The 2007 Seattle 100 was held yesterday (Saturday, July 28). Total donations for the event, including the auction at the awards ceremony was slightly more than $143,000.
Total contributions made thru me were $1435 or roughly 1% of total donations. Donations came from the TSBA, the Yahoo Group gaysportbikeriders", NEAR_500 (northeast EX500 racers), friends, some ex-coworkers, and Michelin thru Island Racing and SB Motorsports. I want to thank each and every one of you for your contributions and assistance.
As far as the event itself, Jake Holden, Chaz Davies, Danny Eslick, and Ben Spies were in attendance. They put on one heck of a skills show for an hour after lunch. Each of them started out on borrowed equipment and Danny managed to impress everyone with his supermotard skills. The boy's not afraid of anything! We watched him pitch it WAY sideways and simply catch it with his knee!
Ben confirmed the research into MotoGP.
Chaz talked about his MotoGP ride at Laguna.
Jake told us he was having fun working for MJ.
Danny was just Danny. Engaging, charming, completely off the hook.
(Danny's "Monster Drink" Arai, the one he'd worn all day, went for $2200 in open bidding.)
For me, it was a good day. I started out with an enormous dose of chemo (40 mg of Dexamethasone - a corticosteroid). Yeah, it was on my schedule, so I took it.
I spent a large part of the day flogging the FJR1300 on track. There's one hella difference between the R1 and the FJR! The FJR has thrust...... lots of it. It also changes direction nicely for a moto-manatee. The problem is that you can't really tip it over without SERIOUSLY dragging pegs. It's not a bike that likes to let you hang off. I also had problems with powertrain slack and an extremely loose throttle cable (too much slack). My solution was to load the powertrain and control corner speed with the rear brake. Tedious but effective. There was still a lot of dragging, but less jerking.
Suspension and tires were box-stock. The BT020s worked adequately at the lean angles I was achieving. Yes, I went to the edge of the tire, but I could have done more with different rubber and higher pegs.
ABS - never used it but it was a good confidence booster. Running a big monster into a corner is invigorating.
Ok, so I was in Group 100. The newbie - slowbie group. OMG I'd forgotten how clueless this group can be! There's a video of one of my shorter sessions..... You'll be amazed at some of the lines and actions. You'll also be amazed that I didn't kill the kid at about 8:15. You may also enjoy what happened to the R1 guy I was chewing on for a few laps.
Anyway, I ran several sessions and quit a bit early. I was (and still am) having some kidney and spleen pain. Dunno why.
Did I mention I left the bags on all day? I must have been perfect to draft!
Here's the video.
http://www.veoh.com/videos/v876148hFmkgtC2
Pardon the stylistic clash of the FJR and the suit.... Click to make it larger.
Total contributions made thru me were $1435 or roughly 1% of total donations. Donations came from the TSBA, the Yahoo Group gaysportbikeriders", NEAR_500 (northeast EX500 racers), friends, some ex-coworkers, and Michelin thru Island Racing and SB Motorsports. I want to thank each and every one of you for your contributions and assistance.
As far as the event itself, Jake Holden, Chaz Davies, Danny Eslick, and Ben Spies were in attendance. They put on one heck of a skills show for an hour after lunch. Each of them started out on borrowed equipment and Danny managed to impress everyone with his supermotard skills. The boy's not afraid of anything! We watched him pitch it WAY sideways and simply catch it with his knee!
Ben confirmed the research into MotoGP.
Chaz talked about his MotoGP ride at Laguna.
Jake told us he was having fun working for MJ.
Danny was just Danny. Engaging, charming, completely off the hook.
(Danny's "Monster Drink" Arai, the one he'd worn all day, went for $2200 in open bidding.)
For me, it was a good day. I started out with an enormous dose of chemo (40 mg of Dexamethasone - a corticosteroid). Yeah, it was on my schedule, so I took it.
I spent a large part of the day flogging the FJR1300 on track. There's one hella difference between the R1 and the FJR! The FJR has thrust...... lots of it. It also changes direction nicely for a moto-manatee. The problem is that you can't really tip it over without SERIOUSLY dragging pegs. It's not a bike that likes to let you hang off. I also had problems with powertrain slack and an extremely loose throttle cable (too much slack). My solution was to load the powertrain and control corner speed with the rear brake. Tedious but effective. There was still a lot of dragging, but less jerking.
Suspension and tires were box-stock. The BT020s worked adequately at the lean angles I was achieving. Yes, I went to the edge of the tire, but I could have done more with different rubber and higher pegs.
ABS - never used it but it was a good confidence booster. Running a big monster into a corner is invigorating.
Ok, so I was in Group 100. The newbie - slowbie group. OMG I'd forgotten how clueless this group can be! There's a video of one of my shorter sessions..... You'll be amazed at some of the lines and actions. You'll also be amazed that I didn't kill the kid at about 8:15. You may also enjoy what happened to the R1 guy I was chewing on for a few laps.
Anyway, I ran several sessions and quit a bit early. I was (and still am) having some kidney and spleen pain. Dunno why.
Did I mention I left the bags on all day? I must have been perfect to draft!
Here's the video.
http://www.veoh.com/videos/v876148hFmkgtC2
Pardon the stylistic clash of the FJR and the suit.... Click to make it larger.
