OK, guess I'll do a write up...
So we started out about 2PM Friday afternoon when Chad showed up at my place to prep his bike. We had to do a redneck-engineering job on his muffler with Tim's help, a rivet gun and lots of muffler tape. Seemed to stem the splitting cover and falling out cap bolts. Solved the rattle for the time being too.
We loaded up everything in the pouring rain at my place and got the convoy rolling toward Beaver just before 4. Had to roll with 3 cars since we had 3 bikes and 5 people along with all of the typical track accoutrements. This was panning out to be a ball-n-chain friendly outing with mine and Chad's significant others in tow and Joe's and Paul D.'s coming as well.
Uneventful ride to Beaver, rain stopped about half way to the track and the sun was peeking out. I think we got there around 7-7:15 and started to set up. Paul D. got there a bit after us and set up beside our encampment. The most excitement all night was watching Chad trying to set up his tent. Took like 5 of us to figure it out and I'm pretty sure we still did not get it right. The paddock was fairly sparsely populated and we parked my and Tim's trailers along the road to save spots for people showing up Saturday AM and Sunday.
Left the track and Jules and I got dinner at the Irish Inn. Scary that the owner now remembers me and greets me as a regular there. So-so place and OK food but Ray (the owner) is a really cool guy. Chad and Tia were supposed to join us but Chad (aka Buttercup) had a nasty ear ache and spent the night contemplating going to the ER in place of joining Jules and me for dinner.
Got like 4 hours of sleep Friday night and bailed out of our room at the Holiday Inn at like 6:30. It had rained over night and the sky was not very promising though the forecast was positive for the day as a whole. Hit Sheetz for coffee and breakfast and went to the track. Joe was already there and Paul M. was just pulling in. Went to get my shit together for tech and realized that I forgot my registrations at the hotel. Like an idiot drove back there and get them when I probably could have just signed off on new ones at the track.
Took the 675 to tech - always worry about things with a new bike but it went smoothly. Was sort of interested to see if they were going to say anything about our handy work on Chad's muffler but no issues there either.
The sky was spitting and the track was wet, occasionally the spitting turned to full-fledged rain. The rider's meeting was dry at least and luckily for me it was my last opportunity to sit through the mind numbingly boring beginners' part. Mike was the beginners' captain for Saturday and actually did a pretty good chat either way.
The rain was light but on and off throughout the first A and I sessions. Joe came back from I session and said it was more or less OK other than being a bit sketchy in the braking zone for the carousel. I was pretty nervous about my first session on the 675. Since I had had the damn thing apart down to the frame and all the electrical issues, etc. I dealt with I did not know if it would blow up by turn 2 or run like a top. My only experience with the bike on the road was about a 5 mile test ride so it was a bit of a crap shoot. I was not physically comfortable on it on my test ride so I was pretty concerned about it all the way around.
The track was still wet though without any standing water for the first B session. In a way I figured that to be a good thing since it would just let me puts around the track without having to pick up the pace at all and try to sort things out. The bike surprisingly ran like a top. No issues at all other than a very weird feeling about my position on the bike. Mike, the CR, commented that I looked like I was riding in a clown parade with both knees sticking out and my arms MX'd out to the side. I spent the whole first session humping the tank on the bike the way I'm used to doing it on my GSXR and R1. The thing though is that A. that's bad on any bike and B. a lot worse on the 675 since the tank is like 3 or 4" shorter than the GSXR which is what was making me ride all cramped up on the bike. The suggestion was to make sure I was 3" or so off the front of the tank. Played around on the bike a bit in the pits and decided to make a conscious effort to control my sitting position on the bike.
Went out for the second session still at the back end of the group. Group was actually pretty small but there were quite a few dog slow riders there. Spent the first 2 or 3 laps really paying attention to where I was on the bike and it became more and more natural. Suddenly my knee was hooking into the tank, my elbows went down, I could get low over the tank, damn, this thing had promise after all! Felt pretty good, the track was pretty much dry and I was starting to pick up the pace steadily.
Rick at Cogent Dynamics did an incredible job on my suspension. The bike handled like it was on rails. Perfect feedback from both ends and tires looked about as good as I have ever seen. I never touched my tire pressures or suspension settings all weekend. The only adjustment I made was to snug down the steering dampener.
Things going well, and being generally sick of playing slalom with slower riders I lined up at the front for the 3rd session. I had no idea of what kind of times I was running since no one had set up a beacon but it felt really good. I was really moving (by my standards) in the third session. The bike was absolutely sublime. I was grinning ear to ear in my helmet and blowing past people left and right. I sort of gave up on my "nice guy" thing and passed people whenever and where ever without breaking the rules but without also letting them hold me up. Just felt like things were really clicking. Even 7 started to make sense - it's the turn that I have the most trouble with at Beaver and I spent a while talking about it with Mike (CR) in his pit before the 3rd session.
We took a break for lunch and the women folk cooked some dogs and burgers on the grill. Everyone had been riding well in the AM and all was well with the now clear sky and absolutely dry track.
Lined up at the front again for the first session after lunch. Played with a CR the whole session. I did not realize at the time but he was evaluating me for the bump. Came back into the pits and the only comment he had for me was to try to get my head out further to the side of the bike. Apparently someone had set up a beacon during lunch and I ran a 1:09 with other laps in the real low 10's. Felt great!
went back to the pits to relax and a bit later the CR I had run with came by and asked me to go to the NESBA trailer with him. Asked me if I wanted to ride "I" - doh... Told him that if they thought I was ready, sure.
Missed my first I session in pissing around and talking to Dave (Wolley) at the NESBA trailer. Was really glad to see him back on the track after his injury at Nelson. His CBR looked really good with the flame job on the plastics.
Came back to the pits with my new sticker, got props from everyone. Cool to finally get out of B!
Both Pauls' were riding well and Tim and Chad were really starting to turn up the wick. Joe and I were talking about the way both were riding and figured they would get bumped - we even sort of called it with Tim getting bumped first and then followed very quickly by Chad.
Paul M. was doing good out there, especially in light of his rather eventful track season this year. Paul D. just kept getting better out there too.
I only had 1 session left in the day and I was pretty nervous about going out with the I guys for the first time. I group was pretty small on Saturday - like 15 people in the last session. Still lined up at the very back of the group. The pace was really not that fast and I passed 4 or 5 people the first time out. I actually ran high 10's and 11's which was slower than what I had run earlier in B
Paul M. was only riding Saturday so we helped him pack up and sent him on his way during the last B session which he skipped. Chad and I had been talking about the line through 4 a few session before and I was giving him my useless wisdom on the subject of that turn. For some reason that one really works for me but gives a lot of people trouble. Low and behold the last B session of the day ends and I see Chad riding back into the pits on the crash truck. Fuck... He low sided in 4 on the last lap of the last session. He was OK and the bike was not too bad either. At first glance he needed a brake lever and a right rearset. We spoke to Buck and he suggested going over to see Chris Moon. Chad got a set of Vortex rearsets from Moon and Joe's spare OE lever actually fit his bike. We installed the rearsets in about record time and swapped out the lever. Unfortunately his right clip on was bent and at full lock the lever would hit the dash activating the brakes. It only was an issue at full lock so since Chad was OK with it we left it be. We also re-duck taped his muffler for about the 5th time that day
Everyone dispersed to their respective hotels/bed-n-breakfasts/tents with the goal of meeting at the Italian place at 8. I PM'd Matt here when I got back to the hotel room to see if he had an OE lever and clip-on that Chad could use since they have the same bike. Unfortunately he just had the lever but we figured we'd try it Sunday AM to see if it still had the issue with hitting the cluster.
Had a good dinner and bullshitted there till close to 11 with everyone. Got back to my hotel and passed out just about instantly.
Karen offered to pick Jules up Sunday on her way to the track so I actually got more sleep without having to wake up earlier to "let her get ready" - WTF, it's the bloody track - but women will never change..
Did the same Sheetz routine and got to the track about 10 after 7. Matt was pulling in and his friend Mike got there a little bit later. We were now up to 4 I riders in our pit. Did tech and the meeting. It was SO NICE not to have to sit through the beginners' meeting.
The weather was a bit chilly but the sky was blue and the track dry. Still lined up toward the back of the group for the first session. There were quite a few more people on Sunday in all groups. Some pretty questionable characters pitted right across from us.
The first session was pretty short. A guy on an old ZX6r let go of a connecting rod somewhere between T7 and 8 and dumped oil all over the track. Both Joe and I ran right through it. I think the session was 2 or 3 laps long. NESBA did a great job of cleaning the track up but we missed our whole session and the B guys missed theirs. Joe and I spent half that time trying to get the oil off our tires. The whole thing left me a bit nervous about my next session out.
NESBA decided to run 15 minute session till lunch to get everyone out there as planned. As always it really is a great organization. They sent the CR's out to check the track out and we had a short meeting regarding track conditions and got back out there. There was kitty litter from about T8 all the way through the carousel. No really good way of getting around it and you had to either cross it when going through T9 (not a very good place to dump it) or in the braking zone for T10 (the carousel). I went out pretty gingerly not being confident in either the track conditions or my tires. My line took me across the kitty litter when going through 9 which took some getting used to but after I figured out that my tires were fine and that running over the kitty litter was fine all things went back to normal.
Chad came back after the last session before lunch and told us that Tim got his bump and that Todd wanted to work with him in the first session after lunch to evaluate him as well. Both of them were riding really well all weekend and were certainly the fastest guys in B.
We congratulated Tim and got the grills going for lunch. Karen brought some awesome hot pepper and cheddar sausage to add to our fair of hot dogs and burgers.
My sessions kept going well and I was surprised to figure out that I was not a rolling chicane in I. Bike felt absolutely perfect. I was trying to work on my transition from T1 to 2 and still on T7 as well as trying to stay with Joe which did not work all that well. I could keep up for a while but eventually he'd walk away from me.
We watched Todd chase Chad around in the first B session after lunch and he looked great. We were sure that he'd get his bump and so he did. Now we were more of less reunited in I.
We ran the next few sessions with a myriad of red flags in I. Sort of the wild, wild west out there. I kept passing and being passed. There were guys apparently running in the 3's in I so I did not feel too badly about it. The 2 that passed me with regularity got bumped to A by the end of the day. I did not have too much luck holding on to Joe for more than 4 or 5 laps but I was doing and feeling good and getting good feedback from the CR's.
The one bitch we did have was how fast some of the CR's were taking the groups out for the first one or two laps. I realize that many I guys run warmers and that all of the CR's do but when you're out and running an 11 or 12 on the first lap out it's a bit much. There was a wreck that was certainly due to cold tires in the next to last I session right in T1.
Chad and Tim were doing great in "I" too so all was well.
We chatted about not doing a "Chad" in the last session on Sunday in the pit before rolling out. I went out behind Joe again. Kevin took us out and ran a very reasonable first lap. Tim and Chad went out in the group after us. As soon as we came onto the front straight we saw a red flag. Great... Slowed down to parade pace and started rolling through the first few turns. As I came up over the hill at T6 my heart sunk. It looked very much like Tim laying motionless in the grass at the top of the hill. The way he was laying I could not tell for sure that it was him until I saw his bike a bit further in the grass. Pretty much everyone went back to the hot pit but Joe, Chad and I obviously went back to our pit. I saw the Ambulance roll as we were going around so all of us were very concerned.
I walked up to the track exit to wait for the ambulance along with Paul. We were really relived that they thought he was more or less OK and were willing to release him. The bike surprisingly did not look too bad. Chad was right behind him going up the hill and watched him spin up the back and high side the bike going over the bars and landing on his head and shoulder in the process.
Tim got a ride in the ambulance to our pit and Paul and I helped unload the bike from the crash trunk. We offered to have one of us drive him home but Tim wanted to drive himself. I spoke to the EMT's and they thought he'd be OK but told him if anything felt worse that he should probably go see a doctor.
I guess he did not feel all that great and ended up going to the hospital to find out that he had 2 sprained ankles, a fractured thumb and a separated shoulder :-(
In the meanwhile, Paul decided to move his truck to get it to hook up to his trailer. I think that all the excitement probably was still on his mind and he was very concerned about Tim's condition. He accidently backed up into Chad's car removing his mirror and putting a dent in the door in the process. He broke a tail light lens on his truck and got a few scratches too but it fared far better than Chad's mirror and door.
We got Chad's mirror duct taped up for the ride home and helped everyone get loaded. Tried to get Tim to let Chad drive his truck home but he would not have any of it.
Everyone loaded up and we started rolling home. Chad, Tia, Jules and I stopped at Rick's Sports Bar out by Pittsburg to get some grub and to BS. Got back to my place around 9:30 and found that my parents had locked every possible entry way to the house, including the garage (they were dog sitting all weekend). Of course I only brought a key for Jules' Durango so I could not get in the damned house. Jules called my parents and my mom volunteered to bring her spare keys back up.
Chad and I unloaded the bikes and we sent them on their way. We sat around for a half an hour waiting for my parents to show up till we could get in the house. But in the end it all worked out.
I really wish we could have stayed clean this weekend. The wrecks put a damper on the 3 of us getting bumped and having a great crew at the track.
It was great to be out with every one: Joe, Chad, Tim, Paul M., Paul D., Mike, Matt and Verna, Jules, Tia and Karen. Could not have asked for better company both on and off the track.
I could not have imagined how much the 675 would agree with me and how well it would both run and handle. The bike is an absolute joy to ride. I'm ecstatic that I stayed with it and finally got it to the track.
Tim, I hope things heal up quick and if you need anything feel free to yell. I have some OE spare parts from my R1. I have a right rearset if you want to borrow it till you sort something out. Not sure what I other parts I have that you might need but you're welcome to my parts bin, just yell or PM me a list.
I never got to look at my pics at the track but I ordered them from Ray this AM. Can't wait to see me on the 675 with that pretty yellow sticker on the front fender!
glad you are "ok" though 