To sum it up: What a great time!
If you want the long winded version:
Started out last Saturday with Joe (zedpilot) picking up my bike with the 28 foot toy hauler his boss lent us for the trip. My road and drive way being what they are this was a great idea as it snowed a good bit Monday night.
We got a late start on Tuesday as real life has a way of interfering with fun. Joe picked me up at my place and we headed to his boss's compound to pick up the toy hauler and the dually his boss was letting us use for the trip. Tom, if by chance Joe gives you the link to this: HUGE THANKS for letting us use your trailer and truck! Incredibly generous of you to make this happen!
So we picked up the already loaded truck and trailer with some pointers from Joe's boss and one of his mechanics on how to not destroy his toys and kill ourselves and headed out from Huntington at around 8PM.
We drove to Breezewood and stopped for a bite to eat before heading down as far as Salem to stop for the night. Got up pretty early (by my standards) on Wednesday AM and continued on our way to Jennings. Tom had given us so good directions for routes that would be easier to negotiate with the big ass dually and 28 foot trailer. Last year with Joe's Ranger and a 6X12 trailer we took some back roads through Georgia to try to save time but we stuck to interstates this year instead. I don't think it took any longer either way. 900+ miles each way.
We got to Jennings I think around 8PM. Set up the trailer without much fuss near Jim's pit (RideorGolf) and the rest of the 675 contingent: Bill (shell015) and Ben (RidgeRacer). I had the pleasure of being passed on numerous occasions by Bill last year but not the honor of a proper introduction last year so it was nice to finally match a face to the image of a quickly receding red 675 in front of me.
Jim and his son were planning on sleeping in their truck but wisely took Joe and I up on our offer to let them sleep in the trailer on real beds. The trailer is set up with 7 beds so plenty of room for everyone.
With the trailer set up and bikes unloaded the drinking commenced. We wondered the paddock and chatted with some of the others riders we knew and with Ray (SBImage).
Round one of the snoring wars went decidedly to Joe. Though Jim's son (James) felt that his father deserved an honorable mention.
Thursday AM was sort of grey but nice and warm. We had a short please-don't-kill-yourself- and-cause-me-a-headache speech from Dave and off we went.
Joe was the token non-675 in our group and 4 of us were in I with Ben starting out the trip in B. I felt good from the start. Bill towed me around in the second session and I set a personal best. Joe was riding really well and we had to beat on Jim a bit about being much too nice.
I pulled Jim around a little bit later in the day to show him what was working for me courtesy of Bill. It's great how that works. Even though this event is really more like an open track day without much if any control rider coaching riders help other riders get better and faster. Whatever I showed him seemed to work. He picked up a ton of pace and made some spectacular passes too.
We ran all the sessions for the day and I don't think there were any real incidents. There was a bit of bone headed riding by 1 or 2 individuals but no harm done. I ended the day a bit over a second faster than my best from last year - all good. The only snag was that my lap timer was having a fit picking up every other lap or so and not turning on or off and getting 'stuck' on various menu screens.
Joe, Jim, James and I hit up a local Mexican joint for dinner, filled up our gas cans at a station that had the courtesy of making up wait while they hiked their prices up by 15 cents per gallon and headed back to the track.
Once back we recommenced drinking all the while allowing Bill's inner pyromaniac make a grand entrance. We sat around telling tall tales and drinking for a few hours around the fire.
Round 2 of the snoring wars was also won by Joe.
The morning came with a dreary, dark skyline, an omen of things to come. Since no amount of messing with my timer was helping I figured I'd go to get another one from Austin (theonlinepaddock.com). He had sold out of the timers he brought with him but incredibly generously offered my his to use for the price of a cup of coffee. As Joe had the foresight to bring a nice coffee maker with us Austin got his coffee and I had a lap timer to play with. We got 2 good sessions in and by the 3rd I session there were a few drops here and there. I got into the 29's following a kid on a white/blue/green Kawi so I was quite happy. The rain came in full by the following A session. My rear 211 was looking pretty shagged and Joe was having issues with his back tire as well so we figured it was as good a time as any to get new rubber put on. Austin proved to be easily bribed with food so we made him a burger for lunch and had our tires done in no time at all. We also got to meet some of his fellow denizens at his pit, 'Meat' being the most memorable of the bunch.
Joe's tire issues were most likely due to a bad valve but he got a new hoop tossed on anyway. My 211 had 3.5 days on it and the siping was completely gone on the left side. I probably could have flipped it and ran a few more sessions but with wet weather and the time to flip and then go back for the new one I figured I'd just get the new meat on.
The rain unfortunately did not let up. It was bad enough that we had to close the ramp and the doors to the trailer though not before a bunch of our tools and my warmers got wet. Dave opened the track to anyone that wanted to go out after about 2pm and a few brave souls did so. Since we had 3 days Joe and I were decidedly not brave and sat around bitching about the weather like 90% of the other riders. I ran into Ray and had a nice long chat about the photo biz and his new TPM gig. Always a pleasure.
Rain broke around 3 but the sun was still not out and it was very humid. The track was not drying very quickly and I was being a pussy about going out. I caught Mike (Moore) after his session and got some track condition updates. Though the front part was relatively dry the back side was soaked with puddles, etc. Joe had gone out for a bit and come back as well.
Around 4:15 the sun made a reappearance and the track started to dry. I kicked up my warmers and went to suit up. When I took my rear warmer off only half the tire was warm, the other half was dead cold: Not good. So I had a brand new, unscrubbed DOT which was only warm half way around and it was still wet and I was REALLY pissed that my warmers were likely hosed. With all of this in mind I went out anyway. Probably the most useless session of my life followed. I could not get my head around riding as opposed to just being pissed at both a dead timer and dead warmer, not to mention that I noticed that my 1 year old SuperTechs R's were just about chewed through from the foot pegs - about a grand worth of issues to mill over. I did like 5 parade laps. The track was really wet in the back but there was a line around the front section like Mike said. There was a huge puddle between T9 and 10 and T8 was really wet. I decided that I was just tempting fate so I went in. This was the first time since I think my first day on the track that I had a conga line of like 6 or 7 bikes stuck behind me as I went off into the pits. A little embarrassing.
Pitting in early had the advantage of getting into the showers before most of the bunch and being ready to go dinner hunting earlier. I have no idea why but there is not a single acceptable place to eat around the track or within 15 minute driving time for that matter. Joe, Ben and I opted for a concept BBQ joint which was pretty terrible but we had good conversation and really dumb waitresses.
We stopped to get fuel, including for the truck which with its auxiliary tank took $235 worth of diesel.
Got back to track in time for some of the fireworks show. JJ almost blew himself up in the process of lighting the stuff off. We decided that since it was our last night there we would light a big ass fire and boy scout Bill did not disappoint with his pyro skills.
Joe did not manage to pull off the trifecta and handed the win for snoring to Jim on Friday night. This left the score of Joe over Jim by 2 nights to 1.
The weather Saturday was absolutely gorgeous. If anything it was too warm which is one hell of a complaint for February. Took another coffee over to Austin and he let me continue using his timer. With much hope I tossed on my warmers and with much anticipation kept feeling all the way around. To my surprise the now dry rear warmer was fine and was hitting the whole rear tire: Instant mood improvement followed!
I bumped Ben to Intermediate where he belonged and all 5 of us went out to play. I towed Ben around a bit in the second session until I got separated and then saw Bill coming after me with malicious intent. I think we both ran out best times of the event that session. I got to a 1:27.69 and I Bill got to I believe a 1:27.50. My average for the session was like 1:29.5x
We ran hard again in the 3rd session with consistent 28's but I did not get back into 27's. We broke for lunch and Bill and Ben decided to pack up. Bill's bike was tossing a light so that was probably a good idea.
After we made some grub I asked Ray if he would mind if I asked to get out to the track to take some picks of the "mock race". Being the stand up SOB that he is he agreed and told me who to ask of the Jennings staff for an OK. Got permission to go shoot in T1 from the track marshal - the colorful guy with a short pony tail. He told me to watch out for gators and water moccasins while out there - great. I did see abut 6-7 foot gator in the pond by T1. Got a crappy pick of him too.
It was fucking hot standing around waiting for the race to start. I took my 300F4 but probably should have used the 70-200 instead. I did get a couple of shots of bikes side by side through T1 but mostly it was just individual riders ala track day with the narrow field of view of the longer lens. I'll post them up as I sort them out.
Bill and Ben rolled homeward right after the race. We had 4 sessions left. I did not get out till late for the first one since I had to hike it from mid track to our pit. I was roasting from taking pics and tossing on my leathers was less than fun. Ran pretty slow and made dumb mistakes. Thought I was in 5th through the back straight and banged down 2 gears to what I thought was 3rd between T4 and 5 but actually got to 2nd locking up my rear in the process. Rather than trying to turn for 6 and tucking the bike just pulled in the clutch and pulled into the grass. Waited for traffic to go by and went back out. No harm no foul. Really did not run well the rest of the session. Did the next one without much good or bad.
Joe and I decided that the 3rd would be our last session before packing up. I told him to lead out and I would follow and shoot with my camera. We went out and ran some good laps, Joe was riding great and we got good footage. We almost got killed by an A rider who was apparently iron manning the whole three days since he was out in just about every group and session. He decided to come off pace in the middle of the straight between T11 & 12. Joe and I were following a slower bike and trying to set him up for a pass. When the A rider checked up in the middle of the track all 3 of us almost ass packed him. We split around him since we did not have any other options. Looks even scarier of video than it did at the time on the track.
So we got past the slower rider ahead of us and were off again. A bit later we came up on 4 slower bikes. We flowed them on to the front straight where Joe and I got around the first of the 4 and I somehow ended up ahead of Joe. We were going into T1 and the last of the 3 slower bikes checked up because the 2 in front of him were dog slow. I went to the outside and passed him going around T1 but did not have the space to get the other 2. Still the 2 bikes in front of me were less than quick so I passed both of them between T1 and T2 - my bike was straight up and down and I was past them before dipping into T2 and I have video that shows it. So since Joe was still stuck behind the 3rd bike when I looked back through T3 I figured I might as well rail off a few fast ones. Ran low 28's and on the second time around I got a black flag at the start finish - I have never been black flagged in 4 years and 20+ track days so I thought there was something wrong with my bike and pulled off in T1. The track marshal motioned for me to go around so I paraded all the way around the track to the hot pit. Marshal told me that a "control rider" saw me make an illegal pass and push a 250 off the track. He said he did not see it himself and told me to head back out to the track. Apparently the corner workers there did not see anything untoward either. WTF? I did not make a single close pass that session and the only thing that stuck in my mind was the A guy checking up a handful of laps earlier - maybe there was someone behind me that when I swerved to avoid I pushed someone else off? I did not remember seeing anyone but oh well.
I rode the rest of the session out and came back in somewhat perplexed as to WTF the flag was all about. Spoke with Joe about it and he could not think of anything either other than maybe something about the way we were forced to split the A rider between T11 and 12 half way through the session. Oh well, I'm the guy that's always been told that I was "too nice" in the way I pass so I figured either they got the wrong bike or I don't know what. I was going to go and talk to the A guy we split but figure there was no point in flogging a dead horse and ending the great event on a bad note.
I went back to my pit and on the way over heard the kid on the 250 telling Dave Pullen that he ran off the track 2 times because he was TIRED, not mention of being run off but just slacking from exhaustion.... I pretended to be doing something while listening to this but figured fuck it, not worth it, I moved on.
We cleaned up and packed up the trailer. We walked around to say good bye to the people we knew and found Dave to thank him for the another great Jennings event. Dave also brought up the "incident" for which I can't blame him and he qualified it by saying that he knew the way I rode and that it was not something he expected. I gave him my side of the story but unfortunately we had no idea that we were not even talking about the same pass. I was still convinced that it was something in the way we split the A guy that checked up that possibly ran a rider (maybe the 250 guy that was somehow there though neither Joe nor I remembered that???) behind me off track when in fact it was the CLEAN pass I made on the 2 bikes between T1 and 2 one and half lap before I got flagged. I have no idea where the "control rider" got his story from but unlike him I have video of the pass and Joe was behind both of them and the 3rd bike for much of the next lap somehow not noticing anyone going off track..... I need to post the video to YouTube. I'll post the time markers for both what we thought was the issue and the actual clean pass for which some douche bag had to piss on my great three days of riding with. Just silly and absolutely uncalled for, especially in light of the video and the kid telling people in the pits that he was so tired he was riding off the track all on his own and even regardless of the fact that Joe riding behind him during and after my pass did not see him either go off or even spook.
There were however 2 actual notable incidents, both occurred Saturday. In A, two riders tagged between T7 & 8. One went down and apparently hit his head pretty hard in the process. He's helmet split and he ended up going to the hospital with a concussion. The other rider had a sore leg and hip from the impact but otherwise seemed OK. In the last session of the day a guy in I group went down pretty hard in T13 or 14. We were told that he broke his arm and some hand/wrist bones. Otherwise he seemed was OK. You always wish for a clean event but sometimes it does not work out, even if the injuries are relatively 'minor'. I hope both heal up ASAP and head back out on the track.
Anywho..... We made good time on the way back and decided we needed some dead cow to satisfy the evening. We found an Outback just outside of Macon and had a good dinner. We made it almost to Spartanburg before getting a room for the night. Hit Joe's favorite breakfast place, the Waffle House (puke) and headed back on the road. Stopped again in WV at the world's most pathetic Subway which was complimented by the most annoying Subway customers "I'd like 1 slice of tomato, no not that one, or that, how about the other one, can you slice it in half?". Ugh...
We went to Joe's first and unloaded his stuff, picked up his SO and headed to my place. We got here about 7:30 and unloaded my crap. Joe and wife took the dually and trailer back to his boss's place in Huntington from there.
Anyway, the black flag bullshit aside it was a great weekend. The black flag thing while sort of irking me in no way puts a damper on a great 3 days with a great bunch of riders! Dave did a great job again and I'm definitely in for the 2012 iteration. Austin from the
http://www.onlinepaddock.com is a life savior and deserves everyone's business. Ray is the best track photog and I could not have asked for better group that Joe, Jim, Bill, Ben and James too. Everyone in the paddock was a pleasure to chat with. It was nice to also meet a few fellow MSF coaches: John (slitherin) and Tony. This is the best winter present any of us can give ourselves as riders. Hope everyone else had as great a time as I did.
