Here is a pic of my bike, v 2.0 . I'll have some on-track pics shortly. By the way, if you like the graphics, Mark at Fasttrack Motorsports is responsible...if it weren't for him I'd be riding a spray bomb/duct tape abomination. Thanks Mark!

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My mission, which I chose to accept, was to ride this past weekend as a control rider for Sportbike Tracktime at Putnam Park. I hadn’t been on a bike since my crash at Talladega in February, so I was really looking forward to it. Putnam is a really fun track to ride, and the weather report was mostly favorable. Plus, I’d been wanting to hook up with STT for some time, and I finally had the opportunity.

I spent the previous week getting the last few things ready on the bike. My new bodywork arrived from Mark at Fasttrack Motorsports on Tuesday, and luckily for me, my friends Tom Lewis and Jimmy Vanderhaar were happy to come over and help me get it all mounted up. I was pretty nervous about it, as I’ve only mounted a few sets of race glass before, and never when it was already all painted and pretty. I needn’t have worried…Tom had a plan in short order, and before I knew it, holes were drilled, sliders were installed, and the bike was ready to rock.

As a control rider, my job is primarily to be a finger-wagger. If I see anyone doing stuff they shouldn’t be doing, they get the wag…unless it’s a really scary thing (like weaving back and forth up the front straight at 45mph to ‘get heat in the tires’…for example) in which case I have to let track control know, and they handle it. Also, I get to offer help to anyone who thinks they might benefit from following me around. Of course, I’m not nearly qualified to be a true race instructor, but some folks are very new to track riding, and as such, can benefit greatly from watching someone demonstrate a rough approximation of ‘the line’ around the track. Fun stuff.

Saturday dawned windy and cold. For the first session, I’d say it was maybe 42f with sustained 25mph winds. These conditions are not good for traction, but with some care, pleasantly quick riding was easily doable. I’ve never been good at dealing with sketchy track conditions, so I wasn’t about to push myself. Still, it was great to get back on the bike and turn laps, even if they were very slow laps. I was also able to confirm that the bike was 100% after the crash, so that was a relief.

By the end of the day I was starting to feel my old confidence coming back, and while I was still slow, I was also very relaxed, and I was having fun. These, I reasoned, would be the building blocks I’d need if I were to go faster on Sunday.

Also on Saturday, I was fortunate to have pitted next to Brian ‘Jig’ Moore, and his friend Dave (sorry Dave, I forgot your last name). These are some cool cats for sure, They did a great job of letting me think out loud at them without getting too annoyed, and this in turn helped me regain my confidence.

Sunday was perfect in pretty much every way. The wind was gone, and by 10:30 it was over 50f…time to get a move-on for sure. I pretty much took the same approach I had taken on Saturday…relax and ride, and let the fun factor take over and determine the pace for me. Again this was a successful strategy, and by the last few sessions of the day, I was moving along nicely at a pace that was just under what I might do at a race practice. I was still at ease, and having a ball…all good.

Around lunch, I realized that the forks didn’t feel as plush to me as they had before (I’d installed stiffer springs front and rear since Tally), so I began softening the compression damping a click each round. I felt more comfortable, and the bike seemed to steer better each time, so I guess it worked out.

Next up is the WERA round at Nashville in two weeks. I’m pretty satisfied that I’ll be back to my old self there…riding loose and having fun. I’m not going to worry much about results. I figure this whole ‘relax and have fun, and the speed will come’ thing is working out ok as a post-crash recovery technique, so I’m gonna stick to it for the coming round. If all goes well, I’ll get my nose to the grindstone more for Barber.

Oh, and if you hear any stories about an advanced group control rider tipping his bike over after the first session on Sunday, right in front of his own pit…well…that wasn’t me. It’s all lies I tell you…LIES!

Anyway…mission accomplished.