After doing the track day and then helping me last round, Josh got the bug and signed up to do race school on Friday practice so he could get his race license for this round! He found a race prepped 2003 SV650 pretty much ready to roll, sold his street SV650 on Tuesday then had us picking up the race bike, (from much further away than I was led to believe) late Wednesday afternoon. Fortunately it only needed
- the coolant changing out for water wetter
- lock-wiring the front calipers (holes were already there – fantastic!), oil filter and a couple of other things
- a front brake guard
- a shark-fin chain guard
- a few sets of red numbers designing and cut and a white background for the rear
Only the coolant change was necessary for Friday so we did that, the lock-wiring and the numbers (but forgot the background!) and Josh got his license. Then with a bit of help from fellow racers and Bickle Racing we got everything ready for Saturday qualifying.
Friday and Saturday practices went ok for me, it was a new layout for me and was gradually improving my times. In the qualifying sprint races I struggled to keep up with mid pack in Old Folks and then was 8th coming out of the Carousel at the end of the first lap of Lost Era but for some reason, going in to the kink where I would normally change up into 3rd, I changed down??!!? I realized immediately but only went back up one and locked up the rear when I let the clutch out, caught it but ran wide onto the grass and went for a wild rodeo ride through the infield!! I have no clue how I managed to stay on, rejoined at the back and managed to gain back a few places but couldn’t believe it when I got back to the pits and no-one had seen me go off!
Josh’s Saturday didn’t go great either, he was progressing well when someone made an aggressive pass on him in a tight right left, Josh lost it trying to avoid him and strained an old wrist injury. He also broke the clutch lever and left peg with some other cosmetic issues here and there so missed the qualifying race but again lots of people chipped in to get it ready for race Sunday.
It rained all day Sunday and I only had slick tires so didn’t ride at all, I really don’t like hearing the announcer say my name for the grid positions when I’m not there. Josh decided he was going to do his race just for the experience and so he could officially say he was a racer LOL. He was the only one on DOT tires (Q3+) when everyone else was on rains so he finished last but that’s still a 7th place finish to his name!
