My first race weekend 4/10, Texas World Speedway

[switch]

ok a bit late, but i felt a bit lazy, so lazy that i copied & pasted this from my post in my local moto forum.



while not my sponsors, these certainly deserve a shout out:
Highperformancecrew.com, Ridesmart, Sam's cycles, and South Central Race Center

aaand onto the races.

so being my first race weekend, i was a bit nervous so i didn't get much sleep. woke up at 4am and left for TWS, got there and the gates were still closed so i just sat in my car and collected my thoughts. fast forward---> gates open, find the HPC area, no one is awake, so i go to registration a bit early. they weren't open yet but the lady was nice enough to let me register anyways (i was also pre registered). oookay time to make sure the bike is tech worthy. i thought it was....WRONG. i think i failed tech twice. i forgot to wire the oil fill plug, i failed to notice radiator cap wire broke, aaaaaand the stupid oil bolt on the bottom (i think its were the filter goes. the filter on the EX250 is internal) wasn't wired...nay it wasn't even drilled. soo back to the paddock i go, i'm starting to get a bit nervous now, i missed part of the rider's meeting and practice is about to start. i really didn't wanna miss practice since i had never ridden the mini (1.8mi) course.

so back in the HPC paddocks. i wire up the radiator cap, a friend does the oil fill plug, and this is when we notice the big bolt on the bottom isn't drilled. i can't take the bolt out since its gonna drain the oil, and i didn't have any spare oil. this is were the awesomeness of friends comes in. so we a drill & bit, i tilt the bike on its side, and another buddy starts drilling. boom, bolt is drilled and wired now back to tech! Fail, front axle needs to be wire lol. back to the paddock. also by this time i'm running around all crazy knocking all types of stuff over (sorry about the coffee). wrapped a crap ton of wire around the axle nut, back to tech...PASS!

made it in time to run the full practice session. pit back in, throw the warmers on the tires, and it seemed like 5 minutes its already first call for race #1, F4 class. so i hop back on the bike, and off to the warm up lap i go.



Race #1, F4 & F6
so i was nervous at the grid up to the point where the green flag dropped. the flagged flipped on the race switch in my head. i ended up getting a good launch (dunno how) and passed a good amount of bikes before turn 1, i took turn 1 on the outside since i didn't wanna have like 8 bikes around me. race #1 felt good, but was pretty uneventful. couldn't catch up the 2 stroke bikes, those things are monsters and the 13 year experts on the 250's are no joke (punks). ended up 13th overall for the race, and ahead of the other prov novs




race #4, E superstock (EX250's)
this race was a bit more exciting to say the least, a lot closer racing, and a fun 3 way battle for 7th 8th and 9th. my start wasn't as good as the first race, but i made up for it in the first few turns. 212, 716, and myself had some pretty good back and forths, and even another friend tried to sneak up on me in turn 1. 212 got me coming out of the horseshoe i think, and she got a drive out of the chicanes on the last lap and edged me out. i almost got passed by 716, but he had a miss shift and said he went in the grass briefly. placed 8th overall in E superstock.







i gotta say, racing is one of the coolest experiences ever, and the feeling was just amazing. 100% addictive

see ya on the grids!

[Snake]

That looks like fun. Great pics too.

[Cab305]

Awesome, great pictures. I can't wait for my turn!
(hopefully this year)

[JS73]

The pictures look great and it looks like you had a blast.
Looking forward to trying some racing myself, hopefully soon.

[CC Cowboy]

Great write up. How long do you have to wear the pretty yellow shirt?

[2WheelGuy]

Thanks for posting. It's cool to see that 250s are being raced in other parts of the country. The yellow shirt reminds me of when I started racing. We had to wear a big square patch on the back of our leathers.

Your tech experience is not uncommon. There is a lot to be done and the rule books are not always very clear to novices. I recommend that new racers attend an event before they go racing. Find a racer in your class and ask them. Most racers are excited to talk about their bike and will show you everything that needs to be done to get it race ready. Things are much more clear when you can see it in person.

Welcome to the club!

[switch]

thanks guys. glad you all enjoyed the pics and write up.

Originally Posted by CC Cowboy

Great write up. How long do you have to wear the pretty yellow shirt?

once you get 'prov nov' status, you have 1 year to complete the req's for your license. req's are: 2 days of cornerworking, and 2 race weekends in which you race at least 2 races w/o crashing. all i need is 1 more race weekend. you can keep wearing the shirt if you want, i mean it is pretty after all.

[rockNroll]

Originally Posted by switch

thanks guys. glad you all enjoyed the pics and write up.



once you get 'prov nov' status, you have 1 year to complete the req's for your license. req's are: 2 days of cornerworking, and 2 race weekends in which you race at least 2 races w/o crashing. all i need is 1 more race weekend. you can keep wearing the shirt if you want, i mean it is pretty after all.

Wow... they require a lot. Out east here, I ran wera and ccs. I had to wear the blaze orange shirt over my leathers only for the first "event" after completing class and obtaining my license. They did mention that if the speeds of the vet riders seemed unnerving you could continue to wear the shirt in future events to let everyone else know that you're new.

[2WheelGuy]

At the AFM, Novice racers are required to run yellow number plates. New racers are also required to complete a Saturday novice Clubman race before they are allowed to race on Sunday. To advance to Expert status you must complete at least 6 Sunday races on 6 different race weekends within 2 years.

[KTRacing38]

Thanks for the write up! I've got two more weeks to wait for my first race on the 250. I'm hoping that I'll have some people to battle with!

[rockNroll]

Originally Posted by 2WheelGuy

At the AFM, Novice racers are required to run yellow number plates. New racers are also required to complete a Saturday novice Clubman race before they are allowed to race on Sunday. To advance to Expert status you must complete at least 6 Sunday races on 6 different race weekends within 2 years.

Novice ran yellow plates and if you scored enough points in your novice season you could move up to expert the following season. There was also a higher point total that would require you to move to expert the following season... didn't want a bunch of cherry picking goin on.

[switch]

yea, yellow number plates = novice, white number plates = expert.

in the mini classes there is no distinction between novice and expert though. both run together. i was gonna spray paint the yellow plates on, but i've grown to like my yellow duct tape and electrical tape number setup