR
Saturday - Race day.. Got both my practices in, but the brakes were feeling really glazed. I got a new set of brake pads (i had stock ones with 10k on them) and Drew put them in before his last practice so they could be bedded. He came in and they were doing great - but the tire was shredding fast. Made some suspension adjustments and he had me adjust the lever to where I could reach it.
Race 10 - C superbike. (me)
I go out for my warm up lap and realize that I cant reach the brake lever enough. I get on the grid and try to adjust it with no luck! The guys in front and to the right of me line up wierd and block my vision of the starters to where I cant see the flagger OR the board. I just went when everyone else did. The cool thing was that I was gridded up with the 2 guys that I've been riding with all year. Row 13 - all 3 of us. Perfect! They are both just a touch faster than me and I've gotten comfortable enough with them that i can hang with them and always pull my times down.... I got a decent start even with just going when the guy in front of me did, but turn 1 I am a complete wimp. I get my front wheel cut off and just back down, I'm near the back of the back.. I have no brakes practically and I'm just not feeling right. The pack looses me in 3 laps and I just kinda gave up. I couldnt see anyone in either direction so i thought i was last. The tire is now compltely shot and i know Drew still has to do 2 races on it so i was easy on the throttle... ended up 24th of 27. Ick. Rather embarassing if you ask me.
Drew did pretty well in his races for never riding my bike this year (he took it out in B group once at VIR and then for the Demo at Summit at a B pace) and having a completely shredded tire. He also was racing against 750cc and 1000cc guys. He got a 5th in the A superbike though! Not bad at all!!
------
Overall, it was a fun-ish weekend, but we learned alot about the difference when competition is involved in riding and theives are around.
But this weekend was the realization of the harsh reality of competition with racing. It is NOT like track days as much as we would like to think....
We get there Thursday at 4am and have to relocate in the pouring rain because a spot that was not marked off or blocked off at all - and one of the very few remaining spots in the paddock - was "reserved" for someone's buddy. The guy never showed.
It rained all morning- we missed practice.
Cue Friday Morning... I wake up and ask Drew where his race tires are, because i remember them being in between the bikes, with the canopy down. We were sleeping in our tent 2 feet away from them. Some one stole them. Yes. Someone was greedy enough to take the ONE set of race tires we brought (i had brought a nicer set of take-offs to race on donated by Joe Vital himself. Pretty sad. Now we have beat tires on both bikes and one set of take offs to run all weekend. Interesting.
600 CC Novice practice was group 1 - that's me! It was damp and kinda drizzling but I needed to get at least some siting laps in on this track. I made it out for my first practice ever at Road Atlanta and kinda fell in love with the track. It was interesting to crest some of those hills not having any idea where the track was going because I was one of the few people who actually went out for the damp practice.
Drew's practice was group 3 and the track was still rather damp, but it had stopped raining. I watched him do almost a lap, come through turn 12 with a Ducati on his tail. I was busy getting my bike ready and didnt watch the rest of practice, but Drew didnt come back. I asked the guy pitted near us (the one who's friend never showed and made us move for) if there were bikes down as he was out in that practice too. He said a few but all the guys were OK. I wait, i know Drew is okay as there was no ambulance or anything. I see him coming down on the crash truck. He is inside it with his helmet still on. This is a bad sign as I know the helmet still being on means he's pissed. It turns out that the Ducati freaked out and T-boned Drew hard in turn 2. It threw him up onto the windscreen with no controls and he was headed towards a cement wall, so he rolled off. The bike fell, stood back up, continued all the way down the hill and T-bone the wall at about 70 mph. TOTALLED. The entire bike is squished. Forks, triples, front and rear wheel, neck of the frame, the needle on the tach even got knocked off and the swingarm and subfram both bent.
So now we have been on the track all of my 1 practice, his 1 lap and we have so far lost our only set of race tires and had someone punt him off his bike and total it. The guy did apologize, I'll give him that.
I continued to practice for the second time that day and got my times down. No races for us Friday, but I told Drew that if he would take it easy, he could race my R6 and at least show his face there. We took care of all the logistical things needed to be done for that...
Friday night. We go to bed at 9 because of the long stupid day. 11PM and the guy next to us has his construction grade generator near our heads just outside the tent. He starts it up. Its loud and I cant sleep so i get out to move the truck.. He isnt running anything on it!! Apparently he just came back completely hammered and decided to start it then forgot to turn on any lights (this is what he told us the next day). He turned it off after about 30 min. 2AM comes around and the guy on the OTHER side of us is blasting music .. 2AM! And he was supposed to race the next day too. Drew got up and asked him to turn it down. He acted surprised that it was bothering anyone. I got about 3 hours sleep. GRRRR
Saturday - Race day.. Got both my practices in, but the brakes were feeling really glazed. I got a new set of brake pads (i had stock ones with 10k on them) and Drew put them in before his last practice so they could be bedded. He came in and they were doing great - but the tire was shredding fast. Made some suspension adjustments and he had me adjust the lever to where I could reach it.
Race 10 - C superbike. (me)
I go out for my warm up lap and realize that I cant reach the brake lever enough. I get on the grid and try to adjust it with no luck! The guys in front and to the right of me line up wierd and block my vision of the starters to where I cant see the flagger OR the board. I just went when everyone else did. The cool thing was that I was gridded up with the 2 guys that I've been riding with all year. Row 13 - all 3 of us. Perfect! They are both just a touch faster than me and I've gotten comfortable enough with them that i can hang with them and always pull my times down.... I got a decent start even with just going when the guy in front of me did, but turn 1 I am a complete wimp. I get my front wheel cut off and just back down, I'm near the back of the back.. I have no brakes practically and I'm just not feeling right. The pack looses me in 3 laps and I just kinda gave up. I couldnt see anyone in either direction so i thought i was last. The tire is now compltely shot and i know Drew still has to do 2 races on it so i was easy on the throttle... ended up 24th of 27. Ick. Rather embarassing if you ask me.
Drew did pretty well in his races for never riding my bike this year (he took it out in B group once at VIR and then for the Demo at Summit at a B pace) and having a completely shredded tire. He also was racing against 750cc and 1000cc guys. He got a 5th in the A superbike though! Not bad at all!!
------
Overall, it was a fun-ish weekend, but we learned alot about the difference when competition is involved in riding and theives are around.
