Round 3 - The Universe Tells Me Not to Race. I Tell the Universe to Stick it...

Summary

Round three of the 2015 SOAR series July 10-12 was a brutal, incredibly crashy weekend where it seemed like nothing could go right.  I avoided the carnage and, despite a big mistake fighting for the lead, still managed a third place in the BOTT LW race.  The Prairie Dogs continue to improve and are moving up the ranks of the GTU Endurance class.

(photo: Sheri Manuel)

Round 3

Round 3 was held on the "Reverse Screaming Alien" layout at the Grand Bend Motorplex.  This was the annual Steve Shreeve / Jeff Waller Memorial Weekend, which includes a BBQ, band and fireworks show Saturday evening, then the traditional silly pit-bike race event Sunday at lunch.

It was a great pleasure to have my daughter Caterina, 10, and my nephew Nicolo, 17, who was visiting from Italy, along for the weekend.  Nico is pretty enthusiastic about the recent success of his Ducati-racing Zio and was really into the whole thing.

I wasn't able to attend the Friday practice day this round, but had a good bit of experience on this layout from a track day back in 2013.  Looking back at my records, my previous best lap time was a 1:12.5.

I was entering this round with a healthy lead in the BOTT LW class, and was determined not to make any mistakes that would jeopardize my chances of winning the championship.  All I needed to do to keep myself in a good position was to not have a mechanical DNS, or a crash leading to a DNF.


Friday Evening

We met the rest of the Prairie Dog Racing team, Allen and Steve, at the track Friday evening and started hearing stories that would unfortunately set the tone for the rest of the weekend.

Apparently the Friday practice day, especially the "slow" group, had been a complete Gong Show.  People showing up late and missing the rider's meeting, then doing idiotic stuff like exiting the track improperly, stopping on the main straight, re-entering the track against marshals' orders and even  (get this!) riding at full speed past four red flags and a crash site while the track crew was trying to mobilize the ambulance to attend to the fallen rider.

SOAR principal Ken McAdam was having kittens.  Ken is always serious when it comes to safety, but if you make a mistake, when he speaks to you about it (which is always immediately), the conversation is 100% constructive.  Not about bawling you out, it is about getting you to understand what you did wrong, why it is dangerous, and making sure you completely understand the correct procedure.  Then, on with your day and it's water under the bridge.

To make him actually furious, you have to be a special kind of stupid.


Saturday Practice

I had arrived too late Friday to register or tech the bike, so there was quite a lot to do Saturday morning if I was going to get two practice sessions in before qualifying.  Unfortunately we all had such a good sleep in Allen's trailer (which he had completely gutted and put back together since the last round, in order to rebuild the floor structure!), that I didn't wake up until a quarter to eight!  Eek!  Big panic.  Got registered and teched quick but then the bike was doing the same old thing where it would throw the engine light on and stall.  At least this time I knew if I warmed it up long enough it would eventually work properly.

The rider's meeting was kind of long since Ken had some "comments" to share regarding the previous day's shenanigans, and there was also a long discussion about the endurance racing procedures.  My group was supposed to go out for practice first and there we were, burning up all that time, and my tire warmers weren't on yet...  

This stuff gets stressful when you aren't properly prepared.  I had just returned from a 5000-km road trip with Caterina and Nico two days prior, and hadn't had the time to really get all my ducks in a row for this round.  My lack of preparation was starting to show and we hadn't even hit the track yet.

Anyway I did make it out for first practice with maybe less heat on the tires that I would have liked.  Nico was recording my lap times and I was slow.  1:14.2.  Jordan Renshaw was doing 1:13.8 on his KTM 390.

Second practice I started to feel it, and managed a few low 1:11s.  Better.


Qualifying

The qualifying races were a bit nuts.  Lots of crashes, one quite serious resulting in a leg injury and a long delay.

The BOTT LW field was a decent size again this round - 11 entries.  Considering that three of the regulars didn't show up (Alex Radecki and the Bauer boys), this was very encouraging.  Also, Allen was finally on the grid with his BMW 1100 Boxer Cup Replica.

After some complaints from Bob Tziougras and others, the organizers agreed to give us a two-wave start.  The lost era heavyweight bikes would start in front of us while we stood still on the grid, and then after a 20-s delay we would be released.  The idea is that we then don't get tangled up with the other class right away, and can race amongst ourselves for at least some of the laps.

Since I had the points lead I was starting on pole for the 6-lap qualifier, and it went according to plan.  As you can see from the video, Jordan, Bob and Don all passed me on the start, but I was able to work my way past each of them again, eventually passing Bob on the last lap to claim pole position for Sunday's final, plus five points in the championship.

Allen finished eighth.  He was riding the bike well but its lack of top-end power made it hard for him to pass other bikes and then stay ahead of them.  Hopefully a little motor work will eventually help with that.




Prairie Dogs Endurance

We had a successful and mostly uneventful endurance race, finishing fifth out of eleven teams in the GTU class.  It was another big turnout, with 26 teams total.

I don't know if it was the heat or what, but the race was crashy - four red flags, which I think is more than we had all last year in endurance.  Between those crashes and the ones earlier in qualifying, we sent the emergency department in Exeter five broken collar bones in one day!  They must have been losing their minds.

Thankfully the PDR team managed to avoid all of that.  We found it curious that Allen was on the track every time they threw they red flag, but he claims he was never anywhere near the incidents.

As you can see from the photos,  Glen McTavish is just a bottle of Nair away from making a pretty attractive umbrella girl.  Cat and Nico handled lap recording and pit boards.

Saturday night was great fun, with a free BBQ, awesome band, and the fireworks show.  The SOAR organizers really do make the memorial weekend into something special.

Sunday Morning

I managed to get myself out of bed at a decent time on Sunday.  When I took the cover off the bike I noticed that the left heel guard was broken.  The thing is butter soft and had been bent back into shape so many times that it had finally snapped at one of the mounting points.  Steve got on it for me and figured out a way to trim it, drill a new hole, flip it and remount it.  Perfect.

  
Morning practice went fine and Nico timed me on a bunch of low 11s and maybe some high 10s.  As usual, the laps spent on the endurance bike the day before had been useful.


Pit Bike Race

Over the lunch break they held the pit bike race.  The costumes were as crazy as ever, and it looked like it was shaping up to be a lot of fun.

This is where shit really started to get weird.

And I don't mean the costumes.

About 10 seconds after starting the event, they suddenly stop it because someone has fallen.  No biggie - somebody fell off a minibike at low speed, probably scraped their elbow, right?

Wrong.  The person was in fact badly injured, and they have to end the event and bring in the ambulance.  Word soon spreads that it is Kyle Newman who has fallen.  Kyle...one of the best young riders in the series, holder of the novice #1 plate by virtue of having won the rookie 600 series last season.  Kyle, the regular podium contender in the Novice 600 series, who rides with skill and courage on a lost era machine, every round beating dozens of guys on modern machinery.  Kyle....Kyle is lying on the asphalt with his femur broken in two places.

In a dress.

You can't make this stuff up.

So, another very long delay while they wait for the road ambulance to show up.  Everyone is sitting around in the pits with nothing to do but think about what the hell is going on this weekend, and getting more and more depressed.  Then, David Renshaw, Jordan's dad, comes by on a dirtbike on the gravel road beside our pit area.  He stops, looks at us, and says

"Look, I''m going to be the next one!"

then rides 5 m, pops a wheelie, turns hard left towards Allen's truck, and crashes.

Only scrapes and cuts for David, but at this point the whole Universe is screaming at me DON'T GET ON THE BIKE!!!!   PACK UP AND GO HOME!!!!   My daughter is looking at me all freaked out and saying "promise me you won't get hurt Daddy".

But if I pack up and go home, I will get no points, and I will hand Bob Tsiougraz the BOTT LW championship.

And that simply can not happen.  Obviously.


Sunday BOTT LW Final

In spite of the protestations of the Universe, nothing really bad happened during the BOTT LW final, except for the fact that my camera stopped working, leaving me with no video.  The race itself was pretty interesting, and the video below was taken by Steve Mitchell.

Let's start with Steve.  None of us had ever heard of him.  After the race he told me that he had just built the bike (an SV650).  It had bodywork off of something else, making it look like a four cylinder.  In fact, at 8:30 in the video you can see the starter trying to wave him up into the front group, thinking he was one of the Lost Era Heavyweight competitors.

The start was goofy.  The first pack got off fine, but when the starter put his hand behind his back to extinguish the red light for our group, instead of waiting a few seconds he dropped the control box on the ground, causing the light to go out immediately (you can see him off to the right in the video at 9:12).

Bob caught on quicker than the rest of us what had happened and got the hole shot, followed by me and then Don on the R1200S.

I had gone into the race telling myself not to take any chances - a win wasn't necessary to keep a good lead in the points, I just needed to not finish too far behind Bob.  Which doesn't explain why, on only the second lap, I got greedy and tried to outbrake him at the end of the straight.  Instead, I ended up missing the corner completely and straight-lining it (10:52).  What was I thinking?

So that's all of me that you will see on the video, but let me explain what happened after that.  By the time I rode down the access road to the designated reentry point between turns 4 and 5, I had lost a good 20 s, and pretty much the whole field had passed me.  With tons of clear track in front, I put my head down and started turning better and better lap times.  Nico clocked me on high 10s, then low tens, and finally one or two laps in the 9s.  From memory, I caught up to Allen and Dean Hammond first and got by quickly, then a lap or two later passed Yarek Rutkowski on the back straight.  A little later yet I came upon Don Morris and made a slightly sketchy pass on him on the brakes in the same place I had run off on lap two.  Next I caught up to Jordan Renshaw and passed him just with motor on the front straight before the dogleg.

Meanwhile, Steve had passed Bob for the lead (nice pass at 17:15 in the video), but Bob had no idea!  He didn't recognize the bike, and figured it was one of the LE guys.

After getting by Jordan I had tons of open track again, and just kept laying down the best times I could.  Then, just after turning off the back straight, who do I see in the distance, but Bob!  I couldn't believe it.  I thought he was in the lead and so chased him down as quickly as possible.  I don't remember exactly where I passed him, but it was on the last lap or the second last.  At that point I thought I was leading.

The last half of the last lap is where it really got interesting.  At 22:43 in the video, just after the white flag, a rider crashes in front of Steve entering the carousel.  It doesn't affect him though and he carries on, catching up to Allen and Dean on the back straight, who are a lap down.  With five corners to go, I come up quick behind Steve who is being slowed up by Allen and Dean.  With everything getting backed up I was worried that Bob would find a way by me and retake the "lead".  On the short straight just before the triple-apex left they call Big Daddy, I actually pulled right up alongside Steve thinking about making the pass, then decided not to risk it and backed out of it (you can't see me in the video but it was at about 23:27).  I had no idea that that pass would have been for first place!  Anyway, by the time we came around to the start-finish straight, I decided to go to the right around the traffic, but there was no room.  Bob chose the left and just got me at the line - maybe by a wheel.

After the cool-down lap, Bob goes to collect his checkered flag, but is told to carry on, he didn't win.  That too is on the video (25:45).




So, in retrospect, I am pretty ashamed of myself for a) making a stupid move that likely cost me a win, and b) not being smart enough to even know who my competitors were on the track.  On the plus side, I did turn some pretty great laps when I needed to make up time, and in terms of my points position I managed to do what was necessary.

Next time Steve Mitchell won't have the advantage of running incognito, but regardless, it is wonderful to have one more competitive rider in the BOTT LW class!

Season Two, Round Two - and a First Win!

Summary

SOAR Round 2 is in the books, and despite some mechanical gremlins I was able to record my first victory ever, winning the BOTT LW class after a great to-and-fro battle with Alex Radecki.

The Prairie Dog Racing endurance team had a thankfully uneventful race on Saturday, with no crashes or goof-ups in the pits.  We finished 7th out of 11 teams in the GTU class.


Round 2

June 20/21 was "All Bike Weekend" at Grand Bend, which means that there were motorcycle drag races, a big Harley Show and Shine event, and of course the SOAR road racing series.  It is quite a fun event, but one downside is that accommodating all of the cruisers means that the SOAR pit gets compressed to about half its normal size.  It was a bit inconvenient, but in a way even more fun than normal, having everybody in such close proximity all weekend.

Allen came through for us and showed up with a "new" trailer - a proper camper in this case, not something previously used to haul livestock.  It's kind of old and needs repairs, but Allen worked like a maniac in the days leading up to the event, getting it into serviceable shape.  We were all grateful for the comfortable beds, the working fridge, etc.   What a difference from sleeping in frost-covered tents during the previous round!

Round 2 was on the "Modified Track".  This is the shortest layout at Grand Bend and, honestly, it's not my favourite.  The slow sort of chicane section through turns 2 and 3 is a bit of a mystery to me - I have never found what I consider to be an efficient line through there.  The layout also uses the entire back straight.  That was a disadvantage for me last year when I was trying to run Rookie 600 on the Ducati, since all of the Japanese bikes would blow by me before the carousel.  Running only the Lightweight Twins class this year it actually works in my favour since I have more power than most of my competition.  But I still don't care for the layout.

I wasn't able to get away Friday to do the practice day with Allen and Steve, so I instead showed up Friday evening.  I brought some monster rib steaks and Steve grilled them to perfection on the BBQ.   

In the pits, everyone was nervous about the weather forecast - it was calling for decent weather Saturday, but almost certainly rain on Sunday.   This put Allen in a quandary.  He had got the BMW Boxer Cup Replica bike ready for racing this Round, but didn't have rain tires for it.  He was reluctant to register for the BOTT LW sprint race, knowing that chances were better than even he would need to sit out the final.  He was compulsively checking the weather forecast every 30 min, which at Grand Bend is about as useful as checking your horoscope.

Saturday

After a great sleep in the new trailer, we awoke to a nice morning but a weather forecast that had not improved at all for Sunday.  Allen made the decision to not register for BOTT and loaded the BMW into his truck...thus ensuring that Sunday would be bright and sunny all day.  Thanks Allen!

I took the Ducati thorugh tech as soon as it opened, but when I started it and put it into gear to leave tech, it threw on the engine light and stalled immediately.  Started it again, same thing.  And again.  And again.  Sh*t.

I put the tire warmers on in anticipation of solving the problem before morning practice.  The computer didn't show any trouble codes on the ECU, so I scrambled (with generous help from Steve and Allen) to check everything we could think of, including the battery, injector leads, grounds...we eventually reasoned that it might be the old kickstand safety interlock, which I had jumped when I removed the kickstand.  Steve suggested I take the endurance bike out for first practice while he and Allen worked on the jumper.  

Practice went okay even if the brakes on the Gixxer were crap.  When I came in, Steve and Allen told me that the Duc was running normally again.  I told them dinner was on me.

I took the Ducati out for second practice and got quite comfortable. My target was to turn 58-s laps.  I am not sure what I managed because the timing beacon ran out of batteries, but I felt in good shape for qualifying.

Below is a video of my afternoon qualifying race.  I almost didn't post it because I collected some bugs on the camera lens during the warmup lap.  However, I decided to put it up because there is some nice footage of Yarek Rutkowski in his first ever race.  Yarek pitted beside us with his SV650 and had a great first race weekend.  Always nice to gain another member of the SOAR family, especially one as pleasant as Yarek.  Also great to fill out the BOTT LW field even more.

Disappointingly, the Bauer brothers didn't show up for Round 2, so I lost my best competition.  That pretty much meant that I was going to be battling Alex Radecki on his 748, and Bob Tziougas on the SS1000ie.  Unfortunately right after the start Bob came together with two other riders in Turn 2 and went down.  He was mostly fine (tweaked his shoulder a bit) but couldn't make the restart.  Here he is on the Ride of Shame (photo from Sheri Manuel).

They red-flagged the race to deal with Bob's mess, and then re-set us on the grid.  As you can see from the video, I had a terrible restart, with almost everyone blowing by me before Turn 3.  But very quickly I re-passed all of them, except Alex.  Eventually I got him too, under braking into the carousel, giving me pole position for Sunday.

Prairie Dogs Endurance

Wow, is SOAR endurance racing ever taking off!  Someone said there were 23 bikes set up at the start.  The results only show 19, but sometimes teams don't turn in their time sheets, so there may indeed have been 23.  Here are the bikes all set up for the LeMans-style start, where the riders have to run across the track to their machines, start them and then  take off.

Steve did the first stint as always, but was about second last coming past the pits the first lap, and following that his lap times were well off his normal pace.  Allen and I didn't know if this performance was related to the quantity of Jamieson's Irish Whiskey he disposed of the previous night, or if there was something wrong with the bike (other than the stuff that is always wrong with it).  At the end of his stint he said he wasn't comfortable and had had a few minor slides.  I had done some suspension adjustments after morning practice because the forks had been pogo-ing on me with really inadequate rebound, so now I was wondering if I had made a mess of it.  As it turns out, neither Allen nor I had any issues during our shifts.  Observing this, Steve figured it must have all been in his head, got on the bike for his second stint and immediately was back up to his normal pace.  

The race was otherwise pretty uneventful.  Ken came by the pits but, remembering my accusation of how he jinxed us in Round 1, just kept walking muttering "I'm not saying anything to you guys".  With the McAdam Curse thus lifted, our fuel stop and rider changes all went smooth as silk, except for the one stint where I apparently missed four pit boards in a row.  Oops.  

In the end we finished 7th out of 11 teams in GTU.  Not terrible, but still a bit disappointing.  We all recognize that we need to get faster, but in addition to that we should work on the equipment a bit.  First priority is to swap out the gawd-awful master cylinder.  Into the carousel I was braking at least a hundred feet earlier on the Gixxer than I would be on the Duc.  No amount of brake bleeding, fluid changes or pad upgrades can fix it (we have tried). 

Sunday

There were a few sprinkles overnight and the skies were a bit spooky in the morning, but by the end of morning practice it was nothing but sun.  Awesome.  

The Ducati was being temperamental again, behaving the same as Saturday morning, but this time I couldn't even get the ECU to talk to the computer.  Apparently the problem wasn't the kiskstand interlock afterall.  Once again, it seemed to heal itself after a while.  By the time it was working properly again it was only 15 minutes to my first practice session and the warmers weren't on yet, so I decided to skip the first round rather than go out on half-cold tires.

Second practice session went fine, but there was so much traffic I didn't have any opportunity to set any fast laps.

I spent the rest of the morning watching the sprint races.  Once again, Amateur 600 had a huge number of entries - 27 I think.  There were at least three crashes.  The worst was my friend Brody Coveduck, who had another rider highside in front of him.  Brody really had no options and ended up driving over the fallen bike.  Brody came out of it mostly unscathed himself, but his beautiful black and gold Triumph 675 is pretty messed up.  Fortunately there doesn't seem to be much damage to any expensive parts except the tank, so we are hoping to see him in action again for Round 3.  

For the BOTT LW race I opted to take the outside position even though I had qualified on pole.  I felt like this would put me in a better position going into Turn 1.  This may have been a good decision because, as you can see in the video, even though my start was still pretty bad I didn't lose as many places as normal.

The race was exciting.  Traffic in the form of slower Lost Era HW bikes really affected our race in BOTT LW.  Bob was starting at the back and was never a factor, and I managed to get past Alex early to take the lead.  However, I was then stuck behind a LE machine and was desperate to pass, in order to put some distance between myself and Alex.  I made a terrible decision forcing the issue going into the carousel and nearly took out the LE guy from behind.  I just managed to save the situation and in the end I doubt he even knew I was there, so no harm no foul I guess...but I need to make better decisions in the future.  Anyway I ran off as a result and Alex got by, so I had the fun of hunting him down again and passing him, all the while both of us negotiating traffic.  I ended up winning, taking my first victory ever.

What's Next?

At the beginning of the season it looked like I would need to miss Round 3, but I have been able to rearrange my summer schedule to avoid this.  So, with only three rounds to go in the series, I am in really good shape to win the BOTT LW title this year.  Alex, Jordan and Dylan have all missed a race, and the way the points are structured this makes it mathematically impossible for anyone to beat me so long as I can always finish fourth or better, stay within two positions of Bob every race, and avoid getting get a DNS or DNF.  At this point it is not so much a battle with the competition, it is a battle with the bike's electrical gremlins that could cause a DNS, and my own on-track decision-making which can always lead to a DNF.  

More importantly, check out this cool PDR cookie that Allen's wife Tracy made:

Round One, 2015 - So far, so good...

In Brief....

Round 1 had its challenges, but overall was a terrific success. I dropped a pile of time between Saturday qualifying and the Sunday sprint race, and ended up placing second in Battle of the Twins Lightweight - a great start to the new season!  My pace has improved substantially from last year.

The Prairie Dogs did well in endurance racing, even if Allen had a little moment....

Best of all, the SOAR series really seems to be on the rise, with most race classes growing substantially since last year.  Amateur 600 had 33 entries!


Friday

Steve and I were able to attend the practice day on Friday this round, which gave us a chance to clear the winter cobwebs and get re-acquainted with the "Long Track" configuration at Grand Bend.  I had it in my head that I was going to take it easy in the morning and not be in a rush to get out on track while it was still cold.  Instead, I spent some time with Wayne Kennedy of Kennedy Motorsports, choosing what tires I would try this time out.  We went through the options and eventually decided that the Pirelli Superbike SC1 slicks might be a good choice for me.  An advantage is that they were available in a 180 rear (the stock size for my bike), instead of the 190 I was forced to run on Bridgestones last year.  I gave Wayne both of my sets of rims and he mounted the Pirellis on one set and some Dunlop rain tires on the other.  Just before lunch I had the bike ready to go, all safety wired and passed through tech.  Temperatures were still low (about 9 C), but the bright sun was heating the asphalt nicely.

My best previous single-lap time on this layout last year was a 1:33.6, but mostly I had been running low 1:35s.  I ventured out with my X-country ski underwear on under my leathers, and after my second practice session I was already down to 1:34.x on my clear laps, so that was right on target. Tires looked great too, coming off the track.  Despite the cool air temperatures I wasn't getting any slides at all, so I was pretty pleased with the Pirellis Wayne had suggested.

 Here is a video of just one lap in practice:

Allen showed up Friday evening, but he had not been able to get his BMW Boxer Cup Replica bike ready on time, so no sprint races for him this round.  This was a bit disappointing, because I was looking forward to lining up beside him on the grid for BOTT LW.

In a bizarre last-minute financial move, Allen had, just the day before, sold the converted horse trailer that had been Prairie Dog Racing's swank trackside digs in 2014.  That left us with the tent option for Round 1.  The forecast was for a low of 0 C.

Saturday

And indeed, it was c-c-c-c-cold!  Inside my tent I was wearing ski underwear, a T-shirt, fleece-lined track pants, socks, and a big woolly sweater inside one sleeping bag and with another sleeping bag on top.  By the middle of the night I was so cold I just couldn't sleep, and by 5 am I finally gave up trying, left the tent and started walking around to warm up.  There was a hard frost.  Here is what my bike looked like in the pits:

Doesn't that look inviting?  My Shorai LiFePo battery was none too pleased with the situation either, I can tell you that...

Saturday morning practice wasn't great.  I didn't have the timing beacon set up, but I knew I was slower than Friday.  Traction was poor at first and I even slid the front tire once under straight up-and-down braking for OMG corner at the end of the side straight.  Fortunately, temperatures increased steadily over the course of the day and it was very bright and sunny, so by the time qualifying races started the track conditions were excellent.

My lack of sleep caught up with me and my 5-lap qualifying race was pretty miserable.  My start wasn't too bad, there were no issues at all with the bike, and my lines were mostly okay, but I just couldn't get up to my normal corner speeds.  Looking at the video later I found that my best lap was a 1:35.8, way off Friday's pace.  It was fast enough to stay ahead of the slower riders and lower-powered machines, but not nearly good enough to challenge the guys I had hoped to compete with this year.  Those would be the Bauer brothers (Jordan and Dylan), both on Kawasaki Ninja 650s (I think), who between them won the majority of BOTT LW races last year, Alex Radecki on his Ducati 748, and Bob Tziougras on his Ducati SS1000, which has the same motor as my bike. 

Here is the video of the qualifier.  We are gridded with the Lost Era Lightweight class in front of us.  BOTT LW had 12 entries, which is more than we had in any one round all last season!  (Allen should make us 13 for Round 2 - here's hoping).  Actually I think only 11 made the grid because Jordan Renshaw's beautiful new KTM RC 390 decided not to run.  (I told his dad Dave that the bike would look great in the living room anyway, but he didn't seem to find that funny.)

Bob was ahead of me off the start but at some point ran off the track turning onto the back straight.  I can't seem to find that in the footage, but that is the story he told afterwards.  At that point only the Bauers were ahead of me, but on lap 4 I missed a downshift entering OMG corner and Alex blew by me on the exit.  Honestly I doubt it mattered because judging by the way he then gapped me it was inevitable that he would have got by me eventually.  I qualified 4th.

Prairie Dogs Endurance

The first endurance race of the year went fairly well for Prairie Dog Racing, and would have gone even better if it hadn't been for the dreaded McAdam Curse.  We had had a great fuel stop without spilling gallons of Shell 91 all over the bike, as is our normal practice, and SOAR Principal Ken McAdam had stopped by to congratulate us on our improvement - we hadn't set the pits on fire, and he hadn't had to pick me up with the recovery vehicle all day.  Literally 10 seconds after that smart-ass comment, Allen rode off the track between turns 2 and 3, right in front of the pits, hit a big dip in the grass and flipped the bike dramatically.  He had had some kind of coming-together with young Wes Forgie running in the GTU class on a CBR125 (and when I say young, I mean, like, too young to shave).  Allen took a good tumble but thankfully jumped back to his feet quickly (or what passes for quickly at his age).  Ken started to get out the recovery vehicle but Allen was able to pick the bike up and ride it back to the pits.  Wes didn't even go off track.  He just calmly rode into the pits to ask his mom if he could keep going.  

Damage to Humpty the GSXR was minimal.  Steve applied some of his sophisticated Ryerson Engineering skills and bent the shift lever back into shape with a pry bar and adjustable wrench.  The rear brake lever was mutilated but who uses that anyway?  The exhaust can was still more or less attached and the fairing only had minor cracks.  I swear that 03 Gixxer is a frickin' anvil of a bike.  

Allen was a bit woozy from his tumble so I replaced him.  The bike rode perfectly and I was back up to speed in half a lap.  Steve was in the pits asking Allen hard questions like "do you know where you are?".  As I began to feel that the length of my stint was extending well past normal, I was getting pretty tired, going past the pits each time searching in vain for the pit board and eventually giving the guys the universal one-handed palm-up symbol for "dafuq?"  After they did call me in for a rider change I laid down on the ground for a bit.  Turns out I had done about an extra four minutes.  Fitness is again an issue...

In the end we finished 7/10 in the GTU class with 98 laps.  Without Allen's off-track excursion we may have placed much higher, since positions 3 through 6 did 104, 102, 101 and 99 laps.  At any rate it is wonderful to have so many entries this year - 18 endurance teams across the three classes!

Here is the post-race photo.  I really wish we had got little Wes in the picture.  We gave him the gears a bit after the race but he truly is a cool kid and is already showing nice form on the track.

   

Sunday - It all comes together

Nighttime temperatures were much more reasonable the second day (about 9 C minimum), so 

I slept like a baby and got a solid 6 hours.  I was determined to do everything necessary to give myself the best possible chance of doing well in my one sprint race, which was scheduled for the first slot after the lunch break.  I was very methodical during morning practice, working on controlled but late, aggressive braking into OMG corner, the Horseshoe, the entrance to the back straight and the carousel, and also experimenting with alternate lines in a few spots.  I was checking my hot tire pressures, getting advice from Wayne and making adjustments.  The bike was perfect, and I was fast by my standards - substantially faster than Friday and much, much faster than qualifying.  I wasn't timing the laps but there was just no doubt that I had found a bunch of time.

After practice I spent a lot of time in the stands watching the morning races, but I was really conscious of the need to stay hydrated and not get overheated or tired from being in the sun.  Like I said, I was determined to stack the cards in my favour and capitalize on the extra speed I had found in morning practice.  I thought a lot about what my strategy would be off the start, and what I could hope to accomplish over the course of the race.  Honestly I didn't feel like there was much hope of my challenging either of the Bauer boys, but I had been competitive with both Bob and Alex in the past so a podium finish was not out of the question.

There was quite a bad wreck in the morning amateur superbike race.  One of the riders wheelied at very high speed on the back straight, and the wind got under his bike and flipped it over backwards.  There were two ambulances and a fire truck on track for quite a while tending to the situation.  Word got back to the pits later that the fellow had suffered a serious leg and hip injury, but nothing life-threatening.  Get well soon Tomasz - we are all pulling for you.

After the long delay, things got pushed back a little and my race was the second one after lunch.  Since the rider who was so seriously injured in the earlier superbike race was a friend of Alex's, Alex  had more important things to do and skipped BOTT LW race.  That really only left Bob for me to worry about.  As you can see from the video, he had a better start than me (as always) but I passed him fairly quickly, apparently with superior horsepower.  I then managed to hang with Dylan Bauer for a little bit, but he eventually gapped me and I resigned myself to third behind him and his brother Jordan.  On the second last lap however traffic came into play and Dylan took more time than he should have getting around a lapped rider.  With the distance between us reduced substantially, I put the hammer down and chased him over the final lap, showing him my wheel into OMG corner and again entering the Horseshoe, and then finally passing him between the Horseshoe and the turn onto the back straight.  I knew from previous laps that I had a little more motor than he did, so once I was past him it was just full throttle down the straight, late braking with a defensive line into the carousel, and then it was all over with only the dogleg and the short straight to the finish line to go.  Checkered flag, second place!

Checking the video later, I found that all of my clear laps were in the high 1:31s (!), with a best of 1:31.5 on the final lap - an improvement of more than 2 s over my best time from last year, and 4 s better than Saturday qualifying.  

Edit:  A few photos from Karolina Pelc.  Thanks Karolina!

Here we go again...Season 2

Plans for 2015

Well, it wasn't easy, but despite my injury last year, I was somehow able to convince my wife that it wouldn't be completely insane to do a little more racing in 2015.  That was six months of pretty tough negotiations, let me tell you...

I will be running the Ducati Sport 1000 in the Battle of the Twins Lightweight class again in SOAR.  Rumor has it that we will have a few more entries in that class this year, which should add to the challenge and fun.

There have been some changes to the way SOAR is organizing its series this year.  Instead of class champions being decided based on six rounds, there will only be five rounds for that purpose.  However, anyone who manages to accumulate 95 points over the season will qualify to compete in the "Provincial Championships" which brings together the best riders from SOAR and its sister series in eastern Ontario, RACE.

This is all great, except for one thing: I will need to miss Round Three, because of a planned trip with my daughter and nephew.  With only five rounds total, that puts me at a real disadvantage in the series points.  To make matters worse, the new points structure favours consistent participation over outright finishing position:

1st - 40
2nd - 37
3rd - 34
4th - 31
5th - 28
etc...

So, only 3 points separate subsequent positions from 1 to 11, then from 11 to 15 it is 2 points difference per position.  That really magnifies the penalty for missing a round or having a DNS or DNF.  Anyway, no matter - we will just treat every round as an opportunity to try for a podium position, and let the points fall where they may.  On the positive side, in a small class like BOTT LW it should be easy to accumulate the 95 points needed to earn an invitation to the Provincial Championship round.

The Prairie Dogs will also be back in the GTU Endurance Class on Humpty Dumpty the GSXR600.
Round one is next weekend (May 24), on the Long Track configuration at Grand Bend.  Watch this space!


Test and Tune at TMP

After smashing up the bike in Round 4 last year, it spent the winter in my basement workshop, slowly getting repaired as time allowed.  I ended up installing Woodcraft bars and a quick-turn throttle, repairing and repainting the fairing, reshaping the belly pan a bit to get better clearance from the exhaust and, for good measure, I wrapped the exhaust.  I also sanded the blood stains from the inside of the fairing (!).  Front suspension got a thorough rework with new springing and a cartridge mod to give me compression adjustment, and the shock was sent out for maintenance.  Complete rebuild of the steering damper, then all the standard tune-up work (valve adjustment, etc.) and she was good as new.  Well, okay, good enough...

Having not been in the bike for nearly 9 months (or any bike for 8 months), some practice was in order. I also needed some serious time to work on suspension adjustments, having made so many hardware changes from last season.  I wasn't able to attend the SOAR practice weekend, so instead took advantage of a Thursday track day, run by Red Dawn Entertainment, at Toronto Motorsports Park near Cayuga.

I have done many, many laps at TMP since 2009, but had not been there at all in 2014.  So, I was curious to see if my lap times had improved as a result of a season of racing experience with SOAR.  My best lap there in 2013 was a 1:23.0, on Dunlop Q3 tires.

Red Dawn runs their track days in a unique fashion.  Essentially, it is open track all day (no groups).  This is a great situation when you need to work on suspension tuning, since you can enter and re-enter the track without waiting for your group to be called.  The downside of course is that you encounter riders running at vastly different paces, and so it is sometimes hard to find clear track to set a time.

Here is the bike in the pits, waiting for the first run of the season:

My Prairie Dog Racing teammate Allen also showed up, with his new ride (still on crap street tires, but otherwise nearly ready for racing):

It is a BMW Boxer Cup Replica - another big air-cooled twin.  So, Allen and I will compete head-to-head in BOTT LW this year.  So cool!  Plus, the PDR pit is starting to collect some pretty darn funky machinery.   We might not beat all of the SV650s and such...but we will look good trying!

It was super cold over night (radiation frost) and so the tarmac was very cool in the morning - cold to the touch even in the direct sun.  The first few sessions were crazy.  The bike would be fine right off the warmers, but then after just a few laps the rear would get so cold that I couldn't use any significant throttle exiting corners, and I even pushed the front a few times.  Not the best situation for a rusty pilot just trying to get comfortable on the bike again!  I was spooked and was running 1:32.  Yuck.  Allen and I agreed that the day needed to be first and foremost about making good decisions and going home in one piece, so we both took it easy and didn't force the issue.

Fortunately the sun kept beating down and by 11:30 or so the track really came in.  My times were coming down by a second or more per session, but I eventually got pretty tired and sore (legs, groin, neck), and couldn't manage to get under 1:25.  Not great in comparison to my previous best, but on the other hand, not terrible for the first outing in a long time, on last year's worn-out tires.  It was easy for me to see where I was losing time (especially Turn 6), but I just couldn't force myself to do better.  

Importantly, I managed to ride within myself and not give myself any real scares, but there were a few occasions setting up for Turn 4 where some combination of moving myself across the bike, the new throttle tube, new lower bars, etc. resulted in my inadvertently applying a tiny bit of throttle when I didn't mean to.  I definitely wasn't getting locked into the bike very well and so was likely using my hands too much to hang on.  I need to work on finding a more effective body position.  I also was not steering  the bike as hard as I normally do.

Here's some video that pretty much shows how the day went.  Note that a lot of the bikes were wearing their license plates and didn't have the brake light taped.  Weird.

Edit:  Here are a few photos from Melanie MacMurchy.  Thanks Melanie!

Round 5 - Back in the saddle

Summary

Contrary to my expectations, my hand injury was healed to the extent that I could do a little bit of riding in SOAR Round 5.  I didn't contest any sprint classes but I did more or less pull my weight with the Prairie Dogs in the Saturday endurance race.


Progress with the Injury

The finger amputation I suffered as a result of a crash on  a practice lap during Round 4 has been healing pretty well.  When the dressings came off after about two weeks it was clean with no infection, but still pretty gross to look at, all swollen and nasty.  A week later I got the sutures out.  The poor nurse had to dig around through the scabs and whatever to find the stitches, which hurt like the dickens now and again, sending shocks up my finger and hand as she irritated the nerve tissues.

After the swelling subsided there were what I believe to be little stumps of exposed nerves sticking out of the closure in several places.  Whenever they contacted anything solid they would, again, trigger big pulses of tingling nerve shocks, startling me and making me jump.  Eventually the exposed bits dried up and fell off, so now the nerves are all below the surface and not quite so sensitive.

Here is what my hand looks like at this point.

Pretty ugly I guess.  Eventually I will have the surgeon shape the finger better so that it has more of a proper tip.  Right now the sides stick out too much and kind of get in the way.  On the plus side, it has good articulation and strength - I can use it normally to grip things, like say a coffee cup or the handle of a tool box.  I can even already do gym exercises that require grip strength, such as seated cable rows.

Obviously this is a permanent injury and one I would much rather not have experienced.  It does have consequences.  For example, in my line of work I spend a lot of time standing in front of large groups of people, speaking to them usually while waving my hands around (as one does).  Now, with every new group, I get to watch a bunch of them following my finger with their eyes, probably for a while not really paying attention to what I am saying.  On the other hand (no pun intended), as life-altering injuries go it is not really very life-altering.  It would be pathetic and counter-productive to get too upset about something like this when my life is otherwise awesome and every day I encounter people who have actual serious problems, including in some cases truly debilitating physical issues.  I also don't find it useful at all to go over in my head the zillions of tiny little things that could have gone differently, allowing me to avoid the accident altogether.  Shit happens.  You make the best choices you can with the information you have, then deal with whatever comes.  I did that on August 16 and will continue to do it.

Nevertheless the first few days after the incident where a bit emotionally charged for me.  In those times, it really helps to have friends to talk with, so you can keep your perspective and sense of humour.  I received plenty of kind messages from other SOAR riders through the GTAM forum and Facebook, and also from my PDR teammates, Allen and Steve.  Here for your entertainment is a positively sophomoric email exchange that took place between the three of us, starting on the day that I was injured.  I emailed Steve and Allen to let them know I was home safe, but at that point only Steve knew about the accident:

Sunday August 17

ME: I am home with Buttons.  I am a bit tired.  After being in Exeter hospital for about three hours I had to drive myself down to the hand clinic in London, but they couldn't do anything to save the finger and so amputated about half of it.  Then I drove back to the track and Kyle and his sister helped me load my stuff....then I drove home.  Talk about a long day.

Sorry I left the trailer in a bit of a jumble maybe but it is all properly locked.

ALLEN: Wtf?!?!?

STEVE: So you think it was the brake guard or the brake lever that got your finger?

ALLEN: Guys. What the fuck happened?!!! Hugh u alright?!? I'm hoping u guys r fucking with me

ME: Not a joke.  In morning practice some fellow made a really tight pass on me in the esses and to avoid his rear wheel I grabbed some brake while leaned over.  Went down hard and the handlebar tore through my glove and squashed my finger.  Pretty much tore all the meat off the top third of my finger so they had to amputate a considerable part of it.

Steve, based on the wound it may have just been the bar running over my hand as it ran along the asphalt.  Not necessarily the lever guard. 

Monday August 18

ALLEN: Dude..
1.  Glad you're okay?
2.  You should've called one of us to come down.  I could've been there in a couple hours and helped out with stuff and driven you around.
3.  GET BETTER.
If you need help with anything let us know.

ME: Thanks Allen.  I'll be fine.  The bike is not bad either but I don't intend to run it any more this year.  My racing days may be over but we shall see.  It is a bit shocking still so I don't know how I will feel about it in a few weeks.  Don't count on me for endurance in round 5.

ALLEN: It's totally shocking on this end can't imagine your end.
Get healed up and your brain back and we'll worry about endurance later.  Good luck with the wife!  OMG that must've been the worst part!
Did you leave anything at the trailer you need back right away? 

ME: No I am pretty sure I got all my stuff.  Just left it disorganized and unswept.  Shah slept with me Saturday night but no cuddles at all.  :(

ALLEN: well for once I'm looking forward to reading your blog!
Don't forget to mention who had the fastest times...just reminding...

ME: Sure but it will be more of a comment on Dave's recording skills...

ALLEN: Just make sure you detail it as 'unbiased 3rd party' keeping time...that way you sound more sour grapes!
Oh yeah.
I have a beef with both you guys when it comes to txt, email, bbm.
Don't send me these emails with only bits of info.  Damn Hugh, I was about to go to bed when I got your email.  Kept waiting for updates to see what had happened or to hear it was some kinda joke..
From now on info!  And no Steve, not just teasing me rubbing my nose in the fact I'm not there info!

ME: Round 4 results are up.  At least we beat most of the GTL teams LOL

ALLEN: Hey..considering we had shitless tires on and most of the other teams had rains we did alright!

ME: Just getting through it without crashing was an accomplishment.  I'm proud of us.

ALLEN: I was hating it at first, but in hindsight there were a few good lessons learned:  

1.  Being smooth.  I really could tell the effect of sudden throttle movements.  Whenever I opened the throttle early the bike would snake.

2.  Being stupid.  It was stupid of us to run in the rain with those tires.  LOL.  Did you see the look on the faces of some of the other guys when we told them what we were running on.  LOL

3.  I'm smoother than Hugh..as we can tell from the lap times.  

4.  Hugh's eyes linger a little too long when I'm walking around naked in the trailer....

5.  I ate something I shouldn't have..Gotta figure out what it was, cause DAMN it made me gassy!

STEVE: Might have to call Brody back if Hugh doesn't feel good. He did buy us dinner after all :) or .. Maybe.. We go it alone.
Who knows maybe none of us will be allowed to race anymore.
Get better Hugh .
( Did ya tell Maw and Paw yet?)

ALLEN: My wife took it amazingly well.  I thought for sure Hugh had wrecked it for me.  ...I was terrified of telling her!
I say we try it with just the two of us.  Hugh's gonna want to go by then but might (probably) not be healed up enough.  
My money is on him being back the round after.
How'd that awesome trailer manage for you.  I didn't want to stop for coffee..just wanted to get home.

ME: I didn't tell mom and dad yet because I am thinking of the best way to break it to Caterina. It might really bother her, or she might not care at all.  Hard to know.

STEVE: Actually it did amazing. Don't even know I'm towing it.

ALLEN: The wife doesnt know yet?!?  
good luck dude!

ME: Oh yes she knows of course.  I called her from the hospital.

ALLEN:I would offer to come over for moral support while she finds out..but I'm afraid of her...and I still remember how your eyes lingered while I changed...
Okay..details time.
I'm trying to figure out how your finger got caught on the bar..did the bar move, or was your hand on the end of the bar?  I'm guessing you've run it thru a few times how it all unfolded.
PS.
Glad you're okay even if ur hurt..if that makes sense. 

ME: Based on how the injury looked, my best guess is that my hand was still wrapped around the bar when the bar hit the ground.  The brake lever guard probably tore off instantly and then the exposed clipon end ran over my finger while the bike was sliding, tearing all the meat off.  The bone and tendons were fine, except some crushing of the very end of the fingertip bone.  

Sorry if that is a bit graphic, but you did ask.

ALLEN: okay that explains it.  I couldn't figure out how your finger could make contact on the grip unless the clip on rotated/broke, or your finger was on the end of the grip.

STEVE: Which corner was it? In the big daddy area? Or was it the dive bomb corner?

ALLEN: big daddy.  he said it was the s's

STEVE: Who's your daddy?

ALLEN: The way 'lingering eye's Hugh' was watching me I'd say he wants to be.
I'll bet he slept Saturday night in my bunk....sniffing my pillow....

Tuesday August 19

ALLEN: been quiet.
how ya feelin

STEVE: Just sore hips and legs.
Thinking 2nd set of rims and rain tires. Would like to try slicks. Don't know if they would make a difference at this point. Dots are good for bit of damp.
Wondering if a better brake guard would have prevented Hugh's finger accident.

ME: I am much better today.  I stopped taking the pain meds already.  Blog post is up.

ALLEN: except for the feeling and sound of bus wheels on my body, nice write up.
I'm throwing my vote out there for Hugh to be our assistant (bitch) next race.  Will be good for him to be out and get the feel again, but with no stress.  Plus we need a bitch (assistant) to help out!
Hugh could you wear your tight shorts and hold an umbrella for us?

STEVE: Nice write up;)

ME: I'd love to come and be the lap timer / umbrella boy if I can.  I don't own any sexy shorts but perhaps you could lend me one of those sequined lycra numbers you like to prance around in.

STEVE: I think I know where this is going.

ALLEN: Woohooo rod and gun after the race!!

ME: You guys really do make me laugh!

STEVE: 

 ALLEN: I'll bring the movie for the next round.



Round 5 - Grand Bend Screaming Alien Layout

Round 5 took place on the "Screaming Alien" layout at Grand Bend Motorplex.  Steve and Allen were able to be there for the Friday track day again.  Here is some video showing the layout.  The camera is on Allen's ZX-6, and he catches up to Steve at about the 2:20 mark and then follows him.


This was Allen's first time combining video footage with the data and graphics output from his GPS lap timer.  In this case the gear position indicator and speedometer graphics aren't working (at least, I hope they weren't going that slow!), but the track map and lap times seem to be correct.

(Edit: Allen tells me the speeds are probably correct, but are in mph.)



The Decision to Ride

About a week out from Round 5, my hand stopped hurting so much and I started entertaining the possibility that I could actually do some riding.  However, I told myself that there was no way I was getting on the bike unless I could work the brake lever and throttle completely normally and with no pain at all.  Riding a motorcycle on a race track, your life truly is dependent on the dexterity of your right hand.

When I left for the track Friday night, I honestly didn't think there was more than a 10% chance that I would be getting on the track - I packed my gear "just in case".  Once I arrived and said hello to the guys (who were grilling a steak for me - how cool is that?), I put on Steve's gloves (mine were shredded during the accident) and sat on the endurance bike for a bit, working the controls.  I eventually convinced myself that I could probably manage it, except that the empty tip of the glove's middle finger was sometimes catching on the brake lever when I went from the brake to the throttle.

So, I went to see John Bickle in his trailer and asked him about modifying a pair of gloves for me.  He had a pair in my size, took a quick measurement, then set about shortening the middle finger of the right hand.

Saturday morning I attended the riders' meeting, then picked up my new gloves from John.  My plan was to go out with the slow group in practice, just to do a few laps and try things out.  I have to say that even as I was wheeling the bike out of the pits, I was asking myself "am I sure I want to do this?  Am I rushing things?  Is this a stupid decision?"

Honestly the first session didn't do a great deal to reassure me.  I have never got along particularly well with the Gixxer's throttle and brakes (they are so different from the Ducati's, especially the throttle response just off of closed throttle), but this was especially bad.  I was jerking and surging all over the place, feeling and no doubt looking pretty darned amateurish.  I came back in after five or six laps.

By the second practice session I was feeling better.  I was smoother on the throttle pretty much immediately, and had learned the layout well enough that I could start working on my braking and turn-in points a bit, trying to build some decent speed.  By the end of about ten laps I was knee down in most corners and really starting to feel in the grove.  

I came back into the pits and let the guys know that they could count on me for the endurance race.


Endurance Race

Conditions for the endurance race were perfect, except for the fact that it was so windy that none of the teams dared to put up their canopies in the pits.  Steve took the start and Allen did the second 20-min session, then I was up third.  The guys had told me to just signal them that I needed a rider change if at any point during my first session I wasn't feeling comfortable.  About 12 or 13 minutes into my stint I started to feel some pain in my hand and thought I had better get off the bike and re-evaluate, so next time past the pits I held up two fingers to let the guys know I would be in after two more laps.  I swear I gave them the peace sign for a good five seconds, but of course they didn't notice.  When I rolled into the pits two laps later I saw a surprised Steve rushing to put on his helmet and gloves.

Following that, we decided that a better system would be for me to give them the "two laps" sign, then the next lap they would show me the pit board to verify that they got the message.  In the end we didn't use that plan though because I was able to complete my other two stints without any issues.

The race otherwise went fine with a good clean fuel stop, and we turned a total of 131 laps.  That put us last (fifth) in the very competitive GTU class, but not by much.  The next two teams did 134 and 135.  If we can find a bit more speed next year, we should be in the hunt for third.  Not much chance we will ever beat the teams whose rosters include black-number (expert) riders, but maybe we can claw our way up the novice ranks.

Here is the requisite cheezy post-race group photo:

The day after the race, Allen went through the GPS data and was a bit annoyed to discover that they guy with 9.5 fingers had beat his best lap time by a full 2 s (best of 1:14.5 for me, vs his 1:16.6; Steve logged a 1:18.9).

Ha!

Edit:  Here is a nice photo taken by Sheri Manuel during the endurance race:

Round 4 Ends With an Injury

Summary

I attended the Friday practice day for Round 4 to get used to the new track layout, and all went well.  I chose not to do qualifying for the sprints on Saturday because it was raining, but the Prairie Dogs did have a successful endurance race in the wet.  My weekend ended during Sunday morning practice when a lowside crash involving another rider resulted in a pretty serious injury...

Getting There

What do they say..."Just showing up is half the battle"?  For the first time this season, Steve and I arranged things so that we could attend the Friday practice day.  Instead of renting a trailer to transport Humpty Dumpty the endurance bike, Steve decided to borrow Allen's decrepit trailer that hadn't turned a wheel in a few years.  He got to my place with the trailer at about 10 pm on Thursday, and we loaded the bike.  In the process of checking the tire pressures, we discovered that air would leak out of the base of one of the valve stems if you pressed it to the side.  Not good.

So here we have a quandary.   It is too late to get parts to fix the wheel tonight and if we wait for the stores to open tomorrow we will be very late getting to the track.  We could just try and see if it makes it...if it breaks on the way there we are no worse off - we will still have to wait for the stores to open to get what we need to fix it.

Predictable result.  Shredded tire beside Hwy 8 at 7 am. Friday morning.

Fortunately TSC in Kitchener opened at 7:30 am so we were able to get two new wheels quickly and get back on our way.  We arrived at the track at around 10 am and asked the organizers what we had missed at the riders' meeting.


Reverse Technical Layout

Round 4 of the SOAR series took place on the "Reverse Technical" track at Grand Bend (see previous blog post).  No one had run this configuration before so it was a mystery to all of us going into Friday practice.  My verdict: I love this layout!  I was worried about the sharp corner at the end of the back straight, but it turned out not to be very difficult at all since it is very increasing-radius.  At first of course we were all braking too early but I eventually moved my braking point up to about the third marker and that worked well  with just a bit of squirm on the brakes and not much coasting before turning it in.  The two corners after that are beautiful quick things where you can really be on the throttle as soon as you dive-bomb the apex, much like the dogleg on the start-finish straight but not as fast.  Great fun!  With my gearing I only needed two upshifts and two downshifts per lap, with most of the track being taken in third.

 I ended up doing consistent 1:17s without much effort but 1:16s were possible when I got everything right.  I even managed a 1:15.8 at some point.  Here are a few laps:

Saturday Practice and Qualifying

Everyone was nervous about the weather on Saturday - the forecast called for heavy precipitation to arrive at some point in the afternoon.  Morning practice was beautiful even if it took me a few sessions to get back up to pace.  Unfortunately my two qualifying races were the final two on the schedule, and by the time they were approaching the rain had started.  Some riders switched immediately to rain tires, but I decided to not bother.  If the rain stopped and the track dried then good for me; if not I just wouldn't qualify and would start nearer the back - no big deal since both classes were pretty small anyway.  As it turned out the rain kept coming...and coming and coming....

Prairie Dogs Endurance Race

Humpty the endurance GSXR 600 was looking less than resplendent in full Bondo Beast livery for Round 3.  Allen decided to rectify this for Round 4...but of course even though there were five weeks between rounds nothing ever gets done until the last minute.  I think the clear coat was still drying when Steve picked up the bodywork from Allen on Thursday night.  That said, you have to admit that it turned out pretty well for a home garage spray-bomb kind of effort. Definitely passes the 20-20 test (looks acceptable from 20 feet away at 20 mph).

The only problem was, we had no rain tires and it was pouring.  So, we decided to take it easy and just run on the Q3s.  When the other teams came up to us to ask what tires we were running and we told them, their eyes got as big as saucers.  We figured that if we could go three hours without crashing then we could claim a victory.  I am happy to say that we pulled it off, basically by tiptoeing around the track like we had training wheels on.  At one point young Tyler Waugh on his 80 cc Kawasaki  enduro came by me and then gapped me.  I'm not kidding.

In the end we beat all but one of the GTL teams (including Tyler) and even one of the GTO teams, but finished at the bottom of GTU again.

Really, the most shocking development is that over the course of the race, Allen put in the single best lap time.  Imagine that.  Allen.  Personally I put it down to a recording error.  Also, a visiting relative of Steve's wife, Dave from England, was recording our laps and Allen may have slipped him some cash.  But let him have his tiny ray of glory...

Sunday - Definitely not Funday

Steve and Allen went home Saturday night after dinner and I awoke to a very very wet track and heavy fog.  For safety reasons no one could go on track until the fog lifted, so morning practice didn't start until after 10 am.  We were only going to get through two rotations of practice before the sprint races started, so I went out for the first session even though there were still some pretty damp patches.  No problem - I took it easy and all was well.

Here's where things got pretty unpleasant.  During the second practice session I was doing nicely by my standards but as I rounded the long right-hander near the end of the lap, another rider came around me on the outside.  I don't know if he cut across my line or if I got startled and changed my line, but I found myself on a sure trajectory for his rear tire.  In a bit of a panic I grabbed the brake lever while still leaned over, and the result was predictable - the bike slammed down hard.  It actually wasn't a terribly violent crash, but unfortunately the brake lever guard got torn off when it hit the ground and the exposed handle bar end dragged itself across the end of my middle finger, shredding the glove and all of the flesh underneath it.

When I stopped sliding I jumped up, shook my smarting right hand hard, yelled a few choice obscenities, then collected myself enough to walk over to the bike and hit the kill switch.  Then I looked down and saw the shredded glove and the bleeding finger, and my first thought was "oh no, I don't have another set of gloves for this afternoon".  Presently, I noticed that the finger was actually looking a bit gory, and thought I had best take a knee and signal for the medics.

The EMS guys put me in the bus and drove me back to the pits, where they cut off the glove and cleaned the wound a bit then dressed it.  They asked me if anyone could drive me to the hospital and I said that Shah or Brody probably could but could it wait?  I didn't want them to miss their races.  They let me know that it was a pretty serious injury and that I should really have it attended to immediately.

I was actually feeling not too bad so I changed out of my leathers and drove myself to the hospital in Exeter (right hand injury, manual transmission....).  They x-rayed my hand pretty quickly but then I had to wait there for several more hours before I finally saw the doctor.  He froze my finger and examined the injury, then instructed me to get to the Hand and Upper Limb Clinic in London as fast as possible.  So back in the Jeep and rush down to London with the referral papers (during which time the freezing wore off).  It took the specialist there almost no time to determine that she needed to amputate about half the finger, so she did exactly that while I looked in the other direction.  The surgery itself was not painful in the least, but the sound effects were a bit off-putting.

Of course during all of this I was calling my wife (who was out of town) and texting my brother to keep them up to date.  Since the surgery was done by 5:30 or so I decided to go back to the track to collect my stuff.  Not too many people were left there but my friend Kyle (who had won the rookie race that day) and his sister Karen helped me hook up the trailer, load the bike and pack all my gear into the Jeep.  Then I had a 2-hour drive back to Guelph, frankly feeling a bit spent.  Stopped at the all-night pharmacy and got my antibiotics and pain meds.


The  End?

As of this writing my accident only happened two days ago, and I am still getting my head around what it means for me and my racing.  My wife up to this point has only just barely tolerated the whole thing, and now that I have actually come home missing body parts I suspect she will have reached the end of her patience.  And who could blame her?

Myself I am not yet in a mental state where I even know what I want to do.  Go back to racing, become just a track day rider again, or give up motorcycling altogether, in consideration of the strain it puts on my family.

The bike itself is not badly damaged, needing only a new handlebar, brake lever, brake lever guard and some general straightening up to be operational again.  Plus clean the blood splatter from the inside of the fairing.  But it will be weeks before I can even hold a wrench so I have plenty of time to think about it.

    

Round 4 is almost here...

Just a quick post to talk about my strategy / goals for Round 4, which takes place August 16/17.

After losing a footpeg TWICE in Round 3, both footpegs have been red-loctited and safety wired.  Now they can't come off.  I have also replaced the brake lever guard that got ruined in my crash.  I still need to clean the rest of the mud off my leathers and boots though.  Everything else is checked, straightened, and ready to go.

A New Track Layout - "Reverse Technical" Unleashed

This should be an interesting round, since the scheduled track configuration is "Reverse Technical".  So far as I know, no one has ever run this configuration before, so no one has any clue what kind of lap times to expect!  This makes it a bit harder (actually, impossible) to set target lap times for practice.

The good news for me is that, for the first time this season, I will be able to attend the Friday practice day preceding the race weekend.  That means a whole day of practice to figure out the new layout, which should give me an advantage over those who just show up on Saturday and will get only three 15-min practice sessions in the morning, and then again Sunday morning.

I made a map of the layout.

 Most of the turns we have all seen before, running the "Reverse Screaming Alien" layout - T1 (dogleg), T2 (carousel) are familiar to everyone, but then there is a HUGE long straight ending in a medium speed corner that no one has ever run before in this direction, so finding the braking and turn-in points is going to be interesting.  I called this T3, but I think we should call it "What Was Ken Thinking?" corner.  The next three turns (T4 - T6) are also unique to this layout, but I doubt they will present any particular challenges.  They are followed by a turn that is part of Reverse Alien (T7), but it is approached from a shorter straight section than normal so the entry speed will be quite different.  Then we are back into familiar territory with Big Daddy (T8 - long triple-apex left-hander) and the rest of the esses (T9 and T10) leading onto the start / finish straight.

Plans for Round 4

I have registered for both Battle of the Twins Lightweight and Rookie 600 again, and of course the Prairie Dogs will be running Humpty Dumpty in the GTU Endurance class as always on Saturday evening.

Given that I am completely out of the points race for both of my sprint classes, I hope to spend the weekend just "honing my craft", working on developing quick lines, getting good race starts and challenging for position where possible.  I expect that by the end of Friday I am going to need to visit the Ripp Racing trailer for a new set of Bridgestone slicks.

My Realistic Goals for Round 4:

• Use Friday practice to good effect so that I am confident in my lines and braking markers going into Saturday
• Don't crash
• Finish no worse than second in BOTT LW
• Beat somebody in Rookie 600  :)