I didn't catch the name of the other guy, who also saw the only partialy rolled up checkered flag and followed me off the track. But more than one guy was calling me the real winner, and him second. But the fact was, both of us DNF'd.
He very likey would have caught me in 5 more laps, he was getting closer and closer by the time we left the track.
As the official with the flag said, "stay on the track even if black flagged" He also said he didn't own a black flag. Funny, I coulda swore I gave him several black Ebikekit t shirts minuites before the main event. :lol:
I get it about the rolled up flag. Charlie swore he had at most an inch of the flag unrolled, but I saw at least 3- 4 checkers unfurled. We'd had lots of yellow flags, one guy looked really hurt, I thought people were ignoring the yellows and racing too hard in the warned corners and they were fed up with us yahoos, and were ending the race. I thought he just didn't have time to unroll it all the way. I knew it was not time, I had never seen a white flag, but when nobody caught us in our slow, return to pits lap, I really thought everybody had stopped racing.
In reality, the three of us were so hugging far ahead even a parade lap was not enough for them to catch up with us. Just before I decided it was real and entered the pits, I looked for the flag man at the finish line. He'd been waving yellow at us for several laps, and he was GONE. So no flagman at the finish anymore, what the hug was I to think? Last spring, there was a guy with a flag there, till the race was over.
Learning curve is always steep. The only racing I ever did was ski races and a few bicycle races. They've promised to get a real black flag, and be sure to explain the flags to us better. There was a sign up, that I didn't read this time. Like all disasters big or small, its always a chain of things, not just a single cause.
Charlie should have kept his flag rolled up more, and I should have ignored all till they chased me down on the quadrunner and yelled at me. :lol:
I took it like a sportsman, but have to admit, I slept about two hours last night, laying there getting madder and madder. I doubt Id'a slept at all though If I'd won. 8) Well, now I'm nice and motivated for next time. And they are worried sick over how many volts I'll bring next time.
We throw some battery money at it, and Ebikes will start owning that race. I got some serious looks when I got back from the first laps of practice. They saw me chasing down and passing guys that rented the little race bikes and got a bit worried. Later on, guys wanted to see my speedo max speed. I told em I never reset it, so the speed was from a several mile straightaway. That I was only hitting about 38 mph on the track. Some of em's eyes bugged out
when they saw 47.4 mph on the speedo.
I kept on saying, guys, in the ebike crowd, this bike is only moderately fast.
When I put 100 v to em in the main, I was unstoppable except for Alex who got some space on me in the first corner, and I just couldn't catch. The man has me outclassed in the corners for sure, but I'm getting better. I think I simply need to bring 120v next time and run em down like dogs in the straightaways. The one lucky thing for me, sortof, was FR31 blew his engine in the practice laps. So I didn't have to try to keep up with the morini. Voltage drop is a definite issue with 10 ah of pack size, so I'll have to fork up some more money for lipo, and bring 30s 15 ah for the main next time.
The 6 lap main, including parade laps used 4.2 ah. The main was nearly the same, so I think I may have done 6 laps there too. The main event is 12 laps. They do a parade lap before the start to get the riders warmed up just a bit, so some crashes get avoided. The issue is not can you finish the race, but can you finish with 90-100 v so you are still fast at the end. In the heat race, I got just slow enough to get passed by the guy who also dnf'd. I pedaled like hell the last lap, because others were gaining on me too by then. 75v is too slow to podium for sure, with a 9c 2807. I had em with 84v, but as soon as the voltage dropped some, they started to catch me. All the gassers were bloody amazed though, at the speed off the start line, and out of corners. Some of that, of course, was simply getting back on the throttle at apex. I could hear some gettng on much later.
Speaking of hearing, the heat race was fun as hell. I deliberately lined up nearly last so I could get everybody possible in a few min of vid. So I ended up passing quite a few in the first 30 feet, and then dove into the first 6 corners in the pack. Right away I underbraked a corner and did some tire rubbing. Luckily I didn't take him out. After that I shouted at the next guy I snuck up on, and got some running space. It took me a long time to run down the next one. So as I passed him, I gave him a tap on the shoulder. Priceless look on the guys face. This was the same guy who dnf'd with me, so we got chummy on the track both races. Hopefully he's not blaming me too much for leading him off the track. I slowed down after that flag, so he had some help thinking the race was over. They will have to learn to look back from time to time.
I came in 4th in the heat race, with just 72v. With 100 v I had lots of track spacein the main. The guy in 3rd was not so close for quite awhile, and I had a harder and harder time keeping up with Alex as my volts dropped to 90. Staying on his wheel was no picknic at the start either, running a lot faster than I am used to in those corners. I never looked at a speedo, but following Alex meant cornering like a madman. I'd gain a tiny bit on the straight, and then lose it again in the hairpin. Stickier for next time. My tires did well, but you could see the difference as we ran the main. I'd slip a little and he wouldn't.
Hell of a lot of fun again as always, and I do not blame FR31 at all in any way. Thanks for putting on the race for us Dave.
I don't know If i got much vid on the track. I can't see the turnigy cam stuff till I get home. I did get a bit of helmet cam vid of Evo and Amberwolf in thier first practice lap. Amberwolf thrilled the crowd sliding out in the last corner on crazybike. People were fascinated by his bike. But he did not race. Evo had left a loose spoke in his tire when he mounted it. Amazing it didn't flat right away. We were really scratching heads wondering who's bike it came off of. Nobody was missing one. Huh? His bike looks great! Very nice to see it in person. He did well in the main too, especially since the bike was wearing knobby dirt tires of death!