Fireworks - July 6-7, 2002


My weekend was very intense. A lot of singing, a lot of riding, a lot of
travelling when I was so tired I thought I couldn't make it any further.
Very little sleep. I think between Thursday and Monday there were 11
hours total. 

Dane and I worked out this thing where I drove the van, loaded with race
bikes, first to the blues festival in Maine that I was singing at, then
from there to the track. He met me at the track in his car on Friday,
and then I drove his car to both of my weekend gigs, while he slept in
the van. Then he drove his car home on Sunday and I kept the van until I
came home Monday. I set up a tent so I wouldn't have to disturb him by
coming in late. This solved my car rental problem (my car is STILL in
the shop after 6 weeks), thankfully, and saved a fair bit of hassle for
me. Dane's a goodie. I will be sad to not have him as a roommate later
on this year. Organization of this type will be more difficult, too,
come to think of it.

Friday, Jackie was doing Penguin practice, so I got my bike together in
hopes to join her. We never managed to be on the track at the same time,
and we rode with the Penguins instead of the amateurs because the
amateur practices were so full, but I still got a leg up on the bizarre
track configuration that was in Turn 12 just for the weekend. (It was a
great psychological place for me to gain position the rest of the
weekend - heh.) The Penguins were slow, and I got to practice passing.
That's always good for me, it makes me braver.

The horror of horrors for the Honda Girls: Ann's Blue is in the shop
with the motor dropped. Will it ever stop? Something went bad with the
spare (she was smoking on decel last race weekend), and as a result Rob
came and picked the crash motor up between races so her mechanic can
salvage bits here and there. Joe Endris and Jim Franklin both generously
offered her their EX-500s to ride for the weekend, and Ann picked Joe's.
It was GP shift and very odd for her in a lot of ways, but she still was
close to my times on a strange bike. She rocks.

I raced one race on Saturday, got the best start of my life, and managed
to stay in a pack and pass a bunch of people during the race, including
one person who has been a rolling speed bump in my path for 2 seasons.
Yay! I never got a really fast lap time, in fact I was 3 seconds slower
than I thought, but it was still intense racing. Ann never caught me,
much to my amazement. (I flew past her when the green flag dropped, and
she always kills me on the starts. Lucky me that she was on an
unfamiliar bike.) Jackie never caught me either, which was awesome for
me, but probably less awesome for her, as her lap times are generally 3
seconds faster than mine, and up until recently she was faster than Ann,
too.

Friday night's gig was in NH, so I didn't have to drive too far, but
Saturday night's show was on Cape Cod, so I couldn't race or corner work
on Sunday; I just didn't have the reflexes for it. Recipe for disaster.

Sometime on Saturday Bruce & Susie from BCM Ducati were dropping off
Van's bike at the garage next door to TDR, and Susie saw me in my
leathers and asked if I was going to stay for the Ladies' Track Day on
Monday. I had intended to, to meet some women I know from a mailing list
I'm on, but Susie said I should ride, not just hang out. I asked how
much it cost, and she said, "Nothing. But you have to help us." So
that's how I became a track day instructor. I was faster than all but
one of the women in the advanced group, which surprised the heck out of
me. Some of these ladies have a lot of track day experience, and I
thought they'd be kicking my ass, but they weren't. (I was, however, the
slowest instructor, duh. :) I spent the day hanging off at 55 mph. I
never hang off, it hurts me too much and upsets the bike and makes me
slow(er), so I thought I'd practice it. 115 miles of hanging off, and
I'm still having trouble with stairs 2 days later. My two "fast laps" of
the day (read: 1:45s, probably) almost killed me when I kept hanging off
for them. I don't know if I'm built wrong or what, but it's just not a
good thing for my legs. Ow ow ow ow ow! Still, I had a great time at the
track day.



Amateur Red 1 - Saturday
-------------------------

Kit		Ann
---------	---------
2:07.573
1:45.738
1:47.527
1:46.930
1:48.198
1:46.205
---------
1:50.362


Amateur Red 2 - Saturday
-------------------------

Kit		Ann
---------	---------
2:02.046	1:45.399*
1:45.498	1:49.274
1:45.903	1:51.822
1:43.559*	1:47.011
1:46.919
1:51.597
---------	---------
1:49.254	1:48.011


Crap. I cannot find my piece of paper with our race times on it. 


Saturday - Race 9 LWSS
-------------------------
Kit		Ann
---------	---------
1:38.733	1:40.543	fastest lap


Saturday - Race 13 MSPM
-------------------------
Kit		Ann
---------	---------
		1:44.900	fastest lap