VIDEO: 2012 MRA Round 6 - NovU mayhem

[spideyrdr]

Nov U this past weekend was filled with crashes and restarts. One bike (at least) ended up completely destroyed, a couple of riders got banged up, but from what I was told, everyone ended up being fairly ok.

Here are the 3 clips I pulled from the race. The first attempt at the race was red flagged due to a crash in turn 4. The rider in front of me ran a bit wide, I snuck underneath, and from what I was told, he then moved back into the race line and caused another rider to low side into him. That's from the first video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rY84DSrZPg

Upon restart, someone crashed on the warm up lap. So we sat on the track gridded for over 7 minutes before they gave us another warm up lap. By this time, everyone's tires had probably cooled, and sure enough, when we got the restart, there were another couple of crashes. The first was at the bottom of the chicane. We raced on until another crash at the top of 11 brought out a red flag followed by the medic flag. That rider was down hard and the bike was destroyed. This was in video 2.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bb3raHYKi9k

At this point the race direction was pissed off and postponed the race ~5 hours and we raced a 4-lap race in the afternoon after all the other races were run except for SuperStreet. This went better, though I think there was still a crash or someone went off, I'm not sure. Anyway, here's the actual race. I ended up 4th and put down a couple of 1:23's to reel in the rider in 3rd but 4 laps doesn't give you a lot of time. I was very happy with a 4th overall, only about 1.1 seconds off my first podium.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5tUai0P2l0

You'll note how overcast it was in the first two clips vs. the final one. It was chilly in the morning and the track was just eating guys up left and right. By the time the afternoon rolled around, the track was warm and grip wasn't as much of an issue.

The final round at PPIR on September 15 & 16 should be quite interesting. Using unofficial results, I project there will only be 30 separating 3rd place through 10th in the standings and we are scoring double points in this final round! If you don't race, come on out and watch the season finale - it's sure to be entertaining!

Jamie

[Snowman]

And after the first race all of the Novices were taken a side for a one way "discussion", on how this shouldn't be happening. Then in the next race NovO a racer went down in turn 2 red flagging that race.

[spideyrdr]

And after the first race all of the Novices were taken a side for a one way "discussion", on how this shouldn't be happening. Then in the next race NovO a racer went down in turn 2 red flagging that race.

Yup, that is true! The novices got a good talking to from the race direction and unfortunately someone did crash in NovO. I heard (though this is totally a rumor) that it was a brand new racer and he suffered a broken leg. That red flag lasted for maybe a half hour if I am not mistaken. I hope the rider is ok, regardless!

[dirkterrell]

I do not look back very fondly on my days in the novice meat grinder. In fact, I stopped doing it while still a novice because it was just too crazy. There is a very big difference between someone who can go fast on a bike and someone who can race. In my two novice years, I found the top 5 or so guys/gals knew how to race, but the next few were the ones to watch out for. They could carry speed, but they didn't have a clue how to do it in traffic.