So did you watch me in LWT SBK holeshot the field of 5 and proceed to hold them up for 3 laps! I was the racer who can barely turn left... I had a blast and am motivated by that damn #14 on the 250/300 bike that kept passing me in the corners and reminding me I had a lot of lean angle to go...
That stream across the track is 100% unacceptable. It's the reason I didn't race on Sunday. I don't understand how a track could put that much money into their facility and over look something like that. It was almost 24 hours after it rained and the track was still wet.
Where was the stream? It's generally after the chicane getting onto the straight (wheelie hill). Anyways, sorry to hear that the track disappointed - I was there yesterday and caught some races before the air show. Somebody (believe they placed) in V8 had a beautiful save of a possible highside on their first lap coming out of 3b (the middle turn of the chicane).
I think it's turn 2. There was also water going into 1 and the carousel most of Friday. I like the track layout and facilities, but running/standing water takes all the fun out of it.
Understandable. It seems like the track folks want to be a good facility and on Sunday, they had a track sweeper working the track when they could. A little grading would probably alleviate that turn 2-3 water issue. The trouble is, not racing probably hurts WERA more than the track since the track rental is paid for already and every race entry helps WERA make sense of racing there. I plan to race there again if WERA comes back for sure!
It's a two way street there...If I wreck because of track conditions and get hurt, I won't be racing at all. Thus, WERA gets no money at all for the rest of the season. It's on the sanctioning body and track ownership/management to ensure the track condition/safety. With that being said, I put blame solely on track ownership/management as they know the water runs off the way it does there and haven't addressed the issue. Maybe WERA and N2 can put pressure on the track to fix the issue.
First wheel turned in competition on a sport bike for me Saturday and it was great. Despite our best efforts we still finished great and had a blast in the heavy weight division. 2 riders 4 hours plenty of track time. Thanks to N2, & Wera for a great event and Sam Wang and Jim Franz for becoming our impromptu pit crew. Tom Team Nerdy & Dirty
Well, you missed out because it was drier on Sunday than it was Friday or Saturday morning. I would prefer a totally consistent surface too, but that's just not reality at most tracks. Mid OH is notoriously bad in the wet, but if you let that stop you from coming it's your loss. The only reason they were able to build njmp and all it's impressive scope is due to location... Next to an airport, on Sandy soil near sea level and not exactly easy to get to. Feel free to build a better track ; I'll be first in line.
Huge thanks to Wera and n2, I hope they made enough to maintain and grow the partnership to keep endurance racing alive in these tough times. And I'll say it again for the umpteenth time... If you've never raced endurance DO IT !!! I surprised myself by putting in two 80 minute stints and taking home 3rd in lw despite not being the fastest guys out there. On a budget?? We'll be getting back the majority of our entry and tire costs in winnings, and I used that same set of tires for 2 sprints Sunday and they're still good for at least a few more practice sessions.
Thank ya'll for putting on the endurance, I enjoyed it despite our team having lots of problems. Anyone know who the photogs who were shooting on Saturday and Sunday?
It's already been built, it's called Pitt Race Which also had a drainage issue and was fixed almost immediately. I won't ride at mid-o either because of the track surface. I raced in the 4 endurance on saturday and there was no water on the track for that race, unlike Sunday.
I was on the airshow side Saturday as friends I flew with were there for the show. I thought the airshow side was pretty weak. A few good WWII aircraft, and a bunch of TA-6's. Other than the Blue's, no military aircraft which sucks. I could hear the endurance race and kept on looking that way. It was great seeing guys I haven't seen in years and throwing a few beer back. But the weather caused the Blue's to do the short version. Sunday I was on WERA side of the street with my little one. It sure was great being at the track again, at a WERA event. I was hoping to run into a few old faces, but I think the only person there that I ever raced against was Taylor Knapp and that wasn't much of a race as I think he lapped me about 10 times in a 6 lap race when he was about 16 or something like that. I guess the torch has been passed. I must say though, the airshow was much better viewing on the track side. I do have to ask as I was watched and wondered. Prior to the Blue's, there were a couple of performers out there when there was a hot track. Did that pose any issues for guys going through T2/3 and the chicane at all? I would think that would be distracting seeing an airplane blowing through your field of view like that. All in all, it was a great weekend for me. Got the two things that have consumed most of my adult life in one place at the same time. I kept telling my son that in all my life, from being a kid at the race track in the early 80's to now, I have never seen this before. I took over 2,000 pics of the weekend....Had a great time!
It was distracting coming around t1 and seeing their smoke on the horizon and not knowing if it was a bike. I had to tell myself not to look at the planes when I was out.
I did notice them once or twice at the same spot. I think it was mostly during warm-up though. Don't remember it being an issue during a race.
In race 4 and coming through turn 2, I caught a glimpse of something in my peripheral vision in the sky, but stayed focused on looking through the corner. It probably took about $1 of my $10 of focus for maybe 1 second and that was it. We went to Wildwood for dinner and the boardwalk Friday night, saw the air show Saturday and Sunday and did some racing, so for us, it was a very fun weekend.
Team RBoM had fun! Not bad for a bunch of old guys. 12th season of endurance for me. NJMP is a fun track! Can't wait till the next round! I would like to direct attention to the Endurance section as a few clarifications need to happen...
I think I was next to you on the bleachers next to the chicane for a bit..............was your son eating the apples? I was there with my wife and two daughters.
Another first timer to NJMP - that track and facilities were both great. I'm pretty used to racing on a so/so surface as the two closest tracks to me are Grattan and Mid-Ohio - so that wasn't a issue for me. I'm sure WERA did everything their power, but man - Saturday morning was a mess for us. We were probably unique in that one of our guys had to qualify for the 600 national on our endurance bike. So in the 15 minutes after qualifying before the green flag we had to do a riders meeting and tire swap. We got out on the 4-board maybe - but it was a struggle. Other than that, the endurance race went well. I felt bad for the ULWT endurance competitors, the sky opened up for their race - that was a bummer. Another bummer was Sunday morning - the LWT practice was only 2-3 laps due to an oil issue. I raced the 600 on Saturday, so wasn't back up to speed on the SV. Again, no fault to WERA, they did everything possible with the time they were given. They ran the race morning really well, and got in 12 races with very little drama before lunch - pretty impressive!
Yeah the schedule was tight and I was even more rushed than you guys were with the bike running both things. All my own doing but didn't make it any easier and I will know better if we try to do the same thing again. Thanks to everyone who came out and especially for working with us on the schedule the way it was. Hope the air show made it at least a little worth it. The oil in practice had me a little...irate... Not at the rider or anything like that, I know they didn't crash on purpose, just at the racing gods in general.
