Saturday photos
Sunday photos
Team Spawn Race Report
Date: Tue, 12 Sep 2000 11:33:30 -0700
From: havoc23 <carcosa@eskimo.com>
To: Northwest YSR-50 Enthusiasts <nw-ysr@micapeak.com>
Subject: [YSR] Team Spawn Race Report - Pat's Acres 9-10 Sept
Well, after breaking my clavicle at the YSR Invitational last month I basically despaired of being able to race this time...I tried to sponsor someone to ride SpawnIII, but they decided to go skydiving instead, so I decided what the hell - my bones are knit, though not healed yet, and I'm still wearing the brace, but I had no problem terrorizing the neighborhood on a few trial runs, so I decided to bring Scyther down for Saturday practice, and go from there!
Saturday was dry and warm - summer's returned for a while! I had a few trepidations at first, but once I figured out some body mechanics I found I could get around the track without any problems, just had to not hang off so much on the right side...there were several new riders there, including Frank's SO Sasha, who managed to biff in turn six and break _her_ collarbone! What is it with crashes and collarbones this year?! We used a tiedown strap to figure-eight her shoulders, leading Frank to comment, "I've been _waiting_ to tie ya down, honey!" ;-)
I got three practice sessions in and called it a day before I got tooworn out - I managed to consistantly drag knee on both sides and didn't crash or scare myself, so it was a "go" for racing!
Sunday started out very wet and grey, but as the morning wore on the carts dried the track off - I skipped practice and signed up for both 50GP and 80GP, figuring I'd warm up in the 50 then do what felt right in the 80...for the 50 heat I hung out in the back with Ron who was also on his 80, and just cruised around, feeling ok...In the 80GP heat I went ahead and raced, and fought Ron off for the pole.
Then came the chaotic part of the day, for which I apologise to everybody
for my part in the confusion: I had a house viewing appointment in Portland
at 4PM, which I couldn't move back, so I asked everybody if we could swap
out the classes and run the 80GP first, then I'd just bag off on the 50GP
race - everyone was cool with it, but then the Race Director told us that
the scorers couldn't reset their comupoter to change the order, and that
we'd have to stick with the original program. I figured
"Oh well, just go with it.", but when we pre-gridded, the flagger came
up and told me they _had_ changed it and that we'd be racing 80GP
next! I saw him go around to other riders, but apparently the word didn't
get passed to everyone, including Ron who was on the NS50...so about half
the grid thought we were racing 50GP while the other half, me included,
thought we were racing 80GP so I went for it! Got a great start, and led
into the first turn, with Bret and Ralph hot on my tail - I was still
parking it in the corners, but pulling away on the straights, and managed
to hold everyone off for the win!
Bret was right on my wheel the whole time, waiting for a missed shift
or a bad line, but I even managed to squeek past the backmarkers and hold
him & Ralph off!
A Phyrric victory, as it turns out due to the confusion Ron and others
didn't realize we were racing 80GP, so he was on the wrong bike!
I packed up in a rush and made my appointment, and...made a bid on
it! I'll know by tomarrow if they accept or not, details later. [ed.note
- they accepted!]
Ron was faced with a true dilemma regarding the scoring, and made a
hard but fair decision to revert the race to 50GP, giving Bret the win,
but also crediting me with an 80GP win...they then ran the second race
as 80GP, which Ron won, good job!
I further added to the confusion the next day by replying to the e-list
instead of Ron when he notified me of the decision, compounded by my not
understanding at first and replying in my inimitable crabby havoc-attitude!
What a jerk!
O well, I was wrong on both counts and apologize for that as well...I
should know better by now to not be so reactive in the morning before I've
had adequate coffee intake...where's that damn Prozac?!
The next races are with the PCYC at the F440 track in Canada on Oct.1 and Oct.15, followed by the NMRA season finale at Pat's on Oct.21-22! Be there!
