The weather sucked as that cold front that hit most of the west snuck it's way all the way to Yuma, which is a few miles away from Mexico.
The track was fun & very fast but here are a few downers for me.
- I got 15 minutes of practice even though sign-ups lasted an hour. They wouldn't let people on the track without supervision & I guess volunteers are in short supply.
- The track lights were HORRIBLE!! I can't see very well at night in the first place & this was just iceing on the cake. Imagine RC with just half of their lights on.....that's about it. PLUS going down the first straight up onto a big step looked more like going into a tunnel than anything else. Very scary & frustrating to say the least.
- The gate was very slow & just didn't jive with the light cadence, a big delay between red & green.
They had 11 moto's & I had low points in 36-50 cruiser. I ended up 2nd overall. I lost to the local hotshoe. He was the fastest 40-something I have EVER raced against! (sorry Mike K.!
) I honestly thought this guy was in his teens when I practiced against him & he ended up being 45 yrs old. His main advantage over me was his gate, he had it wired. I would catch him out of turn one but it stayed even after that. In the 2nd moto I realized I had to get him in the first turn if I had a chance of beating him so I low-highed him with my left foot out, just as soon as I went up into him I lost the frontend & barely saved a washout. That let the 3rd place guy pass me but I stayed on course & got up under him in the 2nd to last corner for the pass. The main was my best lap as I got right on top of the leader & it was actually a good race to the stripe but I don't know how hard the hotshoe was pushing it.
After talking to him, he's never raced a national & was this "ex-pro mt. biker dude" who was in killer shape. No doubt in my mind he would do some damage on the national circuit.
The track was very fast & tight. Looks like it would be alot of fun just to putz around on & learn a few things. There is a Marine base right there in town & there was this young Marine who was 22 yrs. old who just started racing & asking me for some tips, very nice guy & was riding a pretty nice Standard he bought off of E-Bay. The people were nice but the weather was windy & cold. If I would of raced my 20" I would of been kicked down to the 17-18 expert class.........no thanks.
Thanks to Heather for all your help.
b.