CY Race Diary 2010,WERA Talladega, 6 Feb: Good gawd its cold! Went to bed Friday nite gulping the Nyquil bottle, sick as a dog. Alarm went off at 5:00 a.m., I hacked up a lung, threw some water on my face, and looked at myself in the morror….I scared myself….until that shit-eatin' grin crept in…. Sick or not, I was goin' racin today, and that my friends….is always a good day!
Made it to the track at 7:00 a.m. It was raining and near freezing. Found those Kentucky Wrecking Crew (KWC) bastids (sponsored by BikernetMetric)….and snagged a spot right next to them. If we are gonna battle, we are gonna battle! No safe distance crap, I wanna see the whites of their eyes! …..Plus we are good friends and like to yuk it up.
Dean arrived shortly after. We got registered and Tech’d. I initially got shot down, and had to double nut my exhaust studs……I was up late safety wiring, etc, and glad the tech boys pointed it out.
We are practice group 6…..cold tires, cold and wet track, feeling shitty, a new / different bike, different seating position / balance, a different front brake, more power than I’ve ever had. I think you see where I’m going here……things could get a little iffy, shall we say…I know, quit whinin'.
Dean is spot on with his same bike. He is running Avons, which are also better in the wet than my Dunlops. We run the bikes, then bring them in, with numb hands, and head for the truck…..fuck its cold! Second practice, at least its not sleeting. We do a tad better, we are both faster, but Dean is way more comfortable than I…..nothing earth-shattering, just our first practice’s of the year.
Dean's friend, Jason Maris showed up right before lunch. He wants to document “Vintage Motorcycle Racing in the Modern Era.” The guy is a great photographer, and we will be including his pics in our reports, compliments of Jason Maris Photography, www.jasonmaris.com. Great guy. We hope to document a build process on one of our bikes, and have Jason ride it, as a member of Flat Rat Racing sponored by Bikernet.com.
I’m only entered in one race today, Vintage 1 (V1)….I have a funding problem. It’s the first race after lunchbreak (race 1). Dean is entered in 2 races, V1 and V2.
Race # 1 (350GP, V1, F500): It's rain mixed with sleet. I’m gridded in the middle of the front row….Dean is second row on my right. I’m flanked on my right and left by Steve Upchurch and Wayne Moore of the KWC. The green dropped, and the whole pack of vintage iron drag raced into the banked LH turn 1. We came out side by side or 3 wide. Down the back stretch, I’m in second behind Steve……a guy from the second row comes barreling thru, and brings Wayne with him. I’m thinking “where T-F is Dean? I know he's coming?” I keep my head down and just maintain. No sense in getting stupid here. It's just a shake down run for me on this bike, and I ain't pleased so far.
Turns out Ol' Dean stalled his bike at the start!!!! Typical little glitch for the first launch of the year. If I know Dean, it won't happen again. Here he comes about lap 2 or 3 on his way to the front, for good. Impressive run, especially in these conditions.
I start getting caught by lesser bikes. Ok, with crap like this, I’ll finish 5th in class, but I ain't losin to a stock bike! Chris Adams is a damn good rider on the # 656 Honda. He gets by, I didn’t even hear him there (he runs mufflers, stealthy!). But I got back by same lap and got to work. I would never hear the end of it from our buddies if I hadn't.
Dean storms off to the victory. I hang with Steve and Wayne as they swap positions. So that is:
V1: Flat Rat Racing: 1st and 5thKWC: 3rd and 4th
Race # 9 (V2, 500GP): I’m sitting this one out, $75 I don’t have. Dean is on the front row, with Steve from KWC. Dean runs away, hands down…this guy is fast. I hang with our photog friend, Jason, as we catch some pics. Dean almost laps the entire field. Steve finishs second in V2.
There is a scoring problem with Waynes transponder….He won 500GP, but was scored 3rd. I hope the other competitors are man enough to officially work this out.
V2: Flat Rat Racing: 1st KWC: 2nd
Round 1 is in the books, and I’m calling Flat Rat the winner.
Thanx to our sponsors, Bikernet, Bore-Tech, Fuller HotRods, Silkolene, Jason Maris, Cone Engineering, and our family’s who make sacrifices so we can do this.
Here are pics and captions from the day…..courtesy of Jason Maris Photography.
