Greg Gabis
06-25-2001, 11:18 AM
This race weekend was going to be a little bit different than most of my weekends. Normally,
it's just me and my crew, but this weekend we were giving Todd "tattoo guy" a lift. We looked
cool with his '01 GSXR on the trailer!
We got to the track Friday night and setup camp. Todd went to find a phone and found Shane
Williams instead. Well, being as we all knew each other (Shane is my cousin, too) and we
seemed to be the only folks up from Cincy, we figured we'd pit together to help each other
out.
Saturday started wet. It had rained Friday night and we were a bit disappointed because we
were foolishly expecting nice weather. The paddock was practically empty and registration
and tech went very quickly. I guess there are some good points about everyone hating Nelson!
Fortunately, the track was pretty dry by the time we started and I got down to the business
of getting used to the SRX at Nelson. I had done a few races on my GS already this year so I
knew the track pretty well, I just needed to adjust my reference points to work with the
SRX.
The only races were the Solo 20's. I checked out the competition on the grid and saw it was
mostly SV's. I'm down about 10 horses to the SV's and I'm still not good enough to make up
the difference in the tight stuff, so I figured it was good race pace practice for my sprints
on Sunday. The race went well for me and I made some improvements. I can finally go wide
open through the kink!
Sunday we were able to sleep in. Registering and getting through tech on Saturday definitely
has its advantages. Again, it had rained overnight. With the track still wet, I skipped the
first practice session. The second practice session went OK. My laps were a little slower as
I blew the cobwebs out and got the "feel" for the day. The next practice session, I got up
to my race pace pretty quick so I came in about halfway through. I was ready to race!
My first race was LW Twins. I was used to getting my butt kicked last year on my GS and I
was hoping for a little better result with my SRX. I blew the start by pulling a little
wheelie, and not getting back on the ground and on the gas quick enough. After that I
figured I better set to getting around Kent on his Hawk in front of me. I had motor and
track knowledge on my side and would run up on him in a few spots and I mad some bad choices
on where to try to pass and just couldn't make it happen. Finally, I used my higher entry
speed into the carousel to help my drive and motored him out of the carousel on the outside.
I kept doing my laps confident that I had him beat. I saw the white flag and knew I just had
to bring it home. Well, I backed off the throttle in the kink and Kent didn't! He came by me
on the outside in T12. It screwed up his line and drive out of T13, but my line would give
me better drive. It was a drag race for not last to the finish line and Kent won by just a
few inches. Our finishing positions didn't mean much in the grand scheme of things, but we
had a great time racing each other.
Second race was D-Superbike. More SV's and now some FZR's, ugh! Well, if I thought my first
start was bad, this was downright terrible. My right foot peg folded up when I lifted my foot
up at the start. The whole field blew by me while I tried to kick it back down. I was last
into T1 but I put my head down and started making up some time. I got around a few guys and
was closing the gap on Kent and his Hawk. A few laps past halfway I came out of the carousel
and saw Kent only half way down the backstretch. I knew I could catch him. I was pinning it
through the kink and getting through T12 and T13 pretty good. I was driving harder out of
T13 each lap. But, I got a little greedy on one lap and with he bike leaned over so far, I
lost the rear trying to get on the gas. Next thing I know, I'm looking at my number plate so
I decided to let go. I slid to the edge of the track and crawled out of the way. The bike
ended up stopped on the track, so the red flag came out to pick up the pieces. I was OK and
the bike only had a brake lever.
My adopted crew of Todd and Shane gave the bike the once over and slapped a new brake lever
on for me and I was good to go.
Last race was Clubman. I was just going out to do my laps and make sure the bike was OK. I
got a good reaction on the start, but let the pack in front of me just in case the bike was
hiding something. I followed a guy for the first lap and was comfortable with the bike so I
went around him and started wicking it back up. I got around another guy about halfway
through and put it on cruise control and finished the race.
After all the racing, Shane went to pick up his trophy for his win in 125GP (good job Shane)
and came back with my 3rd place plaque for Clubman. I was pretty stoked to get wood even
after my low-side.
Thanks to my wife and father-in-law for all of their support. Without them I couldn't do this.
Thanks to Todd and Shane for helping me out and getting my bike ready to go. Thanks to WERA for
putting on a good show every weekend and big thanks to the corner workers. Without the corner
workers standing out there all day and picking us up from our silly mistakes, we wouldn't be
able to have so much fun.
Greg Gabis
#223 Novice.
it's just me and my crew, but this weekend we were giving Todd "tattoo guy" a lift. We looked
cool with his '01 GSXR on the trailer!
We got to the track Friday night and setup camp. Todd went to find a phone and found Shane
Williams instead. Well, being as we all knew each other (Shane is my cousin, too) and we
seemed to be the only folks up from Cincy, we figured we'd pit together to help each other
out.
Saturday started wet. It had rained Friday night and we were a bit disappointed because we
were foolishly expecting nice weather. The paddock was practically empty and registration
and tech went very quickly. I guess there are some good points about everyone hating Nelson!
Fortunately, the track was pretty dry by the time we started and I got down to the business
of getting used to the SRX at Nelson. I had done a few races on my GS already this year so I
knew the track pretty well, I just needed to adjust my reference points to work with the
SRX.
The only races were the Solo 20's. I checked out the competition on the grid and saw it was
mostly SV's. I'm down about 10 horses to the SV's and I'm still not good enough to make up
the difference in the tight stuff, so I figured it was good race pace practice for my sprints
on Sunday. The race went well for me and I made some improvements. I can finally go wide
open through the kink!
Sunday we were able to sleep in. Registering and getting through tech on Saturday definitely
has its advantages. Again, it had rained overnight. With the track still wet, I skipped the
first practice session. The second practice session went OK. My laps were a little slower as
I blew the cobwebs out and got the "feel" for the day. The next practice session, I got up
to my race pace pretty quick so I came in about halfway through. I was ready to race!
My first race was LW Twins. I was used to getting my butt kicked last year on my GS and I
was hoping for a little better result with my SRX. I blew the start by pulling a little
wheelie, and not getting back on the ground and on the gas quick enough. After that I
figured I better set to getting around Kent on his Hawk in front of me. I had motor and
track knowledge on my side and would run up on him in a few spots and I mad some bad choices
on where to try to pass and just couldn't make it happen. Finally, I used my higher entry
speed into the carousel to help my drive and motored him out of the carousel on the outside.
I kept doing my laps confident that I had him beat. I saw the white flag and knew I just had
to bring it home. Well, I backed off the throttle in the kink and Kent didn't! He came by me
on the outside in T12. It screwed up his line and drive out of T13, but my line would give
me better drive. It was a drag race for not last to the finish line and Kent won by just a
few inches. Our finishing positions didn't mean much in the grand scheme of things, but we
had a great time racing each other.
Second race was D-Superbike. More SV's and now some FZR's, ugh! Well, if I thought my first
start was bad, this was downright terrible. My right foot peg folded up when I lifted my foot
up at the start. The whole field blew by me while I tried to kick it back down. I was last
into T1 but I put my head down and started making up some time. I got around a few guys and
was closing the gap on Kent and his Hawk. A few laps past halfway I came out of the carousel
and saw Kent only half way down the backstretch. I knew I could catch him. I was pinning it
through the kink and getting through T12 and T13 pretty good. I was driving harder out of
T13 each lap. But, I got a little greedy on one lap and with he bike leaned over so far, I
lost the rear trying to get on the gas. Next thing I know, I'm looking at my number plate so
I decided to let go. I slid to the edge of the track and crawled out of the way. The bike
ended up stopped on the track, so the red flag came out to pick up the pieces. I was OK and
the bike only had a brake lever.
My adopted crew of Todd and Shane gave the bike the once over and slapped a new brake lever
on for me and I was good to go.
Last race was Clubman. I was just going out to do my laps and make sure the bike was OK. I
got a good reaction on the start, but let the pack in front of me just in case the bike was
hiding something. I followed a guy for the first lap and was comfortable with the bike so I
went around him and started wicking it back up. I got around another guy about halfway
through and put it on cruise control and finished the race.
After all the racing, Shane went to pick up his trophy for his win in 125GP (good job Shane)
and came back with my 3rd place plaque for Clubman. I was pretty stoked to get wood even
after my low-side.
Thanks to my wife and father-in-law for all of their support. Without them I couldn't do this.
Thanks to Todd and Shane for helping me out and getting my bike ready to go. Thanks to WERA for
putting on a good show every weekend and big thanks to the corner workers. Without the corner
workers standing out there all day and picking us up from our silly mistakes, we wouldn't be
able to have so much fun.
Greg Gabis
#223 Novice.