motorkas;290831 wrote: Mike - honestly, it's just as tight of a ship up here, and just as honestly, I've heard Dave's riders meeting speech so many times, I almost have it memorized and at every riders meeting he does say "if something's going on, find one of us and tell us about it - if you tell us today we can do something about it, but if you wait until tomorrow on the boards there's nothing we can do".
I posted earlier that I had conversations with alot of CR's that day and every single one of them were pulling people left and right. Had a riders meeting called at lunch for I group (second time this year - other time was at NJMP Lightning) to calm things down and when one of the riders (whom I suspect was part of the problem) started bitching he instantly was set straight by the group of riders (to the point even his crew started turning on him).
When I was at NCBIKE two weeks ago - there was a big crash going into turn 1 (the rider who caused it posted video of it on Youtube - which I believe has since been taken down because it shows he clearly was at fault) but on the video you could hear him telling the workers "He didn't know what happened - the guy checked up and he ass packed him (at what looked like 100+ mph). His comment on his video that showed him ass packing someone at triple digits "when shit happens wipe your ass and get back up". Needless to say, I wasn't amused (and I have a twisted sense of humor). When I first read it, I thought "great sentiment to someone taking you out" - when I watched the video and realized he took the other person out (then continued to roll camera to get the damage of both bikes but never once walked over to apologize or ask how the other rider was doing - at least not on camera - I'm hoping he did off camera) I was like you got to be f'ing kidding me!?!?!?!?. The next session another red flag came out and Peanut lit into all of us while we were lined up. Interestingly enough - everyone was commenting on it being the largest turn out for NCBIKE yet.
Same with VIR north in June - Sat was "interesting" - Sun - "spectacular". . .Sat was also crazy packed and Sun was alot lighter.
I walk into a the riders meeting in the morning and see close to 150 riders ready to go, I already know what kind of day it's going to be: not a day for PR's, a day to spot and stay away from the really aggressive riders (if that means lining up in back on the right line - so be it. . .) a day to work on controlling my testosterone dump when somebody does what I think is a questionable pass and a day where I'm sitting out the first 2-3 sessions because there are going to be ALOT of crashes and I know by the last two sessions of the day - everybody's going to be done and its clear track (since I typically ride 5-6 sessions - not missing any track time by sitting out the first couple). I also say a healthy amount of prayers because I know my odds just went up for something out of my control taking me out because with more riders, more variables, higher chances. . . - I also try to use it to work on skills - passing (cleanly) usually with that many riders, you have limited opportunites to pass so its great to work on find the passing zones and work on multi bike clean passes and anything else that would require me to slow down since I'll be off pace anyway.
Believe me - probably more scary than being out on track while the shenanigans are happening is being in the pits while your friends or loved ones are out on the track and red flag goes up and waiting to see if you see their helmet roll into pit lane. those are usually the longest 2 minutes of my life. For selfish reasons, I want everybody to get through EVERY SESSION cleanly - but when there's obvious signs that the day is "going to interesting" my mind set instantly changes - and so does my riding and my focus for the day.
br />Just as interesting - the best, cleanest day I've ever been a part of started out with the normal questions being asked "how many are new to the track" - no hand went up; "how many are new to NESBA" - no hands went up, about 20 riders per group - I know there were no red flags in any group that day, and I believe no crashes. . .it was at NJMP thunderbolt this summer. . .I think a thread was started about it, maybe got to two or three pages.
Yes , My Friend .. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out what kind of day it might be .... Take a good look around
you can clearly see that trouble is brewing ... It would not be the first time I've sat out the first few sessions .....
I just wait till the dust settles , be the last rider out , give myself plenty of space , and ride my ride ...
I've been riding long enough to spot trouble [squids] I would much rather ride up from behind see what I need to see make quick
work of them and continue to move up through the pack , once I've past them , they're NOT going to catch me , I'll make sure
of that !! As I've said in many of my posts , we're not playing Golf , there are no do overs here , poor judgment can have well ,
catastrophic endings .... We must all do our part in keeping this sport as safe as possible ... if you see something not good
bring it to the attention of your CR's or Director ... all though there will always be FOOLS !!! But if we keep weeding them out
maybe they will do something else like , basket weaving .....
