Last year due to COVID the original date for the races was without spectators, but they did come back shortly after that in June allowing fans to attend with limitations. I however just got home from the hospital with pneumonia and didn’t think it was wise to go. However, this year I wasn’t missing out on it and there weren’t any restrictions.
Myself and three friends participated in the Salute to Motorcycles ride over the lunch break on Friday. It was extremely warm and muggy this year, including that day. So we didn’t show up to the track on Friday until just before the ride. It was a blast! We also were able to go considerably above the restricted mph. I would even consider doing a track day there sometime with the bike.
On Saturday, much to my surprise we ran into Jim Roach, former classmate and lead mechanic for Josh Hayes. He shifted over to Yamaha Motocross back in 2018 and I haven’t seen him since the races there in 2017. Apparently there wasn’t any races for him this weekend which is why he was there, and I’m guessing since his parents were with him that day, perhaps he was also home to celebrate an early Father’s Day. I was so caught off guard that I totally forgot to ask him why he made the switch and if he liked it vs. the road racing.
When we were talking to him we shared how impressed we were with the large turnout for the race weekend and how I didn't recall seeing so many overflow paddock areas full with racers. Except you couldn’t always tell how many spectators were there because most people were hiding out in the shade to help stay cool. I think the Stock 1000 had 44 racers, so that was super fun to watch. They even had some sidecars which I love watching the monkeys on those! The baggers were fun to watch as well and we joked they should make it some type of poker run around the track.
Due to the heat and Scott tweaking his back, we didn’t move around much on the track Saturday or Sunday, and didn’t bring the pedal bikes either. Instead of cooking out we brought our own cold sandwiches, etc. for lunch and we camped out both those two days in the afternoon in our usual lunch hour spot along Hurry Down with Scott's pop-up awning for shade. I also did not bring the good camera for photos and I had to leave right after the Stock 1000 race on Saturday to attend a wedding.
It was a nostalgic weekend with Larry Pegram there sporting a Ducati, Eraldo Ferracci was there, seeing Aaron Yates around since his son races now, Danny Eslick racing a bagger, Josh Hayes and his wife Melissa being there, Jake Zemke, the side-cars and also running into Jim.
Unfortunately there was one pretty bad get-off in turn one at the beginning of Supersport on Sunday and I never did hear about their injuries, but both racers were able to get up and walk away on their own accord. Later I watched a video online of it and one of the racer’s legs were run over by the other racer that also went down. So, very impressive he was up on his own! Also, Kyle Wyman crashed his superbike on Sunday breaking his elbow.
It felt so good to be back again and it was a super fun weekend!
