When: July 19 - 20, 2003
Where: Mosport
Thurs 7/17
Left home around 7:45am. I had to stop by Nault's in Windham NH to pick up
some parts that I ordered, as well as Bryan's house to pick up some bodywork that he had
painted, so I drove the long way around. The drive wasn't too bad, but it ultimately
took me about 13 hours to get to Mosport. Customs was a breeze. I found the
TSE setup and unloaded my stuff. Dale, Frank, Eric and Jim got back around midnight.
Friday 7/18
Got up early, as I had work to do on the bike (gearing, oil, etc), and I had to
register. First practice was mid morning. I hadn't been on the track in a
year, so I was running pretty slow times. I didn't have my lap timer running, as I
was just working on getting used to the speed factor. Mosport is a fast racetrack.
Afternoon practice was a bit faster, and the Can-Am was using it for qualifying.
I wasn't too thrilled about that (or should I say "aboot" that, eh?)
since I only had one practice. We had gotten transponders for the session, and mine
wasn't registering, so they brought me in. They switched transponders and I went
back out. The second one wasn't working either, and instead of bringing me in again,
they timed me with a stopwatch. It turned out to be the new tail section, which is
carbon/kevlar. Apparently the dbcom system doesn't like carbon bodywork. They
had me down for a 1:44.9, so I ended up on the 7th row (out of 8). I was pleased
that I had already dropped several seconds from last year, but it wasn't so good.
After practice, we went on a track walk (thanks John D and Joel for the help!) spent some time working on the bikes. We went to Oshwa for a late dinner, then came back and crashed.
Saturday 7/19
First practice was at 12:40, so I slept late. Practice went well. I dropped
another couple seconds and got down to 1:41.4.
125 Race, Leg 1
The race was a 5:30pm. Not ideal. By this time I was ready for dinner
and a beer. My grid spot was on the right side of the track. I was hoping for
an outside spot, but there I was. I got a great start and passed a bunch of people
on the inside on my way to T1. As usual, I backed off into the first corner and got
passed by a bunch of people. Overall it was a fun race. I got lapped about 9
laps in and did battle with a few people. One guy I did battle with ended up passing
me on/around lap 8 or so. there was no one behind me, and no one I could catch up
to, so I stayed behind him. My plan of action was to draft pass him on the last lap
so that he couldn't get me back (I was faster in the last 3 corners between the back
straight and start/finish), so I waited for the white flag. Near the end, I got a
blue and yellow flag at start/finish, and I thought it was a "get out of the way for
a faster rider, slowpoke" flag, so I kept to my line and plan of action only to get
the checkered flag on the next lap. I had forgotten that in Canada the blue/yellow
flag is the last lap flag.. there is no white flag! Doh! I was not pleased
about that one, especially since I know I could have beaten that rider. I ended up
with 20th place, and $50 CDN. My lap times were 2 seconds slower than practice.. I
attribute that to the 5:30pm race start. Excuses excuses ; )
After a bit more bike work, Marshall, Eric and I went to Oshwa to find a convenience store for supplies (drinks, munchies, etc) for the next day. We decided to find a beer somewhere as well.. and ended up in a sports bar with karaoke. We decided not to stay, and spoke with a group of people hanging around in the parking lot admiring each others' Mustangs. We got directions to a club in downtown Oshwa and couldn't find it, but managed to find a British style pub called the "Hare and Hound". The barmaid was a Canadian that had spent 6 years in Ireland.. so she had an Irish accent with a Canadian twist. She'd say things like "You boys be ready for another pint then... eh?" in a brogue. Very funny indeed. She recommended another pub so we went to find that one and ended up heading back to the track after a beer. We got back at 3:30am. Oops!
Sun 7/20
Got up late again, since first practice wasn't until 11:30 or so. Good thing Frank
kept going to riders meeting for me.. I hadn't made one all weekend! ; >
Dropped a little more time, and got a 1:41.2 this session, so I was pleased.. I was
looking to get down to the high 1:30s this weekend. Race 1 started at 1pm and we
were race 2. It rained as race 1 was starting.. so of course there was a big crash
in T5a (Moss's Corner), so there were cleanup delays and tire change delays. During
their race it stopped raining and the track dried out, so we went out on slicks.
There were about 22 people out of 27 entries that actually came to the grid.
After the warm-up lap I was trying to reset my detonation counter and almost missed
the start of the race. I wasn't ready for it, so I got a pretty poor start. It
started to sprinkle as the race wore on and I managed to pick up a bunch of positions
while people in front of me slowed down. During lap 5, the race was red flagged for
rain, and we came back to the pits to swap tires. There were a couple crashes as
well (including Dale). After a tire swap, we got gridded in race order, and I ended
up in row 4. Only about 18 or so people restarted. Some people didn't have
rains, some crashed, etc. I had a pretty lonely race.. and managed to pick up a few
positions.. so I finished 11th out of the 14 that actually crossed the finish line (a few
more crashes, etc). Worth another $50 CDN !
After the race, I packed up my stuff. I hung around and helped the boys pack up the TSE trailer and then hit the road. I drove for about 5 hours, and stopped in Utica NY. I got hassled a little at the border, but eventually made it through OK.
Mon 7/21
Got up at 7ish, and was on the road by 7:45. Stopped for breakfast, and managed to
get home by about 12:30pm. Another fun weekend!
Thanks again to Dale, Frank, Marshall and Jim for letting me squat in their space, and
the Can-Am 125 staff for all their hard work over the weekend!