WERA West Round 3, LVMS April 11-12, 2009

To everyone who's been helping me through this...thank you so much. You all know who you are and all of you are indefinitely appreciated!!

This past weekend has really been a sign and measure of my abilities to compete in WERA. This will be my return to LVMS since I broke my left hand last time and, along with a number of other changes, the first time back racing. My left hand is still quite swollen, and has roughly 80% of its range of motion back and about 60% of its strength back. I've got a brand new suit from Pilot which I'm still breaking in. I've only worn it twice so its still tight in certain areas, causing me to have restricted movement. Also, now I need to get used to a quickshifter which I've only used a few times at GMR, though I don't really shift up there either. Last but not least, I've got 2" left of front suspension travel...why? Because I've lost weight and am now 168lbs....and my bike is sprung for someone who is 200-210lbs. So...I feel like my suspension is hard as a rock. And yes...I went racing like this...

Ian and I left my house on Friday evening at about 8, stopping 2 times on the way there to take a break, get gas, and switch driving. We got to LVMS at about midnight, sleeping outside the gate as apparently the guard got in trouble last time for letting people inside the pit are after a certain time. Its ok...so we slept right outside in the car.

I woke up at about 6AM to the trailer next to me starting up and driving in. Time to go get ready.

We got in and started unloading the car and taking the bike off the trailer. Took about a total of 30min to set everything up, and then I went inside to get my registration worked out. Walked outside only to notice it started raining. Great...this is an exact repeat of last time here in Vegas. I decided to skip the first session as there was a nice layer of water on the asphalt still. No reason to go out there if I can't even get my tires warmed up.

Second session came around and it was mostly dry but there was missing traction in certain turns. I took it easy and clicked off a best lap of 1:26:9...compared to my best last time during the race of 1:25:2. So I'm more then a second and half off pace from last time, and after the 8th lap my left hand started feeling sore. I felt like I was in trouble. I couldn't find my braking points, I was braking way earlier so that I wouldn't have to stress my left hand as much, and I wasn't able to find a comfortable line coming out of turns.

After the practice, Ian and I walked around the pit area a bit and talked to a handful of people, meeting with Eddie Jay (who later crashed during his second race and ended the day for him), Jeffrey Havlik, Eddie Barajas, Matthias Jezek, and some others. We also started talking to some other riders after Eddie's persuading conversation with us about the new Michelin Power One's, which were supposed to hold just as well as the Dunlop 209 and 211's I was running, and not give out like the old Power Races did. After a bit of conversing, I decided to make the change during one of the afternoon races, and have it ready for practice on Sunday.

Woke up early the next morning at 6AM and started prepping everything for practice. The sun had come out and it was a PERFECT day, about 70F with very slight winds, and THE TRACK WAS DRY!! I went out for practice after a short stretch and knocked off a 1:24:1...my best at this track yet. This set my strategy for the day...A Superbike race would be 3 lap cruising and 5 laps pushing, and the same with my A Superstock race. My hand wasn't feeling too tired, though I did ice it down after the practice session as I could see it was starting to swell up again. I was also wearing a pair of too-tight spidi gloves which wasn't giving me much feedback...so I opted for the kushitani's I broke my hand in last time.

The Michelin's felt really good. They held just as well as the 211/209 I was running prior, but gave much more feedback, especially with the 'V' shaped front tire. I opted for the C (hard) compound rear so that I could see how long it'd last and how good traction was with it, even though one of the guys in the pits had informed Ian and I that he had done "180 laps" on that one set....ok yea. The tires held really well, and were great at giving feedback. I had the rear kick out on me a few times, and was able to slide the rear a bit coming out of turns. I pushed the front once into turn 6, but the whole time I knew exactly what the bike was doing and where it was going. A great tire...and and even greater contingency if I win!

The races started in the day but unfortunately ended early for Eddie Jay, who got hit by someone who missed their braking point going into turn 4. Bike's right side was busted, Eddie hit his head kinda hard, and his ankle was sprained. Ian and I helped him get everything back together at the pits and made sure that he was ok. After that...took a short break again walking around the pit area and then took a short nap before my A Superbike race.

We got out there for warm-up and I got to follow Jeff out into the track. This was interesting because now I got to see his line somewhat. As we approached turn 5, where I crashed last time, I paid special attention to him and where he was. Where I had to back off and take it easy while still being on the throttle since my suspension became very unstable at that point, I saw him go full lean into the turn....oh the wonders of functioning suspension. Race start was fair, I started in 5th place in the second row of the Novice group and pulled into turn 1 in 2nd place. Turns felt good, pace was good. I got passed out of turn 8 going into the straight, but figured "eh...he took the inside line...I'm just going to pass him on the straight". Happened just like that...3 times...and then I took a defensive line coming out of 8 and powered out. First few laps I was behind Mark Crowley, who is the points leader in my class, and also had managed to drop 2 seconds since the last time he was out here. I chased him for 2-3 laps before realizing that he's pulling away from me and that if I really pushed it...my hand would suffer later. Its ok...take it easy...just finish the race on the podium. Lap 5 going into turn 4, I suddenly heard a bike behind me. It was Neil again. He was trying to pass, but got too close and now I knew he was there. I immediately changed to a defensive line for the remaining 3 laps, as I knew I couldn't catch up to Mark, but I wasn't going to just let Neil pass me...at least not without a fight. The defensive line worked as he tried to pass me 2 times after that but never got through. I ended up taking a tight line on the last lap in turn 8 and held the lead, pulling past the finish line in 2nd, 0.2 seconds ahead of Neil.

Off the track and back to the pits to ice my hand...preparing for the next race. Race warm-up went by and this time I was gridded 3rd on the start. Had another good start and pulled into 2nd by turn 1. I then pulled into 1st by the next lap and held the lead for the rest of the race. My hand started cramping a bit by lap 5 so I knew I had to back off stressing it. I continued to hold the lead and eventually finishing in 1st place with a 4.5 second gap to 2nd.

During both races, I hit the same set of bumps which so violently threw me off the track last time and broke my hand. However, knowing where the bumps were and what to do, I still hit the bumps only to have it kick me about 3-4 feet off my line, but still in control and still able to power out until turn 6, breaking deep and heavy.

Overall, a great weekend. I had dropped almost 2 seconds for my best lap and had done about 3 full seconds on average faster than the last time I was out here. On an identically set up bike with the new Michelin Power Ones, and a still broken hand.

Again, thanks to everyone who came out and everyone who's been supporting me....couldn't be doing this without you all!!!

 

Good job overcoming that, and excellent results :up:

 

S'up Dave, really good to see you out there, and it was nice to finally put a face to the bike. I guess i need to learn how to get pass someone riding a defensive line, next time!!
See you in Button Willow (Neill)

 

Congrats dude!! Way to perservere!

 

So I went to doc this morning for a follow up on my hand. While looking at some xrays I took this morning...he looks back at me...looks back at the xray...and then looks back at me "you broke the plate....on your middle finger..." I'm like...'what?!'. Apparently...somehow I had snapped the titanium plate that is holding the bone in my middle finger together... Heh.. So yea...apparently...since I hadn't really done anything since the race...I raced...with a broken hand...

The doc let me know that its no problem though and that I'm not the first one to do it. The bone has already been mending, so that plate really doesn't need to be there anymore. We're just going to leave it in place and if it ever starts bugging me later on, we can figure something out then. But for now...not something I even need to think about at all.

Interesting morning....rehab after work today to and to inform my PT that I raced...and won...on a broken hand... HAH

 

WTF?! raced on a broken hand... :crackhead:

congrats anyways lol

 

I'm proud of my boy Dave here. You came back and slayed the beast that got you. I wsh I could have given you guys a run in the A classes - as I got those guys in the heavyweight solo. My ankle is still swollen but most of the bruising has started to go away. I am hoping to be back for Buttonwillow - should know buy the end of the week. I'm pretty sure if it fits in a boot that I will ride. Congratulations again. Oh yeah, when you read this give me a call as my phone broke and I lost my contact list.

 

damn, good job.

 

Good to see you back Dave. Broken hand or not, you're a hell of a racer! Props to Edward Jay - he's a stud on an old bike!

 

Hey Eddy, Good to hear your ok. Hope you can make Buttonwillow. Now it makes sense how you crashed. You ride way too smooth to crash on your own. Must be very frustrating to get taken out like that by someone else. That's one of my fears of racing. To put all of this time and effort to race the whole series and someone else mess it all up. That's part of racing I guess.
See you at the races, Tim Sharp #74

 

WERA West at ButtonWillow 10MAY09

How many of you guys are going to be at ButtonWillow this weekend?

 

checking in...will be there

 

I'll be there too! It's a fun track, just beat to hell!

 

Caltrans training field.