Donny puts on one of the JayTPhotos.com decals on his bike. Photo by Jason Tanaka.

Especially, when you only make it half a warm-up lap in the morning practice, and you totally crash out due to someone else’s misjudged decision.

The morning started out really smoothly, actually, with my awesome buddies, Tim, Donny and Mike, having already unloaded our bikes, and setup tents by the time I got there. Throughout the whole drive to the the track, I was preoccupied with how I was going to run the day, and how I was planning on calming my nerves before the flag dropped on my first race. Guess I didn’t really need to plan so far ahead.

I passed gear and bike tech inspection without a hitch, and registration was a breeze with having the forethought of preregistering and not having to stand in line. Novice practice was to be the first 20 minute session of the day, and all we needed to do was gear up. Mike was needing some help with his bike, so I stayed behind a bit and just planned on starting practice a little late. I didn’t realize 15 minutes had gone by before I threw my gear on and got my bike rolling.

On the way out to the track entrance, I decided I only had enough time for two laps. One warm-up lap to get my tires nice and grippy, and another lap to see how I was feeling at speed. Pit in afterwards. Knowing that everyone else had been doing their own laps for a while, now, I needed to stay off the race line, and just be clear of everyone’s way until my tires got up to temp. Which I did. For eight turns. It’s not that I jumped on the line at turn eight, it’s just that someone else decided to say hello to me and my bike in a very surprising way.

After a bunch of folks flew by me coming up the hill from T7, I had just tipped in at T8 at about mid track, still (what I thought was) off the race line, when I saw a flash of bright green (which I learned later was the crazy colors of an older CBR F3) out of the left corner of my eye followed by a loud crack and a bump that felt like someone was trying to tackle me. I had the sensation of being lifted for a second as my tires washed out from under me. I held on to the bike, thinking I could save it as I smacked onto the pavement and started my lowside. It seemed like it took me forever to decide that I couldn’t control the bike any more and let go. I separated from the bike as I continued to slide, and got spun around to see another red bike (I don’t know why I remember the color, you’d think I’d be concerned about other things) coming right at me. Oh, I thought, I should probably get out of his way. So, silly me, I thought I’d put my hands down to try and get up, but forgot the fact that I was still sliding on my butt at 40mph. That was a bad idea. That started my tumble (and probably caused the torn tendon in my finger) and gave me the awesome strobe show of pavement, sky, pavement, sky, and so on. I think I’ll just curl up into a ball, now. I don’t think I had even come to a stop, yet, before I stood up and was steaming and throwing a fit about how messed up my bike was, as I saw it sitting under the air fence.

The crash crew came and picked me and the bike up after the session, and the rider that bumped me was there as I unloaded in the pits, immediately apologetic and seeing if I was okay. Props to him for that, but I later talked to him to hear him say “I’ll take half the blame, because you were kind of in the way.” Nice. That’s funny, since, you know, it’s kind of ingrained into our heads that it’s the passer’s responsibility to make a safe pass. But, hey, that’s racing, right? Even though I thought it was just practice.

A before pic of Madison. Photo by Jason Tanaka.

In the end, I walk away with some minimal damage to the bike – maybe a couple hundred in parts, which I may have spares of already, and the rest can be duct taped or zip tied to pass inspection. My helmet’s toast, but the rest of my gear is mostly just scuffed, and I’ll need to find a new favorite track hoodie. The most serious injury sustained is a torn extensor tendon on the first knuckle of my right ring finger, which is enough to keep me from riding (and typing efficiently) for 6 weeks, because of the splint I have to wear. Other than that, a severely bruised knee from either the impact between our two bikes or my bike landing on it, and some aching muscles is all I’ve got to show for my first race day.

It was a short race weekend for me, but the other guys did great. Tim finished third for both Novice heats that day, so if you see him around, give him a big hug or a pat on the back, whichever he’ll let you close enough to do. Mike did well, but he had some mechanical issues in the second heat, and Donny spent the day getting used to his new gear and bike, but still doing awesome.

I only wish I was out there with them.