Saturday, April 20, 2013

Practice Day 2, Qualifying - I realized I hadn't had a chance to visit parts of the track I would have liked to so I left early for the track ahead of the guys. When I arrived, I immediately met Preston who has good taste in bikes. He owns the naked K-R too! He's lucky to own the K1300 though, which has a clutchless shift!
Preston and I parted ways at the front gate and I was immediately drawn in by the stunt bikes. I've seen guys do tricks like this before but what I found amazing was the lack of landing area... all of MAYBE 15 feet past the down ramp!
I started my journey around the track by walking towards the front straight. I immediately came across the Texas highway patrol... both biker and cruiser car driver. Get a load of the fancy paint job on the motor of the State Trooper's car! And speaking of fancy... would YOU wear one of those hairy things on YOUR lid???
When I got to the main grandstand area, you could of course see into the paddock area and you had a great view of the wicked turn 1. UGH!!
As I walked back to my seat, I was interested in the safety feature on the sport bike... the bar prevents someone's bike or body from accidently pushing in the front brake - highside! - Ouch! or in this case, NOT!
It was great to see the little ones taking advantage of their bicycle course again.
I got to my seat just in time to see the first qualifying session. Since I bought my ticket at a different time than the guys, I was sitting on my own. I was in the same row but on the other side of an entrance ramp. They ended up phoning me because they couldn't see me! Hahahahaha!
My seat gave me a fabulous view of the long straight coming out of turn 11, as well as excellent view of turn 12 off the straight and turns 13, 14, and 15. Many of my pictures are riders either entering or exiting turn 15.
Upon exiting the racing circuit, I admired the row upon row of cacti decorating the area. When I got to my bike, a 2003 yellow bumble bee Yamaha was parked next to me! My friend, Gerald, has one just like it? Gerald... are you here??