So the plan was to head up to CO Thursday night, ride the Fasst Lapping day on Friday, race with MRA on Saturday and Sunday, and then head up to Denver to ride HPR on Monday. Can you imagine a better way to spend a weekend? I sure can’t.
So I left work early on Thursday, I met Brian (another SMRI racer) at my house, we loaded up his stuff into my trailer and hooked it to his truck. We headed on up, we found a great place to stay that night in Pueblo. We got to the track Friday am to ride and things were awesome.
I rode in the fast group and I even managed to get Shane Turpin to spend sometime with me. He followed me around and video taped me and showed me some better ways around the track. He went over the video with me to show me where I could fix a few things. I was stoked to get back out there and try out things we had talked about. I did one session a bit slower so that I could focus on those things. I was feeling really good about it when they ended my session. I headed back into the pits to go over things and write down some notes. I talked with Shane again, and we getting ready to head back out, but, it was at this point that I noticed oil all over the left side of the bike. It was also all over the tire, it was a good thing that I wasn’t pushing when I had been out in the last session. It looks like the oil cooler failed again, there is oil in the radiator overflow. There went my weekend, drat! I was so bummed.
I tried to find a dealership in CO with a part, who could get it fixed, but I didn’t have any luck there. The part was at the dealership in Abq, but I couldn’t find a way to get it up to the track. Oh well, it was looking like I was going to spend the weekend being Brian’s pit crew. However, Shane offered his 1098R to me for my race. I had to think about that one for a bit. I did take it out for a couple of sessions on it, and once I got over being terrified of it, I really liked it. I loved the brakes and the slipper clutch, I really need those on my bike! I also need to get that quick-shifter fixed.
I decided not to do the NGTO race on Sat. I really didn’t want to take risks with his bike. I did put some new tires on the 1098 and helped Brian (www.speedin-motorsports.com) get ready for his races. I’m really proud of him, he started 32nd and finished 9th in the NGTU. This weekend was his first time on the track. He also did the same thing in his other race (MW endurance).
I went out Sunday for my two practice sessions, so I could get more comfortable on that beast of a bike… I mean really 198hp that’s insane. It really doesn’t ride like the beast that it is, but it is the only bike I’ve ever ridden that makes you slide back on the seat every time that you catch the next gear. I felt so much more confident on it then I did on Friday. I wasn’t running very fast times, but I was only going at about 60%, since I wasn’t going to risk a bike that wasn’t mine.
I really was nervous about launching that bike, the traction control makes things a little trickier and I’m not always the best with launches. I had done a couple of practice launches on Friday and the best I can say is at least that I didn’t stall it. Shane had told me that he was going to video the start and if I did stall it he was going to laugh at me. I was ready for it too, but it was my best launch on it, even though it was a really slow launch. Wyeth was gone, and I got into second by the first turn. I managed to hold second for the LOR for the whole race. So I was really pleased with the whole race and I had a blast on that bike.
Then Brian and I drove up to Denver for the lapping day at HPR. It killed me to watch him and Eric out there, but we put my lap timer on their bikes and my camera on so they could get some good footage of themselves riding. I really wish that I’d had a bike to ride. There was hardly any people out there.