Toms track day

[tommymac]

All in all had a prety good day on the lightning course at NJMP. Basically I got home from the rally sunday and was out the door an hr or 2 later heading down to the track. met up with my friend dave then met up with fred and his bro for dinner.

Mon morning I got an early jump to get my bike teched, since I hadnt ridden it in a year I wanted some extra time in case there was any issue. Got registered and teched no problem

I was put into the fast beginner/slow intermediate group, which i figured was good since I was going ot be realy rusty. So first session out I am on the warm up lap, I make it to about turn 5 and its redflagged (sadly this was going to0 be the theme of the day ) so we regrid and try again. I get sent out withthe faster group and after a lap or so they pull away on me so I am just kinda figuring stuff out when a coach catches up to me and taps his rear for me to follow him and he got me on line. We also chatted a bit after the session about a few things and was uber helpful.

Second session I figured I would roll with the slower group and work on what I learned, a friend who is also a coach with absolute now gigged me on my body position, but that was just a minor tweak. Sadly that sesion too was ended by a redflag.

3rd session we get a little talking to by the club owner just to go out and ride otherwise we would have another riders meeting I figure ok I am just doing my thing and had prety much just been out in space by myself and not in any big crowds. So now i am out just gaining speed and sorting out a few things with my lines and boom redflagged again.

So we brak for lunch and next session out after lunch it all just clicks and I am riding realy well and now find some people to pass. Now this track is geared for liter bikes which was driving me nuts. Guys would pass me on the front straight then park it in turn one now I am riding well in the turns and need to in order to stay close and make passes on the biger bikes. So about 6 or 7 laps in we get redflagged again but this one was bad. As I come up to turn 7 the corner worker is on the track waving 2 flags so I slow down and go through the turn and see a bike down on the track but also see the rider down and hes not moving at all the medical crew got out there quick and were working on himf for a while then took him to the hospital. No word on his injuries or the outcome.

So we get delayed a bit because there was a second guy who had to go to the hospital and we had to wait for a bus to come back so I head out for mty last session. I luck out the guy in front of me on the grid didnt disconnect his kickstand kill switch since he tried to go out with the stand down, he would have made a few turns before he crashed so good thing he saw it. So we get out and am riding realy well and turn a bunch of good laps untill my righ tknee tells me its time to call it a day. so I pit out and next lap was a red flag anyway.

So all in all it was nice to get out and ride in anger for a while and am def looking forward to a new track bike for next year.

[derf]

Nice, sounds like lots of crashes, we had 2 or 3 first thing in the morning, and one later in the day, but nothing major. Except for one time when the red flag came out they were sending folks back on the track by teh time the last person rolled back to pit in.

[marko138]

Sucks about all the red flags. Makes it tough to get in a groove and ride. Any pics?

[tommymac]

Originally Posted by marko138

Sucks about all the red flags. Makes it tough to get in a groove and ride. Any pics?

sadly no, we brough the camera but forgot to put a memory card in it and the internal memory filled up fast

Tom

[marko138]

Originally Posted by tommymac

sadly no, we brough the camera but forgot to put a memory card in it and the internal memory filled up fast

Tom

Bah. Weak sauce. Track photog around?

[tommymac]

Originally Posted by marko138

Bah. Weak sauce. Track photog around?

Probably, let me find out and i will see if I can put up some picks.

Tom

[marko138]

Originally Posted by tommymac

Probably, let me find out and i will see if I can put up some picks.

Tom

Sweet!

[Sean]

My trackday this weekend was a major crashfest as well. I think people aren't used to the cold because everyone was going down in the first lap or two. I didn't have warmers and the bike was all over the place with even a little lean angle. Thankfully no one got hurt.

Good times. When's the next one?

[tommymac]

Originally Posted by Sean

My trackday this weekend was a major crashfest as well. I think people aren't used to the cold because everyone was going down in the first lap or two. I didn't have warmers and the bike was all over the place with even a little lean angle. Thankfully no one got hurt.

Good times. When's the next one?

Unfortunatley next year for me. od thing was later in the day the crashes were mid session. I spoke with the owner, everyone who crashes has to talk to him (provided theyre conscious) as soon as they return to the pits. he said it was a lot of bonehead moves. he had a second riders meeting just to try to have everyone turn it down a notch.

I felt my rear tire slide a bit on my first lap out in the morning but I was also going quite slow since it was cold and I usualy take it easy the first 2 laps anyway.

Tom

[marko138]

Originally Posted by tommymac

Unfortunatley next year for me. od thing was later in the day the crashes were mid session. I spoke with the owner, everyone who crashes has to talk to him (provided theyre conscious) as soon as they return to the pits. he said it was a lot of bonehead moves. he had a second riders meeting just to try to have everyone turn it down a notch.

I felt my rear tire slide a bit on my first lap out in the morning but I was also going quite slow since it was cold and I usualy take it easy the first 2 laps anyway.

Tom

I'm not sure I see the logic in having every crasher talk to the owner? Does that really do much good?