When: April 26 - 27, 2003
Where: NHIS
Friday 4/25
Traffic wasn't too bad. It's too early in the year for major vacationers,
so getting to the track after work wasn't bad. It was a beautiful Friday, but that
wouldn't last. I got to the track, got my transponder, and dropped my GTL pre-entry
(I actually just moved it to the next weekend) since the weather forecast for Sat was
bleak.
Saturday 4/26
Rain Rain Rain. 45 degrees. Basically that's the story of the day. A bit
too cold for rain tires.. but here I was. The track had been modified since NHIS was
still working on new pavement for the NASCRAP boys.. Turn 2 was two day old tar (slick!)
and there was a double chicane after T11 that led you to (almost) a dead stop before you
took a 90 degree left through an airfece opening that led you onto pit road, which was
used as the front straight. That also meant T1 was a lot sharper. Between the
rain and new track layout, people were putting in times that were significantly slower
than a normal weekend.
I did both practices, and tried playing with some jetting and carb setting changes. I'm trying to get the bike nailed down even further.. so even though the weather and track sucked, I got a few things accomplished in the five laps I managed to get in.
GP Singles
I was gridded on the first row of the Juniors. My start was so-so.. nothing
too dramatic. The race had about 8 people or so in it, of which 6 actually finished.
I went into T1 with the pack and did pretty well on the first lap, but the race got
red flagged by the time I got to T11. we pulled in, the did another warm-up lap and
started again. The start this time was pretty piss poor. I was kind of afraid
to get mixed up in the crowd in the new T1 in the rain, so I hung back for a bit. I
ended up losing touch with the lead pack and was by myself for a good portion of the race.
I slowed down quite a bit through the race, and Turu caught up to me after he got
around a slower rider. He passed me coming out of the bowl, and just as I thought
we'd get to play and have some fun, he lost the rear end and went sliding off the track.
I ended up with a 5th place worth 8 points. Given there was only one race
between GP singles and LW GP, I didn't take any of my gear off. I knew that if I
took off the helmet, I wouldn't want to put it on, as I was soaked and cold.
LWGP
There were 4 people in our race, and I was on pole, basically. Zack got a great
start from behind me (as usual) and he and one of the other Junior started pulling away.
We were playing the elastic band game.. they would pull away in some spots, I would
catch up in some spots. They started to get too far away, so I just mellowed out and
rode the track trying to not fall down. On the last lap, I got the white flag and
the expert wave got he checkered behind me. I went through T3, through the bowl and
back over the hill.. and as I came down T10, the cornerworkers were letting the race
leaders through the T3/T10 shortcut. That meant that I ended up in a wave of people
who were on their cooldown lap.. I was bullshit. It was probably one of the most
unsafe situations I was in.. Had I crashed in T10, I would have taken at least 2 people
out.. and then I had to sit in the group to get through the new T12 chicane waiting for
them to pit out. That pissed me off something fierce. In any case, I picked up
3rd spot, worth 11 points and a trophy.
After LWGP, I went over to the Media Center and complained to let them know they had created a bad situation. I got a smile and a "thank you" and that was it. I heard later that the winner of the race had gotten 3 white flag laps. What a mess! After a nice long hot shower, I felt better. Tim, Zack, Dane, Kerry, Chris, Turu and one other person (?name?) and I went to Margarita's for dinner. We stopped at Wall-mart on the way home to get another sleeping bag ($10 !) to make the night a bit warmer.
Sun 4/27
I didn't get up in time for first practice, and I had to leave the track early, so I
didn't do second practice. I didn't really want to ride the new course setup anyway,
so I just packed up and took off. Zack, Tim and I went to their friend John and
Diana's house in Manchester to watch the 250 and 500 motogp race (and part of SBK).
We left and I gave Zack a ride home.
I went home with a trophy and enough points to jump to Expert (which I probably won't
do this year). Nice to have that wrapped up.