My first high-side
JenningsGP - Jennings, FL
April 1-2, 2006

Just coming off of three track days in March at VIR, I'm pretty psyched for the first race. Turning 1.5+ seconds faster times at those track day, I'm eager to see how I do in the actual races. Friday we head down to Jennings and drop the trailer off at the track Friday evening. We check into our hotel and get some good rest.

Saturday morning we setup our canopies and get registered. Today is all-day practice, with the USGPRU National Championship qualifying as the last session of the day. I head for my first session, and get warmed up. Last year my best race time was 1:23.51, so I'm hoping to get close to that in practice and turn at LEAST that in qualifying. First session I just warm up and get reacquainted with the track.

Second session, I get back up to speed and turn a best of 27.19. Not bad, just getting used to the track. Now it's time to put the rubber to the road. Third session out, I turn it on, and try harder. I get progressively faster, and turn a best of 1:25.23. Not too bad. Last year I qualified with a 24.41. I feel I can definitely beat that, but beating a 23.51 is gonna be tough.

I skip a session and get new Dunlops put on for qualifying, as my tires are 3 weekends old. The time has come. Our qualifying session is about to start. I roll out and try to get behind a pack of riders hoping to get pulled. Instead, they are taking it easy the first lap and I just pass them all going into T5. I'm on my own now, no one's in front of me. Not my ideal situation, but better than getting stuck in traffic. I hit a couple nice laps when Mike Himmelsbach passes me. Perfect. Now I have someone to chase down. I stay behind him for two laps, then decide to pull in to check my times and possibly try to get behind some other fast riders.

I check my lap timer... turned a best of 1:22.41 ! Holy shit! That's two seconds faster than last year. I'm happy with that and don't go back out, and hang on hot pit, waiting for the session to end. I end up qualifying in 5th place! Very happy with my result, we head to dinner and get a good nite rest.

Sunday is here. We get to the track and I decide to relax and skip practice as the USGPRU National Championship race is first. I get suited up and head out for the warmup lap. The flag drops and we're off. I get a decent start, probably in 7th or 8th place into T1. Not too bad. I pass 1 rider on the next lap, and count the guys ahead of me. I'm in 7th. I hold that position, and slowly catch up to 6th place rider, Mike. As I'm working on passing him, we catch the 5th place rider, Stu. Mike ends up passing Stu and I'm hot on Stu's heels. Two laps to go, I almost pull up next to him on the straight, but can't quite get in front of him. He leads me through the last lap, where in T8, it all happens. All of the following happens in about .5 seconds:
The rear starts to slide out. "SHIT!" I say to myself. Now sideways, the rear tire catches grip. I'm in the air looking down at my gas tank. "FUUUUUCCCCCKKKK!" I yell. I'm airborne.

I land on my left hip, slide then start tumbling around like a rag doll. "Shit, please don't break anything," I say in my head. I stop tumbling and slide to a halt. I'm a bit sore, but nothing feels broken and I stand up. Bike is not too bad. The crash truck and the ambulance pick me and the bike up and take us back to the pits.

My leathers split open on the left leg seem and I got some road rash. I can't really walk on my left leg, so my day is quickly over. We pack up and head to a friend's house on Jeckyl Island.

We decide to goto the ER to get xrays. 6 hours later, nothing's broken and I walk out on crutches and three prescriptions for pain killers and muscle relaxers. This really sucks as my next race is in two weeks (April 14/15) at Carolina Motorsports Park. Guess I won't be making that. Next race after that is May 6/7 at Summit Point, WV. It's the second round of the USGPRU National Championships and I HAVE to make it to that.

We head home on Tues, Rebecca, who has NEVER driven the truck, now has to drive it, with trailer in tow, all the way from FL to NC. She' nervous, but we get home OK. I check my times from the race, and I turn some 22's and 21's: