Killing coyotes (my Infineon race report)

[scuseme]

Okay, so I am beat. But I want to get a quick report in tonight.

First of all, racing as part of a team is AMAZING. What a great feeling to have so many capable, enthusiastic, excited people working in the pits, giving moral support, smiles, jokes, hugs, water, Gatorade, whatever.... It was my first experience racing with BARFracing and it was already the best race weekend I've enjoyed yet. Huge thanks to Allan, Danny, Steve, Greg and Andy for all the positive vibes and big help in the pits. Budman, I am so honored to be included with such a great group of people! Thank you so much for the opportunity. I am sure my weekend would've ended very differently (read: not happened) if it weren't for my awesome new team.

So, Saturday practice, my bike was leaking oil. Danny, Allan and Greg worked so quickly and smoothly to narrow down what was wrong and fix it. I am sure if I had been working on my bike alone, it would've taken me all day to fix it. As it was, I missed one practice session. You guys rock!

Sunday, I felt READY to race. Went out for practice in the morning, first group on track, first lap, and I hit a coyote! Some people tried to tell me it was a fox, but I saw it before it was a bloody mess smeared on the track and it was definitely a coyote. I hit the coyote (actually thought it was a dog for a second) coming out of turn 7, entering the esses. I managed to somehow avoid hitting most of it with my front wheel. I think it hit my bike just behind the wheel, running on to the track. It demolished my belly pan. I went THUMP over it with my rear wheel, with the shattered remainder of my lower hitting my ankle and flapping against my shift lever. I somehow stayed upright and on the track. Freaked out I exited the track and returned to the BARFracing pit shaking and babbling. I don't really know why I didn't crash, but I handled it somehow. The riders behind me told me I beheaded the poor animal. It was sad.

My friend and fellow 250P racer Richard Lesher lent me the bellypan from is spare bike, and my fabulous pit crew got my bike ready to race.

The adrenaline slowly faded and I stopped shaking. I raced 500 Twins and felt good. I raced 250 Production and felt GREAT. I took a second off my best race time and had a blast dicing with Jack Walshe and didn't chicken out, passing him in turn 1. I felt so solid! What a great race. Even after a crappy start, I still managed to finish 14th. It was so exciting, and part of it was knowing my new team was there rooting me on.

Still sad about the coyote, but glad it didn't end up differently. What a weekend!

Looking forward to Buttonwillow, and even more toward 2006.



__________________

[GoGo]

Nice job, sista.

Nothing you could do about the coyote. Don't feel bad. If it wasn't your bike that he walked in front of it would have been someone else's, and maybe the next guy would have crashed.

It's great your first experience with your new team worked out well. Try to build on that every time out. During the week too. You're gunna do well.

You're always a hi-light.

[Chase]

Hey Scuseme-

I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason,but,hard to figure out the canine interaction. Maybe your original belly-pan was doomed to fall off during the race, get stuck in the chain, and you'd end up with Randy Renfro type toe-thumbs. Extremely glad that you kept it upright and together.

It is my expierence that, in all my previous attempts at self destruction, it's not the situation itself that will kill/hurt you, but the panic induced from such things will take you out. You kept your wits about you and that is very commendable.Outstanding. Glad to hear that you had a good race-day, and you've got one heck of a story to tell, from someplace other than the hospital.

However,...be prepared to get a helluva lot of teasing about this....Dog Catcher... :D

[sirlimpzalot]

Awesome mini report from my favorite girl racer!! :D
You were just doing your part to help mantain the coyote population, and it is survival of the fittest..that coyote had no chance against the overwhelming horsepower from your Neenja Two fitty....It should have known better, I have seen your power!! :rolleyes: I am very glad you did not fall...and like it was said before..the stories you could tell around the campfire have just been increased!! :D

[scuseme]

GoGo, what a great pic! And what a great event! ;)

Chase, you know I think you're right. I too believe that everything happens for a reason. There were some weird incidents leading up to the coyote smash. First, after the first Saturday practice session, I got called back to tech. The cornerworkers saw my bellypan dragging. I checked it out and sure nuff, it had cracked and come loose on the bottom. We repaired and resealed it and tech gave me the ok.

Then Sunday morning, I got up early to go for my usual morning run at the track. It was pitch black. I was running up the hill to the grandstands at turn 2 so I could run the stairs there when something ran across my path ahead. It was too dark to see it, but I wondered if it might be a coyote. Then I wondered why we don't hear coyotes howling in the hills at Sears Point like we do when we camp at Laguna.

Then, of course, a coyote destroyed my bellypan later that day. I was pretty weirded out about those preceeding incidents. It might mean something....

[Kneepuff]

Wow! What a weekend for you! Never a dull moment, as they say. So glad that you came out of it all unscathed and ready to ride.

We watched your race and we were screaming and cheering for you everytime you came around. I'm sure you heard us! :p For sure you must have heard RB yelling over the sound of the motorcycle engines. ;) We were so proud of you. Looking forward to seeing you race at Buttonwillow in a couple of weeks.

Way to go, Leigh!

[scuseme]

You know, I think I did hear you guys. Were you in turn 2? Did you guys see my awesome pass in turn 1? It felt so good, and maybe the cheering was just in my head, but either way I heard it!

;)

[Red Baron]

Leigh,

YES!

We did see you make the pass in turn #1. :p

Me, Hammer, SB and KP were yelling so loud that the people that were near us thought we were nuts! Maybe we are - but it was worth it. You looked so bada$$ in ALL BLACK and that sweet rep helmet...as you were bearing down on the rider in front of you (was it like the 6th lap maybe?), we KNEW you were going to go by at the APEX of turn #1...which you DID! :D

We watched from start to finish (as we did with Vik's race before), and it was one of the highlights of our weekend. The only thing I didn't like about your race was the way those guys pinched you in T#1 at the start. I bet you would have passed even more riders had it not been for that. I can relate because that's what happened to me in the OT race. When I was gridded on the OUTSIDE in the F40 race, I passed about 5 riders just going up the hill from turn #1. I KNOW you would have too...because I saw something yesterday in your riding that you mentioned in your LAST race report, and that was this...

YOU ARE REALLY RACING NOW! NOT just riding... It was so good to see you out there, and I can't WAIT until next year when you are on the SV650, and you are showing what you can really do. ;)

RB http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/755.gif (http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb001_ZSXXXXXXXXUS)

[scuseme]

Thanks RB, that was the first time I've finished ahead of that guy (Jack Walshe #88) in the 250P race. He's a long time racer and a really good rider. He's so aggressive! So hard to pass, even though I knew I was faster than him, he kept blocking me and I kept chickening out.

I diced with him all weekend in practice and I knew if I just didn't back down, I could get him. I got ahead of him at the start of the 500 Twins race, but he passed me in lap 2. I stalked him and got him back entering turn 7, but he got me back on the exit. I chickened out when he showed me a wheel and I gave him room. Then I stalked him for another two laps and almost passed him into turn 1, but I backed off when I was unsure if I had enough speed to go around him on the outside. I managed to get him in turn 7 again and ran a defensive line so he couldn't do what he'd done to me the first time I tried to pass him there. It was last lap and I beat him!

My friend Alan said he couldn't believe I backed off in turn 1. He said I totally had Jack there! I told him (and myself) that I wouldn't do it again.

In the 250 P race Jack got ahead of me at the start, along with all the others who pinched me off--yeah, it sucked--but I managed to pick a few of them off. Then I had my sights set on Jack. It took me a couple laps to catch up to him, but I planned the pass the whole time. It was AWESOME! I am so glad you guys saw it. It may seem trivial, but it was a big moment for me.

[Kneepuff]

Leigh - We definitely saw that pass! RB remarked about it as it was happening. And we were screaming GO LEIGH!!! That was just awesome! :) :) It wasn't trivial. We totally recognized that it was a BIG moment.