Road America Thank You

[George_Linhart]

A huge THANK YOU to the CCS staff, corner workers and track marshals who braved the weather at Road America this weekend.  I really appreciate all of those who come out to the track and put up with the cold and rain just so that us idiots can ride around in circles in the rain.

Also - thank you to Matt Carr at Ducati of Indianapolis for getting my bike was set up and ready for the weekend and to Dustin Boyd and the crew at Cyclepath racing for the trackside tire support.

While the weather was not exactly to my liking, I had a great time getting back out there with you guys - the first time I have raced the class since the last time we were at Road American in July of 2010.  With the extended absense from the track I didn't have the ability to run with towards the front in the dry, but, using my secret weapon (the sticky Pirelli rain tires) I was able to take 2nd in GTL on the cold but dry track on Saturday and for the rain soaked LW-F40 race on Sunday morning.

Unfortunately, with the wet, windy and cold weather my wife and 2 boys (7 and 3 years old) were absolutely miserable on Sunday so I was forced to make the tactical decision to pack up early and forego the rest of the day's races.

I'll be at BHF on Saturday for the practice and TC race.  See you all there!

George Linhart

[SV88]

Props to the CCS crew who went above & beyond in most difficult conditions.  What a switch from Hartland, where my registration for a least 2 races was lost and I was still grided for a race I switched out of.  There were some errors on my part and the HTP team wasn't exactly competent.

I left a little after you.  Didn't feel like sticking around for at least another 3 hrs to get into a socky set of leathers and parade around in the wet.

Had a good time even during the wet MWSS race.  Couldn't see a damn thing with the shield down so would run the straights with the shield down and when I thought I was close to the next turn, would flip up the shield to brake.

Funnest race was the GTU where I got to dice with Geof Maloney (GPTech) on his NSR 500.  I was better on the brakes and in the corners but he'd just motor me on the straights.  Even though he took me on the straight to the finish, I had a blast.  For me it's more about the competition than winning by a mile.

Never really got up to race speed.  HOwever things improved dramatically once Jason Farrell hooked me up with the right Qshifter sensor.  Wally W. wired it up for me.  Got to within 7 sec. of my best lap in 2010 when I was racing CMRA big bike endurance  every 3-6 weeks.  Rob Sobotka was instrumental in solving a turning problem.  He noticed that my forks were too low in the triple particularly with the 20mm Penske kits which lengthens the forks - I was riding a chopper.  We dropped the triple 10 mm and even @ rain pace I noticed a significant improvement.

I told my family that I'd stop racing @ 50.  Well I turned 50 on Friday and barring a major accident, financial ruin or the inability to keep dropping my lap times, I'll keep racing.

I'll be @ BHF but only till midday Sunday.  My oldest daughter Natasha graduates Carthage College in Neuroscience - Cum Laude in 3.5 yrs!

[alocker]

I'm glad I wasn't the only one to sacrifice the afternoon for the wife and kids.  After about the 80th "look" from the wife, it was time to pack it in.  The kids were miserable.

[Jwhite316]

Those conditions were as bad as it can get.  Props to everyone who gutted it out and picked up valuable points.  I was halfway expecting CCS to postpone the races until the next blackhawk.  Add the fact of how cold it was with the heavy rain, it wasn't much different than riding on ice cubes.  At least when its warm and wet, rain tires can still heat up enough to provide decent grip. 

[jigs]

Ditto!! Couldn't have been easy!!! 

[red900]

Your very welcome George.  It is always nice to have you at the track.  Nice riding!!

[spinblue]

Yea, what they said. I can't enough to CCS for getting RA back on the schedule. I had a blast.

Thank you to all.

[design-engine]

although an expensive track I woould think they would hope to accomodate a smaller clubs like CCS and offer a package that we can't say no too.    I too hope to do more tracks than just BFR .... I get a little board of that over and over.