Ultimate GSXR Experience

[K3 Chris Onwiler]

I entered a contest last year, called the ultimate GSXR Experience.  Submit a 400 word essay, and the winner gets a New Gixxer 750.  Well, I didn't win, but no sour grapes.  The winner's essay was well-written, touching, and would appeal to a wider audience than mine would.  Hey, the contest was about marketing, right?  Racing is a fairly microscopic segment of sportbike sales, I guess.  Let's face it, we racers ARE a lonely breed....
Anyway, since the contest is over now, I thought I'd share my essay with you all.  Writing is for nothing if people don't read it!

A GSXR saved my soul.  That may sound dramatic, but it's true.  Racing has been my passion since 1999, and there is no other activity that leaves me so refreshed and happy.  But racing can be cruel, as I discovered in 2003.
I was competing in the Championship Cup Series, and had just made the jump from amateur to expert.  I wasn't ready, and neither was the brand-x racebike that I was riding.  It seemed that all I could do was crash.  Each crash made me more desperate to succeed.  The more desperate I became, the harder and more frequently I crashed.  By year's end, I was flat broke and mentally beaten.  I had decided it was time to quit, but my pal Lonny called, asking me to ride with him in a six-hour endurance race.  I could picture myself destroying his pristine GSXR750.  I tried to back out, but Lonny insisted.
   My first stint was awful.  By the time I pitted, we were nearly in last place.  My teammate Mitch said, "Look, we're not likely to win this race, so just go out and have some fun.  It's a beautiful day, the track is sticky, and you've got a Gixxer to ride.  You might as well enjoy yourself!"
   Next stint, I tried Mitch's advice.  I loosened up and gave the 750 her head.  Puffy clouds floated in a brilliant blue sky.  Sunshine poured down from above, turning the track into an endless series of shimmering heat mirages.  Lonny's bike was playful as a puppy dog, happily swooping and diving her way around the track.  She wanted to wheelie over every crest, so I helped!  She wanted to drift through corners, so I let her.  Other riders got in our way, so we passed them.  Somewhere out there, I fell in love with that GSXR.  Zen.  The perfect bike, on the perfect day.  My heart nearly broke when the low fuel light came on, forcing me to pit.  Where had the hour gone?
   Imagine my surprise when Lonny told me I'd run our team's fastest lap, and we were now in fourth place!  How could that be?  Gixxer and I had just been playing!
   That Suzuki mended my wounded confidence, and made me a racer again.  I actually felt jealous later when Lonny put MY baby in HIS trailer!  Quit?  NEVER!  Instead, I bought my own GSXR!

[Team-G]

That was good

Mine would go something like...
"Once upon a time I started racing.  Then I fell down.  A lot.  Now I'm old and fat.  And bent.  But it was worth it." 

[JBraun]

That was good

Mine would go something like...
"Once upon a time I started racing.  Then I fell down.  A lot.  Now I'm old and fat.  And bent.  But it was worth it." 

[LMsports]

You know...I raced a Gixxer once. It was actually my first racebike, a '97 GSXR 600. Of course since I was new to racing it had an awesome multi colored paint job and I spent hours getting all the stickers on it just right. My second race weekend ever I crashed it on turn one at Brainerd trying to pass another rider on the outside. I'm sure there are still bits of what used to be my gixxer scattered across the Minnesota countryside outside of turn one. So I guess I lied. I didn't race a Gixxer once, I actually raced it twice...then literally destroyed it!

[Thingy]

Don't feel bad Rob.  Not everybody can handle a GSX-R. Oh wait... I probably shouldn't talk either.

[251am]

 Nice write up. I loved my first GSXR but wish it had been a 750 instead of a 1000! I might still have it.

[Jeff]

My write up...

Dear Suzuki.  I've followed a large number of GSXR's to their catastrophic failure, spewing oil and sometimes engine parts all over the track.  Please let me win your GSXR so I can sell it to one of these guys and take the booty to fill the fuel tank in my RV...  Whatcha say?

[spyderchick]

Here's my go at it:

One day my daughter decided to go roadracing. She needs a bike. So give it to her! Girls deserve all the prizes and she's cute to boot, so she's got a leg up on the other girls who might want it. Oh yeah, and she can race with boyz...so there! Please contact me for delivery instructions.