[lfg929]

August 8 - WERA North Central Region – Beaver Run Race Report
“Its got sharp, pointy teeth” (a.k.a. “A Tale of Two Crashes")

Beaver Run was kind of an oddball track for me. I have ridden all of the other tracks in the WERA North Central region several times but had only been to Beaver Run once. That was back at the end of May for a track day and was the first time I had been at any track this year, it was the first time I had been on my new race bike, and it was the first time I had ridden since tearing my ACL in April (which won’t get fixed until this November). Plus I was instructing Novice riders for Sportbike Track Time so free time in the “advanced” sessions was somewhat limited due to making sure I was helping my students for the day. I could remember the layout of the track and had a pretty good idea of the turn numbers, but I couldn’t remember any braking markers or anything that would help me go fast in the turns. Last May I had run some decent times but knew I needed to knock off 3-4 seconds to keep up with the front runners.

The two practice sessions went ok. The first session out everything was rushed. I was trying too hard to go fast to quickly and ended up blowing turns and not getting my braking markers and turn-in reference points down. I was able to take one second off of my previous times but that was by sheer force alone. The second practice session I was doing a little better but was still having a couple of problems getting turn 1 nailed down. That was when I got passed by two guys who I knew would be towards the front. I latched onto their rear tires and followed them around for several laps. I was able to get into a rhythm and found the groove I was looking for to go faster. I ended that session by taking off 2 more seconds on my times. That put me within 1 second of the leaders and I figured I would make that last second up during the race.

The first race was B Superstock. The weekend was host to two WERA regions so the grids were fairly large. Almost all of the races had 2 wave starts, with several going in 3 waves and two of the races actually having 4 wave starts. In this race I was at the front of wave 2. Beaver Run is fairly short at 1.6 miles long and lap times hovering around 1:01 for the lead group. That meant a good start was required and I would have to get up to speed quickly on the first lap to make sure I could keep the lead group in sight to try to pick them off. The green flag flew for our wave and I made it off fairly well. I came up to turn 1 right along side a friend of mine but we must have braked way early because as soon as we started slowing down 3 or 4 guys went past us. That wasn’t really the beginning I was looking for and I got a little frustrated right away. I passed my friend as we went through turn 3 and went around another person on the brakes into turn 4. I set my sights on yet another person coming into turn 5 but entered way too hot and couldn’t keep the bike on the track. I ran off to the outside of turn 5 and was thinking I needed to get back on the track so I didn’t lose any ground. That was a mistake. I must have grabbed the throttle trying to get back to the track and immediately spun up the rear and sent the bike sideways. It spit me off over the handlebars and I remember hearing my helmet scrape along the pavement as I watched it zip as I surfed along on the face shield of my helmet. Turn 6 cuts back the other direction from turn 5 so when I got pitched off the bike I was actually tossed back onto the track and stopped about 5 feet away from the grass clear on the other side of the track. The bike slid farther than I did and ended up in the grass. I could hear bikes coming so I looked up to make sure I wasn’t going to get hit and then did my best to crawl off the side of the track and out of harms way. Once off the track I picked the bike up and moved it out of the impact zone behind a break in the Armco. The bike wasn’t in bad shape. It had bent my shift lever and one of my clip-ons, but the clip-on was usable. Other than that my peg was ground down a little and the bodywork had some scratches and some holes (sorry Tristan!). I watched the rest of the race from the wall and rode it back to the pits at the end.

The next 30-45 minutes was a flurry of activity as I replaced the shield on my helmet, borrowed a footpeg, installed a new shifter, and checked the bike for leaks and such. I was able to get everything finished with about 5 or 10 minutes to sit and rest for the next race.

Next up was Formula 1. Surprisingly I wasn’t spooked at all by my crash and was only interested in getting back out there and salvaging points. My last crash was due to being stupid and I was going to try my hardest not to continue the stupidity cycle. For this race I was in wave 3 of a 4 wave race with the first wave being all experts. The flag dropped and again I got a pretty good start. I had a couple of people get around me going into turn 1 but I told myself that was ok. I could still see the front group and I had 8 laps to catch and pass them so there was no need to rush things. I spent a lap or so following everyone around and getting into the groove again where things just seem to click. I started picking up speed and gaining ground on everyone in front of me. I passed a guy coming through the 180 degree turn 10-11 combo. I got around 2 more guys on the brakes going into turn 1. I was able to pick off another guy. Suddenly things seemed to be going well. I had spun up the rear tire a couple of times but was able to correct and keep going without losing any speed. I had passed a couple of riders who were pretty quick and was rapidly gaining on the front group now, with the last person in the group only a second or so ahead of me. On lap 5 I came through the turn 5-6 area of my previous crash and was doing well. I leaned the bike hard to the right for the blind entrance to the fast, downhill turn 7. I had cleared the apex and was hard on the gas when the rear started to spin up. I backed off the throttle a small amount hoping the rear tire would gain traction but it kept spinning and the rear kept coming around. As the bike came perpendicular to my direction of travel I switched my thoughts from saving it into thoughts of avoiding a high-side at 110MPH. Luckily the bike never gained traction again and eventually fell over on its side facing the wrong way. So there I was, sliding down the track next to my bike thinking “This can’t really be happening again can it?” I was looking backwards watching the guys who were behind me approach and pass as I was still sliding down the track. I looked and had discovered somewhere in the middle of the crash I had pulled the clutch in and for a brief moment replayed in my head the scene from World Superbike two years ago when Bayliss crashed twice in the rain and still managed to get 5th place I believe. On his second crash he had pulled in the clutch to keep the motor running and held onto the bike until they both came to a stop, at which time he pulled the bike up and took off again. I can be Bayliss, I really can. Maybe the motor hasn’t stopped yet. When I stop sliding (am I ever going to stop sliding?) I can jump up and just take off again! It was at this point that I felt a lot of heat on my right butt cheek. I mean a lot of heat, and getting hotter. I knew that couldn’t be a good thing at all. I let go of the bike and switched over to my left side and eventually ran off of the pavement and onto the grass, stopping a few feet later. I again jumped up, make sure I wasn’t going to get hit, collected my bike and moved over to the wall. As I was standing there I felt a cool breeze on my right thigh which isn’t something you feel standing still in full leathers. Plus there was this stinging sensation in that area… I checked out the bike again. The right footpeg ground down to half of its normal size and the right side of the bodywork was scratched and worn through in several places. The first crash had gotten the left side of the bike so this was somehow fitting. After the race was over I rode the bike back to the pits and called it a day. I pulled the leathers off to inspect the damage to me and it turned out to be pretty minimal. I must have rolled to the other side just as my leathers gave way to the pavement because I only had a really small area that had touched the pavement, and then it wasn’t for long.

I was happy that both me and the bike came out fairly well but was really frustrated with myself and with not getting any points in this double points round. The next race in the North Central region is one week away and I can’t get my leathers repaired and back to me until at least a week after that so I have lost those points as well. It looks like the rest of the season is going to be getting some experience and getting ready for next year when hopefully I will make all of the races in the season and can actually put up a good fight for the top few spots in my classes.

[ND4SPD]

Sorry 'bout your luck dude, but mostly glad that you came out alright. Both of those wrecks sound like they could've been bad...

[Heavy-Dee]

Good write up! Sorry about the crashes and your luck. I'm suprised that the leathers are repairable.

HD

[oldgoat]

Nice write up Larry Glad you and the bike are well.

[slowpoke]

Glad you and and the bike escaped serious damage! Better luck next time, man. Nice write up too. Almost feels like I was there.

[tigerblade]

Sounds like it was "one of those weekends".

Glad you're relatively okay for having two crashes.

[Red Rider]

Dang lfg, you experienced more in a day than a lot of racers do in a lifetime! Really glad to hear you (and your bike) came through relatively unscathed. Enjoy reading your race reports...

[929_Nupe]

Great write up...sorry to hear about the troubles that went along with it.

[lfg929]

Thanks everyone. Both the bike and I did pretty well. I am going to order pegs and new bars for the clip-ons today along with a couple of spare shift levers. That will get the bike useable again. I figure this weekend I will do some fiberglass repair and at least get the bodywork patched up. I need to pick up a new helmet and then the leathers will take a couple of weeks to get back to me but I will be ready to go after that. I may actually make it to Grattan for the last race of the WERA NC region at the end of the month.