National Motorcycle Racer - OliverJervis.com



Series SuperMoto USA

Round 8

Classes Races - Results

Exhibition Race 1 - 3rd

Exhibition Race 2 - 3rd

Open $$ - 4th

Open Trophy - 7th (stall)

450 Trophy - 2nd

 

 

Before I begin I really want to thank Jeff and the crew at SG Power for helping so much with the SuperMoto program this year, and thanks to my good friends Joe Keskeny & Marc Burgess for coming along and racing with me. These two characters were instrumental in my first ventures into road racing so it felt really good to be racing with them - several years later in SuperMoto. I would also like to thank the promoters and staff of SuperMoto USA for being so welcoming and helpful. Thanks everyone.

The title for this weekend's events should have "The Walking Wounded". As you'll read later on, it ended up being a real test of my pain tolerance - of which my wife tells me I have none. I beg to differ.

Saturday Night
We arrived mid-day Saturday to partake in the exhibition races that were scheduled for that evening in an effort to get a grasp of the new-to-us track as well as the competition.

It took me no less than two laps in practice to catch my left foot in a rut and twist my knee out of shape causing me considerable pain. When I repeated the same maneuver in the warm up of the first exhibition race I could hardly focus on the task at hand. Regardless, I lead one of the exhibition races until stalling the bike and surrendering the lead. I eventually took third place in both races that night.

Sunday
With my left knee not able to straighten fully I was, let's just say, uncomfortable going into the first warm up session of the morning. However, once on the bike the discomfort seemed to almost disappear. However, this road to recovery was short lived. I crashed quite dramatically in a tight left-hand turn during the last practice session. Suddenly just making the race was going to require effort. It's been a while since I have eaten pavement like this my friends, and it's something I'm glad I don't do too often. I had managed to damage one of my left fingers (fractured), sprain my left wrist, bruise my right hip, elbow and shoulder, while destroying my leathers and helmet. Now I have to once again thank the good people at Joe Rocket, Arai and Sidi for supplying me with equipment that allows me to walk away from crashes like this. So with all this drama, Marc and Joe sprang into action fixing the bike and getting me ready for the heat races. With some good old fashioned, color coordinated, duct tape I was pretty much good to go, all things considered. In these situations Dan Zlock has taught me some things: if you're hurt, you can ride - if you're injured, you need medical attention. I was just hurt, so it was time to suck it up and get on with the job at hand.

Race 1 - Open $$
I was gridded on the second row of this one and knew that a good start was going to be needed to stay with the lead guys. I got a decent start, but got swallowed in the pack into turn one in about ninth place. It took me a few laps to get into a rhythm, but eventually made my way up to fourth by the finish.

Race 2 - Open Trophy
I got a better start in this one and was making my way through the pack when Tyler Sandell and I came together in the dirt section and I stalled the bike. By the time I got the CRF started again it seemed most of the field had passed me. I regrouped and was able to gain a few positions by the checkered in seventh. My buddy Marc did really well in this race placing fifth. Great job bud. :o)

Race 3 - 450 Trophy
To be completely honest I just wanted this race over with so I could go home and start healing. I got the start I needed and pushed my way into second place behind Dave Kemp by lap three. From here my plan was just to follow him for a few laps to see where I might have any advantages. I decided that I was going to wait until the second to last lap and put a move on him going into turn two just before the dirt section as my bike seemed to be able to pull a tighter more efficient line in this section than his. Unfortunately, I didn't account for lapped traffic and with a little bad luck I missed my chance on the critical lap. I finished a close second in a terrific race.

From here I'm going to heal for a few days, and if I'm good to race I might do a local exhibition event this coming weekend. I'm gearing up for a big SuperMoto National in Oregon this August, so stay tuned.

Thanks again to everyone that supports this racing program. I wouldn't be here without all of your combined support.

Oliver

Please click on image to enlarge


Marc & Joe

Marc, Casey & Joe

The tall ships in Victoria Harbour

The Bikes

Nice new Hindle Pipe

Joe

Our Pits

It's all fun and games

Crash damage

More crash damage

The impact of my right hip was so severe it blew a hole in my leathers - Yet I don't have any road rash

 


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