My CMP Weekend!!!!

[mikendzel]

Left a little late on Thursday because I coach my little sister's high school softball team, and ended up not making it all the way down over night.  That meant I arrived slightly before noon on Friday, missing the first half of the practice day.  Then in my first session out, the corner worker in #7 had their red flag out, so I pitted on Lap 4.  As I got my bike up on the rear stand I noticed that my lower was on fire!!!  (Yes, that was me unfortunately    And as it turns out, the corner worker wasn't actually showing the red flag, but had it stuck in a hole and the wind was blowing it.... VERY lucky!!!)  After cleaning the fire retardant off the bike, and trying to fit a new lower, I called it quits for the day and left to pick up another racer at Charlotte, with Chaplain220.  The next day I got new tires, mounted them just in time for to make it out for practice.  I only made it about halfway through Turn 2 (approximately 100 ft on the track) before taking a spill and being the guy who wrecks on cold tires in the first morning practice session!!!!!  After spending a few hours getting the bike buttoned back up, I decided not to push my luck with the still un-scrubbed tires in the rain.  Did I mention that my canopy took flight during Operation Fix Mike's Bike, and was trashed??? 
Sunday I faired much better, choosing to start my races from the rear (I had pre-entered WAY too early and was on the front row) and actually started racing by the end of the Amateur MDW SBK race, before my brake lever adjuster went haywire and I lost my brakes.

Lessons learned:
Fire Extinguishers = GOOD
Duct Tape for repairs = GOOD & BAD (flammable)
Tent Tye Downs = GOOD
New, Cold Tires in Damp Conditions + Fistfull of Throttle = BAD

Friends to help with repairs, and encourage me to go back out = PRICELESS




BIG, HUGE, ENORMOUS Thanks to Bob from B&E Motorsports, and Art aka Chaplain220 from CSB Racing for the invaluable help and support they gave me this weekend.  You guys made the trip worth it for me!!!!!

[Chris410]

Wow...well...glad you made it through the weekend in one piece!

[chaplain220]

Mike, I'm really glad you stuck it out, and finished up the weekend with more confidence.  You got through a season's worth of trouble in two days!  Stuck in traffic on 95, got to track late, bike barbeque, shortest lap/wad in track history, road rash, torn leather, lots of repairs, canopy headed to mars...and totally zoned out for the long trip home forcing all of us to drive!  Let's do it again at Summit! 8) 

[MELK-MAN]

taking the time to post, it sounds like it was a fun way to spend some time overall. Bummer about the funky stuff but hope overall it was enjoyable. THe weather was CA-RA-ZEEE

[mikendzel]

Yeah Greg, but it didn't seem to effect you!!!  You were flying out there!!

Art, I'm totally pumped about Summit!!!  I already know the track a little so I won't be flying completely blind in the races!!!  Plus my tires are already scrubbed in.......

[Chris410]

I have to say...although the rain was really tricky...first rain...so I bought rain tires (which I didn't budget for) then sun comes out so as they are calling my race I was putting my wheels back on the bike making sure not to overlook anything...well, coming out onto the pits I nearly ran into someone because I did not get the brake line pressure up...lucky for me it kicked in and allowed me to stop.

My bike was very new to me, track was new...then throw in the crazy conditions...riding DOTs with the wrong pressure cold on a half wet track...to be honest, I took it all as a learning experience.  I told my wife in one weekend I felt like it was an entire season :-)

Again, hats off to everyone for some clean racing despite some very challenging conditions!  Can't wait to do this again at Summit in a few weeks...although I'll be at the Roger Lyle day tomorrow so one would think CMP would hold me off for a bit yet I'm very excited to try out all the "tricks" to my bike on a track I'm familiar with.

I hope to meet more of you at the Summit weekend, the more people you know the more fun it gets!

[smoke]

Chris
What bike are you on now? I still have a crap load of gsxr stuff if you need it, rims, rains.. as it looks like ill be on an R6 this year.

Mel

[Cowboy 6]

Yeah Greg, but it didn't seem to effect you!!!  You were flying out there!!

Art, I'm totally pumped about Summit!!!  I already know the track a little so I won't be flying completely blind in the races!!!  Plus my tires are already scrubbed in.......

I promise not to be CPT Grumpy at Summit!  It was good to meet you. We both had a really "interesting" weekend. I shouldn't have let it get to me....

[mikendzel]

I promise not to be CPT Grumpy at Summit!  It was good to meet you. We both had a really "interesting" weekend. I shouldn't have let it get to me....

You just need a quick change set up, so you won't have as much work to do when changing rims 8 times in 1 weekend!!!  Oh, and 2 good cylinders and a 4th gear!!!!!!  See you at Summit Joe!

I'm bringing marshmellows just in case I have a repeat performance......

[Cowboy 6]

LOL!   Oh, found a mangled piston as well! Waiting for a replacement to arrive. Trans is almost done too.