When: Aug 19 - 22, 2004
Where: Mont Tremblant
Wednesday 8/18
Dane and I hooked up after work and loaded his bike and gear into the van.
Steve and Rick had already gone with my gear in Rick's trailer, so we planned on
meeting them at the chalet. There was a little confusion when we got there, and we
eneded up finding a hotel to stay at, but worked out the chalet difficulties first thing
in the morning. It was only about 6 1/2 hours from Boston including stops.
Thursday 8/19
Got up, had breakfast and went into the track. The weather was wet, and we
didn't get our pits set up in time, so we missed first practice. The sun came out
and we went out for second practice in the afternoon. MT is a great track!
Nice smooth pavement, lots of runoff in all but two corners, and a lot of fun.
I got down to 2:04 lap times after my first session. That was about 10
seconds off Thursday pace.
Friday 8/20
Got up, had breakfast and went into the track (there's going to be a theme with this part
of the day). First practice went great. I got down to the 1:59 mark and was
feeling confident that I had learned the layout of the track well enough to go faster.
Second practice was slower, and I managed to go for a brief offtrack excursion on
the exit of Turn 5. My best time was a 2:00 lap, even though I was hoping to drop
more time than Thursday.
Saturday 8/21
Got up, had breakfast and went into the track (exciting, eh?). Morning practice saw
me going the wrong way again, and I did a best time of 2:01. Second session was
qualifying and I got to the 2:00 mark, but was unable to go any faster. The time was
good enough for 19th spot, on the 6th row. Not a good sign. I put a new top
end and clutch in the bike and got it ready for Sunday's race.
Sunday 8/22
Got up, had breakfast.. yadda yadda yadda. Practice was slow again, and I
did a 2:01 lap time. I was getting discouraged, but it didn't stop Ed Saki and me
from getting into some serious trash talk about how we were going to kick each others ass
int he race. In fact, a beer was put on the line as a bet.
125 GP
One warmup lap and onto the grid. I got a terrible start. Absolutely
horrendous. Abhorrent, even. I lofted the front wheel, then bogged the bike a
couple times while trying to get going. I was nervous. I was sure that if I
got a good start I would have been able to drop my times and perhaps get into the top 15,
but it wasn't looking to promising. I went into T1 pretty far back in the
pack.. probably third to last. That meant that Ed was ahead of me (and I
wasn't going to have any of that after all th trash talk!! <G>). I caught up
to him at the end of the first lap, an managed to pass him on the outside of T6 (I even
looked over and waved to him). I also managed to catch another rider and pass him on
the brakes into the hairpin near then end (though I wasn't sure if I was going to make the
turn). Otherwise it was a pretty lonely race. I managed to drop my times to
the high 1:56 mark, but was too far back to battle with the crowd I should have been with.
Even so, I had a great time. Fanstastic track, great people, perfect weather.
We left the track around 3:30pm and I was home and in bed by 12:30. Another successful weekend!! Special thanks to Ed for all the fun (and the beer). I look forward to Shannonville!