Race Results March 8-9, ASMA, Arroyo Seco Raceway

Unusual for me, my first race of the day was my best, and even more unusual, the first race of the ASMA season, after not having been on the track for a long time (November 11 last year), was a good and fast one. Even though it's not my favorite direction, anti-clockwise was good to me this time.

I ran 1:15's in the first race, Unlimited Superstock (ULSS), which made me pretty happy. I don't remember Ken S getting by me, but he did, and so I took fourth (thought I'd passed Jim W for third). That was a great pass... I'm smiling as I type this. On the brakes, tucked under the inside of the Yucca corner, I let go of the brake sooner than he did, and on the gas faster, and bye-bye Jim.

Second race was star-crossed. Formula 40 (unlimited displacement, unlimited mods, racers aged 40 and older) should be a pretty sedate race, really, clean, lots of experience and wisdom triumphing over aggression. I was 3rd in the grid, slot 1C, and held the position in the launch. Tom Savoca passed me as we got close to Turn 1, and I was just slotting in behind him and Jeff Smith when I felt my back tire give a lurch. Immediately, I knew what had happened (a racer hit my tire with his front tire), and looked to my outside for an escape, but saw another racer's head and upper torso sliding past me there. Look inside (to the left), and watched the crashed racer's bike, spinning on it's side, careen five feet past me and take out Savoca like a bowling ball. With nowhere to go, I rode straight off the track, into the desert, safely. I turned around, and immediately signaled for the redflag, as I could see inside Tom's thigh... Tom's one hell of a tough dude, but I could see he'd need a bunch of medical attention. The race was restarted after they flew him to El Paso (he'll be fine, it was mostly soft-tissue/fatty damage, not muscle). In the now-shortened (7 laps was too many to fit all the other races remaining into the remaining daylight, so we did 5) race, I got passed on the last lap by Greg T, who wanted to show off, since he was riding my old ZX-6R. I think he clenched a little seat-leather with his sphincter on that pass, as he entered the corner sideways... Finished 4th.

Third race was F-Am (Unlimited Gran Prix/ULGP). This is usually a long race, but today was 8 laps, I think... we didn't make all of them. The weather had changed to be a lot colder, and rain was falling around us, rendering track and tires cold. My bike didn't like the cold... it would miss randomly between 10,000 and 10,700 RPM, and I kept moving backwards on the straights (giving up ground). We think it's the kickstand safety interlock, and I'll be yanking the part out of my bike tonight. Nonetheless, I got passed by three riders driving out of one corner, and mercifully for me (but not for the rider involved), Stacy S (a guy) broke his collarbone, ending the race. I only finished four laps in this race, and got, maybe, 5 points in the class.

Don't get the idea that there's tons of crashes in a raceday. This was really unusual.

My last race was Unlimited Superbike (ULSB), and I gave it heck. Okay, maybe I gave it a mild curse. It was cold, I was tired, and I ran 1:16's, a good pace, but only good enough (with the bike misfiring) for fifth place.

Not a stellar weekend, but not a bad start.