AFM Buttonwillow Race 9/7/03

For some reason I'm feeling too tired to get everything out right now but, 
here it goes...

Saturday
========
I was hoping to get consistently into the 15's this weekend but, I got into 
the 14's almost right off the bat, yehaw! I was sliding the rear tire more 
than I think I should have and, as the day progressed, it got worse and worse. 
I was even tossed outta the seat a couple of times. In the afternoon the bike 
developed a tendency to head shake when I straightened it out. I was hoping 
that all this was just part of going faster than I ever had on older tires 
but, my times started to drift up to the 17's and 18's.

Sunday
======
In morning practice I had to work to keep the bike under me. It was sliding 
and tank slappin' everywhere and the best I could manage was an 18. 

When I come in I went over to the Pirelli guys and explained what was 
happening and after an amazing lecture about tire compounds, tread, sidewall 
rigidity, pressure, blah, blah (I wish I'd had a tape recorder). In summary, 
their theory was that I was rolling the sidewalls and should either go up a 
couple pounds on the pressure or switch to a medium compound rear. I decided 
on the new rear tire.

The Race
========
I got back into the third row, barely, with last month's finish but, had the 
outside spot in the start. I got a good launch and was running about 10th into 
turn 1. The new rear seemed to be working alright but, the bike still had alot 
of head shake and the front end seemed to push really easy. Going over lost 
hill on the first lap the front tire did a slip-n-grip slide that widened my 
line and I ran off the track. The goods news was that it didn't cost me a 
position.

I saw Asaf crash coming over Lost Hill and Jayce run way off in the same spot 
latter in the race and realized that I was Top Novice. Yehaw, I've been 
trying for that all season! I spend a few laps singing to myself with joy, 
between bouts of head shake or front wheel drifts, and wondering if I have a 
shot at David Crone when Jayce passes me back on the white flag lap, damn. We 
hit some lapped traffic and Jayce just sliced through 'em - I'm so jealous 
of his passing ability. The three of us made our way through the last half of 
the track and Jayce pulled ahead of David on the front straight. I finished 
8th of of 26 starters.

UPDATE: The rebound on the shock got cranked all the way in somehow. That would 
explain alot of the problems I was having that weekend.