Man, does it feel good to get back on a bike again! I haven’t ridden since the GNF at Road Atlanta last year, which I won the novice clubman National Championship there, but I guess you wouldn’t know that as it has been even longer since I’ve updated this blog (at least about racing/riding). Rick and his lady friend met Hannah and I down at Talladega GP on Friday for a racer track day between the Ed Bargy racing school class sessions. The weather was nice on Friday - around 64˚f for a high! We are coming from 12 inches of snow and a half inch of ice that is still melting so I’ll take anything above freezing at this point.

The track day started off great. I did 3 sessions just getting up to speed and trying to remember the bike and track. The 4th session got a little interesting though when it ended with my rear tire covered in oil. Luckily I didn’t crash and made it back to the pits alright. Much to my surprise I traced the culprit down to being a broken oil sight glass (which nobody has heard of on the KTM so it must have been a freak accident?). After calling many dealerships nobody had the parts needed to fix it so I had to move to plan B. Go to the auto parts store and find a fix. Once there I found a substance that is still quite unknown to me, but it looks and feels like silly putty until a few minuets after you mix it together - then it is hard enough to drill and tap. Anyway I basically covered the entire oil sight glass with this material and like magic, no more oil leak - but now I can’t check the oil level either, doh! The good news is I know how much the KTM holds so I drained and filled accordingly. After getting this fixed and cleaned up I only had one session left in the day to check the fix and get the remaining oil and brake cleaner off of the tires edges! No problems though so all in all a good day.

The next day, Saturday, we got the track in time for 1 practice session before my solo 20 race. I just putted around getting warmed up - though the high was around 70˚ this time! The race was quite uneventful and not really worth mentioning because I rode by myself the entire time. There were 8 people in my class 5 SV650s, 1 800SS, 1 1000SS and me on my 450 KTM single, lol. I started in the last position, but had a good start and passed a couple of people right then. During the next 20 seconds I passed two more SVs and this is where I stayed for the rest of the race. I just couldn’t hang on the straights with the two Ducatis and the SV in front of me so they pulled away lap by lap - though I don’t believe they had any more corner speed than me. In a race later in the day I was able to pass a couple of these guys in the corners, but soon they pulled away on the straights and it was all over for me. Man, do I miss my 560 - it wouldn’t put up with that at all. During this race my best time was just over 1:08. The Ducati 1000SS had a best time in the mid 1:06s for reference. I finished 4th and was pretty bummed out - I hate to lose!

The next day I had two races F2 and clubman. I did a single practice session in the morning again and then it was time to race F2. Once gridded I realized it was the exact same group of guys from the lightweight solo 20. Shit! Wouldn’t you know too that the race ended up exactly the same so again I was bummed, but at least I wasn’t as tired as it was only 10 laps. Clubman was my final race of the weekend and I was determined to win. Once on the grid I realized it was just me and some Kawi 250s in my class - so not really fair as my bike is definitely a bit faster though there were guys running in the :10s on the 250’s! They weren’t in my class though. I got a really good start and passed a handful of riders in the expert class then I basically put my head down and never looked back. One rider I passed passed me back on the 9th lap, but he wasn’t in my class so I let it go in favor of just winning my class and not crashing out trying to go too fast. I managed a mid 1:07 during this race, which was my fastest time of the weekend (that I know of). I won by a long way - 3/4 of a lap or so…

I didn’t stick around to get the plaque after-wards though as Hannah had to get back home to Bloomington for exams on Monday so we jumped in the truck and got out of there as soon as the race was over. A good weekend, but I am definitely not satisfied. I put the 450 up for sale just a little bit ago.

View my flickr page for more images from this event.