GregGorman
02-16-2010, 06:59 AM
Well, I got 6 laps of practice in Saturday. On the 6th lap, the oil filter backed out a half turn and blew its seal. Apparently it wasn't properly safety wired. I didn't know there was oil on the tire at the entrance of turn 1.
If you watch this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsw1JO8VcSc video to the end, you'll see me enter turn 1 at about 147mph which was about the speed I was doing when the bike went full sideway right when I turned it in.
I thought I was gone. I thought I was on high-side trip to the moon. As gently as I could, I picked up the throttle and picked up the bike. Surprisingly the bike came back real gentle and it didn't even pop me up out of the seat.
I thought I had the problem handled so I rolled off and turned in again. Again, the bike whet sideways but quick. Again, a little throttle and pick the bike up. Now I'm heading off track, through the grass, across an access road, through more grass, and directly on to the steep banking. I managed to get the bike slowed down enough to turn it. I got it completely off track and stopped.
The engine was fine, I was fine, the rear tire was covered in oil and thrown away. We cleaned the bike, put a new oil filter in and safety wired it real good.
On Sunday it was 47f degrees when we took to the track for first practice at 8am and it was just a shakedown run. Jeff Wood wanted to prove that we Florida boys were wusses for thinking it was cold and threw down a 1:26. Next fastest was Dwyer at 1:30. Yeah, that woke us up!
My first race, GTO, was at 9:30 and 50f. I wheelied off the start and lost some time there. I then worked on hitting my reference points and getting up to speed. I was mostly in the 1:32 range for laptimes with two 1:31s. My personal best is a 29. The winner was doing 26s and the track record is 23.8. So the track was a bit slick but I've really got to work out why I'm 6-7 seconds off at this track and only this track. I made three passes and finished 7th of 14.
Next race was at 12:30, Unlimited Supersport, and a warm 57f. I was doing better, consistent 31s but so was everyone else. On the last lap, I was running in 8th and about to lap an amateur when I used a bit too much front brake and lowsided on the entrance of turn 4 at about 50mph. 15th of 15.
Next race was at about 2:30, Unlimited Superbike. I just wasn't in it. I was on the same front tire and I just didn't trust it at all. I was running 1:34 laps and was going backwards. I finished 10th of 11.
When I got back to the pits we found a small hole in the engine cover that was leaking oil, damage from my crash. We could have fixed it but it was time to call it a day. I did not start my last race, Unlimited GP. Apparently there was a red flag on the warm up lap for that race and only 7 finishers.
Thank you to my wife Susan for her help and support through this difficult weekend. And thank you to Ray Atchley my mechanic for his dedication, competence and hard work.
Next it's on to Daytona February 27th and 28th.
If you watch this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsw1JO8VcSc video to the end, you'll see me enter turn 1 at about 147mph which was about the speed I was doing when the bike went full sideway right when I turned it in.
I thought I was gone. I thought I was on high-side trip to the moon. As gently as I could, I picked up the throttle and picked up the bike. Surprisingly the bike came back real gentle and it didn't even pop me up out of the seat.
I thought I had the problem handled so I rolled off and turned in again. Again, the bike whet sideways but quick. Again, a little throttle and pick the bike up. Now I'm heading off track, through the grass, across an access road, through more grass, and directly on to the steep banking. I managed to get the bike slowed down enough to turn it. I got it completely off track and stopped.
The engine was fine, I was fine, the rear tire was covered in oil and thrown away. We cleaned the bike, put a new oil filter in and safety wired it real good.
On Sunday it was 47f degrees when we took to the track for first practice at 8am and it was just a shakedown run. Jeff Wood wanted to prove that we Florida boys were wusses for thinking it was cold and threw down a 1:26. Next fastest was Dwyer at 1:30. Yeah, that woke us up!
My first race, GTO, was at 9:30 and 50f. I wheelied off the start and lost some time there. I then worked on hitting my reference points and getting up to speed. I was mostly in the 1:32 range for laptimes with two 1:31s. My personal best is a 29. The winner was doing 26s and the track record is 23.8. So the track was a bit slick but I've really got to work out why I'm 6-7 seconds off at this track and only this track. I made three passes and finished 7th of 14.
Next race was at 12:30, Unlimited Supersport, and a warm 57f. I was doing better, consistent 31s but so was everyone else. On the last lap, I was running in 8th and about to lap an amateur when I used a bit too much front brake and lowsided on the entrance of turn 4 at about 50mph. 15th of 15.
Next race was at about 2:30, Unlimited Superbike. I just wasn't in it. I was on the same front tire and I just didn't trust it at all. I was running 1:34 laps and was going backwards. I finished 10th of 11.
When I got back to the pits we found a small hole in the engine cover that was leaking oil, damage from my crash. We could have fixed it but it was time to call it a day. I did not start my last race, Unlimited GP. Apparently there was a red flag on the warm up lap for that race and only 7 finishers.
Thank you to my wife Susan for her help and support through this difficult weekend. And thank you to Ray Atchley my mechanic for his dedication, competence and hard work.
Next it's on to Daytona February 27th and 28th.