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Indianapolis MotoGP weekend of Aug 9 2015


jbot
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i have a bunch but too stupid too load them...On a differant note, if any of you guys are leaving the track and dont feel safe riding in the rain shoot me a call and you can stay with me tonight if you need. Rain SUCKS be safe if your traveling back tonight!

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Had a good time raceday. Got to the track about 9am and up to our luxurious suite by 10:30am. It was a nice change of pace to have a/c, free food and full bar, anytime we wanted it. We could see the front straight from inside, but we hung out mostly on the balcony to see most all of the infield racing. Hopefully we'll score some freebies again the next 2 seasons, heard our boss signed another 2 year lease on the suite!

Our view from the back

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Edited by Hellmutt
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Me too. We usually parked ourselves on the first spectator mound around T6-T8, so we'd slowcook in the sun all day. So, this was a nice change of pace

T6-T9 area is a good spot. That's where we spent most of Friday and Saturday.
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And IMS is throwing lots of money at the seating. Anyone that has been in the Penthouse seating in like Section B knows about the awful folding chair seating. That's all gone this week. We lucked out at were in some of the trial seats up there. Typical ball stadium green folding wall mounted seats with cup holders. They were awesome for Sunday! Plenty of room, all day comfort, and a beer holder!!!!

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We had a good time also. Hitting some parking up just across the street in the gravel so that worked out. 

Will definitely come for at least Saturday if not the whole weekend next time. Just was to much to take in for one day.

 

20458053146_dbb5389f57_z.jpg11875083_10153518797480011_7815405025961957098_o by 4DAIVIPAI2K5, on Flickr 

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Great weekend of racing with my brothers. Seats were very good and we had the view of turns 1 - 4, where most of the passing happened.

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I'm in that picture somewhere :p   We were pitted right across from the Dunlop truck.  This was taken Sunday, after the people next to us packed up and went home.  Their rider didn't make the cut.   Our guy struggled.  The whole process is a lot more intense than a club race.

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My weekend was probably a lot different than most other people's.  I went in knowing that I was there to "work," and figured that any spectating i got to do would be a bonus.

 

Brad runs Superstock 1000, so Jake Gagne sets the pace, with Josh Day and Taylor Knapp rounding out the top 3 most weekends.  Gagne turned a 1:38.4 and Brad was struggling to get under 1:47 in practice.  The MotoGP riders being there really cuts down on the amount of practice time the riders get, so he was qualifying with maybe 40 laps under his belt at a track that he'd never seen before.   Plus it rained on Thursday, so those laps were really only good for learning the layout.  Dry qualifying on Friday was the first time he was able to set brake markers and turn-in points at anything close to race pace.

 

Luckily Brad rides really well in the wet, and he made the qualifying cut based on his wet practice times Friday.  In Saturday's race, he got an okay start (normally that's a strength for him) and immediately started dropping into the 1:44's, clipping off a 1:43.1 and closing in on the bike ahead of him.  Kyle Wyman, Mark Heckles, and a third rider i can't remember got together on the first lap, so that immediately gifted Brad 3 positions, but he also had to slow to avoid hitting them, and the rest of the field gapped the last 3 riders by quite a bit.

 

So 9 or 10 laps went by, and we were watching Brad turn consistent 1:44's, and gain on Max Flinders (#888)   ...and then he crashed.  I don't know exactly what happened (who ever does?), but the result was that Brad lost the front on the brakes after making a pass into 13th.   His bike slid into the path of Max's bike, and they both went down.  Max was conscious and up, but either he or his bike were unable to continue.  That sucked.  Brad was able to pick up the bike and finish the race, but two of the three guys who had crashed on the first lap had come by while Brad was on the ground, and he rode it home in a lonely 16th place.  

 

On top of that, when the bike went down, it dumped coolant from the reservoir.  Nothing on the tires, but as soon as the bike slowed from race pace, it started to overheat.  Brad shut it down, and the bike came in on the crash truck, rather than risking putting fluid on the track.

 

 

Considering the speed of the crash, the bike was in phenominal shape.  Really only cosmetic damage to the bodywork, and the Vortex case guard on the left side probably saved a BIG mess.

 

Sunday morning practice was a joke.  7:30 - 7:45.  Brad got back up to speed right away and followed Chris Ulrich long enough to learn that he was using 1st gear in one of the tighter turns that Brad had been staying in 2nd.  That knowledge was good for a few tenths of drive, but the bike was still overheating as soon as it slowed from race pace.

 

Sunday's race was a waiting game.  With only 1 bike, we had to wait as long as possible to make a decision on whether to run slicks or rains.  Everyone went with slicks.  I don't know if we disrupted something on the bike in our haste, or if it was all just bad luck, but Brad said he got some front-end chatter, and then lost the front.

 

Anyway, Brad wasn't happy.  Understandably.  He worked his ass off all weekend to get a good result, and it landed him in the gravel.  He never blamed the bike or anyone on the team, but all he would say when he came in with a belly-pan full of gravel was "I'm done."   He didn't sound mad - just disappointed.   It's a lot of pressure to get a good result for a sponsored ride.

 

All that said, I was super impressed with how quickly Brad got up to speed and how much time he dropped in the race.  I think race 2 might have yielded even faster laps.  Next time.

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Great time, I did the general admission which i really liked but next year will have seats for the Sunday racing....Great weekend all around!

We Like the view from the S.E. Vista with the general admission tickets. We sat up high and was able to catch the end of turn 1, then see 2,3,4,5,6. 7 was blocked by the screen we could watch, then see turn 8 and the beginning of turn 9.  We also had a little bit of coverage from the sprinkles and could rest our backs on the fencing at the top of the stands. There was a bathroom directly below us.  

Edited by 4DAIVI PAI2K5
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