[Ducati] 1st Time Racetrack Experiences part 5

[Gleeb Gliber Galactica Gavorti]

       Since I was already behind him I followed him around and we did like the other instructor (Kurt) and I had done in the previous session with me following his exaggerated movements and smooth lines.  When he let me pass him to ride on my own I think my enthusiasm got the better of me because I was entering corners decidedly faster than I needed to and had to go wide more than once.  At the session’s end, the instructor and I both decided that I should work on entering corners more slowly.  Good advice.  At any rate this session also felt like no more than 5 minutes.  I was amazed and disappointed when I saw the day’s second checkered flag.  I wasn’t finished yet.
   
  Fortunately it was not very long until it was time again to hit the tarmac.  Miko, a fellow SB Duc club member (on a Ducati 748) was riding in the “C” group with me that day.  He’d had some track experience but it was his 1st time at Buttonwillow.  So for the 3rd track session that day, I tried to follow Miko and work on riding smooth lines as best as I could.  Unfortunately it was not always easy for me to stay with Miko.  He would pass somebody and I would get stuck behind for a while.  It would take me quite a while to find a comfortable place for me to pass the same person and then make some progress.  Just as I would catch up with Miko, I’d get caught up in traffic all over again.  It was no big deal and let me slow my pace a bit, which probably helped me learn the track better.  Regardless, in the blink of an eye it was time to make room for the next group so we headed back into the pits for some lunch.
   
  Lunch was tasty and plentiful and was provided courtesy of Club Desmo.  After a moderate amount of caloric ingestion I returned to our pit area whereupon Miko suggested we go and watch the “A” group for a while, which we did.  As we watched we could see somebody had once again had an “unscheduled dismount” out near turn 2.  Evidently by this time in the day there had already been more crashes than anyone could remember.  More often than not, track sessions were being “red flagged” due to the misfortunes of one (or more) of the riders.  
   
  As we watched, we struck up a conversation with a guy named Bruno.  Bruno was (is) the president of the Ducati Club in Portugal (yes, that makes him Portuguese).  Evidently Bruno had a new Ducati 999 ready and waiting for him to ride, courtesy of Ducati North America.  But he was so put off by all of the crashes he had seen he decided he did not want to ride with such an unruly bunch and kept his leathers hanging in the truck.
   
   
   
  As for me I had more riding to do.  Session #4 was for the most part like the session previous.  Miko rode in front and I followed as best I could while trying to get around people in a safe manner.  At the rate things were going I was usually at least a turn or 2 behind him.  I don’t know if the other riders on the track were getting slower or I was going faster but there sure seemed to be a lot of traffic.  Finally the traffic thinned as I got around another rider and started to close in on Miko.  If he’d had mirrors, he’d have seen my beady eyes beaded directly toward him as I leaned the bike back and forth along the undulating corners which preceded the “Grapevine” section.  My pace was quickening and Miko was my prey.
   
  It was the 3rd gear right-hand corner with the elevated apex to which I now must devote more words than I care to.  In my pursuit of speed, low lean angles and my riding buddy a hundred yards down the track, something unexpected (and definitely unwanted) happened.  The corner, which previously produced negative G-forces and that unique “pucker factor,” had me shitting in my pants this time around.  It took me some time to piece together what actually happened but it’s pretty clear to me now.

   
  ride well
   
  gabriel



"There's nothing wrong with you that an expensive operation can't prolong."  -Python, Monty.
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