2 epic weekends....

Ok, so since I last posted, I've had 2 epic weekends.

I'm gonna do this in order...on a day by day basis...

8/30 Thursday
My boss says to me "you can work a full day tomorrow if you want, but I'm not." You see, earlier in the week, he told us only to work a half day because they were going to be laying down chemicals upstairs. Well, those plans changed, but since he already made reservations, it was basically an already set half-day.

8/31 Friday
I took the half day, and left directly up to Spokane Raceway Park. On the way, I ran into a bunch of rain. Well, it had hit the track too, so that meant that when I got there, most people were just sitting around chilling.

I looked at some bikes in the pits. Most were nice bikes. One WAS a nice bike, until he flipped it a couple of times. It was a total loss, the guy was in the hospital. It was a brand new ZX-6R, and must have started the day beautiful. The guy was planning on riding it home to (I disremember where, but it was a ways away) after track day....he didn't ride home, instead he got carried away. He was fine, but not good...if you catch my drift.

A few people went out and ran another session or 2, but it was pretty uneventful....

Until Curt went down. Curt, a guy I hadn't met yet, took turn 2 wrong. He ended up using the plastics on his bike to scoop up about 5 pounds of gravel. Some of this gravel got revenge on the bike by scraping up the side. Some of the gravel scratched up his leathers and such. Curt had some "rash", which wasn't from the gravel, but just from rubbing, and was sore Saturday and stiff on Sunday, but otherwise, was able to race all weekend. Best kind of crash to have. He laid it down, got back up, rode it in, and dumped the dirt out and was good to go for the rest of the weekend. Thank God for good gear, and for not blowing the corner too bad.

Remember the crunched up ZX-6R? Well, one of the guys there was hauling it home in his (single bike) trailer for the guy. This guy, Fred, just happened to be friends with Curt. And these guys just happened to be friends with Jim, Cody, Ken, and had been pitting with everyone else that I knew at track day. Well, Fred's bike didn't have a way home, and it had to go somewhere. I wasn't going anywhere all weekend, and Fred only lived like 10 miles away, so it went into the back of my pickup. A 50'th Anniversary, 2006 R6 sat in the bed of my pickup for the better part of the weekend.

After we loaded that up, Becky offered to drive Cody, Curt, Ken, and I out to dinner so we could drink, carry on, and have a good time. Well, we did that. We ordered a pitcher of Mac and Jack's, and instead they brought a pitcher of New Castle. Well, since they left it for us, we couldn't let it go to waste. 2 pitchers later (mind you we started at the track before we left) and a burger each, we stumbled back into the pickup for the drive back to the track. Out came the cigars, and then after that bed.

Just so you all know...yes...the beer and cigar did make me sick...and no, it wasn't pleasant. One or the other, not both, and all things in moderation.

Now, around the middle of the night, I was still awake because there were bikes running everywhere. Some people had the bright idea to run pit bikes, small bikes, dirt bikes mainly, all around all night. I even saw a couple of pit bikes with no lights racing around the track, being followed by a street bike with lights.

I fell asleep and dreamed of riding.

9/1 Saturday
I got up and rode my bike up to the shower, and asked the naked guy where there was some running water so I could brush my teeth. He told me where to go, and I headed up there.

After brushing my teeth, gathering water, sports drink, diet coke, and munchies, I headed down to meet the rest of the corner workers. That was a CF if I've ever seen one. The real corner captain wasn't there, so her ass(istant) was in charge. She was pretty useless. Anyway, they put me in turn 9. I headed out there and met Dan, the radio guy. I was to play the part of the active.

"Active" corner workers are the ones who go and try to move the rider and bike out of the way of other crashes (just in case). I saw a couple of crashes and pushed a couple of bikes out of the way. One guy got dirt way up into his face mask, and into his eyes. We had to lead him across the hot track blind. That was no fun, and I was glad I was working on the bike, not the rider. He was more than fine.

A mostly uneventful day was about over when the shit hit the fan...in a good way. Ross Delong and Mike Sullivan (2 racers in the "good gawd almighty fast" class) were riding ffffaaaasssssttttt. So fast, in fact, that Ross Delong took the track record about half way through the race. That record sat for almost a minute and a half, because he set the record again. Mike Sullivan, not knowing this, of course, passes him, and takes the track record back (it was his until this race). Ross Delong, as if he knew what was going on, took the record BACK. 4 times, in once race.

With 1 lap to go, we had a guy go off just past our corner, and almost to turn 10/track crossing. He was hurt. Not really bad (as far as a 90 mph crash goes), but he did break his collar bone, I think. He wasn't moving until the race was over, which was fine....with 1 lap, a waving yellow would be fine, even in the fast class. His wife/girlfriend wasn't too pleased when we wouldn't let her cross the track until the EMT's were done with him, but she was ok once he got across to him.

I was pretty tired, and once I got food, I talked to Curt (the only one at the track I knew still), and then went to bed. Well, not to bed, but I kinda crashed out. It was like 7pm and I was in my tent. That didn't last too long. I got up and wandered around. This guy was working on his bike in the dark with just a little LED headlight. I went and got my BIG flashlight to help him finish before dawn. He is a vintage racer novice, and was prepping for his first race. I helped get him back up and running, and took a walking lap around the pits, and back to bed. This time, for real. I was tired.

At some point in there (after dinner, before crashing out), I ran into a couple of guys, about 50 years old or so, next to their side car. I had to talk to them about it. It was pretty neat. Not like a traditional bike and side car, but one unit, all together. I had seen them practice, and they were some pretty crazy contraptions. If you ever get a chance to look at them, DO IT.

9/2 Sunday
I got out of bed and poked my head out. There was Jim's miata next to Curt's pickup and trailer. Jim was wandering around hanging out, waiting for stuff to happen. It was 7am, and not much was going on. I talked to him about Saturday's races and practices, and about Sunday's races and practices.

I was in corner 5, and had a pretty uneventful day, honestly. It wasn't as exciting as Saturday, but I did pick up 2 bikes. Both of those guys were not only ok, but up and running away before anyone got there. One guy was a guy I kinda know from the forum, but neither of us knew it at the time, the other guy was the WMRRA club president who said he might have re-broke his ribs.

The course record did get reset by Ross Delong, and it stood all day.

There were a couple of big wrecks, but not in my corner. Which is almost as bad as if they are in your corner, because you are sitting there helpless, and you can't do anything.

I didn't even hang around for dinner, I just went back and packed up my stuff and headed home. It was a heck of a weekend, and I was dog tired and needed a shower.

9/3 Labor Day!
I went out grouse hunting, and then I played some computer games and took a nap. 1 grouse, it became lunch, and that was my day...uneventful





honestly....I'm goign to take a break from writing...I've been writing for a loooongg time, and I'll write about last weekend later (maybe not even tonight)