2003 Race reports

TOLERANT WIVES RACING PULLS DOWN A THUNDERBIKE VICTORY!!!

April 12, 2003 - Virginia International Raceway

Initially there was a good possibility that we were going to skip this weekends event due to weather. After last months soggy fiasco I was not looking forward to spending another race weekend in the van in "London-esque" conditions.

Thursday evening the forecast changed drastically! The folks at www.weather.com were predicting Saturday to be sunny and in the low seventies and Sunday to be partly sunny in the high sixties. The only problem I had was that Mary had already made alternative plans with her Dad for the weekend.

I made a quick call to Bret Marshall, longtime friend and original member of "The Knuckle-hedz". He could only come down for Saturday but at least I had a substitute crew chief for one day. Bret deserves mad-props, not only did he drop everything to come and help me out, but he was awesome in helping me out with the stands and tire warmers and what not.

We left pretty late on Friday so we didn't get to the track before the gate closed for the night. We just got in line with the other twenty some odd other vehicles that were already waiting. We sacked out in the van till about 6:30 or so when they started letting us all in.

We set the pit area up, registered for my races and got the bike thru tech inspection without incident. By the time the practice sessions started it was warming up to be a nice, sunny day. Beautiful race weather!

The first practice session my lap times started in the 1:52's and finished up around 1:50. I was a little concerned because that was about 3 or 4 seconds off the pace of the guys I wanted to be dicing with. But me and my SV were still getting acquainted so I didn't want to get too worried.

The second practice I got quite a bit more familiar with the bike. Too bad I couldn't have gotten more familiar with the new Mychron on-board lap timer because I goofed up the settings and had no idea what my times were for the session.

Race one was the Thunderbike race. Bret double checked my tire pressures and pulled off the tire warmers. He also gave me a little sage advice about bringing it back in one piece. I really think he just didn't want to drive all the way home listening to me belly-aching about any broken limbs in the back of the van. But that's just speculation on my part.

The one thing I hadn't practiced very much was launching the SV off the starting line. But when the green flag dropped it turned out to be a non-issue because I got a GREAT start!

From the back of the grid I went around a bunch of guys to be the first amateur into turn one! The only problem was that turn one was littered with bikes and tumbling racers from the expert group who had more balls than brains. By turn four the red flags were out and we all headed back to pit-out to see what they were going to do about re-starting the race. The C.C.S. guys told us that there was going to be about a five minute wait to get re-gridded because of some fuel and stuff on the track that needed to be cleaned up. I was kind of bummed because I was leading the race when it got red-flagged but, hey...that's racing.

The second start was a carbon copy of the first, complete with me flying up the inside past the other amateurs, first place into turn one, and other bikes flying all over the damned place!! Subsequent corner worker's stations displayed another red flag to stop the race so they could pick up the pieces.

Now I'm getting pissed! Twice I came out of the gate with a good start to lead the race, and twice the race has been interrupted by some "expert" doing asphalt gymnastics off the race track! I really shouldn't complain. It's bad race-karma. "There, but for the grace of God, go I." is what Mary likes to quote.

Anyway...when we go back to the hot pit Bret comes over with a word or two to help me get my head screwed on straight. So, off we go (on our third warm up lap) and get re-gridded to re-start the race. This time when the green flag drops I don't get off the line quite as well. Additionally, as I'm trying to come thru the pack, I wind up trading sponsorship stickers with one of the other bikes! But, rubbin's racin' so I keep going.

Turn one had another incident and we got all mixed up so I couldn't keep track of where all the other yellow plates (amateur riders) went. Fortunately the corner workers managed to do a great job of clearing things up in a hurry because we were able to continue the race. But I don't know if I'm in first or third or what!

I made up my mind to just ride my race and catch whoever happens to be in front of me, but everyone I pass turns out to be an expert. I ran ,mostly 1:46's with a best lap in the high 1:45's to take the checkered! I still couldn't believe it and Bret had to tell me I finished first! (and there was much rejoicing...yay!)

Naturally I had to walk around the pit and talk the appropriate amount of trash to everyone. I even had to call my buddy Shannon Santoni who couldn't make it to this event. Shannon is a Red Wings fan, but he's an okay guy anyway. (Checkout www.swsracing.com )

Then I had to settle down and get ready for the GT lights race. Mentally I told myself "Self...we've got a first place finish this weekend, so don't do anything stupid in this race." Me and Self decided that we were just going to work our way to the front and take the lead on the last lap or two.

It almost worked out just like that but I waited just a little too long to make my move. My draft pass for the lead was about a half a bike length short and I wound up in second. Hey, at least it was exciting for the spectators!

All in all it turned out to be an outstanding weekend for an abbreviated affair. I went home with a first place trophy, a second place trophy, a little prize money, and a tremendous ego!

Big Thanks to all my sponsors, please check them out and tell them that Pete sent you. Also to Bret Marshall (who will be attending all future races as my good luck charm.) And to all the corner workers who were picking up all the bikes in turn one. I hope I never need them to pick up any toys that I may have mis-treated.

Until next race...
Pete Moravek