Practice Makes Perfect
Besides setting up the truck and getting the pits ready for race day, Saturday is all about practice for a professional motocross team. For most, this begins with the tech inspection. The tech inspection is easy to pass, but the sound test makes mechanics sweat a little. The AMA tests each bike before an event, and if the mufflers don't pass the 102-decibel limit, the bikes don't race. To say it's a big deal is an understatement. The teams have until 4 p.m. on Saturday to pass sound. However, most technicians prefer to get it over with before practice so they have one less thing to worry about. Since the exhausts are quietest with about 10-15 minutes on them, a lot of bikes don't pass sound until after a practice session or two of run time. DV's bike failed its first sound test. It was close but no cigar. So Bowen and I took two mufflers to the mechanics' area during the first practice. Halfway through the session, Bowen flagged DV over and we switched the cans. This way, Bowen had two broken-in mufflers to try as he went through tech the second time. It worked with one of the cans, and the #12 bike passed sound early in the afternoon.
For me, Saturday's practices were a kick. I rode in the team golf cart to and from the track, carried wheels over to the Dunlop truck for fresh tires; I just strutted around in my official team shirt and headset and pretended to be useful. I definitely didn't have the stress that came with the real job. Unfortunately for Eric Wood, Richie Owens' mechanic, he does have that stress, and this particular weekend, it was running high.
Owens pulled off in practice because his bike's clutch was malfunctioning and not fully disengaging. Basically, he'd pull the clutch in and the bike would keep going. The two of them hustled back to the truck, and Woody had a new clutch basket installed in time for the second practice. But the bike was still acting up, so neither him nor his rider had a good start to the weekend. After the second practice and during the final race prep session on Saturday night, Woody finally had time to carefully inspect the clutch plates and found the culprit: a badly bent metal plate that caused the drag and constant engagement. All that work came down to one warped plate. It was a strange combination of frustration and relief when the problem was finally solved. But the weekend would, surprisingly, get worse. Owens grabbed a great start in his Sunday qualifier only to get pushed outside into some ultrasoft sand, go over the bar and have the bike pile onto him, breaking his hand. The duo's weekend was over and Woody spent his time during all of Sunday's motos tearing down the #65 Yamaha. He didn't watch a single moto.
My first day on the job as a member of a professional race team left me exhausted and impressed. After a quick shower, I met the team in the lobby and we went to dinner at a crazy Italian restaurant. Every time we'd order a beer, the old guy working the bar would pour an entire pitcher, and my chicken parmigiana weighed a metric ton. We drank some beer and laughed at the portion sizes, and I crashed as soon as I hit the bed back at the hotel.