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Phil
Gee part 2
More from our British racer in Phoenix.
So after a steady nights drinking in the hidden shamrock,
retired to The RV & got some rest. I really felt
ready to race that day, but there was no practice as
Jaguar Cars had rented the track for the US launch of
the new XJ, so we twiddled our thumbs stood round in
the hotel car park & generally arsed about for most
of the day. More riders began to show up as the day
wore on & we got to know some new faces. We went
to the circuit about 4 & helped layout the track,
which was good, at least I knew what we would be riding
on. In typical'if only' fashion, the original plan for
the track had to be shelved as the proposed route for
the dirt section was flooded. ..... That’s right...flooded....
in Phoenix... the middle of the desert.... you know,
Arizona FLOODED FFS.
This meant a slightly shorter track, Glenn Curtiss
the Co promoter was worried it was too short, but I
reckoned it would be a minute at least and wasn't far
off.
Turn 1 was a left sweeper, almost a long hairpin, fast
entry & then tightened to a second/third gear double
apex right onto the back straight. This led into a fast
long right at the far end with a bale chicane at the
exit, which meant a fifth gear entry, down to a second
gear chicane, all whilst cranked over hand. Backing
in city. Lovely, A short straight to a 90 left, then
a long sweeper right to a short straight & then
a dead stop right hander which led on to the dirt. OH
how much dirt...How sandy ....how dry....The first short
straight was a squirt off the tarmac to a left, with
an off camber inside line, and a man made berm on the
outside, then into I short squirt to a right-hand hairpin
, with a big berm to a left almost straight away , over
a big mound( not a jump cos you had no speed on the
run up & had to right virtually straight away, through
the armco & left to a short run to a jump, down
a straight, round a right hand hairpin & back onto
start finish. Anyhoo, not a bad layout, dirt was a bit
severe for the road racers, but what the hell, next
week might have none.
As we finish the layout, some rigs start rolling in,
a big artic pulls alongside Metzger's rig, with a big,
no really big RV pulling in behind it. I turn To Paul
from MotoMaster & say ' bloody hell Paul the big
guns are rolling in already', to which he laughs &
says that's who you are riding for' SHEEEET! I wander
over, trying to look nice & professional, rather
than a fat Brit on holiday, get a brief chat with the
team owner, Brad, who is just the nicest guy, and then
we go back to the hotel.
A quick shower later, we are all ready to eat, so me
& Loz, the old boy (who we flew in for the weekend
as a surprise) my kids, Paul Brent, Glenn Curtiss, Jay,
the clerk of the course, all headed for TGI's to get
dinner, which was lovely, especially as Glenn waded
in & stole my main course, for him & jay to
share, which was half gone by the time his triple decker
sharer meal turned up.....UNLUCKY. Paul, in a fit of
generosity (or normal behavior maybe) picks up the tab
for all 11 and we bin the kids with the babysitter at
the hotel & retire to the Hidden Shamrock, where
we meet up with Steve'DOOD' Drew and his buddies. For
any of the Mettet crew who met him can tell you, Drew
is 'TOOOOO FUNNNNY', and he had us in bits straight
away, telling us about how they had to stop & put
oil the truck cos it stopped in the desert & all
sorts of other stuff.............we had 'a couple of
beers (riding tomorrow) and go to bed at 1 feeling pretty
good.
Breakfast & to the track.
Now this is where my head started to go. Everyone had
wet front tyres on. It was 85 degrees FFS and they were
putting wet fronts on, that's if they didn't have them
on already. Weird. Then they start putting on inter
rears.........I'm starting to worry now, what do they
know that I don't. Is it the way the tarmac has gone
in the heat, that you can run a wet & get away with
it. Is it local knowledge that it's what works in the
desert heat. Mystified, I decide to take off my brand
new slicks & replace them (on Pirelli's recommendation)
with a lightly scrubbed race/ road front & a used
slick rear, which leaves me a new pair for the race.
Get out in the first session, run with an uncut slick
just to mess with the local's head's and do three reasonably
steady laps, to warm the tyres (no warmers) and then
try to put in some quick laps to see what the track
surface is like. Everyone seems to be running pretty
soft on pressure so I follow & run 25. Onto the
back stretch on lap four, back it into the chicane real
nice, let the brake off to get back on the gas &
hit the deck. I DONT DO FALLING OFF. ......pick myself
up (and the 3 hour old VERT) and carry on & do a
couple more laps, find the grip level & then latch
onto Scott Russell to see what his pace is like, follow
him off the dirt, onto the start straight, he pulls
a few lengths till we get on the brakes (he's a bit
early) so I decide to run round the outside, a plan
which was successful right up to the point where I pull
the brake lever, and it comes right back to the bars.
Now A short history lesson here, Scott's career as a
road racer ended with him being rear ended on the grid
at Daytona after his bike stalled on the line, and this
was his first race since, although he's been on a bike
again for over a year. So bearing this in mind, running
him of all people up the arse was not something I wanted
to do especially in first practice. Had I have followed
him into the turn, I would have picked him up for sure,
so thank God I missed.
I run back to the trailer (did I say it was big) to
tell Brad that I have a problem & me & dad set
about bleeding the brake. A bit of air appears, but
not enough to give the problem. In then turns out that
the guy who ran it in had the same problem, and just
put it down to a bit of air , never sorted it out &
thus we inherit the problem. Not happy, but what can
you do.... wait for the next session & see what
happens. At least I'm ready for it this time. Out in
session two, same again, but worse, brake comes back
fine after a pump, but just aint there when you need
it. Scratch my head, Measure disc float, check for sticking
disc, change the pads, change the fluid. Hope its ok.
Its not. I am now severely detuned, have no confidence
to push in the corners & really don't know what
to do.
Then Eric, my team mate for the weekend, blows up Brad's
700cc berg, big style, cases shot & everything,
and I steal the front wheel off it, and Paul gives me
a new MotoMaster caliper to throw on, as well as the
master cylinder. The line is too long, so we stick with
the stocker. It must be ok now ..... right .....wrong.
Still the same, as a quick rip up the back of the pits
shows, give it flat in fourth & no brake. Help.
Timed qualifying & I'm still struggling, pumping
the brake into one & six & still have no real
idea of how grippy the track is, and am nowhere near
quick enough. I manage to get a run on my other team
mates bike, which is a well, well tuned 570, and I bang
in a lap to get me into superpole, my only flying lap
on it as the flag came out & then it runs out of
fuel on the slowing down laugh......at least its not
raining... Shit... I wish it was raining...at least
I'd be on the pace.....So a bit more arsing about at
the back of the pits reveals a bit of a startling discovery.
If I rev the bike real hard, the brake goes, if I short
shift it, it stays...... RESONANCE.... the vibes through
the bars are causing the fluid to airiate in the master
cylinder. Get back; check the motor mounts & swingarm
and they are all tight as a tight thing. Turns out all
the other bike have got 909 tapered bars on, and So
they never had a problem, but we have no mounts to fit
the bike so we're stuffed. Race day. Short Shift.
But at least we know what the problem is, so I can
deal with it. And we have a Corona Party to go to.
Corona Beer have laid on a party at the Tijuana Country
Club, which turns out to be a bar in a shopping Mall
but hey, it's a party. Miller has a rental bus, with
the seats out to fit his bike in, & we dive in that
& Paul B's rented pick up (in Glenn's name) Oh dear
oh dear. We head off I the wrong direction with Paul
telling us how many rental cars Miller has destroyed,
and me and Kat (the babysitter) put on our seatbelts.
Good call. Eight blocks of mirror bashing, cutting up,
ramming at lights, drag racing & boxing in later,
we arrive. Thank god. And there isn't a mark on either
vehicle. .... they make em tough in DEEEEtriot.
Lots of riders are there, Drew rolls up in his White
Brothers truck, we sink a few cold ones & I decide
to split early, mainly cos me kids are tired to death
& I figure that stealing the pick up will lessen
the chance of being added to the massive USA road death
toll.
Race Day
It becomes immediately apparent why Paul bought dinner
last night. Loz is doing rider registration when I get
there, and my dad, who disappeared too, is doing Tech
inspection........and he fails all my teams bikes for
not having a catch tank...thanks Dad, help my sponsor
have a bad day, why don't you :-))))
WooHOO This is it; this is what we came for. Superpole
was ok, bar for missing a rut in the dirt section which
cost me two secs, and I end up on row four, outside,
Drew managed to punch a massive hole in his foot with
a stalled riders footrest, blood spurted out like a
fountain & he missed superpole & race one, I
try to blag his bike off his mechanic, but he says 'no
way'. Bugger. So the flag drops on race one , I get
a good jump (for me) and ride round a couple of guys
in turn one then squeeze past another into two/three
& then get on it down the back straight, run round
three more playing follow my leader into the chicane
and then drop in behind Miller going onto the dirt.
The dust is terrible, someone rails the berm & I
can't see anything, I turn in, hit bars with someone,
save it then hit something & stop dead. That will
be two tyres then. I've run off the track totally in
the dust and am dead last...arse... bike fires first
time & I set off to catch up , only to be greeted
by the nicest sight.. RED fLAG..... Wahay... false start.
A bit of good luck at last.
Restart goes ok but don't make up many places on the
first lap, and then have to pick off riders one by one
the brakes(what brakes) & in the dirt till I get
to point where there is no one left to catch. The next
group is too far away, and although I am pulling them
in slowly, I run out of time & wind up 12th. Metzger
crashes in the dirt & then hauls in Russell with
a lap to go to take the win, very impressive. I beat
the rest of my team, which is a bit of a consolation,
and get my thinking cap on.
Anyway, I get a shout from Loz that the Pirelli guy
wants me to cut a tyre for him, (he watched me do mine)
so I wander over to be greeted with a bit of a crowd
and find out that the tyre in Question is for Scott
Russell........how funny...... so I sits meself down
& sets to as the Announcer shouts out ' now happening
at the Pirelli truck , an expert tyre cutter form Europe
will be giving demonstrations '......well I nearly died,
swear blind that I'll kill Brent next time I see him,
and try not make a mess of cutting the tyre. I don't....
luckily.... and then get asked to do another one for
Al Salverria, who bungs me $10 for the job, which I
try to refuse, then try to give to the fitter who's
done four swaps for me , and fail there tooo......beer
fund.
After a bit of thought, I go back to what I'd have
done at home. bang the tyres way hard, see what happens.
Good call. Get an awesome start , run round five in
turn one , pass Miller on the run into two, only to
have him pass me on the way out as I have to shift early,
he has his helmet cam on & I whooping & shouting
like a fool as he goes past, I run round him into four
& back it in across the front of him into the chicane,
only to run a bit wide, but I hold him, only to have
him block pass me in five, no contact, but costs us
a couple of seconds and the pack get away a bit, I make
a lunge down the inside into the hairpin, but he shuts
the door, and I follow through the tight dirt, over
the first jump, through the chicane & get a run
him into the final dirt turn, but he moves over, and
I have no choice but run round him high in the berm,
and nearly go down on the way in, but save it with a
big dab, bunny hop the big holes & get onto the
gas onto the start straight, remember to pump the brake
& back in it big style & it goes round like
its on rails . Make mental note' don't listen to the
locals'.
Get my head down & push hard, the old man is going
nuts & the dust seems fairly light... I'm seventh..yesss.
Then Russell goes down & I'm sixth & going for
it, but cant make any Impression no matter how hard
I push & decide to settle for sixth & try to
last the distance. A couple of small mistakes in the
dirt & one massive ' forgot to pump' moment see's
me fall into the clutches on AMA superbike rider Rich
Alexander & 250 GP rider Al ASl, but I hold them
for four laps , can pull 'em on the dirt & hold
em on the tarmac and I vow to crash if I have to, they
aint coming by. Last lap onto the dirt & I spin
up trying to get on the gas & Alexander makes a
move round the outside , I try to push him wide, we
make contact , but stay up & then I try to pivot
turn but hit the brake before the clutch disengages
& stall it.... schoolboy error.... but I'm shot
& drop to eight restarting, and nearly don't get
it going cos Casey Yarrow pulls up & says' is Mr.
Gee having a spot of bother, is there anything I can
do for you MR Gee, you only have to ask' , which was
just sooo funny I can't kick for laughing...........
but I nail 8th overall & Brad is well pleased with
the result, so much so that he offers me a ride the
following week at Fontana..........sweet
More in part 3 (yes there's more, but I need the typing
practice)
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