In a nutshell: Extremes. Another weekend to example the highs and lows of roadracing.
This twin-sprint round of the CCS Pacific region was run in conjunction with the FUSA guys, so the paddock was pretty
full and there were some semi-pro guys out with us this weekend which was cool.
The weekend started easily enough on Friday, when we were scheduled to run the GTO race in the afternoon. We spent
the day getting reacquainted with the track since we were running it again in the 'traditional' CW direction as opposed to
the CCW orientation had during our visit earlier in the year. The track felt a little green in the morning but we found
a good rhythm and established the ultra-fast right hand sweeper off the back straight as both a favorite and strong part of
the track for us. The morning sessions saw times dip into the 1:27's, which is a good enough pace - especially for practice.
Since we post-entered the GTO race, Vince was gridded toward the back of the field, a rather large one as is common in
the GT classes. With the majority of bikes being 750 & 1000 four-stroke machines we were curious to see how the
250 would get on. Turning laps as low as 1:26 flat, Vince had an epic race and a particularly good battle with Ted Rich
from Arizona on his Suzuki 1000. Rich on his bigger bike would push past Vince on the straights only to have the little
250 reign supreme in the corners. Vince finally made a pass that stuck going into the sweeper and held the advantage
to the end. By the checkered flag, Vince had passed all but a pair of riders enroute to his very respectable 3rd place
finish.
Unfortunately, the luck ran out in spectacular style on lap 3 of the LWGP race the following day. After an easy
morning warmup, Vince got a great start and was right on the #1 expert going into the sweeper on that fateful third lap.
Looking to make up ground and potentially take the on-track lead, Vince got into the sweeper a little hotter than previously
and the front of the bike just pushed at 130+mph. As Vince struggled to get the bike to regain its grip, it was all
in vein. Running out of asphalt, Vince stood the bike up and headed for the desert at 110+ mph. Looking to quickly
get back on the asphalt and continue his charge, Vince was a little overzealous and put just a smidge too much steering input
in the slick, sandy surface, causing the rear end to step out and send the bike into a violent highside to sidways cartwheel.
After tumbling for over 100yards (!), both rider and bike - what was left of it - came to rest; fortunately Vince was immediately
up and OK despite the massive get-off.
In the end, it was a couple bent wheels, broken and bent subframe, smashed fork caps and upper triple clamp, a nicely
torn up gas tank and no upper, windscreen or seat of which to speak. Major bummer. To add a bit of insult to injury,
Vince had to stay on the rest of the weekend, staring at a mangled mess of a bike due to the twin-spring format and the shared
driving that took the team there and back. It will be a bit of an effort to make sure everything is back together in
time for the 250/50 in October...thank goodness we have 6 wks off!!!
