What a fun day! It makes a huge difference with a great group of guys out there. I got there in time Friday night to drink a beer while watching Nate and Shawn/Sean (? how bout Tib) work on Nate's brakes and shoot the chit w/Eli. As always, didn't sleep much despite the perfect camping weather. Sat. morning it was nice to have a hot shower and not have to rush around, although I really needed my coffee (add to packing list).

This was my second time ever @ the Beav and second time on track with the 750 and it took me a bit to get sorted. I was having trouble in a couple of spots and just couldn't figure out where I needed to be, couldn't figure out which gear to be in ect... 1st session was memorable thanks to Tib; he absolutely flew by me on the front straight and I couldn't keep him in the camera view for even 1 lap. I'm just really, really happy he is uninjured. As I came on the front straight I saw a rider laying on his back and I said, "oh shit" Then I saw it was Tib and he was getting up so that was good, but I didn't see his bike anywhere. Check out the video link for more, I just wish I was faster so I could have gotten the incident on camera for ya Tib. If you post pics of the bike I'll put a link in the Youtube video.

My fastest laps by session were 1:11, 1:09, 1:09, 1:08.8, 1:07.8, 1:08.1 and 1:07.9. So the afternoon went much better for me thanks to all the help and discussion from Nate, Mike and Tib.

The demo traffic and a few specific riders were bugging the hell out of me. My fastest lap was mainly because I was pissed off at the guy in front, then behind me (see vid link). But whatever I still had one heck of a time out there. Eli and Tib had terrible luck but I was impressed with NESBA giving Eli credit for both days. And I was impressed with the CR who was trying to help Eli.

I again defaulted to clutch shifting because I was concentrating on everything else and just forgot mainly. And my next mods are going to be SS lines, new pads, and good fluid because I was getting massive fade after about 10 laps.

Thanks to everyone making it a great time, I look forwarding to riding with you all again .

More vids to come but for now:
1st session clip of Tib passing me then giving thumbs up to his wife
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_x9xPbOkZE

2nd pm session my fastest lap of the day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHPTbrRoJZI

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Ben
#535

good vids (and captions) Ben!
i never even put my camera on this weekend. jr. should have some interesting rain footage from sunday.

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LETS GO PRAIRIE DOGGIN!!!!!!!!!YEEE HAWWWW!!!
WERA & NESBA #45

Foster,

Maybe you have a better way to do this, but if not just open two browser windows and open up your complete lap videos from tib's wreck and your fastest lap. Play them side-by-side and watch how much faster you got everywhere. As with all of us there is definitely room for improvement, but I was thoroughly impressed how much time you dropped. I know in the morning I past you like you were sitting still in T8 (left hand kink on the back) and in the afternoon you were staying on the gas the whole way through.

Anyway, excellent job. Now if I could grow some bigger balls and go faster I might get down into the 1:04's.

Oh, and do you have any longer videos? I know I was out there a bunch with you, hoping to see my body positioning to see if it was any better...

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LETS GO PRAIRIE DOGGIN!!!!!!!!!YEEE HAWWWW!!!
WERA & NESBA #45

My computer is working on the rest of the footage right now. Small files are easy, big files take forever. Nate I do have you on a couple of clips but unfortunately not for very long, I either seem to get hung up in traffic when you pass me or just try to push to hard and blow a corner. The wide angle on the GoPro makes things seem very far away. But I'll get them up soon.

Talking about the track with you guys really helped me out, like knowing I can stay in it through 8. Also in the morning I was thinking about the corner I was in, and the afternoon I was thinking about getting set up for the next one. Sort of like playing pool and thinking a few shots ahead.

The good news is a chunk of time was dropped, the bad news is that was the easy chunk. I have to remember not to get too hung up on lap times otherwise I'll make myself .

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Ben
#535

Well here goes for anyone that hasn't already heard the story...

The morning started out great...went on the demo and got to stretch out the legs early. The 2010 R1 is not for me, it has a weird low end and seemed to delivery power unevenly. On the positive side it was very flickable from side to side and I even got to drag a little knee on turn one with it.

Start of my only session...the 1st "I" session. I lined up on the left side about 6-7 people back.

Started out great, the yellow flag was out for the first 2 laps so I had plenty of time to get adjusted to the bike. After the yellow flag, the bike was responding to every input perfectly. I have to say that it was probably the best the R1 has ever ran. The Power Race tires (medium compound) stuck like glue and were allowing me to power out of the carousel without spinning up the back tire. They immediately inspired confidence around the entire track. I was running a great pace, felt great and it didn't feel at all like I was running to fast for the bike, myself or the conditioins. Fast forward a few laps. The lap before the wreck...I glanced down to see my gear indicator/tach to see if I could set up a better combination for the 1-2-3-4 turn combo and noticed my lap timer was displaying a 1:04:10 so I knew I was running a good pace and I had just been waved passed by a CR. I continue on the lap and my normal riding. I came out of the carousel and drove over the hill onto the front straight where I started to get a mild tank slapper, I continued to try and ride it out to which it seemed to be correcting, when all of a sudden I got a extreme tank slap from full right/full left/full right and then back to full left. When it came back to the full left it bunched me up and bucked me off the bike. I hit the ground and slid to a stop, tapped my hands on the ground, lifted my head and saw my bike "ghost riding" down the straight into turn one. I stood up and looked at the fence to see my wife standing there is shock. I gave her the thumbs up, the flag marshal the thumbs up and jumped over the barrier. I went up to the fence to Tara and the first thing out of my mouth "Did you get a picture of it?"

After I got all the gear off I of course gave myself a look over. Thankfully I only have a sore calf on my left leg. I guestimate that I was travelling at 140mph+ and looking at the video posted earlier with the speedometer it may have been near that speed. As we all know, gear is important and it definitely save lives and kept me out of the ER.

Looking at the bike as it sits today, it's a pretty good mess. With the body work on it, it looks much worse but just by a glance I need a full exhaust system, front wheel, clip on's, new body work, speedometer, battery tray, fairing stay and so on. Once I get it apart I'll know if the forks are damaged or just twisted. The frame has a dent from the clip on but so far I can't find any cracks.

Either way Tara is already bugging me for part prices or the price of a replacement bike so we can get back out there. She absolutely loved meeting everyone and had a blast hanging out. She has always loved trackdays but it makes it much more fun when you have a great group of guys/girls to hang out with.

Not sure if i'll be back in time for Summit next month but if not i'll come watch at least.

I have been doing 1-2 trackdays a year since 2005, all without incident. It was just my time.

They did get a few pics before the wreck...

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03' Yamaha R1 - Track Bike - In bits and pieces across the united states - Rest in Pieces
09' Suzuki GSX-R 750 - Street Bike
Nesba #22

Foster - Thanks for the video...it's an interesting one for sure.

If you were faster you would have captured the full wreck...

J/K it was great meeting everyone that I haven't previously met.

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03' Yamaha R1 - Track Bike - In bits and pieces across the united states - Rest in Pieces
09' Suzuki GSX-R 750 - Street Bike
Nesba #22

Glad your ok Tib.

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LETS GO PRAIRIE DOGGIN!!!!!!!!!YEEE HAWWWW!!!
WERA & NESBA #45