WMRRA Round 3
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!