We get schooled
Virginia Int'l Raceway
April 13/14, 2002

Saturday
Bright and early, 6 am, my friend Mike Bowman and I head off to VIR. It's a short one hour, 15 minute drive. We arrive at VIR, pay the gate fees and find a spot in the pits. We find a decent spot near the clubhouse and tech inspection shack and set up camp. After we get the bike off the truck, I proceed to tech inspection with my leathers, bike, helmet and back protector, where there's a line, three-wide and 20 people long. Slowly the line moves, and in about 30 min, it's my turn. I know I've wired and prepped the bike as needed, but for some reason, I'm still worried about passing inspection. They send me off, with no problems.. all clear. "Whew", I say to myself, "That was easy, I don't know why I was worrying".

Morning practice sessions start in about 30 min. While we wait, we setup the canopy and chairs, and lay everything out. Now this is my first time on the track since Sept. last year, so I decide to take it easy during practice, and get back into the flow of things. I take my two sessions, and man am I slow. But I figure I was doing OK for my first time back on a bike.

Right now it's 11:30 and my race isn't until ~3pm, so we just chill and watch races all day.

About 3pm, we're hanging out in the pits, waiting for our race. The Rider School 5-lap practice should be starting soon, and our race is next, after that.
I hear over the P.A... "3rd call for Middleweight Sportsman amateurs and experts.. 3rd call... I guess no one wants to come out and play."
"Umm..." I say to Rebecca, "Did they just call for our race?.. I thought the rider school was up next?"
I shout over to Brian Roach and Laura Granato.. "Hey, isn't the rider school supposed to be now?... and our race next?".. they confirmed, "Yea."
I shout again, "I think they just called for our race... actually I'm pretty positive they just called for our race." ... just as 3 riders who are in our race group go whizzing by trying to make it to the grid.
"SHIT!" we yell.
Frantically we try and get dressed, leathers, boots, gloves... Brian had an advantage of having his suit halfway on already, he gets on his bike and heads to the grid. I'm 20 seconds behind him, when as I approach the gate, they wave me to stop. They tell me I can't go out because the race started already. I start complaining and Laura comes over to help the cause, but no dice. We didn't hear the PA, and they rescheduled the rider school practice, and claim they've been announcing it over the PA all day. But somehow no one heard it.. hmmm... So they wouldn't let me out, and they wouldn't give us money back for the race... we were SOL. We packed up and headed home, disappointed with our first race day

So Saturday was a waste of a day, consisting of getting up early, driving one hour 15 minutes, getting two 15-minute practice sessions, and waiting hours, just to miss my one race for the day, without a refund.
That sucks!

Sunday
We get to the track at the crack of dawn, and setup. This time, we only have 1 morning practice sessions, as there are about 15 races today and they start at 10:30am.

So here we are, morning practice.. I'm on my second lap, someone goes down hard, they red flag practice, and we hang out on hot-pit while the ambulance picks em up. About 15 minutes later, track's clear, and there gonna give us a few more laps for practice. I finish one lap, and I'm on #2. I'm behind this dude on an RS250 also. e're coming around turn 17, I think I can pass him, but I get too eager, and he gets a better drive out, onto the straight. OK, so I decide I'll set him up on the straight, and late brake into turn 1. I'm on his ass going down the straight... we hit the kink... adios amigos, he slows down for the kink... I've got it WFO, ~100 mph, 30 degree lean, pass him on the outside of the kink. OK toping out, coming up to the brake markers, I'm at ~120 mph, the bike studders... "Shit, am I out of gas?!? nah can't be." ... just then, the bike shuts off as if someone just pulled the plug.

(This next paragraph happens in a matter of 10 seconds, just to give you an idea of what I was going through)

The rear wheel locks up, "holy FUCK!", I yell inside my head. The rear starts bobbing and sliding "crap, did my chain break, and get stuck in my sprocket?".. I hit the front brakes, and pull in the clutch.. the rear wheel starts spinning again.. "nope, can't be the chain, unless it's caught in the front sprocket"... "OK, let's try this again", I say to myself. Brakes still on HARD, I let out the clutch... it's a no-go, the rear locks up again and the engine doesn't engage. "OK, clutch in it'll be." I stay hard on the brakes as I see the edge of the track fast approaching.. and I'm there... ease off the fronts, and get on the back brakes... I slow down to a stop ~10 feet off the edge of the track at the beginning of turn 1.

The corner workers run over and we move the bike away further from the track. I look, and my chain is still there, in tact. Hmmm. WTF happened... maybe I AM out of gas. We roll the bike to the inside of the turn. Quick inspection I see oil, gas, chain's OK, nothing blocking the wheels.. "OK roll me and let's try to start it", I say to the corner workers. So they push me, I let out the clutch... rear wheel locks. "SHIT!" I say.. It's toast.

They pick me up in the trailer and take me back to the pits. THANK GOD I've got Brian Roach of SpeedWerks pitted across from me. He comes over and helps me diagnose, well... really... HE diagnoses, since I have no clue what I'm looking at/for. "Yep, sounds like, and feels like, you've got a seized engine." So I say, "Uhhh.. ok... in English and Jeffersons.. what's that mean, how bad, and how much is it gonna be?". His answer... "You need a new top-end, meaing, pistons, rings, berings, gaskets, etc... sbout $250 and it's so easy you can do it yourself.. the manual is really good and tell you exactly step-by-step what to do."

So we take off the head to confirm, and yep... there it is... a hole in the right side of the piston crown, with the ring showing through. I'm done for the day.

BUT the worst part... about 45 minutes later... my friends show up to watch me race today. So I explain to them what happened, and how sorry I was. They were cool with it, and said, "Hey, at least you can drink beer, hang out, and watch the races all day with us now."
... and that's exactly what we did.

So overall the weekend sucked, but was a valuable learning experience for me. I now know how to rebuilt my top end, and as the other 2-stroke racers said... "Welcome to 2-stroke racing."