June 10th and 11th, 2000 - Summit Point, WV

My bike had been at Whitt’s Suzuki for the last half of May. They’d had it on display per our sponsorship agreement. On Saturday, June 3^rd, we took it down the bike show at the local Hooter’s in Manassas, VA. The Whitt’s guys took some new bikes down there and we used mine to attract people to their tent. It seemed to work pretty well, though there was some fairly heavy competition on hand in the form of numerous tricked out sportbikes, Harleys, and one Boss Hoss. For those who don’t know, the Boss Hoss is a Chevy V8 350 motor in a motorcycle chassis. Insanity. Oh, and of course the Hooter’s girls were posing on the various bikes, attracting a lot of attention themselves. After the show I loaded up my truck and drove the Moran Bullet home. Time to change the oil, check the fasteners, and take care of some odds and ends in preparation for the race weekend.

The Race Weekend

Quick Results
Lightweight Solo 18	2nd
D-Superbike	2nd
Formula 2	2nd
Heavyweight Twins	3rd
Lightweight Twins	1st

I drove up to Summit to set up the canopy. I was going to put new tires on the SV, so I wanted to have the wheels off and ready for Saturday morning. I ran into Hugh Caldwell, world traveling VFR rider, corner worker, and road racer, who helped me set up the canopy. I took the wheels off of the SV, had a beer with Hugh and Randy Dalmas (MARRC bigwig and fellow racer), and headed back home for the night.

I replaced my old D207 GPs with a set of Bridgestone slicks. I’d been thinking about just going down a size (back to the stock sizes) from my old tires, but Brian Roach had suggested I try slicks. I had been hesitant at first, because I had never ridden on slicks before and I was worried about how it would affect things. This just goes to show what a complete idiot I am. Anyway, I got the slicks put on in time for the first practice and had my eyes opened immediately to the wonders of no tread. Even during the first couple of laps, as I was taking it easy to scrub the tires, I could tell a huge improvement in the surefootedness of the SV. I had planned to give it a full two laps but I literally could not wait to go faster, so I cranked it up. I rolled in from practice with a huge grin on my face, having gone quicker with less worry or effort than ever before. When I checked the tires I found that I hadn’t even worn them all the way over. "Oh man," I thought, "this is gonna be great!"

By mid-morning the temperature was starting to climb and the humidity was making it miserable early. I was beginning to dread the coming Solo 18, as those races are always tough even when the weather is good. In the heat they can be pure torture. The second practice session went well, as I just tried to take it easy, get used to the slicks, and conserve some energy and water for the afternoon’s racing. I got under the canopy as soon as I could and commenced to drinking water until I was feeling a little bloated (and, it must be said, not so fresh).

At the mandatory rider’s meeting, MARRC president Roger Lyle led a ceremony during which they dedicated the Summit Point Start/Finish line to 83 year old "Airborne" Al Wilcox, longtime (and current) WERA starter and former factory Harley-Davidson road racer. Al is a character like no other. If his flag briefings can’t put a smile on your face, then you really need to have something checked. Al was visibly moved and it was really great to see a man who has given so much to our sport so recognized.

I listened to the first races of the day from beneath the canopy, not wanting to move much for fear of generating additional heat. Leonard Roy, Brad Faas, and Fred Fermani, were all sharing the canopy with me, so I amused myself by hazing them to drink water. It was kind of like my days as a sergeant in the Army, except the guys in this case listened to me and didn’t give me a bunch of shit like my soldiers used to, so it really wasn’t as much fun as it used to be. I wound up having to help Sean Jordan figure out a transmission problem with my old ZX-7. Steve, one of the mechanics from SpeedWerks, took mercy on us after assessing our incompetence and helped us out tremendously. Sean missed both of his practices but was able to ride in the Heavyweight Solo race for which he had signed up, so there’s another weekend saved by SpeedWerks. Those guys really are the greatest.

By the time the Lightweight Solo race rolled around I was beat. I was also extremely nervous as I always am before a race. I don’t like crashing, but I’ve done it occasionally, so I’m nervous about that. I dislike pain and injury, but I’ve had my share, so I’m nervous about that. I abhor losing, but it happens all the time, so I’m nervous about that. When I roll up to the pre-grid I‘m usually a complete nervous wreck, and this time was no exception. I knew I had a chance to do well, but I also knew that Brian Roach and Danny Thompson were going to be tough and I wondered whether I was up to it. All of this combined with the heat was making me feel like puking in my helmet. I completed the warmup lap and rolled to my spot on the grid, feeling only slightly better.

One of the best things about Al Wilcox is that he wastes no time throwing the green flag. Moments after it flew, I was chasing Brian Roach and one other rider (and the Expert wave of course) into turn 1. I stuffed it under the second place guy and tucked in behind Brian. I’d never actually seen Brian ride, so I figured I’d follow him if I could to assess my prospects. I followed him for the first lap and he looked fast in some places, not so fast in others, but plenty capable of leaving me if I didn’t concentrate and stay with him. I figured I’d just stay behind him and wait to pounce since no one else seemed to be hanging with us. About the time I had that moment of genius, the rider I had passed in turn one reinserted himself between Brian and me. "This is no good," I decided, and immediately passed both of them, determined to put as much distance between us as I could. For about a lap I thought it might work, then Brian came by me on the brakes into 1. Then we ran into the tail end of the Experts and started having to deal with traffic. Whatever my strengths as a racer, traffic is not among them. Brian was making short work of his passes while I was taking forever and having to make up ground whenever there was clear track. We passed back and forth for the next several laps, neither able to pull away. The halfway flag came out and I thought I was going to die of the heat. At one point I tried to pass a lapper on the inside of 5 while Brian took the more sensible outside line. Coming out, I hit Brian’s rear tire with my front and almost lost it all. By the time I recovered, Brian was 100 feet clear and I had some serious work to do. I managed to chip away some of the deficit before a crash in 8 brought out the red flag a lap or so early. I had never been so happy to lose a race.

Back in the pit, I congratulated Brian on his great ride, apologized for ramming him, and rolled home to help Julie take care of our new baby.

By the time I got back to the track Sunday morning, it was shaping up to be just as hot as Saturday had been. At 9 am it was already in the mid-eighties and super humid. I went out toward the back of both of my practice sessions to practice passing, had a good time, and took it easy.

The first race of the day was D-Superbike and Brian Roach looked to be strong in that one. He's trying to win the championship so I didn't figure he would be likely to let things slide. I'm not trying to win the championship so I am more than willing to let all kinds of stuff slide (within the bounds of making a decent effort to win of course). I figured on taking second and that is how it worked out in the end. Brian took off, I followed for a while, we hit traffic, I backed off, Danny Thompson made a sweet pass on me to make it interesting, I passed him back and made it stick to take Second. Formula 2 was a duplicate of D-Super.

Heavyweight Twins was where it got interesting. This race happened late in the day after we'd all had a chance to get good and dehydrated. There had been numerous red flag incidents during the course of the day, and I'm convinced that many of them were related to the extreme heat and the resultant bad judgement dehydration can lead to. Within 2 laps of the start of the race, someone went down hard a ways in front of me, coming down the hill into turn 4. They had to call a MedEvac chopper and the delay caused all of the rest of the day's races to be shortened to 4 laps from the normal 8. While I felt bad for the guy who crashed, I was also very happy at the turn of events that would allow me to take it easy for the rest of the day. When the race was finally restarted, I was soundly thrashed by an RC-51 and a TL1000.