CMRA 12-13 April
Ahhhh, where to start this time...
Well, it was an eventful week last week to say the least. For starters it was the weekend of the dreaded 8hr endurance race! I did not come away from that one in top shape... more on that in a minute.
Saturday -
For the 8hr we decided to field a 5 man team. Unfortunately, due to some irresponsiblity of one of the team members and the otherwise lack of structure and organization it was very difficult to communicate and accomplish our objectives. We put together a solid race and came away with 10th overall and 2nd in class. Even if we'd ridden our best and had lightning fast pitstops, I'm not sure if we could've caught first place... those guys were on a whole nother level this weekend... hats off to them they earned the win.
We struggled getting the bike setup both ergonomically and suspension wise. It is a near insurmountable task to set up a bike to accomodate 5 riders of different sizes and styles. Unfortunately for me, the compromise would leave me with a rather unique injury that would prove to be very difficult to overcome on Sunday.
Its called "Left Common Peroneal Neuropathy"
Basically, the sciatic nerve comes down from your hip and splits in two right around the back of the knee. From there, one end continues down the back of the leg, this nerve controls the calf muscles, and other muscles that work to point the foot and toes toward the ground. The other branch wraps around the outside of the knee and continues down the front of the leg; this branch controls the flexor muscles on the front of the leg that allow the toes and foot to point upward.
What has happened is that the outside peroneal has been crushed and thus, I have lost the ability to point my toes and foot upward i.e. shift gears etc. The Neurologist says that the partial paralysis is temporary and that normal function should resume in a matter of weeks minumum and and months maximum.
From the nearest I can deduce, this is a direct result of racing on a bike that was not set up properly for my height. My legs were held at too extreme of an angle for too long and the result is a damaged peroneal nerve. Mind you I started racing in 1998 and since that time I have ridden a number of machines and this has never happened before! So, watch out! Make sure you have the proper ergonomic setup before you ride, you don't want this to happen to you!
Sunday -
I woke up Sunday morning and felt fine other than my injury. Keep in mind at this time I had no idea what was going on with my leg, I just knew that I couldn't shift gears without lifting my whole lower leg off the peg!
Practice went smoothly enough, I managed to find one of my competitors in the last session and stalked him a bit to see if I needed to worry. I knew I had him covered after that session.
I was up against another problem other than my leg, I finally ran into the dreaded gearing problem we 1098 racers deal with. Combined with a seemingly incurable case of clutch slip in top gear. The tallest gearing I could fit was too short for the 2.9 mile part NASCAR circuit. I was rolling out of the throttle for about half the length of the front straight to keep from slapping the rev limiter. The only way I could compensate was to bend into turn one, a fifth gear left hander that drops off the NASCAR banking , so deep that I thought my eyes were going to pop out of my head! Not a pleasant way to ride lemme tell ya.
The Heavy Weight Twins race was mid-afternoon so I hung out and waited for race time, trying like hell to make my left leg work again! No luck though...
Race time: I'm gridded 2nd row outside with a clear shot to the front. Green flag drops and I holeshot the hell out of that mofo! I couldn't even hear the other bikes I got out of there so quick! I rode like I was getting chased by a lynch mob for almost two laps and then... A RED FLAG!!!! "Noooooo!"
I raced back to the pits and put the tire warmers on. I was running a little wide in a couple turns so David of North Texas Superbikes quickly made some adjustments, peeled the warmers and got me back out for the restart.
This time, I was not as fortunate. Green flag drops and I shoot past everyone again, "lift the leg - shift to second, lift the leg - shift to third.... third.... THIRD.... DAMNIT WHERE the FUCK is THIRD GEAR!?!?!" I missed it twice... and before I could get it back in zooming past goes the number 88 on his bored out RSVR 1060! "Shit!" I thought, now this is gonna be some work! Did I mention that the race was shortened to only 4 laps because of the red flag? No? Well, I now had three and a half laps to close what was now a second and a half gap! Oh and I couldn't reel him in on the straight since I couldn't peg it out on the straights! *sigh*
I put my head down and made the rest of the lap count, until the front straight that is... I missed fourth gear coming on to the banking!!! Oh how I hate life by this point! "No more screw up's I said to myself" And that was my last. I rode my best considering... I was a half second faster than the number 88 each of the three remaining laps, and in the last two turns I got close enough to make one feeble attempt at a pass, but it was not enough to stick. He fended me off and eeked across the finish .29 seconds ahead of me.
Second isn't bad don't get me wrong, but I love that track, I won my first trophy there. Texas World Speedway is MY track! Just not this time, I guess.
As usual, thanks to Dunlop for keeping the sticky side down and David Roy of North Texas Superbikes for the awsome setup and support, Micah and Steve from AF1 Racing for all their tuning and technical knowledge, Komodo for keeping me safe and studly, PowerStands for making some awesome tire bakers, Motowheels.com for having the parts when no one else does, and KCI Ducati for all their brand specific help Steve at KCI helped me really get the motor singing for this race, its just a shame I couldn't do it justice. Top notch companies, every one!
Don't change that Bat channel, I ain't quit yet!!!
