| Author | Message | ||
     Rick_a |
Yesterday a co-worker, a friend, and I along with some bystanders headed to Jennings. Joel, an accomplished mechanic of ours was on his Hypermotard, and Ryan (Frausty12R) on his '05 XB12R. Joel had raced a season of mini motard, Ryan had done a Jennings track day previously, and I had done a Penguin Roadrace School at Jennings some years ago. Ryan had some gremlins pop up that have been plaguing him for the past year or so...an intermittent cut-out...mostly at high rpm. He tried hard to get things sorted all day, but regardless of what he tried, it was to continue to plague him. When the bike was working properly he was making quick work of most of the rest of the amateur riders (there were only eight of us).  Joel was very smooth on his Hyper, and despite a couple off track excursions through turn two, he kept it on two and showed some sportbike riders what an underpowered Duc could do. His drive off turn 14 was so good he was passing them down the short front straight. I got a pretty good giggle out of that. He was complaining about dragging his pegs. I told him to go ahead and grind them out...they fold!  My main goal out there was to get a knee down, figure out turns 2-3 and 8-9 and just have a good time. My first session I got held up by a slow rider for about half a lap. That incensed me a bit, so I started running harder than I should, recklessly exploring lean angles I have never achieved before. Before I knew it I was pretty comfortable dragging peg, toe slider, and knee slider on several lefts. A few rights had my knee lightly scraping. A few missed shifts screwed me up and had me a bit frazzled. Unbeknownst to me the instructor followed me for a few laps. During a meeting he told me that I was really getting my Buell down, that I was dragging everything and was at the limit on some parts of the track. I felt slow and defeated and didn't really need to hear that. During my first lap of the next session I missed another shift and hit the shifter harder just to have the lever rotate around on me. I quickly pulled in and tightened it up. Again, I found myself behind a slow rider, and instead of using some restraint I decided I'd pass him as fast as I could between turns 11-12. I was draggin' my knee around 10, let the throttle open...then saw my rear tire in my peripheral vision. I then got a great birds-eye view of my bike below me. During this time I thought of how bad my bike was going to be, how bad my gear was going to look, and what a shame it was that my obsolete helmet was going to be ruined without a direct replacement. Just before I slammed the ground flat on my back, I had a quick thought that this one was gonna hurt. After that initial impact the next thing I was conscious of was my head striking the dirt face first and a bunch of it getting on my face, then laying on my back once again. I sat up, looked at my bike sitting mid-track...spilling primary fluid and some gas out of the overflow...noticing that looking at the tires, muffler, and shock was an odd and new angle...then realizing that I couldn't breathe. I laid there until I could breathe again, then got up and made sure everything was attached and working. The track worker asked if I was ok. At the time the only thing I could really feel is a finger tip burning. "Well, my finger hurts," was the reply. This got relayed to the pits where they got a chuckle out of it. (Message edited by Rick_A on October 13, 2009) | ||
| Rick_a |
The bike initially looked really bad. However, money-wise I can realistically get things fixed with about $500...but with so many parts hand made or modified...and so many parts being repaired by manual labor...it's the thought of all the time I'll have to invest (and that which already has been) that really hurts.      My gear held up well. My back has a huge knot on the side where the 661 back protector didn't cover, my Nolan Streetfighter helmet has but some light scratches...the headache I woke up with this morning lets me know that the hit it took was harder than it appears. My Buell race gloves held up well, suffering only some scuffs on the knuckles of one of 'em. My feet hit so hard both of the toe sliders were ejected from the Alpinestars SMX-Plus boots. The leathers are literally scuffed everywhere...just as I am bruised or sore everywhere but my left arm, left knee and left ankle. The guys told me that I tumbled 3-4 times. I remember little of it but those couple hard impacts. Out of the short stint I accomplished a couple small things...like finally finding a clean line through 8-9, and scuffing those knee pucks a little...  Kinda funny what my speedometer read on the previous mile  Overall I learned not to try riding aggressively on semi-cold tires. While the front tire looked up to temp post-crash, the rear was smoothed back over like a street worn tire. The instructor gave me some great tips to improve my personal lap times to take with me next time (which is something I never got from the formal school). BTW the bodywork is all track stuff, so once I find a primary cover and set-up some new instruments I'll be back on the road again. (Message edited by Rick_A on October 13, 2009) | ||
| Reepicheep |
Glad you are OK! | ||
| Jlnance |
Ouch! How is the finger? I'm assuming the rest of you is ok? | ||
| Paint_shaker |
Rick, Sorry to hear about your misfortune at the track. Hope you heal up soon and get back on the track!! | ||
| Rick_a |
Thanks for the kind sentiments. Oddly, I actually jammed a finger on each hand. The rest of my body is bruised and sore but O.K. I've been waking up at around 4AM in a bit of pain every night. Getting up in the mornings has been the worst part. | ||
| Rick_a |
A couple more pics of my damaged 'trackbike'  | ||
| Rick_a |
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