I was up at Willow Springs this past weekend working with a really nice guy named Tony. Tony brought his ’04 250 Ninja to my shop last week for a jet kit installation and some race prep. Then he hired me to be his coach and crew chief for the weekend. Tony’s friend Tom also races a 250 Ninja and they pit together. Both Mr T’s took about two seconds off their personal best lap times over the course of the weekend.
One of the great things about what I do is that I always get the credit for the faster lap times that my clients turn when they are the ones who take the risk and do the work.
As is normal at Willow Springs the sun was hot! I’ve been on the look out for a good sun hat because a baseball cap does not protect my ears or the back of my neck. A trusted source at the track told me that the Albertsons in Rosamond had the hat I’ve been seeking. Tony’s girlfriend Gloria offered to pick one up for me when they made a stop for water and supplies. Unfortunately, my trusted source turned out to be less reliable than I thought and Gloria was left to choose the least gay hat there. Seeing the hat with fringe that Gloria picked for me the next day I of course thanked her, said it was fine and wore it all weekend. The gayness becomes a lot less of a factor when it keeps the sun from cooking you.
On Monday Motoyard.com had a track day and I stuck around to see if I could drum up some business. My friend Louie from L&L Motorsports was there and he asked me to test ride a bike. The owner’s nickname is Wheels because he’s a wheel chair pilot. Someone previously did some poor work on Wheels’s bike causing it to quit running which can be a problem when you can’t just jump off and start pushing. So I’m cruising down the front straight and the bike is running great, problem solved, good job Louie. Brake for turn one, counter steer and lean left, no lean, what the heck? The out riggers that keep the bike from falling over when Wheels stops have deployed on their own. No problem, brake hard and just go straight into the dirt. Louie found and fixed this new problem and I did another test ride then handed the bike over to Wheels for a full day of fun. I meet a bunch of nice people at the Motoyard.com track day and passed out some cards.
On Tuesday Tony came by my shop to drop off some parts for his bike and brought me a new hat from Gloria. And I thought I did a good job acting like I liked the first one. Thank you Gloria and my wife loves the fringed hat I gave her.