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CanyonStrafers Trackday at Thunderhill ParkOctober 30, 2002by dgraceWillows gets cold in autumn, but the laps remained hot! A bunch of the 'Strafers assembled at the familiar Super 8 motel in Willows the night before the track to drink a few beers and share stories. Jimil, Jeff, Megan, Shawn, Jessie, Steve, Glen and myself were there, and we saw the bikes and trucks of Coustier, Lance, Stu, Rich, and probably a few others I'm forgetting. An excellent member turnout for what turned out to be a great track day, and it was especially nice to see a lot of the original members on this one. The morning dawned cold and clear, as we got the ritual McD's fill-up and stopped for gas and ice. The usual suspects assembled in the pit area next to the green tent and went through the unloading procedure. Jimil's gang made particularly efficient use of a 12x6 U-Haul trailer and packed in 4 bikes diagonally! Glen and I brought our trackbikes as well as Glen's GSXR, though it never even got used during the day. I had originally meant to bring my TLR but realized halfway to San Fran that I forgot the key! Rookie mistake. James was our track controller for the day, and he and the cornerworkers did an outstanding job. I preferred the way he ran the track to the way that Tim and Turbo do it, he seems to have a more laid-back attitude towards having fun out there (which is, after all, the whole point!) but without compromising safety one bit. His messages over the P.A. are informative and specific, and he's really good about giving feedback to the riders about how they're handling the flags etc. Thumbs-up for James - great job. We had a few incidents during the morning, which broke up the early going into short sessions. The worst was a GSXR1000 that dumped its oil all over the entrance to turn 1, right on the racing line, before dumping its rider on his ass for a leather test. It's not a corner that's much fun if you can't trust the surface, and it was noticably slick until after lunch when the oil and kitty-litter was pretty much completely scrubbed off. At one point I came around turn 10 and saw a bike and rider way off in the weeds ahead of me, then came around 11 and another rider had laid it down in the dirt! Crazy! I think that was about the last stoppage of the day though, once we got under green again we had good long open track sessions. There were a few more off-track excursions but nothing major - while following my friend Chad he forgot to turn for 7 and wandered off into the weeds, he must have gone 100 yds out to the fence! Kept the bike up though, no harm no foul! The afternoon sessions were excellent, in fact I think the track stayed wide open with the exception of the cornerworker break at 3pm. We'd been warned about bees and bugs, though the chilly, windy morning seemed to keep them away. By the afternoon they were out in force, but still not a big deal. We'll have to scrub the bikes and helmets down though. This was my first Thunderhill day in non- daylight savings time. After 4:00 or so, the sun gets very low and is right in your face after you come around turn 7, it makes it very tricky to find the turn 8 apex (I goofed it up a few times and got bounced around pretty good!) After 4:30 or so the sun gets below the level of the hill and you can spot it again, though now parts of the track are in shadow so everything looks a little different. Looking straight into the sun with a bunch of bugs splattered all over your faceshield is a little tricky, I found. Darron Spohn was out doing his usual excellent work, it looked like he was shooting from 14, 2, 3, and 5. I'm looking forward to getting the photos back! Another fantastic
day, thanks again Jimil! 2nd Write Up by JimilHey guys,I had a blast yesterday. It was good to see more 'Strafers out there! This time we outnumbered the masses! This is what a CanyonStrafer Trackday should be like! More CS members! Dave, thanks for the great write up! I took a few pics but not as much as I'd like to. It was pretty cold in the morning but the weather turned out just great. Perfect for the rest of the day. We had a few incidents in the early morning but after that the whole day was incident free! I must give props to Hari (yellow ZX-6R) and Danny (YZF600R) for coming outand joining us again after their novice day on August 28th. Hope you guys had a good time and I hope to see you guys at more trackdays. It was my first time to see Tommy's new Duc and it looked sweet with slicks on it! Jesse, Steve, and Shawn, Glen, and Dave all had their ready to race trackbikes out. Rich Lortz brought his 02 R1 as well as Jay Dance. CS friend and custom bike sportbike builder, Gregg Desjardins brought his tricked out 02 R1! Cous, Stuart, and Lance came out for one last trackday as well. It was great seeing you guys out there again. Especially Cous and Lance!! Megan was the only lady that day but she was our there having a blast. Jeff led her around and she was picking up the pace nicely. New CS member Danny Boy came out to kill the demons from Turn 11 (novice day) and, except for an off track excursion, was able to keep it upright the whole day. New CS member Alex Junio brought his 00' R1 and was having a blast. One guy (non strafer) laid down about 100' of oil right on the racing line for Turn 1. This happened at about 10:30am and ruined the turn for the rest of the day. The bike was just back from the dealer from a service and they apparently forgot to tighten his oil drain plug. About 10 minutes after we pick up the first guy another guy has a mechanical in Turn 3. Turns out his master link broke and he lost his chain.Then a few minutes later our own Stuart low sides in Turn 11 and busts the case cover. Bike is dripping oil and Stu is done for the day. Oh yeah, Dito went exploring in Turn 10 and managed to drop his bike in thedirt at 5 miles per hour. If he would ride street more this wouldn't have happened. :) We had a good session with me, Cous, Dito, and Jeff. That was lots of fun as there was a non strafer mixed in with us and he was pissed that Cous passed him. Good fun! Megan was looking a lot more confident on her Gixxer. Jesse and Steve managed to break into the 2:05's.....the bastids! Also had fun hanging out with the guys the night before at dinner and oversome brewski's. Dave's buddy, Chad showed up and was looking good out there on his Gixxer750. BTW, Chad is the Navy fighter pilot who dropped one of his bombs in dedication to the CanyonStrafers. He wrote on the bomb, "With a heartfelt FUCK YOU from the CanyonStrafers!" Chad is no longer doing bombing runs in the middle east but can be found as a Top Gun instructor at the recently relocated Top Gun school near Reno, Nevada. I can't wait to get out there again. I may have to hit up some other trackdays org'd by other groups to get my fix until February! I hope more CS guys can make it in 2003.
Photos below by Darron Spohn of Photobitstream (copyright Photobitstream 2002):
Copyright © 2002 CanyonStrafers. All rights reserved |
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