When: June 27 - 29, 2003
Where: VIR
This was a combination weekend.. F-USA, CCS and the USGPRU were all happening at the
same time. They ran CCS races on Fri and Sat, and the F-USA and USGPRU races on
Sunday.
Wednesday 6/25
I ended up heading down alone, as Dane had to cancel at the last minute due to
work conflicts.. I knew that Dale and Frank were headed down, so I planned to pit
with them. Left work around 4pm after my computer got hosed, and stopped south of
Wilkes-Barre around midnight.
Thursday 6/26
Got up early, had some breakfast on the road, and drove to Danville. Stopped in at
the Piggly Wiggly for some food, and got to VIR around 4:30pm. I grabbed a couple
spots across from the Argo Cycles team, and unpacked. I took a track walk, set up
the bike, ate some dinner and hung out with some of the crowd. Dale, Eric and Frank
showed up around 1am. I had fallen asleep in the van, and Frank woke me up by
scaring the crap out of me. In hindsight, it was pretty funny, but I believe a few
obscenities left my mouth in his direction at the time ;>. We unpacked the
trailer and got the pit set up.. then it was back to bed.
Friday 6/27
Up at 7am, got some breakfast and got ready for practice. There were two
rounds of practice, and we ended up with about 20 minutes on the track.
GTL
First race of the day. I got a great start, but ended up being a wimp in traffic
(theme of the weekend!). One of the Acid Cigar 125 riders high sided right in
front of me on the brakes heading into turn 7 on the inside during the first lap. I
had considered going around him on the outside as he came into view when I see his bike on
the ground, and him tumbling around about an inch in front of my tire. I managed to
keep from hitting him and not fall down myself, so I went on my way.. As I came towards
the roller coaster, I saw Dale on the grass and another rider behind him tumbling through
the dirt. Dale had lost a chain and apparently the other rider ran out of options
and fell down. As I came to the roller coaster the red flag was out. Dale
managed to get the bike back and fixed in time for the restart. I ran to the pits
and got some jetting to do a swap, but ran out of time. After the restart, I got
stuck in a pack of Buells, who were messing with me. They were working together to
keep me from beating them. I ended up getting by two out of three of them, but
didn't feel safe trying to get around a 600lb machine with an idiot rider.. so I let him
have it. I felt pretty bad about my riding, but much to my surprise I ran a 1:47 lap
time. I figured I never broke 1:50. I finished at the back.
GP Singles
Since this was a CCS related weekend, we got to run GP Singles. I got a killer start
and went into T1 in 3rd spot. I quickly went backwards (as usual) since I'm a wuss
in traffic. The clouds were brewing though, and there were some pretty close
lightning strikes, so the red flag came out after the third lap. We went back to the
pits and the four of us had to hold down the canopies during the 65mph winds and pouring
rain. My canopy actually broke.. They announced that we would rerun GP Singles from
the start as the first race on Saturday.
After we got everything settled and did a little work, the four of us went out to eat. To make a really long story short, Frank ended up doing a shot of Baileys, Kahlua and whipped cream (with no hands). He made his best effort to not puke it up all over the table... and it ended up coming out his nose. You really had to be there to see it.. That'll teach him to scare me half to death! After dinner, we drove off to Greensboro to find a drinking establishment that was recommended to us. It took us 45 minutes to get there, and over an hour to actually find it. We drove by it a few times, but just couldn't get to it. Eventually, after 6 different sets of directions we made it to discover a $15 cover and some really bad talent. We drove back to the track and arrived around midnight.
Saturday 6/28
We only had one practice session, and it was time to race!
GP Singles (take two!)
They rearranged the grid, but not in any logical order, so I got moved to the other side
of row 1. I got another great start, and held off traffic for more than one corner
this time. I ended up battling for the back of the pack with Samantha Cotter.
She probably weighs all of 80lbs soaking wet, and her bike is quick.. so she would
completely out motor me on the straights. We passed each other a couple times, but
she ended up beating me in the end. It was really fun though! I got down to a 1:44,
which was my previous best lap time, so I was happy. I finished 9th out of 12 ppl.
LW GP
I got a so-so start.. it's tough to get a competitive start against a pack of
SV650s... but I did well in relation to the rest of the 125s! Dale and Frank came
around me in T4 and motored away. As I came up on the back section I saw a crash
heading down into the last two right handers. It was not pretty... bike parts were
flying all over the place. I noticed the number and realized it was Frank.
When I rode by him, he hadn't yet moved.. so I wasn't too happy about that.. I came around
the next lap and he was up collecting his bike, so I was relieved. I lost my drive
to compete though (reality check!) and ended up in the back of the pack again. My
best lap time was in the 1:45 range.
MW GP
In the spring I had run this race and had a good time, so I went back out. What a
miserable experience. It was the last race of the day, and I kept my grid spot in
the expert wave. I was dead last into T1 (no surprise), as it's not really possible
to out run a 600 off the line. Most of the amateur wave caught up with me as well.
I should have gridded myself at the very back of the grid like last time. If
I do this race again, that's what I'll do. I was going slower as the day went on..
best lap in the 1:46 range.
After the last race I helped Frank with his reconstruction project. Eric, Dale and Frank had all worked on the bike after LWGP, and they made good progress. We had the bike back together by around and ready to go for Sunday by about 8pm, so we cleaned up and went out to dinner. This time no trip to Greensboro, and Frank was able to control his nasal overflow problem ; ). We were back at the track and in bed by midnight.
Sunday 6/29
We had to qualify for grid position for the USGPRU 125 race. I managed to
tick off a 1:44 and place 9th out of 15. I hadn't expected to do that well
(especially without practice) so I was happy. I had spent all weekend working on
jetting as well, so I had the bike running about as well as it was going to run.
USGPRU
I got another great start from the third row, and went into T1 in 5th place. As
usual I got screwed in traffic, and ended up in 11th position. I managed to pass
Frank on the second lap, which motivated him to get up to speed and kick my ass!
Samantha Cotter came by on the straight again, and we started all over again. I was
super motivated and managed to click off a 1:42 catching up to her. She'd out motor
me on the straights and I'd pull her in on the corners.. I tried a couple passes,
but was unable to get by safely, so I ended up finishing behind her. Had I been able
to get in front of her early in a lap, I'm pretty sure I could have held the lead, and
probably picked up yet another spot. That's racing though.. and I was
relegated to 11th position. Regardless, it was a really fun race.
I helped the crew pack up the trailer, and left the track around 5:15pm. I drove until about midnight and stopped for a cheapo motel around midnight.
Monday 6/30
Got up, had breakfast and was driving by 8am. I got home around 1:30pm,
unpacked and relaxed.
Special Thanks to: Dale, Eric and Frank for letting me pit with them. Overall it was a fantastic weekend!