Well after my last race I made some changes to my bike. I put in new fork spring set up for my weight. I was very excited to ride at MMP again with the new fork spring in knowing that the forks wont bottom out anymore. I drove up to Tooele Utah with Brad ( BlueR1) as he was racing in Novice GTO 1000. Greg and his father are a few hours behind us on the trip up so we meet with them on Saturday morning and all head to the track.
First practice session starts so I head out to get some time on my bike and see how it feels with new springs. The bike feels real stiff in the forks and it showed in my lap times 1:52's Brad and I made some adjustments and headed back out, again 1:52's I came back to the garage and Brad and I backed everything out and started from scratch. We backed out the rebound, compression and damening.
I head out again this time running a 1:53 something but the bike felt better I just got stuck behind a shit load of traffic on the track. I leve the setting alone and head out for the last practice for the day. I was the last rider out so I waited until all the riders where just pasted half track before I went out. I head out and start to ride at a pace I though was good, not a race pace but a good pace. by the end of my first lap I cought up some traffic and slowed my pace down a bit. I came back to the garage looked at my lap times and I ran a 1:50:23 ok better but not where I felt I should be.
Sunday morning comes we head back to the track and we are told we will get 3 practice sessions and the best time from our third practice session will be used as qualifying. I think that is cool because it gives others a change to be up front. First practice starts and I head out trying to clear my mine from yesterdays shity lap times. This time I notice that there are no braking markers like they had when I was there in April So i'm thinking maybe I an braking to early so I look for new markers ( not good) I pull off and head to the garage check my lap times and again 1:52's I skip my second session to rest for round three. I go out to watch Brad and he was scrubbing in a new front tire so he was taking it easy but on his last lap turned a 1:45 something. For the last seesion I told Brad I want to follow him so we head out picking up the pace each lapand after abaout 5 or 6 laps we pull off. I go to check my lap times 1:46:26 right where I felt I should be. We brake for lunch, make a couple chages to the bikes and go over where I felt I picked up.
Race #1 I am grided in the third postion The flag drops and I get a good start again going into turn 1 in third place. Coming out of first I over take second place then loose it to Greggy we make it around the track once then come up to laped traffic and the guy in first and Greg get pasted about 4 riders but I could not make my way around and now the rest of my group is catching up. I finally make my way past the slower riders and get pasted them only to miss a shift going into turn 11 ( left hander) i coast through the turn getting past by the four Novice GTO 1000 riders I just pasted this time there are two more riders ( two of them where in my group) Now I have 6 riders all taking weird lines trying to pass each other and I was seeing some scary stuff so I backed if off and thought ok I can place mid pack and save it for another race. We finish and I come in sixth. my lap times were 1:48's
For race number 2 they posted up I was postioned 6th on the grid but where I get up to pree grid the grid Marshal does not have me on the list and tell's me "TO THE BACK OF THE GRID" WTF I am so pissed at the point had I had a kick stand I would have gotten off my bike and opened a can of whoopass on him.
We go out for our one warm up lap and I'm thinking screw it I will just hang back and have fun and come is last. The flag drops and were all off but me I ride off like I was going down the road to pick up some milkI wait until everyone has cleared turn one then I deside fuck it I dont want to come in last so I poar on the heat passing rider after rider, them "RED FLAG" we have to restart the race. We get another warn up lap and then were back on the grid ready to race. There are 26 riders in my class Novie GTU 600 and I am in postion 26
The flag drops and were off this time I go for itbut I got a little to excited and allmost pulled a 12 o'clock so I backed off the throutle which killed my launch. Again I go into turn 1 dead last but pass 4 riders coming out of it.Heading into turn 2 I see four more riders soI pin it and fly by all of them on the out side. heading into turn 3I come up on a lone rider who give just enough room for me on the inside so i go for it coming within inches of each other ( scared the shit out of him) I had a great drive in and out of turn three that I caught up the a few more ride very quickley. At this point I have no idea where I am on the postion but I am coming up on a groupe of riders just before the cork screw and the lead riders screws up his line and all the riders behind him kind of slow down and left a nice opening for me as I was coming up on them. I make my way past over taking that group. Now I am at the half way point of the race I exit the cork screw and and heading into turn 11 and I am coming up on a guy riding a Gixxer1000. He slows just enough for me to come right up on his out side, he looks over and the trys to stuff me and pulls away Now I am even more pissed so we head into turn 12 ( left hander) again I make a move to pass him on the out side but this time I have a beeter drive and more corner speed I pull right up next to him and we tough he backes of and I am talking shit under my helmat like a mo fo
Two laps to go and I come up to a guy riding a new gixxer600 I follow him one lap looking for a weak spot and kept showing him a wheel hoping to make him push it hard so he would screw up, well it worked he went into turn 4 to hot and went wide so I make my way past. I am on my last lap and no one in front of me now so I keep the pace going and finish the race. I make my way around the track on the cool down lap and see two riders on the side of the track. It's greg he's ok and gives me a thumps up. I go back to the garage and wait for Greg to come back we all talk about the race, Brad takes the win and runs a 1:42:92 I look over and my race and see I took second and ran a 1:45:32 I was happier then a pupy with two peters I ran my best lap times and took second place out of 26 riders starting in the back.
The real shocker, well not really a shocker because he's allways been a very smooth rider is Greg running in the 1:45's and taking second on race number 1 and would have taken first or second on race two before a low side
All in all Team racing was on the grid both races, it was a good weekend

__________________
Josh
R6

Great Report and congrats to you and Gregg. Hope Greg didn't hurt himself. Good Job Guys.......

__________________
American Born and Jamaican raised.....
http://www.myspace.com/muaddibproductions

could'nt have said it better.

missed the first practice. after changing some settings and trying to get a feel for the track on the 2nd pr.

3rd practice on Saturday came so i went out on the Dunlop 209 gp's (i thought there was a Dunlop guy around). and started circulating for like four laps thinking i was gonna find Josh or Gregg and just run a good pace, that never happend (I think this PR session was like and hour long). So on like lap 6 or 7 i just said F-it and let it hang out.

So I come down the S/F strait and go into T1 nice line drive out and up to T2 a high speed rt hander followed by T3 a trail braking left. i figured this to be the fastest scariest section on the track because of the fast transition on the brakes. So i go on around and i am behind some guy on a R6(not Gregg) and he is headed into T13 (i think) slightly down hill RT and his ELBOW is like 3inches from the ground. So i close the gap on him and we go into T14 a severly banked LT and i am way off the bike trying to touch the Elbow then the back starts to break loose footpeg is scrapping and i am still carnked way over giving the juice!!!

Now i am feeling better and trying to exploit the track so i go by the R6 into T1 and get a monster drive out on the way to T2 i just breathe the throttle and flick it in at about 125-130 and then the front pushes about 1-2 feet. so i knock it off and call it a day.
Once i got into the pits i looked at the front tire and HOLY SH!T!!!!!!! the front tire on the left side is completely cooked so my SAturday was over.


Race #1: I went into turn 4 and showed a wheel to a guy on a GSXR-1 and he slammed the door so hard that i hit his back wheel and he kinda sat up but continued on. I ran off track. but was able to get back on track, now with fire in my eyes i go all out and run this A-hole down in about 3 laps then waved at him as i went by draggin a knee . i forgot to tell you that.

But all in all great weekend except for the problem i had with the car's brake. MMP is a wonderful track (east course) very fast and flowing but kills front tires like no tomorrow. We will have to do this again!!!! a load of fun at a top of the line facility.

__________________
You must be fast, cause I never saw you

good riding guys! when's the next one? i'm in for sure!

__________________
Ali - CCS Am #831 / WERA West Am #831<br /><br />need a bike painted? ... pm me for a quote/pics.

Not sure but whenever it is we will let you know


here are the links for the lap times from the Miller event numbers 41, 871 and 200

http://utahsba.com/docs/event3_Race1.pdf

http://utahsba.com/docs/event3_Race2.pdf

__________________
You must be fast, cause I never saw you

WTF they got me in 9th pos in race one and 3rd in race 2

__________________
Josh
R6

Youve been hoodwinked.

__________________
American Born and Jamaican raised.....
http://www.myspace.com/muaddibproductions

they were having problems with the scoring all weekend... whe we left you were in second and i could have sworn that you were in 2nd on that score sheet. but either way we know that 1:45 stood no matter what and i think that matters the most. that is a entire 4 secs off of you first race

__________________
You must be fast, cause I never saw you

yeah, no biggy I'll just have to make sure I win next time

__________________
Josh
R6

Mike Bunds just called me. and asked if i was gridded with the right class. cause of the gap from 1st to 2nd places in the race. and possibly because of my low lap times in Race 2. he was just trying to make sure everyone was grouped according to their skill i guess. but win or lose it was a fun weekend

__________________
You must be fast, cause I never saw you

Man they really need ot work on their paper work but either way it was a fun two days of riding on an awsome track

__________________
Josh
R6

Let me know when you guys go again, I will play ultimate Pit Bitch for you. Sounds like alot of fun.

__________________
American Born and Jamaican raised.....
http://www.myspace.com/muaddibproductions

Greg is ok, bike is ok minor repairs, SCS should be real proud of those 3, they were kick'n ass ,hope SCS has big turn out for next one. Greg has pics.he will post them

Grandpa [ pit crew dad ]

Ok ok, sorry for the delay. Been farting around since I got back. Here is a little thing I wrote up for myspace. Give ya an idea.

So Saturday was practice sessions. Everything felt really good. The track is unbelievable. Like glass on the knee pucks. Josh's description was right on. Super smooth. Damn near everytime I went out there I was dropping a second off my best lap time till I was down in the 1:45 range which is damn good for first time at that track. Sunday are the big races. We have practice sessions in the morning and the last is qualifying for grid position in race 2. Race 1 I am gridded 5th position which is right behind the first guy in Row 1 so I am in a pretty good spot. I'm pushing it through this race and end up ""technically and officially" 3rd place. I say that because 1st place went to an ex AMA racer who was there just to screw around. So in my eyes, I came in second. Wowzers. Thats all I gotta say. Race 2 comes around and my lap times stick me 2nd on the grid! SWEET! Race starts and I get a decent launch but we get red flagged after a few laps. Ok, restart. Here we go! I'm haulin booty. Throwing down like no other. I just get out of the corkscrew and towards the end of the straight I see a Ducati that I have been stuck behind before. I can take him in the corners but he just has me in the straights. So I say to myself, fuck this noise, I am passing this mofo. I'm flying into a left hander and come up right next to him. Because I'm coming in hot and heavy, I am going to need to cut in late and hard. No biggy, done this already, I can make it no problem. Well because I came up so fast, homie never saw me till it was to late and his line in the corner had him turning in a lot sooner than me. We start bumping shoulders and bikes and before I know it, bike comes out from under me. SLAM I go onto the track and I'm not sure what happened but I know I did some rolling and some sliding. You can‘t help but hold your eyes shut like a vise. I finally stopped sliding in the dirt, get up, feel fine, grab the bike and wheel it out of the impact zone. The Ducati rode that shit out and he was just fine and could have kept on with the race but he thought he was out. All in all, bruised hip and what feels like some bruised ribs. It's sore to breath in heavy and don't even think about sneezing! OUCH! Not a bad outcome at all. Bike has very little damage. Thank god for frame sliders and swingarm sliders because they took a HUGE amount of the damage. They worked wonders. And I don't mean that lightly. It doesn't even look like any bodywork or tank or nothing hit. Amazing. Looks like I will need a new case cover which I need anyway for WERA so no real loss there. New helmet of course because this one took a hit. It was a good experience. Got my first race experience. First crash. First trip with the toy hauler. It was just awesome. I now have an idea of my skill level and what I can do with it. Mark my words, you ain't seen the last of #200.

I'll see what I can do about pictures and I have some little videos to put up also.

__________________
Greggie

[attachment deleted by admin]

__________________
Greggie

[attachment deleted by admin]

__________________
Greggie

Videos are a little to big for the max size allowed. If you want to see them, let me know. They are dinky. Done with a regular picture camera.

__________________
Greggie

nice report i was wondering what happened and who the two were. you guys were just chillin on the fence line. i actually thought it was a R1 that was out there. cool to know you are feeling fine. we have to get together at the Classic course soon

__________________
You must be fast, cause I never saw you

No doubt. I'd love to hit that up again since I have only been there the one time.

__________________
Greggie

Josh, this was a great report. Glad to hear you did as good as you did. Hope to see you next time, or when I come down for WERA.

__________________
http://home.comcast.net/~kory_c/csb_header_280x80.jpg<br />http://home.comcast.net/~kory_c/homepage06.jpg

Great job guys!!!

Kory, hope to see you down here for WERA. ZYou know you got a place to stay Oh and Weclome to the board

__________________
Josh
R6

You guys are having too much f'n fun! I'm proud of you kids...good job!

__________________
http://www.cycleawareness.org

Well it's official Greg got his WERA number #200
Great job son, I'm proud of you.

Dad

I always like reading your reports guys. Makes me wanna try... but not with my TL. I'll have to start putting a little sumthin sumthin away every week I tink.


Snappy

__________________
EL Snapitan

Medicated for your protection
1997 Suzuki TL1000S/R

yeah i heard that a TL is on the heavy side, but i think all twins are. who knows give it a run on that thing and see how it comes out

__________________
You must be fast, cause I never saw you

I love my TL too much. It's my daily rider. I think I would need something a little lighter like you said. I am starting a new job in a few weeks and hopefully I will be able to go with you guys and assist Jerry in the bitch dept soon.


Snappy

__________________
EL Snapitan

Medicated for your protection
1997 Suzuki TL1000S/R

There is guy that races MRA on a TL1000 and is FAST. I have ridden with him in the off season @ Parumph. Although he does have like $35K or something stupid into the bike. But, it can be done.

You know, if you save up a little here and there, you can get a decent race bike for around $2500-$3500, that sold come with a decent spares package.

__________________
http://home.comcast.net/~kory_c/csb_header_280x80.jpg<br />http://home.comcast.net/~kory_c/homepage06.jpg

ElSnapitan, get that twin out there! Don't be skerr'd. I'm all the time on the look out for some V-twin bretheren. BluR1 knows I try to get my boogie on!!! I think I'm gonna try to get up to Miller before the end of the season to see how I do too.

__________________
Everyone has a game plan when they step into the ring.....until they get hit in the mouth.
-Iron Mike Tyson-

Thanks for the encouragement. We'll see what happens. Time will tell.


Snappy

__________________
EL Snapitan

Medicated for your protection
1997 Suzuki TL1000S/R