Barber (epilogue)

To say things didn’t go to plan on Sunday would be an understatement of epic proportions.

The morning warm-up was the only thing executed according to plan. Carson tried an update to the set-up in this session, but it didn’t deliver, so it was backed out for the race.

the calm before the storm, getting ready for the morning warm-up

At about the 10-minute warning, Travis went to warm up the bike, but it didn’t kick over after a few seconds on the starter. Concerned, Travis started looking for a pulse in the fuel pump but didn’t hear it kick on when they turned on the bike. We started furiously pulling panels off, checking wiring connections but nothing was causing it to work. It had just decided that it wasn’t feeling it today. Continuing to check connections was just getting us deeper into the bike and time was quickly ticking down. With about zero seconds remaining, Travis found something that worked, touched the starter and the bike was running!

At this time, the grid had already gone out for their sighting lap and was about to leave for the warm-up. We were hoping we could get him down there to participate in the warm-up, but we would be happy if they’d let him start from the pit lane. Carson motored down there and was able to wait at the end of the pit lane but wasn’t allowed to take his place on the grid. An excellent performance so far this weekend was about to go unrewarded.

Because of the mad dash to get him on the track, we could not see the start, but we knew he went into turn 1 in dead last. Carson was fired up, though. By the end of lap 1, he had gone from 22nd to 17th, lap 2 had him up to 12th, and by lap 3, he was in sight of the top ten, a few seconds behind Ryan Barbour but catching him rapidly. Isaac Woodworth crashed out of the lead in turn 5 on lap 3, promoting Carson to 11th. Trenton Keesee did us a solid and slid out unharmed on lap 4, promoting Carson to 10th.

Bikes on track at the penultimate turn

At this stage of the race, Ryan was about 6 seconds behind Ella Dreher and the front group of 9 riders and losing time, so for Carson to move up beyond 10th was going to require a miracle. Carson was still charging hard, smashing in consistently low 1:39 lap times as he reeled in Ryan Barbour. On lap 6 of 11, Carson blitzed past Ryan and headed off into the sunset to try to catch Jayden Fernandez, who was 6 seconds up the road running a lonely 8th after Ella Dreher had passed him and left him for dead.

On lap 7, something clicked for Ryan, and he started getting racy with Carson, dropping over a second per lap to try and stick with him. Ryan went up the inside of Carson a few times going into turn 5, but each time Carson would just watch him come by and then drive out of the corner in front, retaining the position. Outside of those few challenges in turn 5, Ryan didn’t mount a serious challenge to the position, averaging 1-2 tenths of a second slower each lap.

Carson took a challenging situation from race 2 and turned it into about the best outcome we could have hoped for, but it was truly a bummer, given his pace all weekend. We still believe he would have stuck with the lead pack for the whole race without those gremlins.

This is the second time we’ve encountered this fuel pump issue in two events, and we need to contact TNT because, apparently, we also know drama.

Here’s a link to the highlights from the event

more sculptures from around the track

Barber (part 1)

It’s Saturday night and we’ve just gotten back to our hotel room from a very busy day at the track. With Qualifying 2 at 7:45, we had to get to Barber early so we could help Travis and Carson prep for the session. We didn’t make it in time, but were able to catch the last little bit of the action from the paddock.

The race rig all stickered up and ready to go

Carson was running in the top 8 when he came in to the pits so he could connect with a faster group and learn some fresh lines. Unfortunately, the guy from MotoAmerica decided to hold Carson because the battery on his rain light had died. By the time he was allowed to rejoin, there was only time for 1 lap, and he didn’t have a fast group to draft with. P12 it is then.

Travis safety-wiring the front caliper after installing the new pads

Prepping for the race today was great, Travis and Kenny were taping the Dzus fasteners down on the bodywork, installing new brake pads, checking pressures, and getting those sweet, sweet, tire warmers on.

There was a lot of anticipation building up for the race, as the forecast called for rain to start at exactly the same time as the race. In a win for all of us, the weather held off and we were treated to an amazing dry race.

my view of the grid from the top of the timing and scoring building (that’s Carson)

Carson's start

Carson got a great launch and was quickly past the 11th placed Ella Dreher and the 10th placed Trenton Keesee that had jumped the start. Carson was in 10th going into turn one. He crested the hill of turn 4 in 11th and got back by Ella on the brakes headed into 5, driving out and away from her, securing the position. Over the next 4-5 laps, Carson would be battling all over the track with Yandel Medina and Ryan Wolfe, making it as far forward as 7th on lap 5 when he went down the inside of Yandel into turn 1. These guys were swapping positions seemingly turn by turn and Carson was in the lead group, about 1.5s behind Logan Cunnison in 1st, running similar times. He was embedded in the lead pack. It all went wrong on lap 7 (of 11) when Carson tossed it away in turn 15 while passing Isaac Woodworth on the outside.

Carson had a little swelling on his knee but escaped mostly unscathed to fight again tomorrow. Travis did most of the repairs to the bike while we were waiting for MotoAmerica to release it back to us, so it was a cleanup job and they’re ready to go for tomorrow. Warm-up starts at 8:35, so we get to sleep in!

Here’s a link to the Race 1 highlights, you can see Carson quite a bit in that lead pack