Daytona 200 is on now

I remember it being behind the wall also

 

They were pitted right near us. The bike was definitely behind the wall, but I think that particular stoppage was different than the others because of the tire issue. I think Eslick crashed right before the stoppage out of NASCAR 4 and slid for quite a ways and the red flag gave them time to fix the bike as well. I don't recall if that bike went behind the wall.

Touchy situation for the announcers to say what the real reason for the stoppage was considering the amount of money Dunlop spent being the spec tire and not wanting to bite the hand that feeds and all that.

I'm pretty sure that was the same 200 where there was that gnarly crash right at the finish.

 

it was 2011?? Zemke got pole on the P1A bike?

 

It was a 848

 

I didn't say it wasn't. But I'm pretty sure he put mileage on four different cylinders.

 

LOL.... gotcha... yes they did change the engine.... rules back then stated you could change anything neeeded except the chassis/frame

 

You were patient on that one for it to pay off...

 

After 9 laps? It was practically brand new....

 

Minus 9 laps....

 

True. But we are not a big team with 3 sets of wheels. If we put a new tire on on lap 9, and we need another one on lap 35, we are going to have to use the scrub. That was my line of thinking, anyway. As I said, I take responsibility and it's something I'll take more seriously next year.

The grip provided by the fresh rubber actually meeting the pavement is one thing- the psychological advantage of riding on a fresh tire is another- and in my case, probably worth more!

 

I am impressed you got through the race with one tire. My brother did it last year but it was much cooler. We pitted this year on lap 34 and his tire was shot.

 

The Ducati is all emotion, I still love those bikes, but the R6 just does everything right and is alot cheaper to run. I am re-learning the (proper) way to ride, even 2 years into my R6 adventure. The Yamaha can still have technical problems, just like anything that you race. But at the end of the day I had to ask myself, do I want to race my brains out on a Yamaha, or do half the races for the same expense on a Ducati? I'm a motorcycle nut, if I hit the Powerball I'd have them all.

Also, I wanted to advance my skills, and it is much easier to do that by removing all the variables you can from the equation. The R6 is the "no excuses" bike. If you have the same bike, it's only a matter of learning to do what the other guys are doing. Easy, right?

 

Its what brought about lever guards, no? Herrin and Westby got together I thought.

 

yes, Lonewrench designed one if not mistaken, right after this happened. Ed Bargy had designed a plastic one for $25, that i posted a photo of on this forum back in 2004.. and it was amazing how many thought that it was "dangerous".. and said "you will spear someone with that".. fast forward almost a decade, and some design of it is mandatory in most of pro racing.

 

We had three red flags. Even without a quick change setup, you could have done a rear tire during any of them with plenty of time to spare. Not criticizing, just curious why you wouldn't take advantage of that.

 

No, you have someone run it over to the tire guy as soon as the pit stop/red flag is over and get a freshie on the rim just in case you get another opportunity to change it without a time penalty.

 

maybe it was a money/cost/availability thing and he just didnt want to point that out.

maybe, as he said, the pitbike wasnt working and he didnt want to ask his aging father to carry it or inconvenience someone else.

....or a janitor if you wanna be a dick about it.

 

No, he has a point. I take responsibility for the decision.

Mike, maybe my memory is getting fuzzy, but I swore we only had 2 red flags. One on lap 4, then again on lap 9 for Debise's crash?

In an ideal world, I would slap down the old MasterCard, and have two rims with fresh rears and one fresh front on them, aside from the new set on the bike. As it was we had a new set on the bike, a new rear on the warmer, and a 12 lap scrub on a the spare front rim. So my mentality was to save the fresh rear for the final 20 laps. Somehow that plan didn't get executed. Again, my responsibility

Always a learning experience, next year we'll be ready.

 

Great job TOBC crew!

http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/daytona-200-more-from-the-77th-running-of-the-american-classic-/

 

Wasn't trying to be a dick at all. Was just asking since you seemed well prepared. I saw you and quite a few other people I made a note of wanting to say hi to, like Ducote, but I was either doing something or saw that you were in passing and didn't want to interrupt. I think I got to talk to Matheny and Fitzgerald for all of two minutes that weekend. Busy weekend for everyone.

Two? Yeah, you're right. I looked at Race Monitor and saw the race broken up and remembered doing two rears, but we did a stop under a green flag on L32. We did a set during the Debise red flag. Like most people, we only topped off fuel for the L4 red flag. We were running 12th when the oil filter decided it didn't want to hold oil any more and our race was over.