My RA Report

[lil_thorny]

Some may say that it was a bust. I personally didn't feel at all prepared mentally to race in that weather.
After last year, knowing what it takes to win, and things being different this year, I had no desire to get prepared. I left Sat. morning before practice. Sure I had a get-off in T5 (warm-up lap GTU) LOL!! but it was the most fun that I had the two days that I was there.  Tires and no heat=no fun. It was good to see people tho. I laughed as I surfed the "a$$fault" LOL
picked up the bike and it wouldn't shift. Oh well, I knew right then that I wouldn't be racing anymore this weekend. This year I want to focus on having fun and beating Super Dave on his visits to BHF...
that's all.. LOL. So you can have your rain and cold weather, I'll be a fair weather racer this year. Waaa
Waaa Waaa....
See everyone at BHF...if it is nice of course... ;D
thanks again to Stumpy for the stickers.
thanks again to Brian Baker for the use of his trailer
and generator.

lil-thorny.

[KBOlsen]

Well, even though it was KILLING me to not be on the grid with ya'all, I managed to have a GREAT time thanks to Bill and Claudia and Dave and all the super folks at the Midwest Safety Crew.

I can't believe how SMOOTH the F-USA guys are... they made it look SO easy!!!  DAMN! THIS is some heady stuff!!

Arrived at Siebkins on Thursday afternoon, in time for registration and an evening of benchracing with all my cohorts. It was great seeing everyone again after the long winter.

Friday was quite "crisp"... spent my first day "on the job" assigned to Turn 12 (aka "Canada Corner") - with the cool temperatures, the track was pretty "greasy" especially in the morning and we pulled nearly a dozen bikes out of the "kitty litter" (pea gravel) in the runoff area. Watched a friend of mine  take (and pass) the race licensing school, and cheered for everyone during the various endurance races - and OMG the Team Challenge!  WOOHOO!!!  (NIIIICE going, guys!!!)

Saturday was even colder - the sun never quite broke through to warm things up... my corner assignment was Turn 10A (the "Bend").  Having never seen it before, I was glad to have had the opportunity to watch and learn the "fast" way through (um, no... not THROUGH the tire barriers, LOL).  I was feelin' all that LOVE from you guys as you passed by!  We had plenty of run-offs but only one "incident" where a guy high-sided in the second half of the turn and I had to call for the ambulance. Fortunately, he was only shaken up, not hurt. "Bike down, rider down" is a radio call that sends a chill down my spine. We were unable to run all the scheduled events because of computer glitches which placed an even bigger burden on Sunday.

Best of all was Dave Ebben's TLR that took first in Expert SuperTwins! OH YEAH BABY!!!!  Yeah, I'm a tad partial to big beastie twins.

I spent Sunday at Turn 14 - the final corner before heading up the hill to the checkered flag on the front straight. It had rained the night before, and we were delayed for at least three hours waiting for the fog to clear. The damp track combined with cold temps presented an even greater challenge to the riders. From my post I could see a steady procession of trailers and tow vehicles belonging to racers who, for one reason or another, simply threw in the towel rather than wait for the delay and harsh conditions to improve. To make up time, the sprint races were shortened from the usual 6 to only 3 laps. Despite the best efforts of staff we were unable to get all of Sunday's events in, due in part to the weather and several incidents which required extensive track clean-up.

Cornerworking is a big responsibility requiring a full day's commitment - but there is no way to get closer to the "action" and it's TREMENDOUS FUN!!!!! I found it to be a great way to give something back to the sport - plus, it's an opportunity for racers to get additional "insight" and perspective on areas of the track that may be problematic. Bill Ritger goes to great lengths to accomodate racers willing to put in a day on a corner.

I'm looking forward to pitching in again when my schedule permits.

[tzracer]

Actually under the FUSA results, the team challenge results are not listed, just the sprint results twice.

BTW the high point of my weekend was finishing 2nd in the leightweight team challenge on my new bike with a great deal of help from Jason D'Amico. This was Jason's return to racing since a bad street accident a couple years ago.

[Thingy]

Ahh, thanks for making me feel better about not going to the races this weekend.  :)  I love that track, but the gamble on the weather is just not worth it for me, especially considering the raised prices and sharing with FUSA.  I was only skipping it for the weather.  I totally forgot about the usual chaos.  Now I am twice as glad.

On a positive note, I have not heard anybody complain about the morning registration lines and the results are up.  You are making progress CCS!  :D

[SliderPhoto]

I left Sat. morning before practice. Sure I had a get-off in T5 (warm-up lap GTU) LOL!! but it was the most fun that I had the two days that I was there.  

I thought it looked like you were missing something.  ;D


Glad you were okay.

http://www.sliderphoto.com/images/digitals/thorny_avatar.jpg

[Mark]

How do I get out of this bit of a funk the weekend lef t me in? To start they didn't have my pre-reg. so I paid -at gate- prices and started at the back of my 32 bike fields.-Now that I'm back in the office I'm stairing at my pre-reg. confirmation number which i forgot to bring with me. Friday was good, but i shoulda left after that. I really hope I remember never to go back to RA in April, it just not fun. I ended my weekend with a low-side under Billy mitchell bridge on lap 1 of my only Sunday race.
It's tough starting the season at a national event too.-The riders from the other regions were definetely up to speed! Kudos to them. I took 10th in LW SB, Ed Key took first and everybody else inbetween us was from way outside our late starting Midwest region! Anyone have a job for me somewhere warm!?

[KBOlsen]

Actually under the FUSA results, the team challenge results are not listed, just the sprint results twice.

BTW the high point of my weekend was finishing 2nd in the leightweight team challenge on my new bike with a great deal of help from Jason D'Amico. This was Jason's return to racing since a bad street accident a couple years ago.

Inspirational!!!   YESSSS!!!

[SliderPhoto]

Kim, argh, didn't see you this weekend. Didn't make it down to Canada Corner, too cold and dark down there.

The weather did suck, but it sure was cool to see everyone at the races. The excitement of hearing the rumble of the freight train of bikes screaming down into and through T5 was cool!

[ScubaSteve]

   I Really liked the track took me a lil while to get use to it. I used GT lights as practice and also the team challenge. Waited around for LTWT SS saturday onlt to have it postponed. Ran it sunday but pulled off early cause i still had rains on. Switched to Dots in time for second race running third chasing down ED and Darren i highside on the last lap under the bridge after Canada corner. im a lil banged up but oh well. They need to change the race to july or something!!!

[PBellakma]

Re: RA disaster

I sent an e-mail to Kevin Elliott today with a suggestion which I hope others will get onboard with and e-mail him about as well.  Since at RA we paid $75 per race, what if CCS started the race rates for those of us whose races were cancelled/rescheduled from RA at the second tier-thus making our RA race rate the primary registration.  This would save all of us a few bucks-and would essentially cost CCS nothing to implement.  I think the goodwill it would generate might help to soothe thos of us who perceive that at least some of the blame for this weekend; outside of the weather, lies with CCS thinking they could ADD F-USA to a race schedule which they in the past have already had trouble completing!

[r1owner]

You're safe!!!!!   ;)

Glad you were okay.

Me too!

Great photo Jack!

[Super Dave]

Road America draws a lot of entries and they cost a lot.

But over the past several years, weather has played a big factor.  It always will as Wisconsin is still in a state of "late winter" this time of the year.  Lake Michigan always plays a role in the weather, and it did again this year.

Anyway, having two rounds of every class doesn't seem to work.  We don't do it at Daytona.  Daytona is a SMALLER race track.

At Daytona in February the weather can be a bit iffy too.  But having a double race format...that's the problem.

Road America is the site of the largest number of road race entries ever with like 2025 entries.  I think that was in 2001.  Daytona was close that year, but Road America had more.  

It is getting to a point where getting races finished and in the number of laps scheduled is a real problem.  Surely, that will play into how people enter races for next year's Road America.