wfooshee
O, Woe is me!!
Sorry for the novella length. I promise, there are pictures later!
Finally got the pics sorted out, which were keepers and which destined to the oblivion of the delete button.
As reported elsewhere Motortoad and I went to the AMA weekend at Barber as corner workers. We went up Thursday night, had Friday to act as genuinely mature spectators, and worked Turn 1 on Saturday and Sunday. All the pics are from Friday, as we are not allowed to photgraph from our stations. I almost said not allowed any more, but I'm not sure we ever were allowed to, it was just sort of overlooked as long as it didn't interfere with flagging and working. Doesn't matter, we were too busy dragging busted-ass bikes around on Saturday to do any photo work!
First session of the day was Supersport qualifying. Had one bike down in our corner that session, gave us fits getting it out, as it had gravel in the chain and the brakes, wouldn't move more than 3 inches at a time. Finally wrestled it out and the rider spent the sesion with us. I do not remember who it was, though.
I might have mentioned to the guys with me there that I thought we were all set at that point, as I'd never had to pick up more than one bike on any given day. Boy, was that a stupid thing to say out loud!
Daytona Sportbike qualifying was the second session, and some time into it Alistair Douglas cooked the front wheel in turn 1 and came at us through the gravel. Easier cleanup as the bike rolled well, and he spent the session and chatted us up about the [dis]abilities of the Triumph vis-a-vis the other bikes.
No more bikes down before lunch, spent the rest of the morning just watching.
Lunch break, back out to work. We had no shade at our station during the morning, and we were feeling it. Somebody tracked down an EZ-Up, belongs to Howard, whoever Howard is. Thank you ever-so-much for its use, Howard! Shade on Saturday afternoon, and shelter from the rain on Sunday!
First event after lunch is the Supersport race 1. We geared up, gloves and whistles ready, 'cause you know, it's Turn One! Sure enough, one guy gets punted from the inside, comes into our parlor. It's #45, Antoine Richards. He was not happy about being punted, but he was just about the nicest kid ever. Watched the race with us, told us who was who, and because Supersport isn't on TV, and it's actually 2 series (East and West, not to mention Young Gun and Top Gun) combined for this finale weekend, that was good info.
Next event, Daytona Sportbikes race 1. Mid-field there are three bikes side-by-side, the inside bike moves out, into the bike next him (I think #57, Cory West) which moves out into the path of #210, Paul Allison. Paul is passing that bike, but when it moves out he actually gets sideswiped off of his bike, which straightens up to aim EXACTLY at our station!!!! Ghost-bike comes through the gravel without slowing down much at all, and BAM!!!!!! into the foam barrier set in front of the tire barrier which is set in front of the Armco. Our fire bottles leaning on the back of the Armco go flying, and the rider arrives just a second or so after the bike, but just beside it. I'm over checking him out, he's slow getting up, I tell Steve to radio for medical. We look at the bike, and I tell Steve to report that we can't move it, the race needs to be stopped. Both upper and lower triple trees are broken off on both sides, and the steering head tube is open in the frame. I have one of the steering head bearings, with the race, that I picked up from there later. The vinyl cover from the foam barrier block is wrapped around the bike and we can't get it separated. By this time the rider is up and thinking about getting on the bike, and I direct him to our shady spot, where I've dragged another of the loose foam blocks, and tell him to have a seat until the flashy-bus arrives, and start straightening out our equipment from his earlier dispersal action. He didn't spend any time with us, as they took him off in the red truck. I think he was OK, but he really had the wind knocked out of him. Hooking that other bike with his leg probably was not too pleasant, though. The bike laying on the ground was a sight: front wheel turned at a right angle to the frame, forks connected by brake and clutch hoses only! I'm amazed the radiator wasn't torn out. That would have certainly added to our day, busted bike spraying steam at us!
Race resumes, everybody gets through our turn clean. We've got it made in the shade.
Until our pal Mr. Douglas completely misses turn 1 somehow. He's real hot before the apex, and sits up straight to ride off. He's in the gravel going really fast, and I'm thinking, "BAIL!!! BAIL!!" not wanting to see him hit the fence. I'm told I wasn't actually thinking it, but yelling it at the top of my lungs! Anyway, he finally does, and the bike deflates our air fence, Mr. Douglas is none the worse for wear but needs yet another set of leathers. And we have some more chat time with him!
Bike number 5 on the day. Well, 4th bike, but 5th incident.
Next race is Superbike. Everybody clean through turn 1, we cheer loudly! Radio asks us to go get the BMW which has stopped in the bowl of turn 3, on our side of the track. That crew can't reach it without crossing the track, so two of us go put it behind the Armco while I remain on station hoping nothing happens that I have to handle alone, since the radio went with those guys! They come back quickly, bringing Chris Peris with them, and we have another rider to chat with for a while. He tells us he got away well, then the bike sputtered into turn one, and lost the fire completely into two. He just coasted downhill until it stopped.
Last session of the day was qualy for the XR1200 Spec series, known privately as Spec-Racer Potato. Basically it's a kit you buy from Yoshimura Vance and Hines to fit to your basic XR1200, including an exhaust, a number plate, and oil catch pan, and a steering damper. Hoping against hope that none of these need retrieval, for they are made of iron, and carry a significant source of inertia, i.e. mass. Well, whaddya know, we get through with nothing to do! End of day. off to the campsite, a shower, and clean clothes, and some supper. In whatever order seems convenient.
I'm awakened during the night by the drumming of raindrops on my tent. I scrounge around, can't find my earplugs. Crap! I get up, look through the car. Nothing. Lay back down, rain is lighter, start to drift off, THUNDER!!!! and another squall of rain. Crap!!! About 3:30 I find the plugs in the change pocket of the tent, where'd I'd left them for easy retrieval when needed. Senility's a real bitch sometimes.
I wake up Sunday morning to the sound of Steve blowing his whistle at my tent, as he says I was unresponsive to anything else he'd tried. (It occurs to me just now that he didn't actually say he'd tried anything else . . . Hmmmmmm.) The rain has let up, but the mobile weather reporting device I sometimes use as a cell phone shows lots more on the way. Great. Yesterday was bad enough, now we've got a wet track!
As it happens, only one bike came at us on Sunday. But it was one of the Harleys. Two of us started to lift it, and it seemed bolted somehow to the gravel. He tells me "Get under the handlebar, I'll get the seat." I look at him with the statement of "WTF do you think I was lifting?" on my face. We try again with redoubled effort, and up it comes. It was running while on the ground, and if I could have held the clutch while lifting my share of the 3700 pounds we could have clutched it out of the way, but no, it stalled when the wheel hit and we had to push it uphill to get it behind the Armco. What a bitch that iron stuff is to make motorcycles out of.
OK, pics. All of these are from walking around Friday, starting with the paddock. Pics are clickable for a larger version. Full album, 87 pics, found here
Stuff hanging around some of the motor homes:
Moped from Hell:
The Triumph before we got our hands on it:
CB400. I absolutely love those pipes!!!!
One of us??? It had the key in it when I took this . . . very tempting! Except it's blue.
Ben Bostrom's bike, manned this week by Jake Holden. That's Motortoad in the background, with his famous Korean hat.
The "other" Bostrom's bike, before he got taken out at the end of the first Superbike race and took 102 stitches to his leg!
One potato . . . .
Two potato, three potato, four:
The future champ working out after lunch:
On our grocery run; trailer tongue weight vs. center-stand:
Another Feej. Who are you???:
In front of the museum, Sommer diesel motorcycle:
Li'l bitty rocker cover:
OK, some action shots! These are from the inside of the final turn onto the front straight, looking across pit in. First is Kris Turner:
Alistair Douglas:
Barret Long:
Danny Eslick:
Martin Cardenas:
Now to the hill at the Fan Zone, just past the museum turn on the track. Larry Pegram:
Jake Holden:
Josh Hayes:
Tommy Hayden:
John Hopkins:
Brett McKormick:
Tommy Hayden again. I liked this one enough to go to the trouble of painting out a fence post that photo-bombed my frame, shown in the smaller pic.
Once in a while, when you're shooting with enough shutter to get motion blur, you actually pan with the subject perfectly, leaving no motion blur on the "still" parts at all. Just once in a while . . .
Blake young:
Jake Zemke:
Finally got the pics sorted out, which were keepers and which destined to the oblivion of the delete button.
As reported elsewhere Motortoad and I went to the AMA weekend at Barber as corner workers. We went up Thursday night, had Friday to act as genuinely mature spectators, and worked Turn 1 on Saturday and Sunday. All the pics are from Friday, as we are not allowed to photgraph from our stations. I almost said not allowed any more, but I'm not sure we ever were allowed to, it was just sort of overlooked as long as it didn't interfere with flagging and working. Doesn't matter, we were too busy dragging busted-ass bikes around on Saturday to do any photo work!
First session of the day was Supersport qualifying. Had one bike down in our corner that session, gave us fits getting it out, as it had gravel in the chain and the brakes, wouldn't move more than 3 inches at a time. Finally wrestled it out and the rider spent the sesion with us. I do not remember who it was, though.
I might have mentioned to the guys with me there that I thought we were all set at that point, as I'd never had to pick up more than one bike on any given day. Boy, was that a stupid thing to say out loud!
Daytona Sportbike qualifying was the second session, and some time into it Alistair Douglas cooked the front wheel in turn 1 and came at us through the gravel. Easier cleanup as the bike rolled well, and he spent the session and chatted us up about the [dis]abilities of the Triumph vis-a-vis the other bikes.
No more bikes down before lunch, spent the rest of the morning just watching.
Lunch break, back out to work. We had no shade at our station during the morning, and we were feeling it. Somebody tracked down an EZ-Up, belongs to Howard, whoever Howard is. Thank you ever-so-much for its use, Howard! Shade on Saturday afternoon, and shelter from the rain on Sunday!
First event after lunch is the Supersport race 1. We geared up, gloves and whistles ready, 'cause you know, it's Turn One! Sure enough, one guy gets punted from the inside, comes into our parlor. It's #45, Antoine Richards. He was not happy about being punted, but he was just about the nicest kid ever. Watched the race with us, told us who was who, and because Supersport isn't on TV, and it's actually 2 series (East and West, not to mention Young Gun and Top Gun) combined for this finale weekend, that was good info.
Next event, Daytona Sportbikes race 1. Mid-field there are three bikes side-by-side, the inside bike moves out, into the bike next him (I think #57, Cory West) which moves out into the path of #210, Paul Allison. Paul is passing that bike, but when it moves out he actually gets sideswiped off of his bike, which straightens up to aim EXACTLY at our station!!!! Ghost-bike comes through the gravel without slowing down much at all, and BAM!!!!!! into the foam barrier set in front of the tire barrier which is set in front of the Armco. Our fire bottles leaning on the back of the Armco go flying, and the rider arrives just a second or so after the bike, but just beside it. I'm over checking him out, he's slow getting up, I tell Steve to radio for medical. We look at the bike, and I tell Steve to report that we can't move it, the race needs to be stopped. Both upper and lower triple trees are broken off on both sides, and the steering head tube is open in the frame. I have one of the steering head bearings, with the race, that I picked up from there later. The vinyl cover from the foam barrier block is wrapped around the bike and we can't get it separated. By this time the rider is up and thinking about getting on the bike, and I direct him to our shady spot, where I've dragged another of the loose foam blocks, and tell him to have a seat until the flashy-bus arrives, and start straightening out our equipment from his earlier dispersal action. He didn't spend any time with us, as they took him off in the red truck. I think he was OK, but he really had the wind knocked out of him. Hooking that other bike with his leg probably was not too pleasant, though. The bike laying on the ground was a sight: front wheel turned at a right angle to the frame, forks connected by brake and clutch hoses only! I'm amazed the radiator wasn't torn out. That would have certainly added to our day, busted bike spraying steam at us!
Race resumes, everybody gets through our turn clean. We've got it made in the shade.
Until our pal Mr. Douglas completely misses turn 1 somehow. He's real hot before the apex, and sits up straight to ride off. He's in the gravel going really fast, and I'm thinking, "BAIL!!! BAIL!!" not wanting to see him hit the fence. I'm told I wasn't actually thinking it, but yelling it at the top of my lungs! Anyway, he finally does, and the bike deflates our air fence, Mr. Douglas is none the worse for wear but needs yet another set of leathers. And we have some more chat time with him!
Bike number 5 on the day. Well, 4th bike, but 5th incident.
Next race is Superbike. Everybody clean through turn 1, we cheer loudly! Radio asks us to go get the BMW which has stopped in the bowl of turn 3, on our side of the track. That crew can't reach it without crossing the track, so two of us go put it behind the Armco while I remain on station hoping nothing happens that I have to handle alone, since the radio went with those guys! They come back quickly, bringing Chris Peris with them, and we have another rider to chat with for a while. He tells us he got away well, then the bike sputtered into turn one, and lost the fire completely into two. He just coasted downhill until it stopped.
Last session of the day was qualy for the XR1200 Spec series, known privately as Spec-Racer Potato. Basically it's a kit you buy from Yoshimura Vance and Hines to fit to your basic XR1200, including an exhaust, a number plate, and oil catch pan, and a steering damper. Hoping against hope that none of these need retrieval, for they are made of iron, and carry a significant source of inertia, i.e. mass. Well, whaddya know, we get through with nothing to do! End of day. off to the campsite, a shower, and clean clothes, and some supper. In whatever order seems convenient.
I'm awakened during the night by the drumming of raindrops on my tent. I scrounge around, can't find my earplugs. Crap! I get up, look through the car. Nothing. Lay back down, rain is lighter, start to drift off, THUNDER!!!! and another squall of rain. Crap!!! About 3:30 I find the plugs in the change pocket of the tent, where'd I'd left them for easy retrieval when needed. Senility's a real bitch sometimes.
I wake up Sunday morning to the sound of Steve blowing his whistle at my tent, as he says I was unresponsive to anything else he'd tried. (It occurs to me just now that he didn't actually say he'd tried anything else . . . Hmmmmmm.) The rain has let up, but the mobile weather reporting device I sometimes use as a cell phone shows lots more on the way. Great. Yesterday was bad enough, now we've got a wet track!
As it happens, only one bike came at us on Sunday. But it was one of the Harleys. Two of us started to lift it, and it seemed bolted somehow to the gravel. He tells me "Get under the handlebar, I'll get the seat." I look at him with the statement of "WTF do you think I was lifting?" on my face. We try again with redoubled effort, and up it comes. It was running while on the ground, and if I could have held the clutch while lifting my share of the 3700 pounds we could have clutched it out of the way, but no, it stalled when the wheel hit and we had to push it uphill to get it behind the Armco. What a bitch that iron stuff is to make motorcycles out of.
OK, pics. All of these are from walking around Friday, starting with the paddock. Pics are clickable for a larger version. Full album, 87 pics, found here
Stuff hanging around some of the motor homes:
Moped from Hell:
The Triumph before we got our hands on it:
CB400. I absolutely love those pipes!!!!
One of us??? It had the key in it when I took this . . . very tempting! Except it's blue.
Ben Bostrom's bike, manned this week by Jake Holden. That's Motortoad in the background, with his famous Korean hat.
The "other" Bostrom's bike, before he got taken out at the end of the first Superbike race and took 102 stitches to his leg!
One potato . . . .
Two potato, three potato, four:
The future champ working out after lunch:
On our grocery run; trailer tongue weight vs. center-stand:
Another Feej. Who are you???:
In front of the museum, Sommer diesel motorcycle:
Li'l bitty rocker cover:
OK, some action shots! These are from the inside of the final turn onto the front straight, looking across pit in. First is Kris Turner:
Alistair Douglas:
Barret Long:
Danny Eslick:
Martin Cardenas:
Now to the hill at the Fan Zone, just past the museum turn on the track. Larry Pegram:
Jake Holden:
Josh Hayes:
Tommy Hayden:
John Hopkins:
Brett McKormick:
Tommy Hayden again. I liked this one enough to go to the trouble of painting out a fence post that photo-bombed my frame, shown in the smaller pic.
Once in a while, when you're shooting with enough shutter to get motion blur, you actually pan with the subject perfectly, leaving no motion blur on the "still" parts at all. Just once in a while . . .
Blake young:
Jake Zemke:
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