First practice session is in the books

Hello all,

I'm posting for Jimmy because he's temporarily lost his internet connection. I conducted a brief interview via phone and Marie took notes since Fairfax County PD frowns on driving and writing. Now I'm going to quickly throw together a blog since she is dragging me out the door for dinner.

Jimmy's best average speed was 106.1mph which resulted in a 21:20 laptime. He really feels that he was one of the faster newcomers today and found that those weeks of interrupting my favorite TV shows with PS2 training have really paid off. Newcomers are required to turn a sub 2o minute lap with an 113mph average speed in order to qualify for the TT. It can be done in any practice session and Jimmy feels that it could happen as early as the next practice session on Monday.

One thing I found interesting is that newcomers are led around on a marshalled lap the first time out. According to Jimmy the entire thing is similar to following control riders around at a track day. Jimmy was stuck behind someone who hadn't done their homework and knew very little about the course and eventually lost contact with the control rider because no passing is allowed. He had hoped to use that session to learn a few things along that first lap but it wasn't to be.

There's a mandatory pitstop required after the first lap so Jimmy took that opportunity to make a few adjustments to the bike because the handling was very harsh. The settings were spot on and the different was like night and day. Now he's very excited about the bike's capabilities and the fact that it's an absolute BEAST. Jimmy feels like they need to drop another tooth off the rear sprocket to smooth it out a bit and give him a bit more top end. He felt like he was reaching for 7th gear in some spots and needs a bit more.

On another note, Scott Jensen had a rough opening day today. Jimmy was at the hospital with him when we talked. Nothing serious, just precautions taken for the rider's safety. Just x-rays and being held overnight for observation. Scott had an issue at the Union Mills section of the course and the bike ended up hitting the wall. His 1000 was apparently broken in half but they plan to get him on another liter bike next week. He's also got his 600 over there as well.

So there's the first day. I'm getting the stinkeye here so I better get rolling. I'd hate to have to sleep on the couch because of Jimmy V.

-Stillie