So Don Calls me on the cell phone, "Got
a minute?"
Then I hear about a little dance him and the MV Agusta F4 did.
Thankfully the Bike did the slam dancing and Don just did a little pavement
waltz.....
 The Man and his Black Cherry!! |
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Hey
guys  I'm
back briefly before I shoot back down to "Control Central"
(again) #$%$#^ I miss Casey. You know that "little voice" you
get in your head? I should of listen (famous last words) to mine, this
morning while standing in line to complete the entry paperwork I noticed
that six riders in front of me all had crashed leathers on. Nobody in
line was unscathed, these guys were track vets. I did the paperwork,
rolled into the pits washed my bike to keep it looking good. Russell
arrived we checked his suspension settings and talked about Dajiro Kato
and if his accident would result in better qualified (multi-skilled)
flag workers at races etc.First session Russell & I ride out together, after a few laps we switch bikes to compare suspension settings etc. A few laps later we switch back and the session ended shortly thereafter. I had 30min before my next session with the fast boys (Nagano-san and those REAL Racers). Russell said he'd time me, I was feeling good, great weather, first race of the season at the end of this 30min practice. I was riding my normal "track day" pace building heat into those Bridgestone tires on my second lap at the back straight I thought I'd get serious and go into my "Race Frame of Mind". Hard on the gas exiting the second hairpin corner, loving the sound that MV makes about 11G, 100meter mark roll-off the throttle, 50 meter mark I downshift one gear, tap both brakes and flip it over to my right knee. The "real fast" guys through here have a great line (or so I thought) and I wanted to work with it. Generally I stay relatively close to the checkerboard all the way around but these fast guys do in a little deeper, roll-off the throttle, turn it over and gas it hard out. (The TSUKUBA Line is published in a Japanese Magazine I recently saw). Whenever I ride (I believed) that I have a "good sense" of what's going on around me and what the bike is doing. Racing SM and even trackdays I've felt the front slip and managed to save all of them before. Not today sports-fans... that front didn't "slip" it just plain washed-away faster than I personally have experienced. In the blink of an eye the MV was spinning counter clockwise across the asphalt while I was butt surfing. I made a conscious effort not to roll and used my hands to keep straight. When the MV hit the edge of the track there is a hard clay surface there I "thought" it would come to rest there. I still couldn't appreciate how much speed we were still carrying. The MV skipped accross the clay and dug-in to the soft gravel trap before the foam barriers. I switched from surfing on my right butt cheek to the left in a slight roll, when I came back around I saw the MV shoot straight into the air and damn near leave the stadium  At Tsukuba on the last turn there are foam barriers in front of a white guard rail which is also in front of a 10ft green chain link fence (property boundary I believe) behind the green monster is a blue nylon mesh material like those found at golf driving ranges as added security. The MV cleared the foam barriers and hit the top bar of the 10ft fence "hung there a moment" and crashed down (on the tank no less) between the white guardrail and the blue nylon mesh material. I not only lost the front wheel but I damn near launched that baby into a guys rice farm  A quick check of my physical condition was good (except for the "Black Cherry") so I said a very long and grateful prayer of "Thanks!!" to the man upstairs for saving my ass "again"! This was my first race track crash (other than Yamanashi's dirty little corner incident with Dean, Ken and some guys quite a few years ago). I was totally surprised how fast it happened... and then s-l-o-w m-o-t-i-o-n until the butt surfing ended. I do not "know" why it occurred in my mind there are numerous possibilities (too many to list). The end result is I was lucky... if crashing gracefully is a skill, that is one aspect of racing I hope not to perfect. With allot of help & support from Russell and Stu between borrowing parts, on-line web shopping etc. I believe I can still be race ready by Sunday and least it will "look" like a race bike and not the polished gem that I rode all last year. If I can just get this project complete before Sunday... it would be so cool to go from gravel trap total destruction to race entry. Wish me luck!! C-Ya  _________________ Don Helle aka VADER!! |
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