Race Report
Tri-City Kart Club, Richland WA · Ducati Desmo450 & Honda CRF150R #711
5 starts · 1 podium · 3 classes · 2 bikes
Cascadia Supermoto runs Rounds 3 and 4 as two separate rounds on two consecutive nights at the Tri-City Kart Club in Richland. Registration at one in the afternoon, practice at three, heats at 5:30, mains at 8:30, and the awards at midnight. Both nights ran well past dark under the lights. The track was reconfigured between the two days, so the two rounds were not the same circuit and the lap times from one do not compare with the other.
Every class runs twice a night. There is a heat earlier in the evening and a main later on, and the main is the one that counts. What the heat does is set where you start the main, in finishing order, so third in the heat means third on the grid for the main. Nothing is awarded for a heat, but a bad one follows you into the race that matters.
I ran three classes across two bikes: Mini GP on the Honda CRF150R, and Asphalt-Only Intermediate and Asphalt-Only Expert on the Ducati Desmo450. I only added Asphalt Intermediate on Sunday, and the two asphalt classes run back to back, so that night the Desmo went out twice within about ten minutes.
Cascadia splits its classes into asphalt-only and supermoto, supermoto meaning with the dirt section, and I had the option of both. I went out for some of the dirt practice and enjoyed it. At times in my life I have been a decent dirt rider, but I have close to zero experience with MX-style jumps, and that is not something to learn in a race. I wanted more time on the Desmo before trying it. With a WMRRA round the following weekend and a twenty-four hour race not far behind it, binning the bike over a jump was a poor trade. So I focused on asphalt, where I knew I could be competitive and could mitigate the risk.
Saturday was the settling-in night, and two classes: Mini GP on the CRF150R and Asphalt Expert on the Desmo. Seventh on the grid for the Mini GP main and fourth at the flag. Fifth on the grid in Asphalt Expert and seventh at the flag. Neither result was going to win anything, but the pace was there.
Sunday's results were better across the board, and the day started badly. I did not get signed up for Mini GP in time, so I started that heat from the back of the field. Where you start the main comes out of the heat, so that is where it cost me rather than in the race itself, and I got most of it back: third in the heat, third on the grid, and third again in the main, a place up on Saturday. On the Desmo I came from eleventh to fifth in the Asphalt Intermediate heat, and went second to third in the Asphalt Expert heat, where I set my quickest lap of the night, a 49.396. That put me third on the grid for the Expert main. The Intermediate main went by without drama, though I never did find out where I finished.
Then the Asphalt Expert main, the last race I started. I was running fifth and chasing fourth after a slow start, which will surprise nobody who has watched me start a race. Fourth place low-sided directly in front of me in an awkward part of the track. I had two options, keep turning and hit the rider, or go wider and take the bike. I went wider and ran over the rear half of his machine. With more time I would have stood it up and opened the throttle to lighten the front, but the bars cocked the moment I hit it and that was that. So much for mitigating the risk.
Four broken ribs with five fractures, both lungs partially collapsed, and a good deal of bruising down my left side. Level one trauma activation, two nights at Kadlec in Richland, no surgery. The bike came away with a bent handlebar and a missing footpeg slider, which is the better end of the deal.
That rules me out of WMRRA Round 8 at Pacific and a few 2Fast track days. I am hoping to be back on the bike for Saturday practice at Sang-Froid's Bol d'Oregon.
Thank you to Nolan, Ben and Elliot, who were rock stars at the track that night, to the medic, the EMTs and the staff at Kadlec, and to Rick Engstrom and Roger Bare for putting on the event.
And last, to my niece Paisley, the real MVP of the weekend. You were at the track with me and you handled it so well. You kept me focused and loved through the whole ordeal, always near when I called for you, being strong for me so that I could be strong. You rose to the occasion and showed yourself, your family and me what you are capable of when it is required. I come away so incredibly proud of the person you are today, and excited to see the person you are going to grow to be.
