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Phil
Gee Part 3
Supermoto in the USA...the final part....honest
So the race is done, we go to the trophy presentation,
steal a few (dozen) cold Coronas from the Corona Suzuki
team & reflect on the weekend. I feel happy that
I actually got on it a bit in the second race, and try
to hatch a plan to get me to Fontana next week. Say
our goodbyes to the guys who we aren't going to see
anymore, swap a few phone no's & emails & get
loaded up to go back to the hotel. It is decided by
the majority(well me & Paul) that we go to Hooters,
for the food of course, and we load up the Miller bus
& Glenns pick up & head off. Now bearing in
mind last night's bump & run episode, i put my kids
& Loz in with glenn & dive in with Miller, working
on the royalty theory that if one load cops it, the
other load will be there to spend the money............
Mark rips off, moderate amount of tyre squeal, &
Glenn follows in a more sedate manner( well the manner
of a guy who rented the pick-up & forgot to tick
the extra cover box) and we trundle the two blocks to
Hooters. Bearing in mind the fact that we have spent
the weekend with some of the funniest guys around, i
was amazed when the funniest line of the whole trip
came from the mouth of my seven year old daughter Laura.
Obviously well happy with Miller being a daft arse the
night before, the lack of excitement was too much &
she pipes up with 'CAN YOU DRIVE ANY SLOWER' at Glenn,
at which point Loz & ryan(my lad) simultaneously
slam a hand over her mouth to shut her up. Glenn missed
the quip, but Paul tells him anyway(great).. and Glenn's
reply of ' sarcasm from a seven year old ,what next'
was just hilarious.
Hooters was fun, we changed tables so Millers girl
Tammy could watch the Basketball, then went outside
to have a bigger table, laughed at MikeE (of 2wf.com)
as he blatently took the piss out of a couple of 'less
than pretty' girls on the next table. They missed the
UK sense of sarcasm completetly & we had a hoot
at there expense.
And so to bed.... for the kids...Hidden Shamrock for
us.....MikeE in the chair, top man, loads of beer for
the first time in a week , and some real laughs . A
certain member of the party recounted how she 'streaked
naked' through a bar for a bet , i asked if there was
any other way to streak, and Paul chimed in with'we
have a word in england for streaking with your clothes
on, its called jogging'. We laughed till we cried(well
i did) and we start plying her with a few strong ones
to 'speed things up' but get thrown out as its closing
time....aahhhhh bugger.
And now the problem. I want to race at Fontana. Trouble
is our flight home is 5.30 sunday afternoon and the
track is 1 1/2 hours away. Plan one.Crawl my arse off
all week , send Loz back with the RV on Sunday morning
& i fly back Monday. Sounds good. So i consider
it done.We have a fairly steady trip back to San Diego
with Paul B, apart for the RV cocnking out as we stopped
for gas & spend a night on the beach at a beatiful
RV park....... we go back to LA to swap the RV (twice)
to get one that actually works and then go to Huntington
Beach, go on the beach , go in the sea , just to say
we did , and generally arse about for the day. Loz is
still 'unsure of my plans' for the weekend. She puts
her foot down and says we all go back on monday else
i dont race .. simple... bugger. I phone the airline
& they reckon it will be at least £100 each
to swap tickets. And i need to do 5.......not happening..one
maybe :-))))
So we go to Universal Studios(what a bloody yawn) the
next day & i still keep my head down, make a few
furtive phone calls to Paul & Brad to sort the bike
& the entry out, and pray for devine intervention.
It doesn't come.......we spend a frought hour in the
hot tub at our next stop'discussing' our problems &
what can be done ............Paul springs a susprise
on me by saying that although we have a two day meet,
its only really a days worth of racing, and its all
fitted into the gaps in the AMA superbike timetable,
the open main goes off the line at 1.00, 20 laps, 1
minute lap, finished at 20 past, 10 minutes for the
podium(yer right), 5 mins to get changed, out of there
by 1.35 at the latest, airport by 3, walk in the park.
Sounds like a proper plan. Go for it. Ring Brad to say
its definately on, the ACU to organise insurance, and
start to get pumped about the race.We fire into Six
Flags Magic Mountain, the mother & father of rollercoaster
theme parks, have a great time, get wet , petrified,
and generally get the shit scared out of us all day.....top
place...will go again.
Run back 2 hours down the coast to San Diego, back
to the nice RV park, ready for Sea World. Now Sea World,
it has to be said, is not my kind of place, $220 to
look at big fish seems a bit steep to me , and bearing
in mind it was half empty & we got to see all the
shows, without queueing( or waiting in line as they
call it, jeez) it was less than impressive......highlight
of the day for me had to be seeing my first ever paddle
tyre on a CRF in the car park....it was that good.
We then go to the Brent residence in Carlsbad,spiritual
home of Supermoto, and a lovely place to live, for dinner,
but it turns out to be a Friday night 'order in' ( which
suits me anyway) and we start to order the food . There
are kids everywhere, my two , Pauls three( or four?)
the neighbours kids, i meet a woman in the garage, who
i expect to be Pauls wife Sue but is from next door
, and realise that about five houses are all wide open
with people wandering in & out & kids playing
& generally having a ball. Nice place, not a patch
on Northampton(Not) and i get dead jealous. I could
write for an hour on the food run, but shant, suffice
to say that the girl in SubWay(sarny bar) didn't grasp
the concept of ' just chicken' on a roll and i swear
i would still be there now if Paul hadn't stepped in.
And bugger me , its raceday already. 13days in the
USA & 6 of 'em riding. My kind of holiday. We get
to the track at 9.30, our Burger King map catching us
out again, and join the line at the sign up window.
A say hi to Al Sal(from last weekend) & then Drew
arrives, with one shoe & a flip flop on his bad
foot , he's already been practising at Perris &
is revved up. He introduces me to Gary Jones, &
Marty Moates,two legends from way back, Moates is gonna
ride , but Gary only just took a cast off his leg and
is giving it a miss. Then it happens, the rumour mill
was right. McGrath shows up. Jeeez. This is big league
now. Then i hear Jeff Ward is riding, i known Kevin
Schwantz is here cos i've been told already & Scott
Russell too............fantastic.....i wonder if i can
beat any of them;-))))
Now it dawn's on me that although McGrath & Ward
have'nt raced SM before, they have been out practicing
most of the week and are gonna be ready. I work out
that apart from two test days at 3 sisters, i haven't
ridden a bike for over a year, unless its been at the
race.... sounds like a good excuse for later.
Anyway, Brad, true to his word has sorteda set of bar
clamps out (well he modded a set in his orkshop, between
patients probably) and i set to & fit them to the
bike, which get's done with a bit of assistance from
Robert, his buddy, and we are ready to practice. I don't
get to walk the track , but its in a car park on the
inside of the oval , so how hard can it be.......
Don Canet(the promotor) does this a lot, apparently,
car park tracks, and this one is pretty good really,
a fifth gear just ) straight into a 90 right, with plenty
of run off ( apart from the concrete wall all the way
down on the left) into a left kink & right hand
haipin, a short hop to another right & then 90 left,
3rd gear straight into a haipin left, which opens into
a short 2nd gear blast to a left haipin that closes,
a fourth gear straight with a right kink then hard on
the brakes into the dirt, which has a small kicker on
the way in and is marked out by 3ft high concrete blocks
and then the turn is filled with a massive sand berm
against the concrete, and an alternate inside line berm
too, a 2ft high wooden jump, into a double apex right
hander upto 3rd for a small straight, 90 right &
back onto the start. The last turn is the only one that
is a bit iffy as its a solid tyre wall in front of solid
concrete & an eight foot security fence, but i suppose
it'll give a bit...... The track just isnt dangerous,
even though its surrounded by concrete , its done just
right, has proper kerbs( which are'nt bolted down but
stay put anyway) and is a hoot to ride round. Its gonna
be a nightmare to pass, maybe , but there are chances,
so should be good.
Except...get to turn one..... flat in fourth....no
brake... kind of expecting it, but hoping its OK. It
isnt. Shit....and its not a track to short shift on
at all. Get back to the trailer & wonder what to
do next. Go over all the engine, & frame bolts again,
swingarm pivot, even check the headstock, all snug &
tight, pull off the seat to check the only two nuts
i cant get to, even though the bolt feels tight, the
first one moves, maybe get it to go three flats, but
it goes. Second is tight. Start the bike , less vibes,
straight away. This is it. We get similar stupid stuff
like this on the racecars at work, but i never would
have believed it would make this happen, I check mine
every week at home , and even when they are loose, which
is rare, it never affected the brake ...........still
shit happens.. at least i can go for it now surely.
I look at the grid for my heat...........oh lordy,
Metzger, Jimmy Lewis(desert guy) Gary Trachy, well fast
but a bit hairy & five other pretty quick (on last
weeks show) guys. Oh and Schwantz. Seven to qualify.
And as i'm a late entry i'm last on the grid. Beautiful.
Nowt like an easy heat. So i go out on my warm up lap
, rag it down the straight in third till it stops pulling
and squeeze the brake. Oh Yes... we have stoppers ,
and bloody good ones too, the Motomaster set up has
loads of feel & tons of power, and i nearly bin
it on cold tyres trying to find get the lever position
sussed.
So here we go, no panic, just 7th, thats all we need,
Metz is on the row in front, the guy next to him is
on an old Husky, so he ought to be no worries, lets
rock......can't see the flag guy, so i go with Metz,
run down about six or so into turn 1, another in two,
and slot in behind Metz for the next couple of corners,
stay out of till i get some space to work with &
try & suss out where i am. 10th i reckon, Metz forces
through one guy on the dirt & i jump past him on
way out, & then i figure if a can follow him past
a couple more, i'll be in.
This is where it goes tits up cos Metz is riding knee
out in some turns & 'proper like' in other and he
isn't getting close enough to make a pass, and i'm getting
held up. Bearing in mind he smoked us all the week before,
i'm well happy, but as i said earlier, its well tight
, and passing without contact is not gonna be easy.
I get a run on him down the start straight, but not
enough , but he loses the back into the right &
i've got t go for it, he stays on the track(just), and
i'm gonna t bone him if i dont watch it, so a have to
back off & try to square him off into the left,
but twat the tyres and nearly go down. Then as it looks
like we aren't gonna catch anyone, we seem to pull them
all in a lap, and a six rider convoy ensues, Trachy
goes down in the dirt & i go to 7th, i think. So
i stil try to work on Metz, but he block passes up to
sixth & i don't get a good run at Jimmy Lewis, but
hold Trachy off.......is it enough. Smiles from Loz
& Ryan, so i guess it is.And it is. But that will
be another back row start.But i'm in.
Now if some one had said that the heat with Mcgrath
& Ward & Russell in was the easy one , i would
have laughed, but it was , they ran away with it ( whereas
Schwantz won ours by 5 or 6 seconds) and the rest were
fairly spread out. No official timing so it was a guess
who was quickest, but Wardy looked sooo fast it was
hard to see anyone beating him. Until the next heat
came out, Casey & Drew had a brilliant battle, with
both of them looking real fast, Casey just getting the
nod,maybe half a bike , but a super race to watch and
worthy of a final. Now Leo Bagnis(the Champ) had to
go to the last chance race on Sunday cos he crashed,
but looked waay fast on his Vert, so he would be behind
me on the grid tomorrow at least.
Its 2 o'clock. i have to take the RV back, organise
a rental car, a hotel, and be back to go to dinner with
Brad & his family at 6 . Easy..........our survey
said....ooh oooh. Rv place shuts at 2. We arrive at
4, only the slightly inbred workshop crew are there,
and we dont have a car yet. Brad lends me his phone
so the hotel is easy, and we get the yellow pages to
call Avis. Now we hit a snag. Would you believe that
in the land of the free , where you can eat, bowl, drink,watch
cable porn & in some states gamble 24/7, its fu%$£ing
impossible to get a rental car after 4 on a saturday.
2 if its Hertz.
2 hours later, and about 50 phone calls (all on the
RV company phone at least) we nail down a Buick at LOng
Beach Airport about 20 miles away, Cletus agrees( well
its Ernie really, but he could have been a Cletus) to
take us to get it, which was really good of him, if
we pay his gas.........deal. But we have to use his
crew cab Chevy from god knows when, which is just Full
of crap, busted window, no door handle, must be 20 years
old if its a day.....its a shed on wheels, with a big
hole in the dash & all sorts of other shit.
Now he fires her up, open pipes( or as near to as you
can get) & no sound insulation mean its like sitting
in the engine bay, and he squeals out into the street
& we head for the airport. We stop for gas, and
Loz asks me a very pertinent question. 'do you think
he's been drinking'.........i remember him going to
the fridge at least four times while we were sorting
the car out, so i think the answer is yes. Help i look
at all the empty bottles in the footwell & my stomach
turns. Were dead meat. He jumps back in the cab with
a fresh bottle in his hand , shuts the door , starts
the motor , bangs it in drive ,all in one and lurches
off the forecourt... oh lordy ....he then pulls a CD
player from under his seat , plugs it in at the next
set of lights & puts in a disk......if it plays
a banjo tune ......i'm out the window ...........moving
or not...Loz can fend for herself...and she's well insured.............We
arrive ..safely... no near misses...nothing....the guy
is a true gent....he gives us a couple of tee shirts
for the kids....apologises for the RV being a woofer
& his boss for being an arsehole...and i finally
get to see what he's drinking....SoBe iced tea &
ginseng ( or summat like). I offer him $40 for his trouble
(irs saturday night FFS) but he refuses point blank
and drives off before i can argue. We nail the rental
car back to the hotel, get there at 8, miss dinner (
again), go out to eat on our own & turn in early.
The Race(yes so soon)
Schwantz bins it in the 450 race which Metz wins ,
breaking his hand in the process, which means i'll just
have to make do with McGrath, Ward,Russell,Metz, Drew
, Bagnis, & Casey as well as three superbike guys
guys. To think that for all the times i watched these
guys on TV i never though i'd meet any of them in the
flesh, let alone race them on equal terms , i start
to realise what i've achieved. Ok its only a localrace
to them , but to me its the culmination of years of
effort & expense & a bit of luck & good
fortune for me & my family who supported me when
i was crap( what do you mean when) as a kid, to being
a reasonable MX rider & then a fairly decent SM
pilot. We never had shit loads of dosh , but raced what
we had,and had fun doind it, and its all led to this
day, which is pretty amazing.
So i get new tyres on , sit on row 7 & wait for
the flag......and try not to get a stiff looking at
the brolly girls.
Flag drops , i left room for Bagnis to pass on the
right in the hope that he gets in hot & skittles
a few off which he nearly does, but leaves me a big
hole anyway & i jump through five or six dead easy,
then pass another two i get on his back wheel into six
and the reds are out for a false start........shit ...the
flight .... i'll miss the flight cos of a false start.............and
it was Russell.....i bet they put him to the back like
they said they would..........and they do ... and he
goes...no arguement, nothing.
Amazing.
We go again , elbow to elbow with someone into turn
1 , run wide & make up no places, Russell chops
me into two, and i nearly tuck the front, but stay up
, make up a couple round the outside of three &
four & stuff under a CRF into five, pass my team
mate on the brakes into six & then take a breath..........Russell
is next, then Bagnis, so not much chance of making room
, just sit in behind & try to capitalise on any
mayhem that they might cause. Its a good call , Bagnis
stuffs a guy in the dirt & Russell & me make
up another place, then he does a couple more in the
next two laps & starts to go away . Now its a 20
lap main ( none of your six lap shit here) and whilst
you dont want to let anyone off the hook, desparation
moves on lap five are not the hot ticket. I want to
finish top ten & i'm not going to do that on my
arse..........so as Russell uses his horses to jump
by on the straights , i'm back to pushing by where a
can & i end up behind Russel & Bagnis again
who have reached the back of the battle for fifth,sixth,
& seventh , although i'm a bit off the back, i have
plenty of laps to reel them in. But it takes two, and
i'm on them, and in a text book move, as Russell tries
to go to the inside of Bagnis in the dirt he loses drive
up to the jump, i get an awesome run round the outside,
hit the jump flat in second & go for the pass. Russel
lands & gasses it towards the apex but i land, with
the throttle pinned( so he hears me ) next to him doing
10mph more & get my elbows out to make room....and
he lifts....he lifts.....i nearly piss my pants, pray
to god that the video camera LOz will probably be waving
about like a nutter, actually caught the shot and try
not to fall off, as i tend to when something momentus
like this happens. And i hold him & we catch Bagnis,
who like both of us is struggling on the tight circuit
on a big bike. I didn't dawn on me till the flight home
that we were the only true Open class bikes out there,
apart from McGraths 520, which is a bit of both. And
i hold him for a lap, see an orange mudguard on the
exit of three but squeeze him out to the wall, and hold
him for another two corners, but lose the rear for a
split second out of eight & he's level,has the line
for the fast right into the kink & he rides me to
the tyres( one all, hard but fair), at which point I
switch to the outside for the dirt to try & ride
round him in the berm, as he stays real low . Great
plan up to the point where desert racer Jimmy Lewis(i
think) spits himself off on the brakes & leaves
us nowhere to go. We both hit the bike , Russell stops
up but i fall onto him from the top of the berm, and
in true racer fashion, he dumps the clutch, and i go
sprawling. No damage done, but the Vert & the CRF
seem to have got it on, and it takes the best part of
a lap to separate the dirty buggers, by which time its
game over. Still eight laps left, so i decide ,rather
than pull off & head for the plane, i'll keep going,
just to get classed as a finisher and, what the hell,
enjoy myself. And its the best decision i ever made.
I rode round pretty quick, but mindfull that i had to
catch a plane, and with two to go McGrath & Ward
came by & i had a grandstand seat for one of the
best two laps you'll ever see, both riders just absolutely
on it,no prisoners.....this was no ordinary race.....this
was every race they ever had rolled into one.....and
it was for more than money.....this was for pride....old
school against new(kind of). The only guy to truly humble
Mcgrath was Carmichael, and i guess he wasn't up for
letting the old man beat him......but Ward had other
ideas, block passed Jeremy into the last turn, with
one lap to go & held him off in style, much to the
crowds delight. It was awesome to be part of it, and
i got 17th, Russell got 9th(ithink) so my top 10 wasn't
an impossibilty.
And all of a sudden it was over...rush to get changed....run
to the rental car...get in & drive off to the airport....a
few quick goodbyes and it was all over.....gone.....such
an abrupt way to end... needed another day....another
week...month..for ever.....who knows, it was the trip
of a life time, if i never do anything else as long
as i live.......i feel like i achieved something...
Postscript..
I arrive back, go to work, fall back into my routine
, and try to comprehend what i did..... and find to
my delight a picture, on a website of me Mcgrath &
Ward all in the same shot......spot the screensaver.
A permanent reminder of a great trip........till the
next one.
And finally Thanks to ;- Paul Brent at Motomaster USA
& Glenn Curtiss at Superbikers2 for arranging it
all for me, Brad Dodenhoff of East Hills Racing for
the bike, tyres,fuel & anything else I needed, and
being an all round good bloke,Mike Norman for his hospitality,
John Grant at California Race Services for swapping
my rubber, Metz for the loan of a bike to play on(which
i broke), and a place to stay, Mark Miller for a place
to stay & some food & beer when we were starving,
Clerk of the course Jay, who looked after my dad &
put him on the plane home after we abandoned him in
Phoenix, and anyone else who i may have forgotten, you
know who you are...
And Lippy.....for getting me involved in the first
place.
And the lovely Loz for paying for it on her credit
card....statement comes tommorrow....i'll get me coat
Phil Gee
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