You're pullin' our leg, right Sam
I would kill for a day sprinting back and forth in a setting that beautiful
Well Sean, if I had invited you over for a day out sprinting with us on Sunday, you would have probally have killed me
After last weekends scorcher at Santa Pod, this Sundays meeting was just the oposite.
We woke Sunday morning to be greeted by 3" of snow.
As we drove north to the venue, it seemed to be less server, but the temps were well below freezing.
We suited up, signed on and went through technical inspection in the hope it would warm up and the track dry out.
As i had raced at the venue several times, I chose to miss practice and sent Chris out to do a siting run.
He said it was very slick and decided to miss his second practice run until the track was dryer.
By mid day and the start of the meeting, people were still complaining about the slickness of the surface.
Knowing full well how easy it is to make a mistake at this track and the limited amount of time that I had had on the RS, I chose to wait a little longer.
Chris went out and I walked down to the finishing line where you can got a good view down to the start, just 220 yards away.
I had missed Chris's 1st practice run but some of the crowd around me certainly hadn't.
When the commentator announced Chris to the line, some of the crowd started to get excited and went berserk when he got a flier off the line and screamed the bike up the hill. The announcement that followed had them all cheering. On his first attempt at this hill, he was in first place by over half a second.
The news to him on his return to the paddock had him grinning like the Cheshire Cat
Then came the snow and as far as I was concerned it was over, the track surface was much to cold for my tyre and also a little damp.
I told Chris to be careful as he got ready to go out for his second run. He had had a look at the track and said there was a dry line provided he could keep to the centre of the track.
He tried to launch the bike with a few more revs to try to better his first run but it ended in disaster when the tyre broke traction.
He was six tenths of a second slower than his first run but remained in the lead with the weather deteriorating.
I told him not to risk a third and final run as I doughted anyone bettering his time with the track worsening by the minute.
He got beat by thirteen hundredths of a second,
He came away quite pleased with his accomplishment but sad at loosing out at the last minute and by such a small margin.
What with the weather and him loosing out like that I was a bit pissed off, but after a few pints in the pub later we were all smiles again
.
Sam.