Sunday was near perfect....warm with a nice breeze. Steve and Don (Seans Dad) were there to assist us with relearning the track and debuting the new 2008 GSXR 600 Casey picked up. Practice went well and our times were coming down throughout the day. There was about 30 seconds of rain and then back to perfect weather. Sean and and I got some new tires mounted before heading to La Careta for some needed Cuban sustenance. Monday was race day. Race #5, as usually, was the one and only race we were all in together...and sadly, the most eventful. It started out with a great launch and we were off into turn 1. By turns 2 & 3 there was trouble brewing from bike #407 who almost went wide....We made it through turn 5 and then #407 went WAAAAY wide and off the track. Somehow he was able to save it and continued into turns 6 & 7. Same thing happened outside of turn 7, he went WAAAAY wide and left the track at over 100mph...Again he saved it and raced towards turn #8. Gary from Extreme Custom Sport Bikes was approaching the turn and #407 went really wide so Gary slid underneath his line and started to make the turn with Casey and I right on his tail. All of a sudden, Mr. 407 decides to cut left into Gary as if he didn't exist. This caused a chain reaction crash that took out Gary, the 407, Casey and Me!!! had Casey and I not low-sided we might have actually driven right over the the bike and rider of the #407!! I jumped up and made sure i was all there....no missing or broken body part then made sure Casey was OK as well. The corner worker helped me pick up my bike and I was off again to bring it back to the pits. The race was Red-Flagged so I had a few minutes in the pits to assess the damages. I topped off some more fuel and then headed back out for the restart not even realizing my transponder was still on the side of the track in turn 8. Once again the race got under way and we completed 2 laps and there was another Red-Flag situation!! A Ducati blew up coming out of turn 8 and there was yet another moment to come back in the pits while they cleaned up the mess. Back out the 3rd time we restarted and I was amp'd up on adrenalin and wanted to do well after crashing. I completed lap #1 (of a 7 lap restart) and charged by a slower Monster Replica Kawasaki into turn 1. I guess, he didn't like that and tried to follow me through turns 2 & 3 the same way I passed him but it didn't work out so well. In turn 3, he rear ended me just as I was laying the bike over to make the left hander!! His clutch lever left a nice gouge in the tail of my bike and his front tire took out my rear tire and spun me around 360 degrees into the gravel. DAMN!!!! Crashing sucks. Crashing twice in the same race suck even more Getting taken out by two ass hats who have no business on the track in the first place sucks the most!! After that race, I ride the bike back into the pits and contemplate if I should (or even can) go out for race #13, Formula 40. Moving on.... Race #9 was AM Middle Weight Super Sport, Casey and Sean's race. Since Casey crashed in the first race he ended up sitting this one out and Sean went out. It had been POURING rain and the track was WET but there was not enough time to get the rain tires mounted and balance so he went out on D.O.T.'s instead. The guys who had the rain tire dominated but Sean really held his own!! He finished 10th on a rain slicked track, a great accomplishment as there were some pretty fast guys out there!! Race 13, AM Formula 40 was coming up...there had been rain through race #11 and I was debating on not even going out there and saving what was left of my bike and body. I finally decided it was dry enough to go out and the guys who put on the rain tires might actually suffer since there was no longer standing water on the track. I got a great hole shot hitting turn one in the 2nd position! 6 laps to go and I really needed the points for this class. As it turns out, the racing line was really drying out so I ran as fast as possible taking 4th place in the race and collecting much needed points and another trophy! We loaded up the trailer and then hung out for the Shootout before going out for dinner in Homestead. Thanks to all who came out to show their support! Curb, Phil, Bicho, Karina, Evelyn, Hooligan, Speedy, Don, Debbie, Diane, K-Trix...I am sure I have forgotten someone, but thanks for being there!!
