Justin and George and I are in Justin’s truck north of Lynchburg and
south of Charlottesville, on our way back from a successful Moto-ST
race weekend at Virginia International Raceway in Danville, Virginia.

We finished 10th in class, the final money-paying position, didn’t
miss a lap of the race, didn’t have any mechanical problems, had no
pit problems, no rider problems, no crashes and only three track
incidents during the entire two and a half hour race.

After a terrific night out on Saturday, when team co-owner and manager
George Vensko took me and his parents to dinner at a very upscale
restaurant, and the two of us spent a restful night at the elder
Vensko’s Smith Mountain Lake home, we left for the racetrack at 6:05
AM. We picked up Justin at the team hotel in Danville, and headed to
VIR.

The day started out inauspiciously, with the pits and the racetrack
both soaking wet from Saturday night’s rain showers and thunder
storms. By 7:45 when the team assembled in the Screamin’ Duc pits,
the skies were beginning to show patches of blue amid the grey clouds,
and a cool breeze was starting to dry the track surface. The drying
process was soon helped immensely by the Grand-Am GTP prototype cars
screaming around during their morning practice session, which ran to
8:55 AM, five minutes prior to the scheduled start of our race.

Prior to the race, a Moto-ST official dropped by to inform us that
questions had been raised regarding the legality of our stock Ducati
800SS swingarm, and the dry clutch conversion that Donnie installed
after Daytona. We explained the legality of both components, and no
further visits from officialdom were forthcoming.

While Jeff and I got into our leathers, the team assembled the hot pit
equipment, squeezing between the already emplaced Grand-Am car team
pit set-up, a set-up that dwarfed anything ever assembled by Screamin’
Duc Racing.

Precisely at 9AM, Jeff and the rest of the Moto-ST field took to the
track behind the pace car, and after two laps, the pace car pulled
off and the racing was under way. With a cold, damp track, and brand
new, unscuffed D.O.T. Pirelli radials on the bike, Jeff took things
very easy the first couple of laps, despite which he reported by radio
that the bike was sliding all over the place! None the less, Jeff
kept his head and lowered his lap time every single lap for 15
consecutive laps, By that time, he was running close to his
qualifying times, on thoroughly warmed up rubber and on a track that
at least had a dry line all the way around it. And, he had moved us
from 13th place to tenth place in the process.

At one point, Jeff reported that another rider blew his engine in
front of him while he was flat-out at 8,500 rpm in 6th gear on the
main straight, whereupon the rider veered immediately and decisively
over to Jeff’s side of the racetrack, directly towards Jeff, forcing
him to squeeze over to the extreme edge of the racetrack, flying along
at 130 mph+ with 2-3 inches of pavement between him and the grass and
mud!

At about the 25 lap mark in the race, Jeff radioed in that he was low
on fuel, and I got my helmet and gloves on. Next time around, Jeff
came in and pitted. The team swarmed over the wall, fire extinguisher
at the ready, bike up on the rear stand, Jeff off the bike and radio
disconnected, quick-fuel dump can inserted, and a full tank of gas
dumped in in about 25 seconds. I got on the bike, hooked up my radio,
got a quick radio check from crew chief Justin, and headed out on
track.

Let me point out that OUR volunteer pit crew had NO penalties, NO
warnings, and NO “discussions” with race officials during either the
practice or qualifying on Saturday, or during the race today. This is
in sharp contrast to some of the pit crews around us, including some
sharply dressed and equipped professional teams, who seemed to be
collecting 10 and 20 second “stop and go” penalties for the riders
every time we turned around!

Strange feeling, getting on a warmed up racebike with heated tires,
and going out on track with about 30 other riders who are, in the
overused terminology of MotoGP race reporting “absoLUTely FLYing!” By
turn three I had my knee down on the pavement, and by my second full
lap I was fully up to speed. Well, I was up to *my* speed, any way!
One lap later, I had a bad moment when a much faster GST bike coming
up from behind me on the brakes for the Oak Tree corner smashed into
the left side of my bike, bouncing both of us off the racing line and
truly destroying my entry into the corner. Then, to add insult to
injury, on the way OUT of the corner the rider looked back at me, and
instead of the traditional apologetic wave for his mistake, instead
shook his head at me as if *I* had done something wrong when he ran
into me!

I settled down and put in my laps, gradually bringing down my lap
times while still learning the track; the south course of VIR being
new territory to me, with all of 35 minutes of practice to learn it on
Saturday. Late in my stint, a rider crashed in front of me at the top
of the roller coaster, and slid from left to right across the grass
and back onto the racetrack surface directly in front of me, forcing
me further and further right to avoid him and his bike, until I, too,
ran out of racetrack, and went off into the grass, still dodging and
juking and trying to keep from hitting him. Somehow, off the brakes,
bouncing through the wet grass and mud, I managed to thread my way
between him and his rapidly slowing bike, and ride down the hill in
the grass and rejoin the racetrack between turns 15 and 16. Shaken
and still not quite believing that I hadn’t crashed too, I rode slowly
for three quarters of a lap until I was convinced all the mud had been
scraped clean from my tires.

Pretty soon, the low fuel light flashed to “on” on the dashboard, and
I radioed into the pits that I was coming in for gas and a rider
change. When I came in, the same pit stop scene that I had witnessed
before played itself out, with Jeff’s and my roles reversed. Again,
no drama, no accidents, no spills, no missteps, just the crew
professionally going about their assigned tasks with precision and
control. It was COOL!! George and Justin had everything perfectly
laid out and under control in our constrained and crowded pit. I
settled back, took off my helmet, gulped down some blessedly cold
water, and learned that I had managed to maintain the team’s position
in the race, despite averaging 6-7 seconds per lap slower than Jeff’s
times.

Jeff finished out the race for us, demonstrating the speed and
smoothness and control that caused us to invite him to join the team
in the first place, and we had our first completed Moto-ST event in
the bag!

Special thanks to sponsor and owner of Duc Pond Motosports, Donnie
Unger, for burning the midnight oil and rebuilding the entire engine
from scratch in three days before the event! Special thanks also to
Mike Collins and Chris Cooke for their terrific performance and
teamwork in the pits, both hot and cold. Thanks to Shelly and Trinity
for their support of Jeff, thanks to Randy Costello for the great DVD
videos he made of the team photography from Daytona (more on that
later!) Thanks to George for treating the team to dinner on Thursday
night and lunch today, for taking care of the fuel and tire accounts
at the racetrack, and for consistently meeting with and managing the
interface with the Moto-ST officials, letting them know that we are
working WITH them, rather than AGAINST them. Thanks to our website
manager Kimberly for the lightning fast web updates, and thanks to
Gene and Tony from Capitol Area Monsters for riding down, braving the
rain, coming out in the wee early morning, and cheering the team on –
it was great to see you guys!

It’s nice to be bringing home a racebike that hasn’t been crashed,
hasn’t had its transmission grenaded, and hasn’t had any electrical or
overheating issues. Heck, it’s even been CLEANED (thanks, Justin!)
That will hopefully make it a little less frenetic getting ready for
our next event, the Road America Moto-ST round at Elkhart Lake,
Wisconsin, where we will be the undercard not to a bunch of cars, but
to the AMA Superbike round there!

tomorrow@erols.com wrote:
> Justin and George and I are in Justin’s truck north of Lynchburg and
> south of Charlottesville, on our way back from a successful Moto-ST
> race weekend at Virginia International Raceway in Danville, Virginia.
>
> We finished 10th in class, the final money-paying position, didn’t
> miss a lap of the race, didn’t have any mechanical problems, had no
> pit problems, no rider problems, no crashes and only three track
> incidents during the entire two and a half hour race.
>
> After a terrific night out on Saturday, when team co-owner and manager
> George Vensko took me and his parents to dinner at a very upscale
> restaurant, and the two of us spent a restful night at the elder
> Vensko’s Smith Mountain Lake home, we left for the racetrack at 6:05
> AM. We picked up Justin at the team hotel in Danville, and headed to
> VIR.
>
> The day started out inauspiciously, with the pits and the racetrack
> both soaking wet from Saturday night’s rain showers and thunder
> storms. By 7:45 when the team assembled in the Screamin’ Duc pits,
> the skies were beginning to show patches of blue amid the grey clouds,
> and a cool breeze was starting to dry the track surface. The drying
> process was soon helped immensely by the Grand-Am GTP prototype cars
> screaming around during their morning practice session, which ran to
> 8:55 AM, five minutes prior to the scheduled start of our race.
>
> Prior to the race, a Moto-ST official dropped by to inform us that
> questions had been raised regarding the legality of our stock Ducati
> 800SS swingarm, and the dry clutch conversion that Donnie installed
> after Daytona. We explained the legality of both components, and no
> further visits from officialdom were forthcoming.
>
> While Jeff and I got into our leathers, the team assembled the hot pit
> equipment, squeezing between the already emplaced Grand-Am car team
> pit set-up, a set-up that dwarfed anything ever assembled by Screamin’
> Duc Racing.
>
> Precisely at 9AM, Jeff and the rest of the Moto-ST field took to the
> track behind the pace car, and after two laps, the pace car pulled
> off and the racing was under way. With a cold, damp track, and brand
> new, unscuffed D.O.T. Pirelli radials on the bike, Jeff took things
> very easy the first couple of laps, despite which he reported by radio
> that the bike was sliding all over the place! None the less, Jeff
> kept his head and lowered his lap time every single lap for 15
> consecutive laps, By that time, he was running close to his
> qualifying times, on thoroughly warmed up rubber and on a track that
> at least had a dry line all the way around it. And, he had moved us
> from 13th place to tenth place in the process.
>
> At one point, Jeff reported that another rider blew his engine in
> front of him while he was flat-out at 8,500 rpm in 6th gear on the
> main straight, whereupon the rider veered immediately and decisively
> over to Jeff’s side of the racetrack, directly towards Jeff, forcing
> him to squeeze over to the extreme edge of the racetrack, flying along
> at 130 mph+ with 2-3 inches of pavement between him and the grass and
> mud!
>
> At about the 25 lap mark in the race, Jeff radioed in that he was low
> on fuel, and I got my helmet and gloves on. Next time around, Jeff
> came in and pitted. The team swarmed over the wall, fire extinguisher
> at the ready, bike up on the rear stand, Jeff off the bike and radio
> disconnected, quick-fuel dump can inserted, and a full tank of gas
> dumped in in about 25 seconds. I got on the bike, hooked up my radio,
> got a quick radio check from crew chief Justin, and headed out on
> track.
>
> Let me point out that OUR volunteer pit crew had NO penalties, NO
> warnings, and NO “discussions” with race officials during either the
> practice or qualifying on Saturday, or during the race today. This is
> in sharp contrast to some of the pit crews around us, including some
> sharply dressed and equipped professional teams, who seemed to be
> collecting 10 and 20 second “stop and go” penalties for the riders
> every time we turned around!
>
> Strange feeling, getting on a warmed up racebike with heated tires,
> and going out on track with about 30 other riders who are, in the
> overused terminology of MotoGP race reporting “absoLUTely FLYing!” By
> turn three I had my knee down on the pavement, and by my second full
> lap I was fully up to speed. Well, I was up to *my* speed, any way!
> One lap later, I had a bad moment when a much faster GST bike coming
> up from behind me on the brakes for the Oak Tree corner smashed into
> the left side of my bike, bouncing both of us off the racing line and
> truly destroying my entry into the corner. Then, to add insult to
> injury, on the way OUT of the corner the rider looked back at me, and
> instead of the traditional apologetic wave for his mistake, instead
> shook his head at me as if *I* had done something wrong when he ran
> into me!

I hope it wasn't the James Gang, or Richie Morris...

> I settled down and put in my laps, gradually bringing down my lap
> times while still learning the track; the south course of VIR being
> new territory to me, with all of 35 minutes of practice to learn it on
> Saturday. Late in my stint, a rider crashed in front of me at the top
> of the roller coaster, and slid from left to right across the grass
> and back onto the racetrack surface directly in front of me, forcing
> me further and further right to avoid him and his bike, until I, too,
> ran out of racetrack, and went off into the grass, still dodging and
> juking and trying to keep from hitting him. Somehow, off the brakes,
> bouncing through the wet grass and mud, I managed to thread my way
> between him and his rapidly slowing bike, and ride down the hill in
> the grass and rejoin the racetrack between turns 15 and 16. Shaken
> and still not quite believing that I hadn’t crashed too, I rode slowly
> for three quarters of a lap until I was convinced all the mud had been
> scraped clean from my tires.
>
> Pretty soon, the low fuel light flashed to “on” on the dashboard, and
> I radioed into the pits that I was coming in for gas and a rider
> change. When I came in, the same pit stop scene that I had witnessed
> before played itself out, with Jeff’s and my roles reversed. Again,
> no drama, no accidents, no spills, no missteps, just the crew
> professionally going about their assigned tasks with precision and
> control. It was COOL!! George and Justin had everything perfectly
> laid out and under control in our constrained and crowded pit. I
> settled back, took off my helmet, gulped down some blessedly cold
> water, and learned that I had managed to maintain the team’s position
> in the race, despite averaging 6-7 seconds per lap slower than Jeff’s
> times.
>
> Jeff finished out the race for us, demonstrating the speed and
> smoothness and control that caused us to invite him to join the team
> in the first place, and we had our first completed Moto-ST event in
> the bag!
>
> Special thanks to sponsor and owner of Duc Pond Motosports, Donnie
> Unger, for burning the midnight oil and rebuilding the entire engine
> from scratch in three days before the event! Special thanks also to
> Mike Collins and Chris Cooke for their terrific performance and
> teamwork in the pits, both hot and cold. Thanks to Shelly and Trinity
> for their support of Jeff, thanks to Randy Costello for the great DVD
> videos he made of the team photography from Daytona (more on that
> later!) Thanks to George for treating the team to dinner on Thursday
> night and lunch today, for taking care of the fuel and tire accounts
> at the racetrack, and for consistently meeting with and managing the
> interface with the Moto-ST officials, letting them know that we are
> working WITH them, rather than AGAINST them. Thanks to our website
> manager Kimberly for the lightning fast web updates, and thanks to
> Gene and Tony from Capitol Area Monsters for riding down, braving the
> rain, coming out in the wee early morning, and cheering the team on –
> it was great to see you guys!
>
> It’s nice to be bringing home a racebike that hasn’t been crashed,
> hasn’t had its transmission grenaded, and hasn’t had any electrical or
> overheating issues. Heck, it’s even been CLEANED (thanks, Justin!)
> That will hopefully make it a little less frenetic getting ready for
> our next event, the Road America Moto-ST round at Elkhart Lake,
> Wisconsin, where we will be the undercard not to a bunch of cars, but
> to the AMA Superbike round there!

Congrats! I wont miss the RA race. Is the Moto-ST race Sat, or Sun? I'll
PROBABLY be up there both days....

On Apr 27, 10:52*pm, Steve Mackay <steve_mac...@hotmail.com> wrote:

> Congrats! I wont miss the RA race. Is the Moto-ST race Sat, or Sun? I'll
> PROBABLY be up there both days....-

It's Saturday, according to the latest provisional schedule.

On Sun, 27 Apr 2008 19:30:34 -0700 (PDT), "tomorrow@erols.com"
<tomorrow@erols.com> wrote:

>
>It’s nice to be bringing home a racebike that hasn’t been crashed,
>hasn’t had its transmission grenaded, and hasn’t had any electrical or
>overheating issues. Heck, it’s even been CLEANED (thanks, Justin!)
>That will hopefully make it a little less frenetic getting ready for
>our next event, the Road America Moto-ST round at Elkhart Lake,
>Wisconsin, where we will be the undercard not to a bunch of cars, but
>to the AMA Superbike round there!

Congratulations to you and the Team Tim! Sounds like a hell of an
experience and a hell of a result.


--
See Ya On The Road


2000 Yamaha Venture Millennium
2004 HD Road King

On Sun, 27 Apr 2008 19:57:03 -0700, tomorrow@erols.com wrote:

> On Apr 27, 10:52Â*pm, Steve Mackay <steve_mac...@hotmail.com> wrote:

>> Congrats! I wont miss the RA race. Is the Moto-ST race Sat, or Sun?
>> I'll PROBABLY be up there both days....-

> It's Saturday, according to the latest provisional schedule.

Sat, 7 Jun, is ABATE Region 2A Brat Fry at Racer's:

o http://tinyurl.com/6e29b6 links to
http://lacusveris.com/ABATE/2007-08/...Plymouth.shtml

I'll buy!

--
... Chuck Rhode, Sheboygan, WI, USA
... 1979 Honda Goldwing GL1000 (Geraldine)
... Weather: http://LacusVeris.com/WX
... 38° — Wind S 6 mph

<tomorrow@erols.com> wrote in message
news:571d3e95-ea92-4be1-9447-18366a796096@25g2000hsx.googlegroups.com...
Justin and George and I are in Justin’s truck north of Lynchburg and
south of Charlottesville, on our way back from a successful Moto-ST
race weekend at Virginia International Raceway in Danville, Virginia.

We finished 10th in class, the final money-paying position, didn’t
miss a lap of the race, didn’t have any mechanical problems, had no
pit problems, no rider problems, no crashes and only three track
incidents during the entire two and a half hour race.

After a terrific night out on Saturday, when team co-owner and manager
George Vensko took me and his parents to dinner at a very upscale
restaurant, and the two of us spent a restful night at the elder
Vensko’s Smith Mountain Lake home, we left for the racetrack at 6:05
AM. We picked up Justin at the team hotel in Danville, and headed to
VIR.

The day started out inauspiciously, with the pits and the racetrack
both soaking wet from Saturday night’s rain showers and thunder
storms. By 7:45 when the team assembled in the Screamin’ Duc pits,
the skies were beginning to show patches of blue amid the grey clouds,
and a cool breeze was starting to dry the track surface. The drying
process was soon helped immensely by the Grand-Am GTP prototype cars
screaming around during their morning practice session, which ran to
8:55 AM, five minutes prior to the scheduled start of our race.

Prior to the race, a Moto-ST official dropped by to inform us that
questions had been raised regarding the legality of our stock Ducati
800SS swingarm, and the dry clutch conversion that Donnie installed
after Daytona. We explained the legality of both components, and no
further visits from officialdom were forthcoming.

While Jeff and I got into our leathers, the team assembled the hot pit
equipment, squeezing between the already emplaced Grand-Am car team
pit set-up, a set-up that dwarfed anything ever assembled by Screamin’
Duc Racing.

Precisely at 9AM, Jeff and the rest of the Moto-ST field took to the
track behind the pace car, and after two laps, the pace car pulled
off and the racing was under way. With a cold, damp track, and brand
new, unscuffed D.O.T. Pirelli radials on the bike, Jeff took things
very easy the first couple of laps, despite which he reported by radio
that the bike was sliding all over the place! None the less, Jeff
kept his head and lowered his lap time every single lap for 15
consecutive laps, By that time, he was running close to his
qualifying times, on thoroughly warmed up rubber and on a track that
at least had a dry line all the way around it. And, he had moved us
from 13th place to tenth place in the process.

At one point, Jeff reported that another rider blew his engine in
front of him while he was flat-out at 8,500 rpm in 6th gear on the
main straight, whereupon the rider veered immediately and decisively
over to Jeff’s side of the racetrack, directly towards Jeff, forcing
him to squeeze over to the extreme edge of the racetrack, flying along
at 130 mph+ with 2-3 inches of pavement between him and the grass and
mud!

At about the 25 lap mark in the race, Jeff radioed in that he was low
on fuel, and I got my helmet and gloves on. Next time around, Jeff
came in and pitted. The team swarmed over the wall, fire extinguisher
at the ready, bike up on the rear stand, Jeff off the bike and radio
disconnected, quick-fuel dump can inserted, and a full tank of gas
dumped in in about 25 seconds. I got on the bike, hooked up my radio,
got a quick radio check from crew chief Justin, and headed out on
track.

Let me point out that OUR volunteer pit crew had NO penalties, NO
warnings, and NO “discussions” with race officials during either the
practice or qualifying on Saturday, or during the race today. This is
in sharp contrast to some of the pit crews around us, including some
sharply dressed and equipped professional teams, who seemed to be
collecting 10 and 20 second “stop and go” penalties for the riders
every time we turned around!

Strange feeling, getting on a warmed up racebike with heated tires,
and going out on track with about 30 other riders who are, in the
overused terminology of MotoGP race reporting “absoLUTely FLYing!” By
turn three I had my knee down on the pavement, and by my second full
lap I was fully up to speed. Well, I was up to *my* speed, any way!
One lap later, I had a bad moment when a much faster GST bike coming
up from behind me on the brakes for the Oak Tree corner smashed into
the left side of my bike, bouncing both of us off the racing line and
truly destroying my entry into the corner. Then, to add insult to
injury, on the way OUT of the corner the rider looked back at me, and
instead of the traditional apologetic wave for his mistake, instead
shook his head at me as if *I* had done something wrong when he ran
into me!

I settled down and put in my laps, gradually bringing down my lap
times while still learning the track; the south course of VIR being
new territory to me, with all of 35 minutes of practice to learn it on
Saturday. Late in my stint, a rider crashed in front of me at the top
of the roller coaster, and slid from left to right across the grass
and back onto the racetrack surface directly in front of me, forcing
me further and further right to avoid him and his bike, until I, too,
ran out of racetrack, and went off into the grass, still dodging and
juking and trying to keep from hitting him. Somehow, off the brakes,
bouncing through the wet grass and mud, I managed to thread my way
between him and his rapidly slowing bike, and ride down the hill in
the grass and rejoin the racetrack between turns 15 and 16. Shaken
and still not quite believing that I hadn’t crashed too, I rode slowly
for three quarters of a lap until I was convinced all the mud had been
scraped clean from my tires.

Pretty soon, the low fuel light flashed to “on” on the dashboard, and
I radioed into the pits that I was coming in for gas and a rider
change. When I came in, the same pit stop scene that I had witnessed
before played itself out, with Jeff’s and my roles reversed. Again,
no drama, no accidents, no spills, no missteps, just the crew
professionally going about their assigned tasks with precision and
control. It was COOL!! George and Justin had everything perfectly
laid out and under control in our constrained and crowded pit. I
settled back, took off my helmet, gulped down some blessedly cold
water, and learned that I had managed to maintain the team’s position
in the race, despite averaging 6-7 seconds per lap slower than Jeff’s
times.

Jeff finished out the race for us, demonstrating the speed and
smoothness and control that caused us to invite him to join the team
in the first place, and we had our first completed Moto-ST event in
the bag!

Special thanks to sponsor and owner of Duc Pond Motosports, Donnie
Unger, for burning the midnight oil and rebuilding the entire engine
from scratch in three days before the event! Special thanks also to
Mike Collins and Chris Cooke for their terrific performance and
teamwork in the pits, both hot and cold. Thanks to Shelly and Trinity
for their support of Jeff, thanks to Randy Costello for the great DVD
videos he made of the team photography from Daytona (more on that
later!) Thanks to George for treating the team to dinner on Thursday
night and lunch today, for taking care of the fuel and tire accounts
at the racetrack, and for consistently meeting with and managing the
interface with the Moto-ST officials, letting them know that we are
working WITH them, rather than AGAINST them. Thanks to our website
manager Kimberly for the lightning fast web updates, and thanks to
Gene and Tony from Capitol Area Monsters for riding down, braving the
rain, coming out in the wee early morning, and cheering the team on –
it was great to see you guys!

It’s nice to be bringing home a racebike that hasn’t been crashed,
hasn’t had its transmission grenaded, and hasn’t had any electrical or
overheating issues. Heck, it’s even been CLEANED (thanks, Justin!)
That will hopefully make it a little less frenetic getting ready for
our next event, the Road America Moto-ST round at Elkhart Lake,
Wisconsin, where we will be the undercard not to a bunch of cars, but
to the AMA Superbike round there!


____________

Excellent!


--
Andrew
00 Daytona
00 Speed Triple
71 Kawi H1
05 Kiddo

<tomorrow@erols.com> wrote

> Justin and George and I are in Justin’s truck north of Lynchburg and
> south of Charlottesville, on our way back from a successful Moto-ST
> race weekend at Virginia International Raceway in Danville, Virginia.

Congrats! Sounds like a great time!

It's always wonderful -and a little bit surprising- to go home after a race
without having had any real problems, with all the machinery intact, and
with a respectable finish under your belt as well.

Sounds as if you guys are getting it down to a routine.

On Apr 27, 7:30*pm, "tomor...@erols.com" <tomor...@erols.com> wrote:
> Justin and George and I are in Justin’s truck north of Lynchburg and
> south of Charlottesville, on our way back from a successful Moto-ST
> race weekend at Virginia International Raceway in Danville, Virginia.
>
> We finished 10th in class, the final money-paying position, didn’t
> miss a lap of the race, didn’t have any mechanical problems, had no
> pit problems, no rider problems, no crashes and only three track
> incidents during the entire two and a half hour race.
>
> After a terrific night out on Saturday, when team co-owner and manager
> George Vensko took me and his parents to dinner at a very upscale
> restaurant, and the two of us spent a restful night at the elder
> Vensko’s Smith Mountain Lake home, we left for the racetrack at 6:05
> AM. *We picked up Justin at the team hotel in Danville, and headed to
> VIR.
>
> The day started out inauspiciously, with the pits and the racetrack
> both soaking wet from Saturday night’s rain showers and thunder
> storms. *By 7:45 when the team assembled in the Screamin’ Duc pits,
> the skies were beginning to show patches of blue amid the grey clouds,
> and a cool breeze was starting to dry the track surface. * The drying
> process was soon helped immensely by the Grand-Am GTP prototype cars
> screaming around during their morning practice session, which ran to
> 8:55 AM, five minutes prior to the scheduled start of our race.
>
> Prior to the race, a Moto-ST official dropped by to inform us that
> questions had been raised regarding the legality of our stock Ducati
> 800SS swingarm, and the dry clutch conversion that Donnie installed
> after Daytona. *We explained the legality of both components, and no
> further visits from officialdom were forthcoming.
>
> While Jeff and I got into our leathers, the team assembled the hot pit
> equipment, squeezing between the already emplaced Grand-Am car team
> pit set-up, a set-up that dwarfed anything ever assembled by Screamin’
> Duc Racing.
>
> Precisely at 9AM, Jeff and the rest of the Moto-ST field took to the
> track behind the pace car, and after *two laps, the pace car pulled
> off and the racing was under way. * With a cold, damp track, and brand
> new, unscuffed D.O.T. Pirelli radials on the bike, Jeff took things
> very easy the first couple of laps, despite which he reported by radio
> that the bike was sliding all over the place! * None the less, Jeff
> kept his head and lowered his lap time every single lap for 15
> consecutive laps, * By that time, he was running close to his
> qualifying times, on thoroughly warmed up rubber and on a track that
> at least had a dry line all the way around it. * And, he had moved us
> from 13th place to tenth place in the process.
>
> At one point, Jeff reported that another rider blew his engine in
> front of him while he was flat-out at 8,500 rpm in 6th gear on the
> main straight, whereupon the rider veered immediately and decisively
> over to Jeff’s side of the racetrack, directly towards Jeff, forcing
> him to squeeze over to the extreme edge of the racetrack, flying along
> at 130 mph+ with 2-3 inches of pavement between him and the grass and
> mud!
>
> At about the 25 lap mark in the race, Jeff radioed in that he was low
> on fuel, and I got my helmet and gloves on. *Next time around, Jeff
> came in and pitted. *The team swarmed over the wall, fire extinguisher
> at the ready, bike up on the rear stand, Jeff off the bike and radio
> disconnected, quick-fuel dump can inserted, and a full tank of gas
> dumped in in about 25 seconds. *I got on the bike, hooked up my radio,
> got a quick radio check from crew chief Justin, and headed out on
> track.
>
> Let me point out that OUR volunteer pit crew had NO penalties, NO
> warnings, and NO “discussions” with race officials during either the
> practice or qualifying on Saturday, or during the race today. *This is
> in sharp contrast to some of the pit crews around us, including some
> sharply dressed and equipped professional teams, who seemed to be
> collecting 10 and 20 second “stop and go” penalties for the riders
> every time we turned around!
>
> Strange feeling, getting on a warmed up racebike with heated tires,
> and going out on track with about 30 other riders who are, in the
> overused terminology of MotoGP race reporting “absoLUTely FLYing!” *By
> turn three I had my knee down on the pavement, and by my second full
> lap I was fully up to speed. * Well, I was up to *my* speed, any way!
> One lap later, I had a bad moment when a much faster GST bike coming
> up from behind me on the brakes for the Oak Tree corner smashed into
> the left side of my bike, bouncing both of us off the racing line and
> truly destroying my entry into the corner. *Then, to add insult to
> injury, on the way OUT of the corner the rider looked back at me, and
> instead of the traditional apologetic wave for his mistake, instead
> shook his head at me as if *I* had done something wrong when he ran
> into me!
>
> I settled down and put in my laps, gradually bringing down my lap
> times while still learning the track; the south course of VIR being
> new territory to me, with all of 35 minutes of practice to learn it on
> Saturday. *Late in my stint, a rider crashed in front of me at the top
> of the roller coaster, and slid from left to right across the grass
> and back onto the racetrack surface directly in front of me, forcing
> me further and further right to avoid him and his bike, until I, too,
> ran out of racetrack, and went off into the grass, still dodging and
> juking and trying to keep from hitting him. *Somehow, off the brakes,
> bouncing through the wet grass and mud, I managed to thread my way
> between him and his rapidly slowing bike, and ride down the hill in
> the grass and rejoin the racetrack between turns 15 and 16. *Shaken
> and still not quite believing that I hadn’t crashed too, I rode slowly
> for three quarters of a lap until I was convinced all the mud had been
> scraped clean from my tires.
>
> Pretty soon, the low fuel light flashed to “on” on the dashboard, and
> I radioed into the pits that I was coming in for gas and a rider
> change. * When I came in, the same pit stop scene that I had witnessed
> before played itself out, with Jeff’s and my roles reversed. *Again,
> no drama, no accidents, no spills, no missteps, just the crew
> professionally going about their assigned tasks with precision and
> control. *It was COOL!! *George and Justin had everything perfectly
> laid out and under control in our constrained and crowded pit. *I
> settled back, took off my helmet, gulped down some blessedly cold
> water, and learned that I had managed to maintain the team’s position
> in the race, despite averaging 6-7 seconds per lap slower than Jeff’s
> times.
>
> Jeff finished out the race for us, demonstrating the speed and
> smoothness and control that caused us to invite him to join the team
> in the first place, and we had our first completed Moto-ST event in
> the bag!
>
> Special thanks to sponsor and owner of Duc Pond Motosports, Donnie
> Unger, for burning the midnight oil and rebuilding the entire engine
> from scratch in three days before the event! * Special thanks also to
> Mike Collins and Chris Cooke for their terrific performance and
> teamwork in the pits, both hot and cold. *Thanks to Shelly and Trinity
> for their support of Jeff, thanks to Randy Costello for the great DVD
> videos he made of the team photography from Daytona (more on that
> later!) * Thanks to George for treating the team to dinner on Thursday
> night and lunch today, for taking care of the fuel and tire accounts
> at the racetrack, and for consistently meeting with and managing the
> interface with the Moto-ST officials, letting them know that we are
> working WITH them, rather than AGAINST them. *Thanks to our website
> manager Kimberly for the lightning fast web updates, and thanks to
> Gene and Tony from Capitol Area Monsters for riding down, braving the
> rain, coming out in the wee early morning, and cheering the team on –
> it was great to see you guys!
>
> It’s nice to be bringing home a racebike that hasn’t been crashed,
> hasn’t had its transmission grenaded, and hasn’t had any electrical or
> overheating issues. *Heck, it’s even been CLEANED (thanks, Justin!)
> That will hopefully make it a little less frenetic getting ready for
> our next event, the Road America Moto-ST round at Elkhart Lake,
> Wisconsin, where we will be the undercard not to a bunch of cars, but
> to the AMA Superbike round there!

Thanks for the detailed report Tim and good luck to-Ya 'all-

Bob Nixon, RZ-350, SV-650, Chandler, AZ.

On 2008-04-27 22:30:34 -0400, "tomorrow@erols.com" <tomorrow@erols.com> said:

> Justin and George and I are in Justin’s truck north of Lynchburg and
> south of Charlottesville, on our way back from a successful Moto-ST
> race weekend at Virginia International Raceway in Danville, Virginia.
>
> We finished 10th in class, the final money-paying position, didn’t
> miss a lap of the race, didn’t have any mechanical problems, had no
> pit problems, no rider problems, no crashes and only three track
> incidents during the entire two and a half hour race.


Ya done good! Congrats on the money finish and keeping the bike whole.
I've got to check the schedule at work, but I'm going to try and get
to Wisconsin for that race. Heck, Chuck's buying hot dogs. <bg> I
could probably find enough in my wallet for a beer or three.

Calgary wrote:
> On Sun, 27 Apr 2008 19:30:34 -0700 (PDT), "tomorrow@erols.com"
> <tomorrow@erols.com> wrote:
>
>> It’s nice to be bringing home a racebike that hasn’t been crashed,
>> hasn’t had its transmission grenaded, and hasn’t had any electrical or
>> overheating issues. Heck, it’s even been CLEANED (thanks, Justin!)
>> That will hopefully make it a little less frenetic getting ready for
>> our next event, the Road America Moto-ST round at Elkhart Lake,
>> Wisconsin, where we will be the undercard not to a bunch of cars, but
>> to the AMA Superbike round there!
>
> Congratulations to you and the Team Tim! Sounds like a hell of an
> experience and a hell of a result.

I don't recall reading the result?

On Apr 28, 6:14*pm, sleazy <n...@nil.net> wrote:

> Ya done good! *Congrats on the money finish and keeping the bike whole.
> *I've got to check the schedule at work, but I'm going to try and get
> to Wisconsin for that race. *Heck, Chuck's buying hot dogs. *<bg> *I
> could probably find enough in my wallet for a beer or three.

Excellent! The more the merrier!

On Apr 28, 6:54*pm, saddlebag <saddle...@aol.com> wrote:
> Calgary wrote:
> > On Sun, 27 Apr 2008 19:30:34 -0700 (PDT), "tomor...@erols.com"
> > <tomor...@erols.com> wrote:
>
> >> It’s nice to be bringing home a racebike that hasn’t been crashed,
> >> hasn’t had its transmission grenaded, and hasn’t had any electricalor
> >> overheating issues. *Heck, it’s even been CLEANED (thanks, Justin!)
> >> That will hopefully make it a little less frenetic getting ready for
> >> our next event, the Road America Moto-ST round at Elkhart Lake,
> >> Wisconsin, where we will be the undercard not to a bunch of cars, but
> >> to the AMA Superbike round there!
>
> > Congratulations to you and the Team Tim! Sounds like a hell of an
> > experience and a hell of a result.
>
> I don't recall reading the result?

"We finished 10th in class..."

On Apr 28, 6:54*pm, saddlebag <saddle...@aol.com> wrote:
> Calgary wrote:
> > On Sun, 27 Apr 2008 19:30:34 -0700 (PDT), "tomor...@erols.com"
> > <tomor...@erols.com> wrote:
>
> >> It’s nice to be bringing home a racebike that hasn’t been crashed,
> >> hasn’t had its transmission grenaded, and hasn’t had any electricalor
> >> overheating issues. *Heck, it’s even been CLEANED (thanks, Justin!)
> >> That will hopefully make it a little less frenetic getting ready for
> >> our next event, the Road America Moto-ST round at Elkhart Lake,
> >> Wisconsin, where we will be the undercard not to a bunch of cars, but
> >> to the AMA Superbike round there!
>
> > Congratulations to you and the Team Tim! Sounds like a hell of an
> > experience and a hell of a result.
>
> I don't recall reading the result?

"We finished 10th in class, the final money-paying position", first
line of the second paragraph. In a national level event that is a
darn good result, especially considering how many events the team has
done so far. Way to go Tim.

Bruce

tomorrow@erols.com wrote:
> On Apr 28, 6:54 pm, saddlebag <saddle...@aol.com> wrote:
>> Calgary wrote:
>>> On Sun, 27 Apr 2008 19:30:34 -0700 (PDT), "tomor...@erols.com"
>>> <tomor...@erols.com> wrote:
>>>> It’s nice to be bringing home a racebike that hasn’t been crashed,
>>>> hasn’t had its transmission grenaded, and hasn’t had any electrical or
>>>> overheating issues. Heck, it’s even been CLEANED (thanks, Justin!)
>>>> That will hopefully make it a little less frenetic getting ready for
>>>> our next event, the Road America Moto-ST round at Elkhart Lake,
>>>> Wisconsin, where we will be the undercard not to a bunch of cars, but
>>>> to the AMA Superbike round there!
>>> Congratulations to you and the Team Tim! Sounds like a hell of an
>>> experience and a hell of a result.
>> I don't recall reading the result?
>
> "We finished 10th in class..."

How big was the class?

Bruce Richmond wrote:
> On Apr 28, 6:54 pm, saddlebag <saddle...@aol.com> wrote:
>> Calgary wrote:
>>> On Sun, 27 Apr 2008 19:30:34 -0700 (PDT), "tomor...@erols.com"
>>> <tomor...@erols.com> wrote:
>>>> It’s nice to be bringing home a racebike that hasn’t been crashed,
>>>> hasn’t had its transmission grenaded, and hasn’t had any electrical or
>>>> overheating issues. Heck, it’s even been CLEANED (thanks, Justin!)
>>>> That will hopefully make it a little less frenetic getting ready for
>>>> our next event, the Road America Moto-ST round at Elkhart Lake,
>>>> Wisconsin, where we will be the undercard not to a bunch of cars, but
>>>> to the AMA Superbike round there!
>>> Congratulations to you and the Team Tim! Sounds like a hell of an
>>> experience and a hell of a result.
>> I don't recall reading the result?
>
> "We finished 10th in class, the final money-paying position", first
> line of the second paragraph. In a national level event that is a
> darn good result, especially considering how many events the team has
> done so far. Way to go Tim.

I read it very quickly before I took off for work this morning. Musta
missed that part.

I'd be interested to know more about 10th place. Is everyone finishing
within a couple of minutes of one another or is like there are groups
whom this is a profession and others for whom it's a hobby? Is
competition for the podium a realistic goal or is the team just enjoying
hanging out and providing some entertainment to the masses?

"saddlebag" <saddlebag@aol.com> wrote in message
news:48165a2c$0$29200$ec3e2dad@news.usenetmonster. com...
"We finished 10th in class..."
>
> How big was the class?

Dude, that is just mean.

I finished 3rd in my first mountain bike race, in my age group.

"saddlebag" <saddlebag@aol.com> wrote in message
news:48165c0f$0$29238$ec3e2dad@news.usenetmonster. com...
>
> I'd be interested to know more about 10th place. Is everyone finishing
> within a couple of minutes of one another or is like there are groups whom
> this is a profession and others for whom it's a hobby? Is competition for
> the podium a realistic goal or is the team just enjoying hanging out and
> providing some entertainment to the masses?
>

Have you ever raced, anything? Racing is racing, whether it's drag racing,
tri-athelons, marathons, mountain biking, skiing, whatever.

Tim deserves major props. I wish I had the time / money / skills to race
again. Anykind of racing is the tits. First place or last or even DNF.
Everyone should do some kind of race in their life. Just once.

BryanUT wrote:
> "saddlebag" <saddlebag@aol.com> wrote in message
> news:48165a2c$0$29200$ec3e2dad@news.usenetmonster. com...
> "We finished 10th in class..."
>> How big was the class?
>
> Dude, that is just mean.

Why is it mean? I'm just trying to get a handle on what's going on.
Hey he made a little money at it, so the result can't be all bad.

> I finished 3rd in my first mountain bike race, in my age group.

What are you telling us, there were only three old guys in the running?

On Apr 28, 7:40*pm, saddlebag <saddle...@aol.com> wrote:
> BryanUT wrote:
> > "saddlebag" <saddle...@aol.com> wrote in message
> >news:48165a2c$0$29200$ec3e2dad@news.usenetmonster .com...
> > *"We finished 10th in class..."
> >> How big was the class?
>
> > Dude, that is just mean.
>
> Why is it mean? *I'm just trying to get a handle on what's going on.
> Hey he made a little money at it, so the result can't be all bad.

http://www.moto-st.com/CONTENT/Docs/...oto-STRace.pdf

Consider that Springsteen/Filice finished third in the same class.
Where did you place in your last national level race?

Bruce

> > I finished 3rd in my first mountain bike race, in my age group.
>
> What are you telling us, there were only three old guys in the running?

"saddlebag" <saddlebag@aol.com> wrote in message
news:48165fc0$0$29229$ec3e2dad@news.usenetmonster. com...
I finished 3rd in my first mountain bike race, in my age group.
>
> What are you telling us, there were only three old guys in the running?
>

Bingo! The following races resulted in embarassing finishes or broken bikes
and bodies.

I don't race anymore, I learned my lesson. But I would not trade the
experience for anything.

Bruce Richmond wrote:
> On Apr 28, 7:40 pm, saddlebag <saddle...@aol.com> wrote:
>> BryanUT wrote:
>>> "saddlebag" <saddle...@aol.com> wrote in message
>>> news:48165a2c$0$29200$ec3e2dad@news.usenetmonster. com...
>>> "We finished 10th in class..."
>>>> How big was the class?
>>> Dude, that is just mean.
>> Why is it mean? I'm just trying to get a handle on what's going on.
>> Hey he made a little money at it, so the result can't be all bad.
>
> http://www.moto-st.com/CONTENT/Docs/...oto-STRace.pdf
>
> Consider that Springsteen/Filice finished third in the same class.

I don't know who they are, but considering after 2 and a half hours they
were still within 7 laps of guys riding water cooled big twins, I'd say
they did pretty damn well.

> Where did you place in your last national level race?

The cheering section next to the beverage cart.

On Mon, 28 Apr 2008 18:54:55 -0400, saddlebag <saddlebag@aol.com>
wrote:

>Calgary wrote:
>> On Sun, 27 Apr 2008 19:30:34 -0700 (PDT), "tomorrow@erols.com"
>> <tomorrow@erols.com> wrote:
>>
>>> It’s nice to be bringing home a racebike that hasn’t been crashed,
>>> hasn’t had its transmission grenaded, and hasn’t had any electrical or
>>> overheating issues. Heck, it’s even been CLEANED (thanks, Justin!)
>>> That will hopefully make it a little less frenetic getting ready for
>>> our next event, the Road America Moto-ST round at Elkhart Lake,
>>> Wisconsin, where we will be the undercard not to a bunch of cars, but
>>> to the AMA Superbike round there!
>>
>> Congratulations to you and the Team Tim! Sounds like a hell of an
>> experience and a hell of a result.
>
>I don't recall reading the result?

Then you might go back and read it again, sober this time.


--
See Ya On The Road


2000 Yamaha Venture Millennium
2004 HD Road King

sleazy wrote:
> On 2008-04-27 22:30:34 -0400, "tomorrow@erols.com" <tomorrow@erols.com>
> said:
>
>> Justin and George and I are in Justinâ??s truck north of Lynchburg and
>> south of Charlottesville, on our way back from a successful Moto-ST
>> race weekend at Virginia International Raceway in Danville, Virginia.
>>
>> We finished 10th in class, the final money-paying position, didnâ??t
>> miss a lap of the race, didnâ??t have any mechanical problems, had no
>> pit problems, no rider problems, no crashes and only three track
>> incidents during the entire two and a half hour race.
>
>
> Ya done good! Congrats on the money finish and keeping the bike whole.
> I've got to check the schedule at work, but I'm going to try and get to
> Wisconsin for that race. Heck, Chuck's buying hot dogs. <bg> I could
> probably find enough in my wallet for a beer or three.
>

Ditto.

Tim, did I read correctly- you were really racing on the same track
with Jay Springsteen and Jimmy Filice? You were in some pretty
good company there.

--
'01 SV650S '99 EX250-F13 '98 ZG1000-A13
OMF #7

On Apr 28, 8:37*pm, saddlebag <saddle...@aol.com> wrote:
> Bruce Richmond wrote:
> > On Apr 28, 7:40 pm, saddlebag <saddle...@aol.com> wrote:
> >> BryanUT wrote:
> >>> "saddlebag" <saddle...@aol.com> wrote in message
> >>>news:48165a2c$0$29200$ec3e2dad@news.usenetmonst er.com...
> >>> *"We finished 10th in class..."
> >>>> How big was the class?
> >>> Dude, that is just mean.
> >> Why is it mean? *I'm just trying to get a handle on what's going on.
> >> Hey he made a little money at it, so the result can't be all bad.
>
> >http://www.moto-st.com/CONTENT/Docs/...oto-STRace.pdf
>
> > Consider that Springsteen/Filice finished third in the same class.
>
> I don't know who they are, but considering after 2 and a half hours they
> were still within 7 laps of guys riding water cooled big twins, I'd say
> they did pretty damn well.

http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/hall...age.asp?id=307

http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/hall...age.asp?id=170

> > Where did you place in your last national level race?
>
> The cheering section next to the beverage cart.

On Apr 28, 10:44*pm, Mark Olson <ols...@tiny.invalid> wrote:
> sleazy wrote:
> > On 2008-04-27 22:30:34 -0400, "tomor...@erols.com" <tomor...@erols.com>
> > said:
>
> >> Justin and George and I are in Justinâ??s truck north of Lynchburg and
> >> south of Charlottesville, on our way back from a successful Moto-ST
> >> race weekend at Virginia International Raceway in Danville, Virginia.
>
> >> We finished 10th in class, the final money-paying position, didnâ??t
> >> miss a lap of the race, didnâ??t have any mechanical problems, had no
> >> pit problems, no rider problems, no crashes and only three track
> >> incidents during the entire two and a half hour race.
>
> > Ya done good! *Congrats on the money finish and keeping the bike whole..
> > I've got to check the schedule at work, but I'm going to try and get to
> > Wisconsin for that race. *Heck, Chuck's buying hot dogs. *<bg> *I could
> > probably find enough in my wallet for a beer or three.
>
> Ditto.
>
> Tim, did I read correctly- you were really racing on the same track
> with Jay Springsteen and Jimmy Filice? * *You were in some pretty
> good company there.

Yep, they managed 70 laps in the two and a half hours on their factory
Kawasaki EX650, same as the winning Aprilia 1000 in the SST class.
They were pitted right next to us. We managed 63 laps in the same
time. Those guys are my age; the only difference between us is that
they have about 40 national and world championships between them, and
I have none. Oh, and they have a factory 18-wheeler and fly in for
the races. Oh, and they turned 2:07's and Jeff turned 2:13s and I
turned 2:20s.

We finished 10th out of 13 entries in Sport Twins, the largest group
among the three classes. All 13 Sport Twin entries ran the entire
race, no attrition, so we did actually beat the other three teams on
the racetrack, not because they broke.

If we had two riders as fast as Jeff, we would have finished closer to
the next four Sport Twin finishers, but still would not have beaten
them. Jeff and I both need to get faster, although it is obvious that
I have further to go than Jeff. He is 12 years younger than I am and
has not had a seven year layoff from racing to try to come back from.

I'm extremely pleased with the team's progress since our FIRST event
last month, and feel that we are right on track to be in a position to
field a credible Moto-ST team in the 2009 season.

This year is all about learning to race at a level higher than I ever
raced at before.

And boy, is learning expensive and hard!

On Apr 28, 7:24*pm, saddlebag <saddle...@aol.com> wrote:
> Bruce Richmond wrote:
> > On Apr 28, 6:54 pm, saddlebag <saddle...@aol.com> wrote:
> >> Calgary wrote:
> >>> On Sun, 27 Apr 2008 19:30:34 -0700 (PDT), "tomor...@erols.com"
> >>> <tomor...@erols.com> wrote:
> >>>> It’s nice to be bringing home a racebike that hasn’t been crashed,
> >>>> hasn’t had its transmission grenaded, and hasn’t had any electrical or
> >>>> overheating issues. *Heck, it’s even been CLEANED (thanks, Justin!)
> >>>> That will hopefully make it a little less frenetic getting ready for
> >>>> our next event, the Road America Moto-ST round at Elkhart Lake,
> >>>> Wisc