Race Report
I think my run of bad luck is over. At least I hope so.
Saturday morning my father-in-law came over to help get some stuff out of the garage that the previous owner (a friend of ours) left. He parked his truck in front of the fence blocking me from getting the trailer out. Fortunately, he got back in time for us to get going and if nothing else would happen we would make it in plenty of time.
Two traffic delays later due to car accidents and we finally get to the track, sign up and just make practice (I missed the 3rd practice but went out for the 5th and 8th).
I did sign up for 3 classes. 250D, Unl Rookie and +30c/d.
After my first heat someone pointed to my back tire and it was flat. Ok, so now we have more bad luck. Fortunately, I found a tube. Wrench changed it out for me (it would have taken me 5 hours and repetitious use of the word #$%@ and &*!^ to do it). Unfortunately, due to the rushed nature of it all the first tube got pinched. We buy another from Motolinx and it seemed to hold air (more on that later).
We finished up in just enough time for Wrench to get out for his last heat.
I missed my last two heat races so I decided to just race the mains. I had last gate choice and knew it would cost me but what the heck... at least I had air in my tires now.
In the 250D main I get a decent start but Wrench got an incredible start. As I come over the back side of the track I look over and he is entering the whoops all alone IN FIRST PLACE! As the race progressed I ended up catching up to Wrench who was fading due to getting hit by someone. I ended up in 7th. There was 17 total in the class so that was good enough for a trophy position.
In the Unl Rookie class I got a bad start but was happy with where I was at. We had a freight train going into the 4th corner and I saw people falling. I saw a hole and tried to take it but someone fell into me and I went down. I got up, put the bike in neutral, ed it and got started again in last place. The leaders were about half a lap away and I figured I better get going or I'd be lapped.
I caught 1 person who spun out and then caught another guy later. I put my head down and saw another guy come into view and I was making up time on him in the whoops. On the last lap I caught him and passed him. He tried to block me but was very clean about it and I thought it was cool b/c for three or four corners he and I had a really good and clean battle going on. It was a lot of fun.
Also, the leaders did not make up that much time on me so I did not get lapped which made me feel pretty good.
In the +30c/d I got a bad start but that was expected since most of the guys there are C riders. I was alone for a little while but I caught one guy on a Yamaha. I passed him briefly and he got upset and decided to cut the track and pass me back. I was so happy I reeled him in and passed him that I didn't care too much that he cut the track.
The night was a lot of fun despite being late, the flat tire, going down and having someone cut the track in front of me. Wrench led for a full lap and I think that is the first time this year that has happened for one of the Team Turtle guys since the Warm Up series and Gomer sandbagging <eg>. I was able to meet Paul and his girlfriend. Paul seems like a really nice guy and seems to ride fast. My wife loved his accent and asked me to get him to sit with us and just have him talk all evening ;)
Lee raced well but suffered some arm pump issues. His girlfriend came and this is the first time I've met her I believe. She seemed very nice and supportive. Lee of course was a loud mouth, whiny jerk... just kidding :) As usual, Lee was great to hang out with and really cool.
James raced with a bumb knee and did very well. He then proceeded to show me his true speed on Sunday at TNT. At TNT I tried Gomer's son's YZ250, James CR250 and my 450 for a few laps each. I felt really fast on the YZ250 but was having some trouble jumping it. On the CR250 I did not feel as comfortable as on the YZ250. I then rode my 450. James had followed me each time I rode and he said I was faster on my 450 but I felt a lot faster (especially in the corners) on the YZ250. However, I can't argue with the results of the comparison. What I felt and what was reality I guess are two different things. Speaking of TNT on Sunday... I got another flat. I forgot to tighten the rim lock on the tire the night before and it shifted in the tire pinching the tube. Thankfully Gomer changed it out with a Moose Heavy Duty (and this thing is very Heavy Duty) tube.
My wife, Jenni, rode her CR150F more than I've ever seen her ride. She got on the kids track and was having a blast. She was having so much fun that I went up and talked to Gomer while she suited up and went out on the kids track by herself. I think that was the most fun she has ever had riding and that in turn made the day very, very cool for me! I was so stoked to see her having a blast like that.
The weekend was great overall with the racing, meeting new people and watching her ride. I hope this weekend's double header of racing is at least half as much fun!
Thanks Wrench, James, Lee and Gomer for your help this weekend!