My race report for this round is easy -- I didn't go. First, by day I earn my shekels as a tax accountant, and the third week of March is pretty much the worst time of the year, so business wise it was a no go. Second, although my recovery was going well, it wasn't going that well. I was still pretty weak and entirely dependent on a feeding tube for nutrition, so my wife exercised my better judgment and said I couldn't go. Finally, our ace mechanic, Duane, aka "Wangers," was going, so I'd have ended up being the sub-pit-bitch, which would have been too humiliating. As sub-pit-bitch, I wouldn't get to clean the bugs off Jay's visor between races, I'd only be allowed to hand the towel to Wangers, who would clean off the visor!
I was psyched up for Round 2. I entered Clubman LT, Formula 40 LT, 650 Twins and Formula 4.
We all drove down together Friday night, Jay, Wangers, Jay's two kids, Amanda and Alex and moi. We went by the track and dropped off the trailer so we wouldn't have to fight the crowd Saturday morning. From there we drove south through San Rafael, over the San Rafael bridge and we stayed on the boat at Brickyard Cove Marina; it's free and it's only 30 minutes from the track. We all got settled and had an uneventful first night.
Jay, the son of a Marine Corp drill sergeant, took great pleasure at waking us all up at o' dark thirty Saturday morning. We all stumbled to the truck, loaded up and made for the nearest Starbucks. I had black coffee, the kids had hot chocolate with nothing to eat (first bad decision of the day), I'm not sure what Wangers had. Being race day, Jay got his man on and had a chocolate cherry mocha frappacino with whipped cream, a cherry on top. Then off to the track.
I was still on a liquid diet, so I slurped down an Ensure on the way. As soon as we got parked the kids took off in search of the Twin Works crew and food (or junk food), Jay and I headed to registration and Wangers started unloading the trailer. By the time Jay and I got back Wangers had pretty much everything unloaded; now I know what ol Valentino must feel like! It was my first race of the season so I had to haul the bike, belly pan, helmet, boots leathers, etc to get my tech inspection. Since it was still before 0800 (way before) no engines were allowed, so one has to push one's bike to tech. Thank god we had a big crew, because it took all of them to get my sorry butt to tech. By the time I got the bike off the stand I was winded; the though flitted through my mind that maybe I'd been a little optimistic about the progress of my recovery. So the crew felt sorry for the old guy: Alex carried my helmet and gloves, Amanda carried my leathers, I wore my boots and steered and Wangers pushed the bike. How's that joke go about how many people does it take to get and old guy through tech? So we got through tech and the entourage and I returned to the trailer. I was moving so slow I'd already missed my first practice session; I was in group 1 - slower than dirt, but I managed to get ready for my second session.
I got suited up and ready to go; it was about then that I realized (admitted) that I was scared shitless. I hadn't been on a bike since last August, about 7 months ago, and they weren't exactly 7 easy months at that. My mouth was so dry my tongue was glued to the top of my mouth. I got my tongue unstuck with a sip of water, got on the bike and headed for the track. The first session was scary, but as each lap went by I got more comfortable. My lap times started about 20 seconds off my lap times from last year, but by the last session I managed to get them down to only 9 seconds over last year's best; at least they were consistent. After my first session I was tired, but relieved I was still alive, after the second session I was pooped, so I decided not to do any more practice sessions and I dropped out of all the races other than the Clubman race. Even my improved lap times would have made me a speed bump for the fast guys in the "big kids' " races.
The Clubman LT race was the second race of the afternoon. The one part I was pretty confident in was my start, last year I'd always pass a half dozen riders coming off the line. I was gridded on the second or third row so I thought I'd be in good shape by the first corner. The flag came out, I slipped the clutch, wheelied, chopped the throttle, dropped the front end, back on the throttle, another mini wheelie and off I went for turn 1 as streams of riders passed me by. So much for my good starts. After the start the race was kind of a blur, the next thing I distinctly remember was coming down the straight away and seeing one of the workers with the crossed sticks - we were half way done; I though "holy crap" I'll never last another 4 laps, but I did. I passed a couple of people and visa versa, I ended up crossing the finish line 16th out of 29 starters and my best lap time was a 2:09, 6 seconds slower than be best in 2010.
So i went back to the pit, parked the beast and assumed my roll as assistant pit bitch.
In most race reports the rider goes on to thank his sponsors, I was contacted by mine and asked not to mention their names? Just kidding. Since this is my first race report, I'll not only thank my sponsors, Pilot USA for a great set of leathers, MotionPro, Galfer, AGV and Motonation through whom we get our Sidi products and AGV products, and ZeroGravity, but I'll also explain how we ended up with those sponsors. I didn't randomly send applications out to every manufacturer I could find, I actually only applied to manufacturers who's products I already used or planned to use. Jay and I were both already wearing Sidi Vortice Air riding boots, I had already purchased MotionPro's digital tire pressure gage, I was already using Galfer brake pads, etc. So we don't have as many sponsors as some teams, but the ones we do have are ones we believe in and whose products we use, whether we get them discounted or have to pay full retail.
Well, if you think I sucked at round 2, wait until you hear this one.
When I got home from round 2 I decided it was time to get over this recovery BS and get on with it, and it worked. I started eating more by mouth and using my feeding tube less, I went out with the local sport bike club for a Sunday ride and did a 200 mile day on the Ducati. Surprisingly, I kept up with the ride leader and was feeling pretty froggy. I figured I'd get after it in round 3 and really improve my lap times, my goal was to break 2:00, which would mean cutting 10 seconds off my best lap in round 2 and 4 seconds off my best time ever. If that sounds impressive it's not, the fast guys are doing laps 30 seconds faster than that, but I though if I could get sub 2:00s at least I wouldn't embarrass myself.
I needed some serious seat time, so I signed up for a track day on Friday the 6th. That would give me all day Friday and Saturday morning to practice. Jay couldn't make the weekend, so Linda my wonderful bride went with me. She doesn't do wrenching or gassing, but she did offer moral support. I felt surprisingly confident, compared to the last time out. The sun was out, the temperature was perfect, it was going to be a great day. I was the first guy out in my first session, I took it easy on my first lap, didn't want to over do it on cold tires. I got to the starting line and cranked up the speed all the way to turn 3 where some squid had gone down and spilled oil all over the track. Black flag, the session was over.
An hour later my second session started, off I went, first guy in my group on the track. I finished the session and felt like I'd definitely made some progress. I got back to the pit, pulled the blue tape off my lap timer and ..... nothing, the sensor unit worked loose and banged around loosening the battery. Crap. I got the battery fixed and taped it on with duct tape this time; I was ready to light it up in the third session. I was about mid group as we went out for our third session, after a lap to warm up my tires I started pushing a little harder and it felt good, I passed a half dozen riders and only got passed by a couple guys on 600s and one other AFM guy on a SV. I got the white flag, one lap left in the session. The last lap was going really well, I was sure my lap time was going to be good. Maybe if I'd been thinking about turn 9 instead of my lap time I wouldn't have got into the first part of the turn a little too hot, which made me square off the first half of the chicane....and low side on the second half. As I turned left my knee started dragging, that was good, then body work started dragging, that was bad. So I let go and went sliding across the track and into the dirt. Glad I was wearing my old leathers. It was a nothing low side for me, not a scratch or a bruise. The bike started the to slide on its left side, and then just to be obnoxious, decided to flip over on its right side so it could dent and scratch both side of the freshly painted gas tank. The flip did in the tail section too, there are two main support bolts, one tore out of the fiberglass completely, the other cracked the support and almost tore out. I added three pictures to the photo gallery page, the last three. The first one is one of two pictures with my paint intact, it's turn 8 in the second session. The second one is turn 9a and I think it's the lap right before the last lap. The last one is where I ended up after losing the front in the same turn. On a positive note, the last two laps before going down I'd done 2:07s, not the sub 2:00 I'd hoped for, but at least I'd cut a couple seconds in my abbreviated day.
Voila, my race weekend was over before it got started. Now I'm exercising my mad fiber glassing skills so I'll be ready for round 4 at Thunderhill.
The race season really started clicking in Round 4. I was entered in Clubman LT, Formula 40 LT, 650 Twins and Formula 4.
We arrived fairly early Friday evening, Jay, Wangers and I. We headed out to the track and dropped off the trailer so we'd have a good spot for the weekend. I knew it was going to be a good weekend as soon as we got there. As we were unhooking the trailer a hot looking brunette in white leathers a couple sizes too small for her approached us. We figured she'd just finished riding in the Zoom Zoom track day and was headed for her trailer, instead she walks right up to Jay and asks "are you Jay Avansino...don't you ride and SV?" After Jay stammers for about 20 seconds he finally manages to nod yes, and this little hottie goes on about how she watched him in every race for two seasons and he inspired her to start racing. Then she kisses him on the cheek, turns around and heads back to wherever she came from. Jay about crapped his pants from shock and Wangers and I almost did the same from laughing so hard. Jay stammers and blushes like a Champ! We finally got Jay's tongue back in his mouth and we headed to Casa Ramos for some food and then to the Holiday Express.
Registration and tech inspection were uneventful. As usual I was in practice group 1, the really slow kids. It was a little cool, but dry and sunny so the track temp was pretty good for being that early in the day. I headed out right after the second call so I was the first onto the track. The best way to get the tires up to operating temp is hard acceleration and braking, so I gunned it leaving the hot pit and rode the back wheel for the first 100 yards. The track was in great shape. After going down before the race weekend even started last time out I decided to take it easy for the first session, I focused on staying smooth and I was really surprised later in the day when I checked my lap times and discovered that I wasn't far off my 2010 best lap time, still slow by fast guy standards, but a 2: 14 was pretty good for me "taking it easy." The rest of the morning sessions went good, I could tell my lap times were going down and my confidence up.
Clubman LT was the second race of the day. I was pretty amped up and got out early again. I used tire warmers for the first time, so that combined with the mid-afternoon temp of the track let me put in a fast warm up lap; the bike felt great. Because I'd missed Round 3 I was gridded on the 5th row, next to the last. When the green flag came out I started slipping the clutch and managed to get off the line without lifting the front wheel. I kept the revs up as I went through the gears and found myself in about 8th place by the time we got to turn 1, I couldn't believe it, I'd passed about 10 riders at the start. As the bikes started coveying up for turn 1 I decided to stay on the outside and as we entered turn 2 I was in about 8th place. i could feel the rear stepping out a little midway through the turn so I kept the throttle steady until the last quarter of the turn. I rolled on the throttle and let the bike drift out to the right edge of the repaired patch at the end of 2 and headed straight for the inside line for 3. As Jay predicted, a number of the riders ahead of me went to the left side of the track to late apex 3, so I just stayed on the gas and got two more of them as we entered 3. Turns 4, 5, 6 and 7 are a blur, but I definitely remember 8. I was on the guy's back wheel as we went through 7, he took a mid track approach to 8 - he must have had a brain burp because the race line is all the way to the right side of the track. I drifted to the right and accelerated until I was about 8 feet to his right and my front tire was just ahead of his rear wheel, when I got to my turn in spot I cut the throttle for a split second to put more weight on the front tire leaned hard to the left and opened the throttle wide open. As he drifted wide I cut just behind him and I was in 4th place. I could feel it coming, my first podium finish.
I rolled to the right, opened my eyes and harsh reality flooded my consciousness -- it was still overcast, dark and raining, just like it was Friday night when I went to sleep. Yes, there's not a word of truth to my report. Jay and Wangers didn't come, there was no hot chick in white leathers, I ate a Subway sandwich by myself in the room last night. It rained all weekend, there was no practice and not a single race was run. But what the hell, it was a good dream.
Did I mention that 2011 was going to be a rebuilding year? I didn't lie. As my recovery has progressed and I've started trying to do more of the activities that I did "BC;" I've noticed that I have the endurance of a 2 year-old. So I checked around for a trainer to help me and found Rob Conatser who owns Sierra Strength Speed, which specializes in training athletes and also helping people recover from major injuries, etc. So now Rob's kicking my butt twice a week with weights and endurance training trying to get me back in shape. In the mean time I'm going to skip round 5 and focus on getting in better shape for the last three rounds at Thunderhill.
I made good use of the extra time off. Rob Conaster keep me working hard and I felt better than I had since I started treatment, so I felt ready to head to Thunderhill to get in some riding. I was assigned to Practice Group 1, the slow kids. The first practice session went fine; we were the first group out, the track was still pretty cool so I decided to take it pretty easy. This was the first weekend I used my tire warmers and they gave me more confidence to push harder sooner. In the second practice session I felt good and started picking up the pace a little. I can't find my lap times on the AFM site, but as I recall I was close to my previous best laptime from July 2010 of 2:13.8. Then I went out in the third session and managed a lap in the 2:12 range. The bike felt better than it ever had before. I had a suspension guy do what ever they do to shift more weight to my front tire. When I went down in May I lost the front as I was accelerating out of the corner, not going into the corner, so he did something to keep more weight on the front under heavy acceleration. Between that, going back to the 46 rear sprocket and using the tire warmers everything felt good.
I skipped the 4th practice round, which as it turns out was cut short because of crash, so no big loss. I did the first afternoon practice session and did another 2:12. My rear tire was getting a little iffy so I got a new rear put on. I went out with the Formula Pacific guys for their warm up lap so I could scrub them in; I was ready for my first race. I was in Clubman LT and I was gridded on about the 5th row. There were 26 bikes on the grid. I got a good start passing a half dozen bikes before getting to turn one. I felt good and got passed maybe once during the race and passed about 4 bikes. The most exciting part was turn 15 on the last lap. Bike 795 and I caught up with a covey of slower riders going into turn 14 at the end of the back straight. He took the outside line that I wanted so I cut inside of the group. I got on the gas pretty hard coming out of 15 on to the front straight as I drifted toward the outside of the track 795 came up from behind me on my left side and bumped into me. That was the first time I'd ever made contact with a bike on the track and it startled me enough that I cut the throttle for a split second. Just long enough to let 795 get ahead of me on the race to the finish line; he beat me by about 100 feet. That last lap, where I lost a tenth or two because of our bump, I set my best lap time in a race, I did a 2:13.056, 8 tenths better that my best time in 2010 before getting sick. I placed 15th of 26; not great result wise, but great because I felt strong, kind of like my old self.
There was one intervening race and then I was in the Formula 40 LT race. There was a small grid, only 14 starters. I was feeling confident and strong after the Clubman race. I was gridded in the back row. I got a good start and passed a about three riders on the way to turn 1. For the next 3 laps I held my own; I didn;t realize that Dr. John Foreman was on my ass just waiting for a hicup; he was on his slow bike so he was running about 10 hp less than I was and he said that every time he'd line me up for a pass I'd take his line, he said I was a real pain in the ass to get around - a fine compliment. Finally Jon and one other guy got by me. I ended up 11th out of 14 riders, but the best part was that my best lap time in the race was a 2:09.798, almost exactly 4 seconds better than my 2010 best lap!
The next two races on Sunday included all the "youngsters" so the competition was a lot tougher. The first race was 650 Twins; it was the second race of the day. The race must have been pretty uneventfull, because looking back on it I can't really remember much about it. I finished 22 our of 23 riders that completed the race and my best lap time was pretty mediocre, a 2:11.158. The only highlight was that the one rider I beat was ol number 795, the guy that ran into me during the Clubman race on Saturday :-)
My final race was the Formula 4 race that was the second race after lunch. I got a good start and then managed to slowly work my way into last place :-( The bright spot in that race was my lap time for the last lap. By that point I knew I was in last place so I was basically riding around by myself. When I saw the white flag at the start finish I told myself that it was my last lap of the weekend, there was no way I was going to catch the next rider - he was several hundred yards ahead and still making trees on me. I decided instead of wasting the lap I would put my head down and go as hard as I could, and it worked it was new best lap ever a 2:09.587.
I'm finishing up this report in the motel the night before the start to Round 7. My conditioning has been getting better and better so conditioning wise I should show improvment, so we'll see if the extra conditioning will result in a better laptime.
Got up to still dark, different than the race weekends in the middle of the summer when it was light at 5:30. But I popped right out of bed, I was psyced up for the weekend; I was sure I'd be able to beat my previous best lap time.
I got to the track about 0700, set up my canopy got the bike out by sunrise. I actually remembered to take the belly pan off before rolling over to tech inspection. They now have one tech inspection for the whole weekend. When I got my sticker the tech gal reminded not to crash or I'd have to go through tech again. Hum, an omen?
I went to the riders meeting at 0800 and then headed back to the trailer to get my leathers on, I didn't have to rush because I was in Practice Group 2 -- I was moving up. I checked over everything, oil, coolant, tire pressure, gas, all good. It was pretty cool compared to the summer temps at Thunderhill, the air temperature was about 77 and track temperature the same when I went out for our first session about 0820. When I later checked my lap times they confirmed what I thought, I started out at a nice slow pace and picked it up each lap as the tires warmed up and I loosened up. My times were 2:30, 23, 20, 15, 14 and my last lap of the first session was a 2:10.828, a second and a half off my best, and that was in the first practice session with a cold track and I was holding back a little until the track warmed up.
At the time I didn't know what my lap times had been in the first session, but they felt good. I was feeling pretty strong. I went out for my second session and put in a cautious lap at 2:22 to warm up the tires, then did a 2:15 and a 2:11.076. Going up the hill from 8 in the third lap a guy on a 600 passed me going up the hill, which didn't bother me as he had me by about 50 horse power, but then he slowed way down for turn 9 and I about ass packed him. Down the hill from 9 to 10 he gassed it hard and got about 50 yards ahead of me, and sure enough he grabbed a hand full of brake going into 10 and I had to slow up for him again. Same story in 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15. Heading down the front straight he got about 100 yards ahead of me and I'll be F***ed if he didn't slow way the f**k down going into 1. I managed to get right up on his back wheel in 2 and pretty much kept up with him between 2 and the off-camber turn 3. He took the inside line, the preferred line, but I was getting pissed so I decided to hell with it, I'd take him on the outside of 3. I stayed on the gas a little too long and as I started turning I realized I was fucked! I was too hot too far out in the really off camber part of the turn. I leaned, my knee was down, then body work was down so I let lose, I was down again, shit.
I remember hitting the edge of the turf, it felt like I was going to get a dirt enema, then I started rolling, I saw dirt, sky, dirt, sky, dirt, sky,dirt sky.... The next thing I remember was that I realized I wasn't moving anymore, I remember thinking that nothing was hurting, so I was probably ok. The next thing there were two turn workers, one under each arm asking me if I could walk? They were telling me I had to get out of the impact area and they were yelling to another turn worker to get to my bike with a fire extinguisher. I think they said they'd walk me back to the first aid station when the track went cold. I'm not sure how we got there because the next thing I remember I was sitting on the foot of a bed in the aid station talking to three of the paramedics. They asked me if I knew my name: yep, remembered that. Then did I know where I was: yep, Thunderhill. Then did I know where I was pitted.....nope, no idea. Then where I crashed....nope. The Os finally started bringing me back, I finally remembered where my trailer was and I was pretty sure I crashed in either 2 or 3.
I guess it must have looked pretty impressive; they called the Care Flight helicopter from Chico as they thought I was going to be in rough shape. The bike must have tumbled pretty good. I posted pictures on the gallery page. Anyway, turns out I had a mild concussion and a bruise on my arm, but other than that I was fine. The paramedics from the helicopter came in and interviewed me to make sure I was ok and after a 5 minute conversation they had me sign the paper work and they released me. They drove me back to my pit and asked my neighbors to keep an eye on me for a while to make sure I didn't pass out (they worry about brain bleeds). I felt a little woozy, but ok. They brought my bike back in the meat wagon; that was depressing. My neighbor helped me roll it into the trailer and get it strapped in. Then I loaded the rest of my shit; by that time it had been a couple hours since the crash, so I hopped into the truck and headed back to Reno.
The post mortem on me was that it took about a week for me to feel 100%, but I'm fine now. The bike didn't fare so well: front fender torn loose, upper destroyed, lower destroyed, tail ripped loose, exhaust crunched, throttle torn up, front brake reservoir gone, both levers bent, right clip on bent, sub-frame crushed, gas tank dented on both sides and the top and now leaks around the fill cap, so it's toast, dirt and small rocks in the carburetors and probably in the engine. So all the body work went in the trash, the engine it at Zoran's shop and the rest of the bike is in a box. I priced out the repairs, $3,800, after which I'll have a $4,000 bike. Crashing hard sucks.
So, I've got all winter to rebuild the bike and make it better then ever. Zorn said the engine was 7 years old and due for a rebuild anyway. So stay tuned, 2012 has to be a better year!