This was going to be my first race weekend at Loudon this year. In July, I crashed in Friday practice - lost the rear in the bowl - and couldn't race as the rearsets had torn off the mounting ears from the frame. A little help from Rockwell Cycles (and some welding) put the bike back into working order. I tried to do a track day at NJMP the next weekend, but had to stop after just a couple sessions. Even though it was a lowside, I tumbled at the end banging up my ribs. My ribs hurt too bad to ride. I took the next weekend off to be ready for Loudon again. I didn't make Friday practice, the weather was bad - pouring rain. I got registered for 3 races for the weekend on Friday night - 2 saturday and the novice endurance race on sunday. That would leave me enough time to get down to NJMP for CSS on Monday and Tuesday.
Practice didn't go well - I was too tense. My times kept coming down though so I just tried to relax. Still a bit nervous about the crash as I don't know exactly why it happened. 2nd practice was cut short due to a red flag but I knew I was faster. Eventually it was time for the novice middleweight superbike race. I was gridded in 5C - there were 34 bikes total. When I got in position, I couldn't see the starter. Not good. This would be the first time I've ever started the Ducati in anger and I didn't know when to go. I strained forward to catch a glimpse of him but wasnt sure the rpms were holding. I looked down. Just then I hear the roar - the race had started. I dropped from 19th to about 30th in an instant. I was mad but decided to keep my head and try to finish midpack. I started trying to work around slower traffic. My lap time for the 2nd lap was a 1:30.5 which is actually faster than any lap last year and I was seriously held up by traffic. I passed 2 bikes before the front straight at the end of that lap and thought I had put them behind me. As I went into turn one (starting lap 3), I tried to run into the corner deep and then snap the bike in. I did, but (my memory gets really weak here) I remember thinking "he just hit me!" There was another bike inside me and I hadn't left any room. This other bike on my inside shoots in front of me with the rider not really on the bike - the rider falls off to the outside and the bike crashes in front of me. I do remember the windscreen on it exploding when it hit the ground. The next thing I remember is someone telling me not to move and I was in a lot of pain. I don't actually know how I crashed, but I did. I hope the other rider is okay.
Tomorrow I get my shoulder plated as my collar bone is in several pieces at the moment. I have a killer bruise of my left hip - I'm purple from half way down my left thigh to my rib cage - kind of a lurch/barney mix. I couldn't make it to CSS at NJMP but maybe next season. The bike seemed to have suffered little damage so I'm not sure what happened. I'll post a follow up if I find out
btw, typing with one hand is really slow!
have fun out there and keep both wheels down!
