Apex Track Days

Well the race season ended this last weekend. I was a great year for APEX Racing in general. I’ll let each person report their own experiences this year but I wanted to write about mine.

Saturday was the last endurance race of the year. It was going to be a big race. Not only was it over twice as long as the other races (4 hours compared to 1.5) but it was worth double the points. Because the racing had been close all year between us (Team APEX) and team Meyer, this race would decide the endurance championship for the year. In other words this was for all the donuts. The year had gone well up to this point with a 2nd place, 1st place, 2nd place, 2nd place, 1st place, and a 3rd place. Team Meyer had done very well also with a 3rd place, 2nd place, 1st place, 1st place, 2nd place, and a 1st place. The points going into the last race put us in second position with Team Meyer at 201 points and us at 197 points. Tension had been building for the last couple months when everyone could see it was most likely going to come down to the last race to decide the championship.

In all honesty team Meyer had the advantage. They had a bike that was two years newer and much faster. They were also more consistent throughout the year in lap times. In addition they were more prepared for the last race. They had made some special parts and practiced doing fast tire changes. This had not been an issue throughout the year as one set of tires would last for an hour and a half, but they would not last 4 hours. So a tire change would most likely be necessary. Our team was not practiced, we didn’t have special tools or parts to help us, and we really didn’t plan on doing a tire change. We thought we would just risk it and hope the tires lasted. As the race got closer I got nervous about our tire situation and decide to have a pair of rims mounted with tires just in case.

With such a long race, Skylar (my main team mate all year) and I decided we needed to get a couple more team mates. We wanted to do an hour each (an hour each would be a stretch) with three pit stops. We would fuel and change rides at each pit stop. We recruited Ian and Spencer to help us. Both are very good riders with proven times on the track. The week before the race we were all at the track practicing and things were looking good. Both Spencer and Ian were getting use to the bike and running respectable times. The last session of the day Spencer decided to take out his own bike for one more session on the track. In turn 5 he tucked the front and went down hard, breaking his collar bone. He was out for sure. There was no way he could be ready to race one week later at the pace we would need him to. It was too late to get someone else; it was going to be up to me to run two hours. One hour at the first of the race, and one hour at the last of the race. The longest I had ever raced up to this point was 45 minutes, and that would about kill me every time. I wasn’t sure how I was going to go for two full hours, but I had no choice.

As the race was about to start I was trying to be positive about our chances even though I didn’t feel so positive. The green flag went up and we started the race. At the first corner I was in third place. I didn’t care about beating anyone but Team Meyer, he was in first. I made quick work of second place and focused on Meyer. Coming into the second to last turn on the first lap I went up the inside of him and put my head down to try and put a gap between us. I had to ride for an hour now as fast as I could. The bike felt great and I got into a good rhythm. My hour was almost over when I saw Meyer a couple corners ahead of me. I dug deep and I caught him a lap later. To my surprise I had lapped him! I had been doing lap times of 1:35 to 1:37 the whole hour. About a second better then I had done all year, a good start to the race. Right after that he pulled off, fueled and changed riders. The next lap I saw his bike and his team mate in the dirt. Team Meyer had wrecked! His team mate quickly picked the bike up and got back on the course. When it was all said and done they had lost about 4 laps to us. I came into pit the next lap and Skylar took over. Skylar rode pretty conservative during his session because he knew all we need to do was consistent laps and stay on two wheels and we could win. While he was out we decided to change just the rear tire. We had the time because we were ahead, and it would help insure that we didn’t wreck. When Skylar came in we did the tire change and fuel in about 2 minutes. Not bad for no practice. Ian went out and did very good times, 1:37s to 1:38s, and keep us about 4 laps ahead. I had the last session. When Ian came in we fueled one more time and went for it. My lap times went up because I was nervous about our front tire, I was tired, and I didn’t want to wreck. Team Meyer had a very good rider on and he put one lap into me. Now we were only up 3 laps, still a long ways. I just put my head down I tried to be as smooth and consistent as I could. The hour did not go by quickly, my body was crying for relief from the pain. I tried to ignore it and go on. Finally when the hour was over the checker flag flew and I came across the line first in the GTO class, with team Meyer taking second. We had done it; we won the race and the Endurance GTO Championship. One less mistake is really what it came down to. What a year! Two days latter and I still can’t walk right.