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| MARCH
20-21 WSMC Roadracing is a funny sport. It helps to be small in stature; weight robs horsepower, makes it harder to transition, that sort of thing. Fitness is very important. While you don't have to be an Olympic class athlete, being in good shape helps you handle the stress of pushing the bike around, makes it much easier to hang on and keeps you from getting fatigued as quickly. Ultimately though, it's a mind game. Hemingway said something like there are only two real sports: Bullfighting and motor racing. While I don't want to argue with Papa, after all who can count how many times they've gotten caught up in a good bull fight (I just LOVE their little outfits!), roadracing is probably a whole lot more akin to golf. I discovered this fact during the March Formula Twins race at Willow Springs Raceway. I should preface that by saying the bike had benefited from a larger airbox since the last WERA round, but was basically unchanged beyond that. Setup and prep consisted of removing 10 CCs of oil from each fork leg, checking tire pressure and making sure there was good 'ole 91 octane pump gas in the tank. No new fangled race fuel for me. Yet. Some chain lube, checked the major fastener, and we were ready. Or at least the bike was. The weather was much hotter than I've become accustomed to. So far every race weekend has been mild and very pleasant. I'm now worried about my sanity come summer, as this weekend in spring it was ninety some degrees. My pre-race ritual was sitting in the shade and drinking water out of a gallon jug like I was in some bizarre peeing contest. Now I know why all the old timers out there look like they've been cured in an oven. It's because, well, they've been cured in an oven. Practice went well, and I felt like even with the much higher track temperatures, I was faster than last month. The bike was turning better than last month, but I'll need some softer fork springs to make it really handle. For now I'm just riding around it. I could tell that the temperature was taking its toll on the rear tire, which was left from last weekend at Ca Speedway, so I worked on some lines but came in early from most of the sessions. Saturday after practice California Race Services mounted a new set of Pirelli Slicks with a different front tire profile and Britt and I headed for dinner. Sunday morning we arrived at our pits and found our buddy Pat McGill already there. It was cool to have him down from Portland for the weekend, but a little bittersweet as his '04 Aprilia RSV1000 Factory looked perfectly painted and prepared, a departure from my white gel coat RSVR with duct tape on it. I'm looking forward to my new bodywork and paint job. I took it pretty easy in the warm ups, as I wanted to save as much rear tire as possible for my races later in the day. The new tire profile was even better, and everything felt a notch above where it's been so far. |
Tastes great, less filling.
 Palatial McGill pits
|
| Now,
back to my Formula Twins race.
I normally try to hang back a little when they wave us out for the
sight-in lap, which allows me to run hard, get the tires heated evenly,
and not wait a long time on the starting grid. I did this and after
negotiating most of the track, accelerated hard from turn five, shifted
to fourth as I aimed it at turn six, grabbed fifth gear and then
relaxed and started to roll off the throttle once I turned in to turn
eight and notched it into sixth gear. Everyone starts to slow for turn
nine and then coast to the grid, so I normally just chill through turn
eight. I relaxed a little too much, however, and didn't press hard
enough on the shift lever. The transmission hung between gears and I
free-wheeled into turn eight going 145 MPH. This gets your attention I
can assure you, but I remember thinking "No big deal, I'll just grab
the clutch and reselect sixth gear. Let me stop you right here dear
reader and tell you that if you ever find a false neutral, do NOT think
about pulling the clutch, pull it IMMEDIATELY! Before I engaged the
clutch, the bike snicked into gear on its own. Even with the slipper
clutch on the Aprilia, you can't fool Isaac Newton. Objects that are at
rest (the motor idling) tend to stay and rest and objects that are in
motion (my rear wheel going 140 MPH) tend to stay that way. I'll save
the physics lesson for another day and say that the rear wheel slowed
down dramatically, while the bike didn't. This resulted in a textbook
high-side saved mostly by the slipper clutch and my death grip on the
bars as I got pitched into the air. |
 Purtyer than mine |
| Turn eight at Willow Springs is pretty
darn exciting all on its own.
Normally I'm in that corner at a 145 or 150 and dragging my boot and my
knee. unbelievably, this isn't nearly as exciting as flying along above
your motorcycle just attached by your two hands. When I fell back my
left leg was draped over the seat and my right leg was dragging on the
ground under the motorcycle, luckily in front of the rear wheel. My
initial surprise at not cart wheeling down the road was quickly
replaced by a feeling of supreme urgency, as the asphalt grinding
against my boot made quick work of the leather and in a millisecond was
making even quicker work of the skin on my foot. I managed to tear my
leg out from under the bike and once properly mounted, took a little
survey of my right foot. I could see bloody skin through two holes in the boot, and some white gristle looking stuff as well. I'll admit that my enthusiasm for the upcoming race was diminishing pretty rapidly. The problem was I was on the pole for the race, being the points leader, and I really didn't want to lose all the points by not starting. My foot felt like someone was polishing their technique with a blow torch, but there didn't seem to be a whole lot of blood, the friction of the asphalt nicely cauterizing the wound it seemed. So, I did what any normal road racer would do. I just lined up on the grid. I didn't get a great start, as I was still trying (quite unsuccessfully) to put the whole affair out of my mind. I managed to overtake a couple of guys in turn one and slotted into second behind Claudio. I knew he was probably faster than I could run so far, and just tried to hang with him and not think about my toe. This is where I learned about the golf connection. Now my injury wasn't really affecting my physical ability, but I was having a difficult time concentrating, and I made one little mistake after another. This allowed another bike to close on my and I ended up fighting for second place instead of just running consistent laps on my own. I got passed, took the place back, passed again, and was going to take it back again when the race was red-flagged. I certainly was capable of running faster, but my head wasn't really in the game. As it was lap five of six, the race was over. After going back a lap, I was awarded second place. Here's the funny part. Even though I didn't have my "A" game on, I ran faster lap times than I've run so far, running a few laps in the 1:27s. I got back, and took my boot off and checked out the damage. No tendon or bone damage, just some mangled skin and a serious friction burn. Patrick was leaving and offered to loan me his boots, to allow me to get some points in the other class I am leading, so I took him up on it and wrapped my foot in gauze after cleansing it and chilled until the end of the day, when BOTT Heavyweight took to the track. As there were only six riders in the field, I figured I could get some decent points without being at my best and just planned to be nice and conservative. I lined up in position two as I am tied for the points lead in this class and waited for the green flag. Simon, with whom I'm tied in points, crashed in Formula Twins and didn't make the race (glad you're ok). I got a good start and lead going into turn one. I just tried to run my own race and be consistent, and managed to build a little lead over the next two laps. Then I just put it on cruise and kept the cushion until the checkered flag. Another win for Little,Big Racing! I'd like to thank: Britt for helping me with my foot and general support. Ca Race Services for hooking me up with the new profile and general help. Pirelli for serious race rubber. Pat McGill for the loan of his boots. They've been fumigated, disinfected, and they're on their way back. Also for allowing us to share his pit area. |
 An ineffective brake. |