Race Report: Dodge-em Bikes!

We had a special guest in the Rusty Camaro Motorsports garage this weekend, my mom was out visiting from Michigan and for some reason wanted to see a race. So we did our best to put on a good show.

After a good day of practice on Saturday, the bike was in good shape with a new set of brake pads and tires, and I was feeling OK, if not completely confident. The new turn 1 is alleged to add 3 seconds to a lap time, but best I could do in practice was about 5 seconds slower than last year. But the bike felt good and it was time to race!

My first race of the day Sunday was 650 Twins. A HUGE grid. The green flag waved and I actually got a good launch, but a winter of inactivity had sapped some of my aggressiveness and I let a lot of people back past me between turns 1 and 2. At the end of lap 1 the race was stopped because of a crash in turn 2. This was a continuation of a theme that had been running all day. Crashes, red flags, restarts, delays, etc.

For the restart, my launch wasn't quite as good and the guy in front of me stalled his bike, requiring a quick course adjustment. A little better through traffic, but a lot of the pack started to drift away. I was hanging with a small group of riders and managed to pick a couple off, then we caught up to another small clump on the last lap. I had one last victim in my sights, got a great drive out of the last chicane and through turn 10 and was ready to pass him on the brakes into turn 11, when a yellow flag (no passing zone) spoiled my plan. Someone in front of us had tried his own heroic move in T11 and fallen over, so no more passing for me. Final placing 41st out of 50.

Next race was Formula 4, with another large grid. Again, a reasonable launch but timidity through traffic meant letting lots of people past. I settled into a couple battles, getting close then making my move in the turn 5-7 complex, where I seem to make up time on people. Quite a bit of the race was spent dodging debris and crashers. There was muffler packing, bodywork, and various bikes (at least 4 separate crashes) scattered at intervals around the track. All the flags from all those incidents disrupted the flow of the race (excuses, excuses) and left me unable to pass the next guy in front, even though I was turning faster laps and had caught up at the end. Took the checkers 36th out of 46 and waved to the turnworkers, happy to escape upright.

So a successful return to the competitive track. The trusty #859 Suzuki SV650 is running well, I was able to beat some folks, and I have some things to work on for next time. Notably passing people at the start when they're much closer together. The mayhem should subside as well, as people shake off the new season/first race jitters.

The thank-you list gets longer every time. This time out, thanks to my mom who soldiered through a long day at the track, Dr. Dialtone, who showed up to cheer us on, my pitmate Dave, who completed a marathon weekend of 4 races, Race-oil.com and Foremost Insurance, for sponsoring the 2 classes I ride in this year, and of course, Heritage Service Centre, without whom Rusty Camaro Motorsports would not be the same.

Next round is in 3 short weeks -- Memorial Day weekend back at beautiful Infineon Raceway. Come out on Sunday and watch some races before heading to your barbeques.



Cheers...