[Eyespy]

Track Day report for 3-23 and 3-24-05:

Despite persistent predictions by all major weather forcasters I had been monitoring calling for rain, both days turned out much better than anticipated. Weather was chilly on Wednesday, with a couple brief slight sprinkles, mixed with a few warm sunny spells. The weather on Thursday for the big track was fantastic. Sunny, cool but not cold, and dry. The bikes were making sick HP because of the cool denser air, despite the 2500' elevation. Most everyone rode very well and very considerately. I only had to pull one rider off, and that was only because the brake light needed to be taped over. (Not sure how this get through tech, but it was only a minor issue that was corrected quickly). Very few incidences. One rider went in a little too hot into T4 on the big track and went down on a Ducati in T4b, getting the wind knocked out of him. He was laying still for a few moments, so we ran the Ambulance out on the track, but fortunately, it was unecessary, as the rider was able to get up under his own power and was not seriously injured. Bike was primarily cosmetic damage, plastics, lever, stuff like that. One of our instructors, who is also an experienced club racer, and a very good rider, had a problem in T2 on the big track, and went down. It is unclear if he lost the front or the rear, there are differing accounts of what was seen and felt. But he was ok, the bike was ok, and he was able to ride more.

At Streets of Willow on Wednesday, a rider who was riding one of Kelly Baker's track bikes that started life as a GS500 (if I remember correctly), had a minor mishap in T4, and went down loosing a slight amount of oil at the outside of the turn, which we quickly got cleaned up. Apparently, he was startled when the fornt wheel rose up coming off the rise in turn 4, might have gotten it crossed up a bit, and when it set down, got into a bit of a headshake, at which time the rider apparently succombed to a well known SR and chopped the throttle, losing the front end.

At the start of the day on Wednesday, we were met with mudslides on Streets in the turn4/5 transition area, that took a couple of hours for the WSIR maintenance crew to clean up with some heavy equipment. During this time, we ran the short track config (1 mile), as that was a lot better than waiting around doing nothing. The riders were understanding of the adverse track condition that was outside our control and were all appreciative of the decision to run the short config until the crew had the track back in good shape, at which point we opened up the Bowl. One rider ran off the track in the slow section approaching turn 12 and hd it not been for all the moisture in the runoff area and resulting mud, would have been able to ride it out. But the mud caused a messy but soft off road landing.

Thanks to everyone who came out and helped to make the season opener go so smooth, it was a very good time, and we got decent weather in spite of all the reports predicting lots of rain. Looking forward to April! My little "surprise" was, surprisingly, not ready, but should be on the track for April....