Dad and I made the trip to Atlanta, while meeting up with Doug, who was able to visit family not far from the track. Doug McCracken also came out to watch and hang out, which was cool. He used to live in Michigan and moved down to Atlanta a few years ago. Jillian and Stymie also were there, along with a good group representing the north.
Friday practice went well. We were up to speed pretty quickly, although a red flag in the first session slowed things down. Our friend Zach Uithoven took a nasty spill and ended up in the air fence in the esses. He was air-lifted out of the track and things didn’t look good for awhile. He took a good hit to the head, so it was more precautionary than anything to take him to the hospital. He ended up leaving on Sunday, which was great news. Thanks for Mark and Dawn Merical, who travel to all the tracks with us, through their ministry. Mark was the first one to the hospital to see Zach and make sure he was alright. It’s good having Mark and Dawn at the track, as they provide a special sense of comfort to this extreme sport we participate in.The rest of Friday went well and a group of us went and ate Mexican Friday night. Stymie, Jillian, James Dellinger and a few others made for a good time.
As Saturday got underway, we had new Pirelli’s mounted and were ready to go. A/1000 Superstock was the first race up. Gridded on the front row with around 25 bikes, mainly 1000’s ready to pounce, I had a good launch into T1, coming out in 2nd place behind a guy on a Kawasaki ZX-10. I followed him through the esses and then passed for the lead into T6. Cool, I didn’t necessarily expect that.
It was of course short-lived. As we exited T7 and got onto Atlanta’s long back straight, three guys rocketed by me. Luie Zendejas, Andy White and the guy on the ZX-10 I had passed into six. It was like being buzzed on the freeway while one lane is at a standstill. At least it took them a third of the straight to get by. I was able to pass the guy I had passed in six on the brakes into T10 and settled into 3rd place.
I ran most of the race in 3rd, before being passed by Jimmy Merck with a couple laps to go. He was quicker in several spots and would have us end up in 4th place. The local track knowledge of these guys was apparent and I was doing everything I could to learn from them. We congratulated each other on the cool down lap and in post-tech, Andy White and I gave each other a thumb’s up, as he ended up winning the race.
Times had dropped to a 1:32.9, which was a personal best. We finished in front of 19-20 other 1000’s, which I was happy about. This place was no joke when it comes to straight-line speed and horsepower.
750 Superstock was up next. I was third into T1, behind Gavin Elstad and Jimmy Merck. These guys were rolling and I struggled a bit to keep up with them. Times dropped to a 1:32.6, but they were half a second to a second faster consistently. With another 20-bike grid though and plenty of fast local guys, I wasn’t complaining about dropping time and ending up on the podium.
Formula 1 was our third race. 23 bikes were in this one – all but our bike and one other bike were 1000’s. Sheesh. There was a red flag on the first lap, which was good as I had a bad start. On the restart, I was determined to make it better. With the front wheel an inch off the ground from first gear to third (according to dad), we had a perfect launch and led into T1. We had the lead for the first half-lap when Luie came by into T6 and then a couple 1000’s came through on the back straight – Garrick Schneiderman and Andy White. These guys were moving. We would get down to a 1:32.4 chasing these guys.
Past the halfway point of the race, I was going through the esses, where Andy White was going into T5. I saw him have an issue and run straight off the track into the gravel. The run-off is uphill and blind past it, so I didn’t see anything further. The race was red-flagged and we all came back into the pit, where they called the race final.
There’s no good way to say this. Andy White passed away from his injuries in that accident. There’s a concrete wall that was covered by air fence, but it’s only once you start to turn into T5, that it’s there. This covers 99% of any issues that would occur, but Andy ran straight without a turn-trajectory, and with minimal runoff, hit the part of the wall without airfence.
Obviously this was an extremely difficult situation for everyone. Nobody wanted to go racing after that. People were crying at the riders’ meeting when the news was announced and afterwards in the paddock, you could hear a pin drop it was so quiet. We were all pretty somber the rest of the night, had dinner and went to bed.
Sunday morning we arrived at the track early. I went out and did a track walk alone. I wanted to figure out how to ride smarter in this last race, where I wouldn’t have to take as many risks. It seemed to be one of those weekends with lots of crashes and red flags, and I wanted us to get out without any major issues. This last race was one we had a chance to win and I needed to be prepared. Of course replaying Andy’s incident in my mind was a constant factor during the walk, but I felt better after it and was ready to get going.
The morning was also a good time to catch up with Mike Fitzgerald, who came by and had some good things to say about how we were running down here against the locals and the big bikes. He, dad and Doug talked for 45+ minutes on suspension stuff and ultimately ended up taking eight clicks out of the shock. Whoa. It turned out to be a great idea, as morning practice went extremely well. We were less than a second off our best lap time, just getting warmed up. We had a bit too much damping in the shock, which was causing the bike to do some funny things I had just gotten used to. It was nice to see them talking together, even if it got a little too advanced for me. Dad, Doug and Mike have become friends over the past couple years, given how much interest they all share in suspension – and it’s certainly been a benefit us.
Into the race, 750 Superbike got off to a clean start. Leading into T1, I was relaxed and working to just hit our marks as Doug, dad and I had talked about after practice. We led from start to finish and the times felt so much easier to do. And in having a bit of a gap, I could afford to relax a little. Local fast guys Giovanni Rojas and Tim Hunt finished off the podium, with 16 or so bikes gridding up in this one.
Overall, the weekend was a successful one. Of course I wanted to go faster and get into 1:30’s, but we’re happy with how things went. It was our first time racing here in over 10 years, so all in all, not a bad weekend. We learned some things we can apply next time we go back (gearing, for example) that will help us out. It was great to hang out with the WERA folks and southern guys and gals we don’t get to see too often.
Thank you to Doug and my dad. My dad especially, who went on both trips to Atlanta to make sure we were dialed in, all without riding himself. Both he and Doug were a huge help and the bike was great in every session. It’s a broken record, but just being able to hop on the bike and ride is such a benefit. That and Doug taking the Zuma to different parts of the track and seeing what I’m doing versus everyone else – huge help. I can’t say it enough.
Thank you also to Mark Junge for his consultations and James Bock with Pirelli for taking care of us. Rick Matheny and TOBC for loaning us some parts we needed in a pinch. Those guys are a class act. Lastly, RIP and Godspeed Andy White.
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