Round 5 of WMRRA was to be a big weekend. If I performed well in my evaluation and was able to finish the two novice heats  that were scheduled, I would be eligible to graduate and start racing in the expert classes.

This would prove to be a fairly difficult proposition. All of the sprint races were scheduled on Saturday to accommodate the 6 hour endurance race on Sunday. I would have only a single early practice session in the morning to get up to speed. To compound this, I was still recovering from a  crash the  previous week while participating in a track day at SCMP. 

I had grabbed too much throttle on the exit of Turn 7 and spun the rear up, in a panic move, I chopped the throttle and the bike high sided. I was tossed off and landed quite unceremoinsly in the middle of the track on my right hip. I was able to hobble off the track, but the bike was done for the day. I had destroyed the kill switch, throttle and master cylinder and put a good dent in the tank. Worse, I had bruised my hip badly and pulled a groin muscle. After 8 days of taking it easy, I was still having trouble walking, but I was able get on the bike with a little assistance, so I was determined to go out and perform well in my heats.

I headed out to my one and only practice session with SV guru Tom Marx, who helped show me some great lines that I had been missing. I was very tentative and turned mid 1:50’s in the practice session. 

The first heat of the day was soon after the morning practice, so I had very little time to dwell on my poor practice. After a quick warm-up lap, I took my place at the very back of the 35 bike Novice grid. I got a decent start, but hesitated to pass in to turn 1. I maintained my position as a back marker for the first lap and began to try to reel in a few riders as I got up to pace. 3 laps into our 6 lap sprint, I exited the bus stop, and my right clip-on rotated down until it was pinned against the frame. I had adjusted the thing between practice and this heat and I had failed to adequately torque the bolts down. Needless to say, I backed off and finished the last 3 laps well off of my normal place. Unfortunately, a bad battery in my transponder prevented any times from being recorded. My mistake brought into sharp focus, the need to throughly check every single component on the bike before every race. 

I spent the next few hours preparing for my final heat. I would be observed by the WMRRA officials for my technique and my ability to race in the expert class safely. I knew that after my  dismal showing in the practice and first heat, I would really need to step it up if I was to have any hope of graduating. I made a quick call to my mentor Jim Vollbrecht and that helped boost my confidence enough to get out there and really give it my best. 

The second heat was later in the day so the track was dry, and the weather fair. Again, I gridded in the back along with a fellow SV Novice, Eric May. Eric and I have been  in a few great battles this season and I was hoping for more with this final Novice sprint. 

I got a good start passing 5 or 6 people, but my early braking for turn three put me back into the rear of the pack. I was determined not to finish last again. I saw Eric and another SV rider Ken Buckner ahead of me and put my head down in an effort to catch them. I stuck with eric and Ken for the first 3 laps each of us running consistent 1:49’s and 1:50’s. going into the 4th lap Eric made a great pass on a rider ahead of us and promptly threw down a 1:46. I would not be able to catch him. Coming through the bus stop on lap 5 I was right on the tail of Ken. I put my head down and was able to pass him on the gas just after the chute. We finished off the final lap, and headed back to the pits. I was ecstatic. After a dismal morning, I had regained some confidence and dropped back down to 1:49 laps, which while still not enough to make me a danger in any of the expert classes, was enough to graduate. 

 After my debacle in round 3, I was determined to complete some heats and get one step closer to graduation to the expert ranks. 



My wife Anne, who has been super supportive of my racing this year, had her own track day itch to scratch, so we headed over from Spokane on Wednesday night so that she could attend the Mike Sullivan track day on Thursday. Her previous track day she had been turning 2:20 lap times at PR. She spent the day getting faster and faster eventually posting a best time of 2:07. She plans on continuing to get track time this fall and will be joining the new WMRRA novices next season. I am incredibly proud of her and can't wait to see her race!



We took the day off on Friday and took the kids to the zoo while spending time in the pits with friends and fellow racers and prepared the bike for racing on Saturday and Sunday. 



It rained hard Friday night and we awoke to dreary, rainy skies and tons of standing water.  In a rare case of my better judgement taking hold, I skipped mounting rain tires and watched the forecast intently hoping the promised afternoon clearing would show up. By the time the second novice practice session kicked off at 11 AM, there was a dry race line and only a few places with standing water on the track. I headed out and did 6 laps to get my brain warmed up for our 2:15 PM heat.



As race time approached for Saturday there was a serious crash in turn 8 that necessitated an airlift of the injured rider. This pushed everything out over an hour. We would find out later that night that the rider was feeling better and had no life threatening injuries. 



As the massive novice field went out to grid, 

I started out the week with high hopes for Round 3 of WMRRA. I had the new SV650 Race bike ready to go and the new toy hauler for getting me, the family and the bike from Spokane to Kent.

We arrived late on Thursday and were ready to go bright and early on Friday for the AF track day. My goal was to just get a feel for the new bike and tune anything that I noticed that was far off.

The first few sessions were fantastic. The SV fits my 6'2" frame better than the R6 ever did, and I was much more comfortable with the slower pace and lower power output of the V-Twin. I found myself getting faster and faster as the day progressed. I did find that corner 9 continued to flummox me as it never had before.

Before I headed out for the 4th session, Brandon Bones of Studio 819 Photography came up to me and mentioned how uncomfortable I looked in 9. His observation would prove prescient. After 3 or 4 laps of running wide in 9 and too fast into the bus stop (turn 10), it caught up with me. I was too hard on the brakes and tucked the front. I went down hard on my left side and slid into the curbing that forms the inside edge of the corner.

I hopped up and dashed/hobbled off the track and awaited transport. The session was red flagged because my bike had destroyed the corner and was right in the line.

The response folks from PR took me back to my pits and we proceeded to assess the damage. My right foot had already started to swell and my right pinky had been dislocated.

The bike had fared less well than I had. Left rear set was gone, left handlebar ground down, and most devastating the braided line between my shock and my remote reservoir had been breached and the rear suspension was toast.

I decided, against my wifes better judgment, to wait overnight and see if the ankle got better and I could go about putting the bike back together.

Needless to say, the ankle did not improve. I awoke to an incredibly swollen and painful foot, and we decided that It would be best to pack up and get back to a doctor to have a look at the damage. That evening we went to the ER and had the foot and pinky x-rayed. The doctor was amazed. They had never seen a foot so swollen and bruised that wasn't actually broken.

I will be on crutches for a few days, but as soon as I can walk I will get to work putting the SV back together and getting ready for a few track days in July that should help me be ready for WMRRA Round 4 in August.  My new sponsorship from Vortex will certainly help with getting the bike back together!

I would like to thank Amsoil and Vortex who have come on-board as 2008 Sponsors. I will be updaing the bike with their logos prior to WMRRA Round 4.