Picked up and old, beat up and mothballed SV650 from a former racer the Saturday before the race. Was told that “everything should work” but it had been sitting for a few years with a full tank of gas and no love. Due to time constraints I couldn’t get fancy with her so I cleaned out the gas tank, added fresh oil and fuel, replaced spark plugs and liberally applied fiberglass, Bondo and some of the best rattle-can paint money could buy until she resembled a motorcycle again. Not the way I planned to start the season but the money is tight!
Took her out with AF on Friday and with crossed fingers and a rabbit’s paw in my leathers pocket I headed out at 9:00am sharp. (Note to self: if you don’t know if the bike works test hard braking before you get to turn 2). After almost filling my leathers I was delighted to find out that, minus a few quirks, the bike ran like a champ. Handling was good and thanks to a new set of super-sticky Bridgestone tires I was up to lap times that would put me in the top 5 in 650SS. I was a happy camper.
Saturday Practice went well, I am glad I decided to do both session because in session 2 to throttle plastic sleeve broke off in my hand while trying to chase down 282 teammate Randy Bailey. Glad it was practice! Replaced the part with Featherstone’s spare (Thanks Eric!) and was ready for the race.
Race 1 – 650SS Last Row. First race of the year and I swear there was about one millisecond between the sign turning and the light going off. Long story short I got caught sleeping at the wheel and I went into T2 dead last. Screaming profanities at myself all the way down to T3 I somehow convinced myself that I was going to exit T4 in the lead, this confirms that the “red mist” is a highly toxic substance and will make you think you are Ben Spies. At height of my delusion I let off the throttle somewhere around brake marker 1 and proceeded down to escape route at lighting speed. More cussing. I rejoined the field dead last and 10 seconds behind. That finally settled me down, I managed to pick off a few people and get into a last lap mini-battle with Todd Sparrow that fortunately was having gearbox issues. Unfortuntely I pissed him off enough to inspire him to dig deep and give me one last kick in the teeth and hold me off until the checkered flag (was fun anyway ). Silver lining: the first one is out of the way, it WAS unnerving.
Race 2 – MW GP Twins. No chances at a podium here but excellent competition with teammates Eric Featherstone and Randy Bailey as well as Todd Sparrow and Brian Jeffery. Got a better start and got into a great battle with Todd and Randy. We went back and fourth a couple of laps until the point when we were trying to get past 277 Brent Prindle. He had been making himself pretty wide, lined him up going down to T3 and as I was about to attempt an outside pass Brent’s front end gives way and he low sides right in front of me. I missed most of his carnage but managed to use his left harm as a speed bump (both wheels!) ended up wide at the exit of 3 and after some dirt riding rejoined to field. By then my competition was a few seconds ahead (again!!) I settled down and took it home with a disappointing 9th place.
Race 3 – Open GP Twins. Allister talked me into signing up to beef up the grid, what the heck I took him up and gridded with the SV eating 150+HP monsters that make up that class. I actually had a great start and went into turn 1 in 5th spot. (I am embellishing the crap out of this one and adding this one to my resume as we speak!) After getting my leathers blown off by my honorable competition I managed to maintain 9th until the end of the race. Believe it or not I was actually tickled at the way the bike was running and at the result.
Race 4 – 600 TFS. After three days of riding and a three-race day I am pretty sure I saw Jesus waving at me on the control tower. I lined up with the usual suspects in the usual last spot and waited for the warm embrace of the red mist to settle in. The light goes off and off we go! Pretty good start again but there were older in-line fours all over the place yarding us SVers on the straight and then parking their asses in the turns. It wasn’t long before the spirit of Bruce Lee visited me and with a rebel yell I managed to gain four or five positions in two laps passing people in places I never knew people could pass (Sorry Jim P. for the Kamikaze move between 6 and 7, it did come out pretty clean though J). By lap 3 I was able to gain momentum and put a few seconds between me and my direct competition. Tiredness started to set in and Eric F snuck up on me and bombed past me in T1, I latched to his tail and I swear the little bastard was teasing me by holding me up through T2. The rest is history: usual taste of blood in the mouth, blurred vision, fogged visor caused by the animal-like growl . . . I blew a downshift before T3, went wide Featherstone went bye-bye and Bailey went through on the inside for the third time this weekend (insert profanity here). Hung on to 12th spot and got my best time of the weekend while going through traffic on lap 3, I really can’t complain.
All in all and in spite of all the stupid mistakes this was the funnest racing weekend yet. I am going to sort out my suspension, join a yoga class and will be ready for the next round. See you all there!
