In summary, I blew up the Ninja shortly after crashing for the first 
time in, I dunno, forever. Grumble. But, I was on Pete Licht's 4-hour 
team and had a freakin' blast so, it was still a great weekend!

...Of course, that's probably easier to say 'cause I haven't pulled 
the poor Ninja apart to assess the damage yet.


QUICK RAMBLING NOTES


Friday: New suspension, felt a little strange, crashed for the first
time in freakin' ever. Ran a couple seconds faster the following
session. Messed around with fork height and went even faster next
time. "Oooh, do I have a shot at a 1:51 today?" Blam. Bye bye motor.

Saturday: Endurance Race! Morning practice on Pete Licht's production
FZR400 is partially spoiled when I discover a mechanical issue that
leaves me standing in turn seven for half the morning. Pete fixes it
and Ray Soto and I manage to get a little track time before the race.

The plan was to do 80 minute shifts => only 2 pit stops. Pete starts
us off and rips out lap after lap of some of his fastest times ever
(and setting our team's best lap for the day). Back in the pits we
were a little concerned about how long he was gonna be able to keep up
that pace and, sure enough, he comes in after only 35 minutes for
fuel. Damn, so much for the "plan."

I'm the next rider and find a really nice rhythm, clicking off
obnoxiously consistent lap times, until they call me in after only 60
minutes for fuel. I'm rippin' for more until I try to stand up
straight and nearly collapsed as my knees whined in protest. This is
sooooooo cool!

Ray's turn. He's quick but nearly gets taken out twice by some other
riders which sucks up alot of his energy and he comes in after 45
minutes. We'd imagined that we had a competitive shot at the the
podium but, it was looking pretty hopeless now. Could we still sneak
into the top five?

Pete goes back out but, he's running a little slower this time and
after about 25 minutes his times start to shoot up and he pits 20
minutes later. Things ain't lookin' good.

That leaves me to run the last 55 minutes. My team looks at me limping
and make faces like they're never gonna see the bike again. I try to
reassure them that it won't matter once I'm in the saddle, and
happily, it was true. I immediately find my rhythm again only this
time it's a little over a second faster. Yippie!

We bring it home with 122 laps and second in our class somehow. Holy
smokes! Big thanks to Will, Ray and Pete for some of the most fun I've
had racing, not to mention that big honkin' trophy we've got to
remember it by.

Sunday: Pack up and hit the road, happy about having a great weekend!
Although, as much as my schedule and bank account could use the break,
no AFM for 4 months sucks. :(

...Thank goodness for limitless motocross/flat tracking/supermoto's!
to fill those long winter month's. :)

-Rick
#219