When: July 19-21, 2002
Where: Mosport, Bowmanville ONT


Thurs 7/19
I drove up to Larry's in Durham NH the night before..  to get out of Beatown.  We left by 8am and headed north.  Driving was pretty uneventful.. We got to Mosport around 6pm or so.  Drove around the infield a bit and found Phil Unhola, and set up next to the Moto Canada bus in the gravel pits.  We walked around, had a beer, talked to people, etc.  We also did a track walk with Emmet and Ivan.. which helped a lot.  I eventually found the TSE Racing trailer, but Dale and Marshall were staying at a motel, so they weren't around.

Friday 7/20
Got up early, made sure the bike was ready to go.. I had breakfast, went to the riders meeting, etc then found Dale and Marshall.  We all went out for 125 practice.   I had set my jetting rich, as there's a long section of WOT (about 18 seconds).   I pulled into the pits after the second lap of the first practice and rejetted the bike.. it was way too rich, and the bike was stumbling a lot.  I went back out,   and pulled in again to rejetted once more.  I finally got it right.. I ultimately ran about 1 jet richer than what I would have had at NHIS..  This gave me a good reference for the weekend.  I went out again for 250 practice, and started to get the hang of the track.  Lots of really fast corners..  it's a fun racetrack!   Dale and Marshall had a spot on the paved pits, so I moved my stuff up under their canopy.

After lunch, I did 2 more practice sessions (125 and 250) and started to go a bit faster.  All 4 practices went well.. I was feeling pretty good.  I had dinner, and did another track walk by myself.  I went to bed around 11.. I was pretty wiped out.

Saturday 7/21
Same morning routine.. Breakfast, rider's meeting, then 125 and 250 practice.  I started picking up more speed, and was feeling pretty confident on the track.  After lunch I went out for my 125 heat race, then helped out the NEP team for the 2 legs of CN Superbike.  It was fun helping out on the grid for the nationals.  There were lots of red flags during the superbike race, so we spent a lot of time on the grid waiting.  After, I went out for the 250 heat race.  It was about 7pm.. the sun was playing havoc with my eyes in turn 5a, plus it was late.. so I slowed down and made sure I didn't do anything stupid.  I spent Sat eve rebuilding my clutch, as I couldn't get off the start line for the heat races.  A couple of the steel plates were warped.

Sunday 7/22
Same morning routine.. Breakfast, rider's meeting, then 125 and 250 practice (gotta love cut and paste!).

Can-Am 125 race
There were 43 bikes on the grid!!!!  yee haa!  We got called to the pre-grid too early, so we sat around for 10 minutes waiting.  Eventually we got out for our warm-up lap, but the grid cones on the track were screwed up, so there was some confusion.   Eventually the green light showed it's bright self to us.  I got a good start, then got stuck in T1 traffic..  though I didn't have to, I just ended up being a wimp (no surprise there).  I passed a few people, and one of them got me back on the second lap.  I followed him for a lap, then repassed him coming through T2 on the next lap.  I caught up with another rider and passed him, then got passed back by him between 2 and 3.  I passed him back again on the straight and held the position.   It was a lot of fun.  I went down 1 lap the leaders and ended up getting 30th.   I was pretty happy with that, given it was my first time at the track.

ASM 250
The Buell series race had a red flag, and there was an hour long delay while we waited for the ambulance to return.  The 250 race was 8 laps, and was the last race of the day.   I got a so-so start... I had it going well, but bogged it a little.  I got past a few riders into T1 (I got better!) and got passed by some of the faster riders that were behind me by the time T2 had come around.  I managed to pass a rider, then set my sights on a 250 that was ahead of me.  Every lap I'd reduce the gap by the time we reached turn 5, but around the 6th lap, I screwed up going into turn 3.. I downshifted one too many times, and lost all the ground I had worked hard to make.  Since he had the power on the straight, there wasn't enough time for me to catch up with him again.  I went 1 lap down on the 7th lap to the leaders and then took the checkered flag.  I managed to finish 17th out of 18 experts, but had stayed ahead of a bunch of amateurs.   I was still pretty happy.  By the end of the weekend, I had ridden 12 track sessions, equalling about 3 1/2 hours.. and 250+ miles.

Larry and I packed up, helped Dale and Marshall load the trailer, got race results and headed off.   We left around 8pm and drove for a few hours.  We contributed to the roadkill (we hit a fox and ended up with a broken front bumper and rear mudflap), then stopped for a motel in Brockville.  We were both pretty wiped out.

Monday 7/23
We got up around 6:30, got some breakfast at Tim Horton's and hit the road.  We got to Durham NH by about 3:00, and I left for home to beat traffic.  I got home around 4:30 or so.

Special thanks to Larry Hussey, who drove up with me (even though he didn't race), wrenched, did lap times and video, etc.. and to Dale Greenwood and Marshall Young for letting me squat under the TSE Racing canopy, lending me tools, etc.  It was a fantastic weekend...  Good weather, fun company and great racing !!!  Also thanks to Phil Unhola for some parts and advice, as well as John Bickle and Tammy for running a fantastic series.  The Can Am 125 challenge was extremely well run.