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Packed up
and ready to go
Putting the
bike back together 
Practice
Turn 1a 
Practice
Turn 2 
LWSS
Turn 3 
LWSS
Turn 10 
Sunday
Heading out 
LWGP
Grid 
LWGP
Straight away 
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So
I finally made it back up to the track.
D and I left the house around 6pm Friday night and got up there around
9pm. We were met by our trusty companion Tim at the infield. The infield
was pretty packed and we ended up parking on the North end. I think I
liked the location better than our old center location. Anyway, we got the
bikes unloaded and the gear set up and finally got to bed at around 11pm.
I was pretty apprehensive as this was my first time back at the track
since my nasty crash. 
So I actually
didn't
get to sleep until about 11:30...uggg!!
Saturday Morning
Alarm went off at 5:45 made some coffee, threw some clothes
off and headed off to the registration building. Yikes!! 
It was damn cold out. 40ish, I think. I was the 1st in line for my
transponder and second or third for registration. Cool, I would be back in
plenty of time to get the bike Tech'ed and to get ready for the first
practice session (8 am). I went over to Tech and was about 6th in line. I
ended up getting back to the trailer at about 7:40. I rushed to get the
tire warmers on but it turns out, 20 minutes is not enough time to warm
the tires 
....
Went out for the practice session with bricks for tires and a very cold
track. I took it soooo easy for the first lap...Didn't matter, I got the
dubious honor of being the first one to go down during the last weekend. 
It was very minor. About a 40 mph lowside at turn 10. I started heading
around the barrier and bang, I was sliding across the track. For the short
slide I was thinking great, "Danielle is going to be phyched about
this"
and "how much am I going to have to do to fix the bike". I
finished sliding and the corner worker motioned me off the track we ran
over to my bike, I gave him a thumbs up and we picked it up. First glance,
looked like I would be replacing the right slider and the right rearset. I
said thanks to him and "pretty f$^%en slippery. He laughed and off I
rode back to the pits.
Pulled up back at the trailer. Danielle had a worried look on her face but
she was a trooper. Tim and I headed over to Street and Comp to start
fixing the bike. Not too bad for the parts. At the same time we went over
to the Dunlop garage and had Dunlop's put on my spare rims. I can't stand
the Pirelli's, too squirmy. I think they contributed to my crash in July
and even though they probably had nothing to do with my Saturday crash, I
was done with them. Many laps on Dunlop's --> no crash. Not so many
laps on Pirelli's --> 2 crashes. Plus everyone I know at the track
swears by Dunlops (I do too.... now).
So Tim and I proceed to put the bike back together. Bent the rearset
bracket to a useable straightness, so I only had to replace the footpeg
and brake lever (much cheaper). Turns out Street and competition did not
have an SV Woodcraft slider (Neither did Woodcraft) at the track so I
Bought a Vortex slider to hold me over. The Woodcraft Bolt bent. We get
the Dunlop's mounted up. Bike re-lockwired. I pull on the front brake just
to test the brakes after re-assembly and the master cylinder falls apart
in my hand. Shit!!!, back to S&C to see if possibly they have a M/C
that will fit an 02 SV....They did. We replaced that and bled the brakes.
Did a second check of everything we did and then took the bike for
Re-tech. I was in Race 8, LWSS and we finished before Race 4 started. So I
had plenty of time.
Race 4 started and stopped 
A bad crash on the starting grid stopped racing for about an hour. Racing
started up again and at race 7 my friend Mike came over and told me one of
the guys that was in the grid crash died. God Speed Stephen.
This was not the news I need to hear. I was already a nervous wreck. I was
going out for my first race since my crash with Virtually no practice
time. I was getting ready to call it a day and not race until Sunday when
Tim said, "Just go out for the warm up lap if it doesn't feel right
come in". Excellent advice, 10 minutes later, I am on the starting
Grid after the warm-up lap. Mostly, I used the warm-up lap to make sure
everything we had done to the bike was set and to visualize my marks
LWSS (Saturday October 1st)
I was in row D-4. Decent position. Green flag, got an ok start. Not the
best I have done but ended up around 6th at turn 1. I felt like I was
going so slow. Came out of Turn 2 offline a bit and had to adjust for Turn
3 chute. Over braked and ended up coasting the last 10 feet before the
turning point. Pretty much did that on most corners for the whole
race. I will call it superovercautioness. I did remember
why I like the Dunlop's so much though. I ended up 14th out of 24.
Certainly not good but I was happy. I wasn't last and I didn't crash
I need that for some
confidence.
My best time was 1:34:7. Slow...but like I said I needed some confidence.
Saturday Lesson learned: Whoever
said you don't need tire warmers unless you are really fast is a complete
idiot. Just my opinion. Everyone at the track should get tire warmers. You
should get a free set when you get your license
Sunday October 2, 2005
Woke up at 6:30am (didn't need to rush to registration since I did it
yesterday) Put the tire warmers on... then had coffee 
Decided to skip the 8am practice, probably shouldn't have but no big deal,
I would let the other 5 practice groups clean the dew off the track. I
went out on the second practice session, the day was starting to heat up.
Had a great practice session. I didn't push too hard but really spent the
time finding my shift points again and working on the dreaded turn 6-7-8
combination that was my downfall in July (literally). I am still having
trouble turning hard at the apex of 6 but I am getting better. I sort of
altered my line through 6 to a combination of my old method and a
combination of the Jeff Wood line as learned in the advanced school.
It seems to work ok for me for now. By the 6th lap, I was getting
closer to the bowl apex but still not close enough. Practice times were in
the mid thirties.
LWGP race #5
A few races from Saturday were postponed until Sunday because of all of
the crashes on Saturday. So, race 5 didn't start until around 2:45 or 3pm.
I was still pretty nervous prior to the race. I think I will have to deal
with that every time. Maybe it is a good thing. I suited up
and headed out to the pre-grid. I am gridded at B11 in Wave 2.
I am right behind this little kid (I think he was 16) on an rs125 aptly
named smoker.
We head out for the warm up lap and most of my apprehension vanishes. Go
around the track at a pretty good clip and on to the grid. The first
wave leaves (This is my first 2nd Wave start other than my rookie
race). Green flag, Off we go, I got a lousy start but all
apprehension was now gone, the smoker cut me off a little (that's
racing). I ended up about 12th in my wave at turn 1. This race I
felt a lot more comfortable. I was still over braking and early braking
but not as bad as Saturday. By the 5th lap, I was hitting all
of my marks even in 6-7-8. Slower than in July but still hitting the
marks. I felt like I was still going slow which I think is good because I
know there is some reserve there. (For reference: In July, before I
crashed, I was running mid to high 20's during practice.)
The little kid that was on the 2 smoker in front of me, ended up winning
the LWGP race 
I
finished somewhere in back of the field 17 out of 21 
But my times
were
1:33 and 1:32's consistently so I knocked a few seconds off Sunday.
The
LWGP group is obviously a fast one so I will continue to race in that
race. If I had run the same times in the LWSS race on
Saturday, I would have placed 7th or 8th.
For next season, I will need to work on my confidence level again to get
my braking where it needs to be. I will be putting a steering damper on my
bike over the winter and I think I am going to go one tooth lower on the
front sprocket. I was getting beat in the Turn 12 to Turn 1 drag race by
other SVs of the same year. Most people run 1 tooth down in front and 2 up
in back. I chose not to go 1 down in front to save on shifting but I will
try it next season.
All in all it was a good weekend for me even with my minor mishap on
Saturday morning. I'll try and get some pictures up soon.
Thank you for reading
Our prayers go out to the
family of Stephen Almeida who died on Saturday during race #4
Thanks
to LP Team Privateer, Hotbodies Racing, Wareham Cycle,
Street and Competition, and special thanks to My Wife and Tim Long
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