Race Report

Atlanta was a blast. I've got some mixed feelings about how things went on the track but overall the trip was just too much fun.

The drama started mid-day on Friday. Superbike and Superstock qualifying were just coming up and it was my last practice before we got down to business. We noticed some scraping at the bottom of the fork slider and heavy oiling associated with it. The oil was getting all over the wheel, tire, and brakes. We figured I should just go out to do a couple flying laps in Superbike qualifying to secure a spot on the grid, come back, clean up the mess, do Superstock qualifying, then get the thing fixed for the next day's activities (if only it was that simple).

I knew I had to take it really easy going into the left handers 'cause that was the side of the front tire that was getting oiled really bad. On my first flying lap, the front wheel skated through the left hander at the end of the back straightaway. I barely kept it on the pavement and thought I'd just finish this one lap before I pulled in. After cresting the hill and beginning my run down to the last turn (lined with a 15 foot high concrete wall on the outside) the fork leg came apart. That's right, the fork leg came apart! It turns out that the scraped up metal on the slider tube was in fact an indication that the slider was coming unscrewed! It separated where the cast piece at the bottom of the upside down fork meets the shiny fork slider tube part. They are two separate pieces that are never intended to come apart. You can't even buy them separately from Suzuki. All of a sudden it was like the handlebars weren't attached to the front wheel, and I'm at max lean coming into a downhill right hander at about 110mph. I pretty much crapped all the way up my back. I managed to float through the turn pushing a front tire with an entire fork legs' worth of oil dumped on it at max lean all the way through it at 100mph. It's not exactly an experience I'd like to re-live. I didn't know what the matter was at the time though, and touched the brakes trying to pull off to the side of the track. That was a mistake. With only one fork leg attached the wheel violently cocked sideways. At this point it seemed anything I did made it scarier, so I just didn't do anything until I coasted to a stop with the rear brake.

I borrowed a fork leg for the Superstock qualifying session and put myself on row 7 or something for the main. My lap with only one fork leg wasn't good enough to make the grid for Superbike, so I'd have to take another run at it Saturday morning. I was pretty worried when we woke up Saturday morning because everything was wet, and there's no way I could beat my time with a wet track. Luckily it dried and I made the grid.

Finances are tight enough for me that if I don't finish the Superbike races (read: win the prize money) I won't be able to keep racing. My plan of attack was to stay on two wheels for the Superbike races, and let it all hang out in Superstock. I finished a safe 19th in the first Superbike race, and began the wait to see if the Superstock race was going to be held Saturday or postponed 'til Sunday. I guess water started seeping from the track in one of the turns and they weren't sure what they should do. Eventually they decided to just wave a yellow flag in that section and run the race.

My start for Superstock was atrocious. I tried the inside line into turn one and it was practically gridlock going in there. We all just backed up and who knows how many positions I must have lost. Even after passing about 4 people on the first lap I still came around for the first time all the way back in 27th. I put my head down and charged for the whole race, feeling stronger and stronger all the way to the flag. I ended up 17th. There was a huge pack of 10 riders that made up 4th through 14th that were all running nose to tail. I guess I was catching them but I was too far back to matter. I sure would have liked to get a good start and get in on some of that action though. Next time.

The second Superbike race sucked ass. I was forced to use a rear tire with a different profile than I had ever tried before because they ran out of the ones I usually use. It seemed to work OK for the first bit, but when it started to go off it went off huge. I put on a great charge in the beginning of the race moving forward through the pack by about 2 places a lap. I was having a blast but once the tire started acting up I was forced to physically work that much harder to try to keep the pace. Me and the tires got beat up real bad and before I knew it I was getting passed by anyone and everyone. I felt like such a chode. Not exactly how you like to finish off a weekend, but I kept it on two wheels (like I had planned), finished the race, and will use the money to continue the season.

Probably the highlight of the whole trip was this club we went to in Atlanta Sunday night. We finally left at 4:00am cause we had to get one of our crew to the airport and the place was still hopping! You really had to see it to believe it. Let's just say that what is considered socially acceptable behaviour is a little different there than on the west coast (specifically in a sexual sense). The club was called American Pie, and we'll be back there next year.

On Monday I took a tour of the Indigo Sports facility (importers and some R&D work for Leo Vince exhausts). Leo Vince has a HUGE manufacturing and R&D facility in Europe, the biggest in the world for 2-wheeled applications. I couldn't believe the professionalism of the design and application of the product. Racing is critical to their success and it shows in their product. Ask me about my Leo exhaust next time you see me at the races. You won't believe the quality, it's really in a class of it's own, and the performance speaks for itself. A big thanks to Richard, Brook and the guys at Leo for the tour.