Ed had the next one for our pit, race 5, B Superbike Expert (750cc). This time, he was gridded toward the front. A few laps in, he had worked his way up to 5th. When he tried to pass 4th, he ended up running off the track, which put him back in 12th. In a couple laps, he had worked his way back up to 10th. I didn't see what happened, as again, the rest of us had the next race, but Ed lost the front in turn 1, trying to pass again. The bike was fine, and Ed was fine, but he was obviously very frustrated.
Again, David, Josh, Stephen, Craig, and myself all gridded up for race 6, B Superbike Novice (750cc). Because all of us had points in this class, all of us were gridded toward the front, right next to each other. In addition, Diesel Dave was also in this race, his first sprint. There are usually very few 750's, mostly 600's in this class. The race was fun. Again, I passed a few people, and got passed by a few people, the whole time with Stephen in front of me. I finished in 5th and I think Josh was right behind me.
Next up were Dave from Cali and Diesel Dave in race 8, A Superbike Novice. Dave from Cali finished 4th, I didn't see where Diesel Dave finished, but he was doing pretty well all weekend.
In race 10, Dave from Cali finished 3rd I believe. I didn't get to watch the race, but there weren't any incidents.
By this point, Ed had decided he wasn't going to do his last two races. He was frustrated and probably decided it would be better to call it a day than go out there and push too hard out of anger and crash again.
Next up was the dreaded "Meat Grinder," C Superstock Novice, race 13. This race is always packed wall-to-wall. Josh, David, Stephen, Craig, and myself were joined by John (teamdreamin) on the grid. Unfortunately, I had caught the crappy end of the stick in this class in the Fontana race. In Fontana, I had to start in the 2nd wave in like 25th position, and finished just outside of the points. Craig, who had been taken out in his 2nd race at Fontana, had no points to push him up the gird either, and he registered late, so he was at the very back. So this time, everyone except for Craig were 6 rows in front of me. I was right in the middle of the meat grinder. When the flag dropped, I got off the line really well... I was used to starting at the front at this point, and everyone usually gets off the line really well, but the guys in the middle were slow off the line. I almost thought I had jumped the start or something. I had no idea where I was, but I knew I had to make up as many positions as possible to make some points in this class. I probably passed 8-10 people going into turn 1. It was excruciatingly slow through the first 2 corners as the pack was 3 wide, all trying to get a position. I don't even remember most of the race. I was caught up in traffic everywhere, trying to throw passes left and right. I think it was lap 6 that the red flags came out. Coming out of the last turn, 2 bikes were on the ground, including Tim, another local. He didn't look too good, but he ended up ok. No re-grid this time, since the race had gotten past half-distance. We finished where we crossed the line last. I think I ended up in 10th.
John had race 14 too, the Senior Superbike race. I was in the pits, exhausted, but somehow he managed to take 1st in the race. Good work John!
The last race of the day is always the most interesting. The B classes usually have smaller grids, and by that point, a lot of people have crashed out, decided to go home, or just didn't sign up for the race so they could get back to their own state before midnight. On top of that, people are tired, the sun's in a bad position, and the track can start to go cold or the grip can decay a bit.
So, the last race of the day, race 17, B Superstock Novice. Stephen, John, David, Josh, myself, and Craig all lined up. I think there were only 15 riders. I was on the 3rd row, with almost a clear shot at turn 1. The start was fun. Again, I passed David, Josh, and another guy, but somehow Josh managed to dive under me into the first turn. Stephen got an awesome start from the front row, and he was out front, followed by another guy, Josh, John, and myself. For a while, it was a 3-way battle for third. We tripped each other up a bit, and the front 2 started pulling away a little. On the last lap of the race, it was Stephen, another guy, John, me, and Josh, all right on top of each other. John was almost in passing distance on 2nd, and I was right on his ass coming off the back straight. I was going to go up the inside of John in turn 7, the left handed horseshoe. That was my plan anyway.
Coming out of turn 6 is where shit hit the fan. I'm on John's ass, about to dive up the inside when I see Stephen's bike tumbling off into the sunset, with the 2nd guy in tow sliding off into the dirt. John cuts back to the inside of the track, so he's literally a few inches in front of me, and we both slow down. In my head, I'm thinking "Ok, either they hit each other, or there's oil on the track." John and I stayed tight through 7 when suddenly John lost the front. It was oil. All over the track. Granted, we slowed down, but the exit of 7 is tight. I'm pretty sure my knee was still on the ground at this point. I felt my front go and I somehow pushed the bike up off my knee. My feet came off the pegs and I tried to push the bike straight up and down, but lost the front AGAIN. This time I know I pushed it up off my foot because I have a nice bruise on my shin from the peg jamming into my leg. Somehow, I stayed up, ran straight over the curbing in turn 8. At almost a dead stop at this point, I turned around to see no less than 6 riders and bikes on the ground behind me, red flags finally waving. Holy shit. I slowly rolled into the pit lane, the sole survivor from the front pack. The checkered flag off to my right in the tower, now covered with a red flag. I yelled out a few expletives as I rolled in, stopped, and waited for a few minutes, before rolling back into the pit.
It turns out, someone had blown his motor going into 7, and managed to keep his bike upright all the way through 7 before running off 8 and pushing his bike back to the pit. All of this happened in the middle of the pack the previous lap, but for some reason, the race wasn't red flagged. Hell, I didn't even see a waving yellow when I came through 6, but I was a bit preoccupied.
Stephen got the worst of it. He highsided and his bike tumbled. It looked a bit like Wade's, with the front end all smashed up. He also hurt his hand, so hopefully it's just a bruise and nothing's broken. The rest of the bikes had minor lowside damage. Josh had decided to go on the outside of John and I going into 7 as we slowed, which put him straight into the oil and he slid off into the dirt.
In the end, they scored the race as we had crossed the finish line on the last lap. That sucks for me though, cuz I had passed Josh after that point, but oh well. Stephen got 1st, John, got 3rd, Josh got 4th, and I got 5th. The end of a crazy race.
So, after the weekend was all said and done, all of the usual Vegas people had gone down, except for Craig and myself. Three in the last race. Despite the carnage, I think everyone did really well, and was pretty happy with themselves, except for Ed who had been pretty hard on himself.
After packing up and fighting the NHRA traffic to get to the 15, I went home, dropped off the trailer, picked up Wade, Courtney, and Bonnie, and we headed to
MotoCafe for a test run of the menu. It was actually packed. Tons of people from the track had shown up, trailers and bikes in tow. Great food too. It should be open in the next couple days, after they get their inventory shipment in. Keep an eye on the boards for an announcement.
Keep the shiny side up, folks!
04-14-2008, 01:50 PM
Race Report, WERA @ LVMS, Last Race Carnage
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