Race reports

Sept 14-55: VIR, CCS

Andy #93

To start things off, I didn’t leave Philly until 4 pm Friday, which put me @ home (Maryland) around 8:30 pm. I had originally planned on leaving Philly around 1:30 pm. 

The trailer was packed for the most part except for a few things here & there which helped immensely for getting on the road quickly. No more moving stuff around to (Make it) fit. After packing up the food & stuff we were finally on the road! It is now 9:15 pm! Arrived @ the track @ 2:30 am, did a quick unload, blew up the air mattresses & hit the sack around 3:30! 7:00 am came REALLY Early. I’m glad Sat was a short day for me race wise. My goal this wk-end was to break into the 1:39’s… I have been @ a plateau of 1:40 all year, just have not been able to get over it no matter how hard I try.

SATURDAY: 
We had the usual 2 rounds of practice about 4 to 6 laps each. I really could not put anything together in the 1st session that was respectable IMO. Brain & Reflexes just didn’t want to work in quick fast mode. The best I could muster was a 1:42.2 . 

2nd Session, I had much better results in this session. As all the other visits to the track in the past 2 yrs, I was able to match my best lap time of a 1:40.1 I was once again frustrated with my inability to drop my times. Grrrrrrr! With the cold temps the Mighty RR was really making some HP!! I was wheeling everywhere and just having a lil fun with her in the ESSES, From the top of T7 thru T8 & setting it down for T9 as I shift into 4th gear, She was also coming up from T14 to the crest of the coaster. I’m hoping someone got some pics of that cause it was fun as hell! All this was done using my shagged out Pirellis from Aug 29th W/ NESBA. All was going well until the final practice for group #5 got the Crimson Flag. Ends up that a AM on a SV650 got together with someone coming out of T6 and contacted the overlap point @ a 45 degree angle where the tires meet the Armco. The end result of the crash was one of his arms was ripped off including the leather by the Armco where his arm was supposedly found wedged inside the channel on the backside of the Armco from what I was told by a CCS Staff Member. The corner worker that found the limb was done once he saw it. The Airlift Chopper was flown in to transport the racer to Duke Univ Hosp. Accompanying him on the flight in a cooler was his arm. I wish him & his family NOTHING BUT POSITIVE THOUGHTS & PRAYERS THROUGHOUT THIS TRYING TIME… On a side note $2800 dollars was raised @ the track by way of donations from racers & their respective others & staff. Just goes to show that we do take care of our own! NOW if CCS/ Clear Channel would follow in our footsteps and buy some airfence to protect their investment…(US)! Or maybe this is what it had to take for the lightbulb to finally come on! Sad , but very true!!!! With airfence this would NOT have happened!

GTO:
I was gridded 3c and was pretty amped up on the start for some odd reason, prolly the accident. The 2 board went up, revs went to 5500 and leveled off, the flag flew & Like usual I wheelied like a MoFo… I just can’t seem to get that Hydraulic clutch figured out on the 1st start of the day!! Anyway the whole field went by except for one guy on a Ducati… So I’m cussing in my helmet all the way to T1, PISSED!!! I figured as pissed as I was I would def hit a .39, but no deal, didn’t happen. Consistent .40’s… I was very surprised my susp didn’t go out when it got hot…I finished 15th of 16.

SUNDAY:
After a GREAT nights sleep I awoke ready to tear it up! Practice was a lengthy one compared to Saturday, 15 minutes! Since I was on NEW tires
(Metzler Race Tech’s, in K1 & K2) & had practice, GP Qualifying & 3 races I chose to go give her hell for 4 good laps and see what I could muster up. On the 1st full Hot Lap I rolled past the beacon with a .40 flat!!! The next 2 laps never went above a .40.17!!! I was pretty stoked with that. I had a feeling it was going to be a great day! The tires looked great and felt better than the SC’s.

UL GP Qualifying:

As I did @ Summit in July I went out and gave her hell for 4 good laps to conserve tires for later. I got stuffed really bad by a guy going into T1 for the 1st time and it really messed up my focus for the 1st lap. I was hoping to use that moment to light my fuse and bust out a .39 anything! The 1st hot lap was a .43 and I was in disbelief when I saw it. I just put my head down and kept hammering thru the turns until I saw the MAGIC #, a .39.99!!! You would have thought I won a AMA race from my reaction on the track. LOL!! I was the happiest man in the pits or at least I felt like I was. Finally, after 2 yrs I did it!!!! And I did it on lap # 4. I went & talked to Hastings for a while and about how hard it was to reach that goal! I told him if I can run a .39 I can run a .38 and he just laughed and said it isn’t that easy from here on out! I agreed!

ULSS:
I was gridded 4th row out of a fairly large group of close to 30 bikes. I got a better start than before but not by much. LOL! One of the cornerspeed instructors came around the outside and laid his body against my fairing and was squeezing on me a bit thinking that I was gonna give in. LOL, I just used him as a cushion to hold my line & increase speed. It was a very good start for the 1st one of the day.! I ended up around 10th going into T1 with A LOT of fast guys behind me. I made a few big mistakes that cost me some big position loss. I overshot T7, ran wide into the coaster but kept it off the grass, only by a lil. I ended up finishing 25th with a best lap time of a .38.74!!!

UL GP:
I was gridded 7f right next to Lombardi. The flag dropped & I got an even better start than in the SS race but I was further back so I didn’t gain as many positions as I wanted but it was good. The only thing I knew for sure is that Lombardi was behind me and I was pumped!! From the green I ran a .44.5 which is awesome I think! The rest of the race I never went slower than a .38.5 and on the next to the last lap Lombardi came by me on the inside of 16a , I stayed within 2 to 3 bike lengths all the way to the checkers. I ended up with a best lap of a .37.8. Man was I pumped about my times. I ended up finishing 16th.


ULSB:
I was gridded 7e for this one. I got the best start of the day in this race! I went past a ton of riders heading into T1. I was 6th going into T1 and if I had been wearing a clear visor you would have seen NOTHING BUT GRIN!!! I had a great battle in that race with quite a few guys until all the fast guys that botched the start came thru the pack and spooked a few of them off line. There I was by lap 3, right behind Lombardi. He was about 6 to 8 bike lengths ahead and I started to slowly reel him in as I knew I could. At the checkers I was lass than ½ a wheel from his tail. I ran the whole race in the .37’s and had a best of a .37.5 ended up finishing 10th my best finish @ VIR this year!!! Lombardi ended up with a best of a .37.4. And I did hit 185 MPH @ the 5 board... screwy

In closing the book on another GREAT, Crash Free season. I have exceeded my goals by such a huge amount that I am still amazed that I was not only able to attain my goal, but blow it out of the water. I had some great battles @ summit with BMF, Arnie Hastings and so many others that I will have those moments in my memory forever. Now I finally have some from VIR to add to the moments I had from the June races there!!!! Thanks to my sponsors (Visa & MC), Family, Friends & Pat (Team Mate) for making it possible!!!


Andy