Race Report

It was pretty nice having about 5 weeks off. Very strange of me to have that long of a break in the middle of the racing season, but if it was ever going to happen, the timing of it was almost perfect. During my time off I’ve almost re-formatted the hard drive of my life. I've got a new job, working in a completely new field with completely new people, in a new town. I’m moving into a new place with a new friend. I’ve got a new girl, and a new truck, I’m working with new people for my racing this year on new bikes in a new series…..I’ve pretty much started from scratch. The time off was healthy for me to digest a lot of the change.

I wasn’t sure if I was going to remember which handlebar had the throttle on it come first practice, but apparently I remembered. I blew out some cobwebs the first day at the track, but never really got going that fast I don’t think. I did manage to send myself flying with the 600 though – which is the first time any part of that bike other than the tires has ever touched the ground. Both me and the bike fared just fine though. I’m invincible, and the Suzuki’s are tough as nails.

Qualifying started out not so bad. I took wins in my first three qualifiers, securing pole for the mains in the afternoon. Then shortly after taking the lead in the last one on Blitzkrieg (the 1000) I crossed the front wheel up trying to tighten my line for the entrance to turn 2. I was going to have to start that main from the back after that.

The first 600 race was a bit of an eye opener. I was third into turn one. I had the guys lined up for a pass for the lead going into the braking section at the end of the back straight on the first lap, but when I hit the brakes I saw my GPR steering damper go flying forward out of the corner of my eye! It must not have got torqued down, and flew up into my guages! When I was going through the turn 7-8 transition I could see it bouncing around inside my upper fairing. I was worried it was going to bounce in between my fork leg and frame, and when I got out of turn 9 onto the front straightaway I reached for it to try to put it somewhere. I don’t really know what I would have done if I got it, but just as I reached for it, it dropped down behind my front wheel. I saw it a couple laps later when I almost ran over it. I lost a bit of time through all that, then the bike wasn’t working properly in a couple parts of the track due to the lack of steering control. I hung with the two leaders, but never had anything for them. I finished a disappointing third.

Open Supersport was probably the most interesting race that I’ve ever been in. Before the start of the race there was a bunch of delays that held us up in pre-grid before they sent us out for the warm-up lap. As we waited there the rain started to fall. We never had a chance to change tires at the last second because we were all being delayed in pre-grid. I saw about three guys almost lose it on the warm-up lap when they were pretty much straight up and down. I decided to test the traction on the back straight and got my junk totally sideways at the top of 5th gear. I saw a couple guys pull off the track after the warm-up lap, and I suggested to the starters that there be a delay to allow us to change tires due to the conditions. We all headed to the pits and put on rains. Basically delays continued longer than expected, the rain stopped, and it started to dry out. I put the DOT’s back on and gridded up. During the warm-up lap it was obvious that I made the wrong choice. It was WET still. After the flag dropped I went backwards from the leaders that were on rain tires. I was in third, but the two ahead of me that were obviously having a great battle were about ½ mile ahead. Slowly I got to know where the exit of that turn was dry and I could wick it on, or the entrance to this turn is dry, but it’s wet on the exit and so on, and I was able to pick up the pace. By about lap 6 it was fairly dry most of the way around and I could start laying down some decent laps. I brought the leaders back so fast I was able to drive right around the outsides of them all at once! I blasted out a gap out front until it started raining again! My pace slowed significantly, and I was worried about losing it all again, but it turned out that I stretched it out enough, and won by a safe margin. I had visions of Eddie Lawson winning the first GP ever for Cagiva back in the early 90’s when he started a re-started race with a cut slick and everyone else on wets. He came back at a blistering pace once the track dried and won. I’m sure we both felt pretty good about our wins, but probably him more than me.

The second 600 race was totally wet, and I had a decent ride. I slotted into second place after about a lap or so, and Mike Sullivan had a healthy gap on me for the lead. I closed it up slowly through the race, but never really was able to show him a wheel. Mike rode a great race, was totally consistent, and he won fair and square.

Open Superbike was the last race of the day, and again, totally wet. Starting from the back was a bit of a challenge, as I had to do my share of passing through all the spray and fog in the first couple laps to get into second place. Meanwhile Chris Ancien had stretched out a healthy lead. I chipped away at that every lap until about lap 6 when I finally caught him. I was on his back wheel going around the back straightaway (which isn’t straight) just taking a hose-down of water in the facesheild trying to stay as close as I could. He could have ridden off the track at that point and I would have followed him, as I couldn’t see jack. I pulled out near the braking section and quite honestly just had a brain-fade moment. I went quite a bit deeper than what is possible before hitting the brakes. It might sound weird, but I was concentrating so hard that I suppose I forgot it was wet for a second (the wrong second). Making the pass at that point wasn’t an issue, but making the corner was! I didn’t. Thankfully the road goes left, then right again, and I was able to moto it through the soaking wet grass at about 120mph on the gas. There was a big hole out there too that I hit that kicked both my wheels off the ground for a second, and the back end came up pretty high. I landed it moto style though, and didn’t lose that much time. I caught back up again near the very end of the race, but Chris was riding strong, and straight up beat me across the line. Hat’s off to him.

There was a fair bit of stress involved with all that back and forth tire swapping, but I handled it fairly well. I think the time off was good for me. First thank-you’s have to go out to Pirelli and Tigershark racing for busting their butts to change so many people’s tires at break-neck speeds. Maxima oils has been so good to me over the years, and this is no exception. I’m so happy with their products and professional service – they’re definitely some of the ‘good guys’ in the sport. Suzuki bikes rule the school. Not only is that 1000 the most fun I’ve ever had on a motorcycle, but they made it strong enough to stand up to my punishment as well! That’s saying something.

Thank you all for keeping track of my adventures, and I’m off to Calgary to race the Canadian Nationals.