SOAR Round#5
Final round of the season for SOAR and my second visit back to Cayuga. This time I had entered in the women’s race. I wanted another shot at the Rookie grid, but with the way the schedule ran this weekend that would have meant 3 races on Sunday, 2 of them back to back which is something I am not in shape to do (willing, yes, but let’s not kid ourselves I’d be pooched after just one race).
Hugging the last corner before the front straight
Practice all day Friday and Sat morning. I wasn’t feeling good on the bike. Couldn’t get a better time then 1:28 which I was very unhappy with. We moved the handle bars closer on Friday which made a world of difference for me. Didn’t feel like I was climbing over an elephant at every turn and made a big difference in how much effort it took on my part to turn the bike.
Look Ma! One wheel!
Qualifying race at the end of the day on Sat landed me in second place behind a seasoned pro rider, Shauna “Gecko” Aaron. I was happy with my start, even though it started off with a wheelie, got tangled some where within the 1st group of riders from a race that was ran together with ours. I knew Shauna was in front of me and the other girls were behind me. A couple laps in I came up on a slower rider and figured I should play it safe. No being a hot head like last time, it’s only qualifying and I’m not racing with this guy. I figured I will hold my spot and finish the qualifying. I kept telling myself it’s only qualifying, and I will be on front row of our group regardless since there were only 4 of us.
The running order in the qualifying race
More practice on Sunday morning, I got a bit more aggressive. A guy on a vintage bike tried to stuff me in the hairpin and I nearly hit him, which really pissed me off and gave me some motivation to try to run some faster laps. After that I felt better about how I was riding. Did not check the times, didn’t want to know.
Race was after lunch and this time, unlike in the qualifying our group got a seperate start on the grid so we had some space between us and the other race in front of us. I had a great start. Got going the second the flag came down and didn’t have that “oh ok we can go now” thought while watching the other riders like I had the last time. Shauna was a little ahead of me but about half way to corner 1 I was right behind her and ready for the first turn. I expected Shauna to fly through turn 1 and continue to move further and further away but instead she seemed to have let off and we went through corner 1 much slower then I expected. At one point I hesitated if I should continue with my pace and pass her, or just fall back knowing I wasn’t much of a competition to her. I could just picture Johnny throwing his hands up over a crashed bike and decided to play safe and just follow her through to corner 2. We came up on corner 2 and at that point cought up to the last rider of the fist race, a rather slower moving Ninja 250. Planing to stay behind Shauna once again I matched her speed and figured regardless of what she was doing I was going to pass that 250 coming out of 3.
Hind sight being 20-20 I should have held my line and speed and made the pass instead of hesitating. We were just coming out of corner 2 and at that point going rather slow, I touched the brakes, just like I have done many times before when coming up on slower traffic through that exact section, although obviously some of the factors were not the same because what resulted was not what had resulted the many times before. The combination of speed, lean angle, and break pressure I applied wasn’t a winning combination. I lost my front end and went sliding and tumbling off to the grass to the outside of the track pretty much half way between corners 2 and 3.
The familiar feeling of the body hitting the ground, short jabs of pain, followed by thoughts of is it over? Ok, I’m stopped, where’s the bike and how is it. I got to the bike, left side looked fine, right side a little banged up. Handle bars still there although the right one bent and pointing down like a floppy ear, key bent, kill switch missing… but looks good to go. I grabbed the handle bars, braced myself on the bike and picked it up. I turned the ignition on, every thing lights up like it should, I get on the bike being careful not to loose my balance and drop the bike. It’s in 3rd gear still, I get it back into neutral and start it. All is good, I look up on to the track and see Sunny ride by, I only lost one lap.
I ride back onto the track carefully, all seems good other then the weird feeling downward pointing right handle bar. I continue on my way testing the brakes before the next corner before getting back on the gas. I ride by the wall and see people cheering me on and I get on the gas harder. I test the brakes a little early coming into the fast corner 1, but all seems good other then the fact the brake leaver is in a really weird downward position. I come around 2, 3, and something makes me think of the brakes again.. they feel mushy. Left and right follow and lead into a short straight before the tight 6… I’m not on the gas hard still thinking about my brakes, I slow down a tad and feel my rear tire squiggle, I think to myself that’s not right and look down for a closer look at my brake lever. That’s when I notice brake fluid dripping down from the cylinder and down the side of the bike. I brake some more and prepare for a gingerly easy turn into 6 and the moment I start to tip the bike in towards the left I feel my rear tire come around and off I go sliding again.
Bike didn’t do so well this time around and wasn’t ridable so I ended up watching the rest of the race from the infield waiting for the truck of shame to come and pick me up. With the events from the past few minutes playing in my head over and over again, the wait felt like for ever. To say I was disappointed and pissed off with myself would be an enormous understatement. The Gecko took first place, followed by Sunny Park and Nikole Ann Pilkington.
On a more positive note, Johnny ended up coming first in his Rookie race and with the points earned up to date, looks like he also won the Rookie cup championship. 