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"OK, this is a fukced up situation, but now I have a fukcin' bob, and that's not cool." June 19
WSMC My "magic" cylinder (as opposed to my stock one-this had been ported by Kevin Murray) had a crack in it that leaked water under pressure. I gave it to Kevin to weld, and he noticed it was time to replate it, as well as finding more leaks in it. The only way to save the thing after all the welding was to port it for an A-kit piston and remove the damaged parts. Millennium did a great job on the plating and had it back to Kevin fast. The only thing was, Kevin had just gotten married to his wonderful girlfriend, Sharon, and was on his honeymoon. It was also the first vacation the guy had EVER taken. In retrospect, I shouldn't have tried to complete the whole thing by this round, but it was a double points weekend, and I pulled off the track in the last double points weekend because of my shock. I needed to win this race. My slow cylinder probably would have cut it, especially with my suspension so good (but I didn't know what the suspension would be like, yet, I hadn't ridden on it, so I didn't want to take any chances). Long story short: We
ran
out of time to tune the bike, the cylinder was slow, and then the ring
stuck in the piston groove at the start of the 250 race. With so little
time until the 125 race, Kevin helped
me swap cylinders at his pits, because his tools were there. We guessed
on all
the jetting: main, power and needle, then I went back to my pits to
put my tire warmers on. I guess they weren't on quite long enough. |
 A new chick magnet at wsmc! (the puppy, just in case you were wondering) Brian Heess drew this *** lovely picture***  I can't smile right now so I'll do this. |
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I needed to feel what the engine was doing: if it would
affect my shift points, what gear to use for each corner, or if the
jetting was close enough and the bike pulled and over-revved. I
had one lap --the warm up-- to figure it out. I always push hard in the
warm up lap anyway: I'm preparing myself to race, I'm not toodling
around the track to sight-see or visit with my fellow racers. I don't
even LOOK at anyone else, it's too distracting. I practiced a start entering the track and it felt ok. I caught a group of bikes sight-seeing in turn two, and then, well, Brian Heess has this little story to tell:
I pulled myself up
using the hook of my bent knee to grab and rolled forward. I knew I
broke my collarbone and was pretty sure everything else was ok. I
sure didn't FEEL like getting up yet but I had to let everyone know I
was ok. I didn't think I hit my head at
all, but my helmet shows otherwise.
I took the ambulance
ride back because I knew the crash truck would be too bumpy for my
broken collarbone. Back at the pits, Ed Sorbo steers JM away from
my bike because he knew I would be asking about it, and tells him "hey,
we'll handle this, you go take care of her." He puts me on a chair in
his Roadracing World garage to keep me out of the wind, then starts to
pack up the Little,Big Racing pits. Ed - we sincerely thank you
for your help. As I was sitting in the
garage, I reached back to undo my braid and felt that the tie came out.
I started to undo my braid and felt hair coming out in my hands - three
inch pieces of my hair, bluntly cut. The whole outer part of my braid
had been cut somehow in the crash! My dad happened to be there there
(it was fathers day, after all) so he came over with my friend
Monique, and helped me undo my hair and pulled more pieces out. We made
two little piles on the ground (the photo is only of one) and
that is when I lost it. I cried
like a 5 year old for a little while. It
was bad enough my bike was smashed, my arm
was hurt, the race un-run, the championship out of sight now, but this
was too weird and, well, it was just mean. We drove back to San
Diego and went to the ER there that night to get X-rays. I wasn't
about to go to the Antelope Valley Hospital. (This is common knowledge
among local racers-in fact, the first thing John Ulrich said was
"whatever you do, DON'T go to Antelope Valley Hospital!") so I rode all
the way home in the van trying to hold my arm still. We DID have a
bottle of wine in the car, so that, and a handful of Advil helped get
me through the 3 1/2 hour drive home. When we got to the ER around
9:30pm, I noticed my side was a little sore and was swelling up,
BIG. The ER CAT scanned my side to check for internal bleeding,
and while there wasn't anything significant, I noticed my guts had been
shaken up pretty good and my whole torso was swollen for a few days. I saw my doctor that
Tuesday. In his office, he gave me all the pros and cons about
plating the break, advised me against it due to scarring and potential
complications, but he already had scheduled a surgery for me the next
morning at 7am. He knows me pretty well. I am going to (try to)
race Portland this weekend (June 25-26). Joel Manes is loaning me a
bike, my clavicle is plated, and I already have a plane ticket. Thank you Monique, for
offering to cut your hair with me. I'm still deciding, and it
WON'T be a bob! Thank you again, Ed
Sorbo, for
helping us out. JM, what can I say, you
must be getting sick of
hospital trips and waiting rooms, I hope I never have to make it up to
you in the same way. Love you :) |
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