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Race Day!

I was rudely interrupted at 5:15am by my alarm. A quick bodycheck revealed only minor stiffness and no headache or hangover, which presaged well for the day. After loading the truck with goodies assembled from a quick stop-over visit to Munroe the previous evening, and the requisite flyby a local coffee shop, we arrived just before 7am at the track, which was covered in foggy cloud or cloudy fog. We set-up the pit and got the bike on the tire warmers, leaving on the 18 lap qualifying tires from yesterday, as I was deliberately going to test the new rear suspension spring only and not try to improve my qualifying time. I’ve been around the race track enough to know that you can’t go fast when you don’t feel like it, so you choose those times to try different lines or suspension settings or something, and allow yourself that you will be more in the mood to go fast at another time.

* The principal suspects – Nick, Linda and Todd

The track was damp enough from the fog for the qualie session to be delayed an hour. It was still cold and cloudy at 9am when we headed out onto the track, but before I even got to turn two I could feel the rear was significantly smoother. I bombed around for a few laps and came in for some minor adjustments to both front fork and rear shock. Todd said he could tell the bike was better ‘cos he saw me race a coupla kids out of turn 11 and even pass one of the snotters on the brakes into turn 1.

I went back out for the last few minutes of the session to test my changes, keeping my competitive impulses under control. Yesterday, when riding through fast turn 5, I had had to hold a neutral throttle because the 848 would unnervingly bounce towards the outside of the sweeper, whereas now I could roll on the gas because it was more stable. I had a clear thought that we’d found a set-up that I could race on – meaning it felt like I could attack a corner or ride closely with another rider and not be in dire danger from my own unpredictable motorcycle.

Back in the pits we mounted up a fresh pair of tires, topped off the gas, checked critical fasteners for tightness, polished the paintwork such as it was, attended to all details we could possibly think of, and by noon we were ready to race. We took the bike, generator, stands, tire warmers, tools and miscellanea down to our trackside hot pit in front of the main grandstand, ready for the “fan walk” of the hot pits where the riders and crew stand by their bikes, riders in their leathers, and talk to the fans and sign autographs. I had about five people ask me for my autograph, and I even didn’t know a couple of them – it was cute!!

The horn blew and we got ready to race. Firstly we did a “sighting lap” where the racers cruise around the track waving at the fans. You ride up to your grid position, your crew puts the bike onto the stands and warmers for about 3-4 minutes as the racers relax under the umbrellas, building excitement into the show I suppose. Then the warmers come off, the crews vacate the grid, you go around one more time for a warm-up lap at speed, come round and grid up for the start.

* Nick top o’ turn 2 in his nice new Arlen Ness leathers – Photo Credit: GotBlueMilk

I had wound up in 13^th place on the grid, because Matt Sadowski had bettered his Friday qualifying time this morning and bumped me down one spot. Unfortunately this meant a change from the ideal outside-right position on the third row to a much worse inside-left fourth row start. I decided it didn’t matter because I was going to do as well as I could with the tools that I had, and keep my cool.

The AMA officials cleared the grid, the red flag went away, we clicked first gear, the lights came on, I revved her up, and bang – the lights went out and I launched the little 848 off the line. Everyone was starting well but I had a little extra oomph from the two-cylinder Ducati engine and I eased past a coupla guys as we shot up the hill to turn two. Looked like I was in about 10^th place, but no time to think about that, I had to hang off the bike and get on the gas.

I was riding at about 95%, not really trusting the suspension or the tires that much, trying hard, but keeping a cool head. One guy came past me on the inside into turn 3 and then another into the Carousel turn 6. I followed the line of bikes through the dip, searching for the limit of rear tire traction with the throttle. I had set the geometry of the bike up fairly conservatively because of having to use stock triple clamps in this class, but the back of the bike was set too low and I was dragging my toes in most corners.

After three or four laps I saw someone crash their brains out coming down the hill into the turn 9 chicane, their bike cart wheeling through the grass next to me as I braked. We kept rolling for another coupla laps, I was riding closely behind the guy in front of me trying to see a way past him, when he suddenly stuck his leg out and I saw a red flag from the flag station. Looked like someone else had crashed in turn nine, their bike lying in the middle of the turn.

* Nick leads Joey Bagodonuts on Sunday, albeit temporarily – Photo Credit: Brian J Nelson

We cruised back to the hot pit and my trusty crew of Todd and Linda got the bike onto the stands and warmers on the tires. Todd added a splash of gas to the bike, adjusted the rear ride height to raise the back up a bit, I had a sip of water and we were ready for the restart.

This time I moved up to P12 on the grid as one of the crashing kids wasn’t making the restart, getting my coveted outside starting position. I got another good launch and again was about 9^th or 10^th into turn 2, and again got passed in pretty short order by a coupla faster guys.

I was really enjoying my ride – the 848 felt decent at least and I was feeling strong – but this time it only took three laps before the red flag was waving again. Back in the hot pit again, Todd said that rising star Joey Pascarella bagodonuts had crashed in turn 10, a high speed right-hander with no run-off room, and the race was stopped so the track workers could get to him. We got the bike ready for yet another restart and sat on the pit wall waiting, but after a few minutes the AMA race officials told us the race was called complete, so we looked up at the score board and there I was in 10^th place, with Elena Myers winning her first AMA National – good for her!

We had just met our ultimate goal of the weekend – a top ten finish – which now made me a professional racer as I had won a staggering $250. Why I gave up on those golf lessons makes no sense now.

We checked my lap times and the lighter rear spring had let me drop another whole second and get into the 1:47’s. As a new professional, I immediately got hold of my new manager, James Siddall, who located at a small fee (sorry, inside joke) another rear spring that was lighter still. Todd and I got the thing fitted onto the shock between swigging beers and chatting with friends, and we wrapped up for the evening feeling as if we’d landed on the moon, it was awesome.