2015 #4 CCS/ASRA – Blachawk Farms TC

In our lives we will always run into two kinds of people. Those who move forward by over coming obstacles and those are stranded staring at road blocks. We have winners and losers, professors and students, and optimists and complainers (obviously this list can go on and on). With racing it is so easy to be one or the other. There are some I want to be and some I don’t want to be. Looking back at some earlier posts and thinking about comments or even how I’ve acted at the race track, there is one of those types of people I really don’t want to be. I don’t want to be a complainer. There is absolutely no reason to use an excuse for any short comings. It’s easy to complain, it’s harder to do something about it. If you always look at the grand scheme of things, there is no room for complaining. We are at the race track so that means it could be worse. With racing, it couldn’t be any easier to complain. My bike is slow, my suspension is off, my tires are shot, he raced dirty so I lost, etc. I am by no means an optimist so this all sounds a bit off for me to even be saying. So far this season there have been a few road blocks caused by my own misjudgment or being under prepared. Neither of those sit well.

Round #3 of the ASRA Team Challenge took us out to Blackhawk Farms Raceway in South Beloit, IL. We head out Friday morning and after the long 13 hour drive we arrive at the track around 8pm. We woke up in the morning to rain. I went out and did 2 laps on the wet tarmac just to know the lay out. Will went out next session for the entire session as track was started to dry out. After lunch the sun was out and I got 1 good dry practice session. Track was pretty easy to learn. Just before the Team Challenge was set to start it began to rain. The precipitation would cease before the start of the race. Everyone was out there on slicks so you can guess what was going to happen. First lap our competition, Ducati Depot, would crash going into turn 1. The race would restart with original grid positions. I played it safe for a few laps as the track was still very damp. Of course another red flag. Another team from outr class went down sending their bike into the bushes. This restart went better and no immediate crashes. As the track started to become completely dry in areas I was able to start putting in some decent laps. I got on the pit board that I had turned a 1:20 which is a decent time. So my brain says maybe it’s time to put in some flying laps and the instant I want to push the rear tire gives way. Coming around turn 2 the rear tire hits a damp patch and loses traction. It sends me into a high side which I save but have to go into the grass which is still soaking wet. The bike’s rear end swings around causing me to go down. I am sliding on my back watching the bike tumble. Get up, run to the bike, stand it up. There isn’t much damage other than the gas tank. Sadly, the gas tank mounts have broken off which stopped us from getting back into the race. If it weren’t for the gas tank mounts, we would have only needed to put on a new clutch lever and remount the tail section. We now know for next time to have the spare bike unloaded and ready to be stripped of it’s parts. I am deeply sorry for ruining the race for my teammate Will. We will be back and more prepared at Road America.

We are now 22 points down from Mavros/Starnes in the ASRA Team Challenge championship. This is racing and anything can and will happen.