 It was a beatifull morning |
 ... |
 ... |
 And a really, really cold and windy morning. |
 So while Ralph was frosting the birthday cake his girlfriend sent him ... |
 ..the rest of us were huddling around the lit gas stove, listening to Henry's stories about absurdly fast and powerful bikes he had run on the salt. |
 When the track finally opened, Richard faithfully suited up and Brian and Woz taped up the leathers. |
 The strong winds were a concern, and we were anxiously waiting for "Go". |
 Brian has some final words for Richard... |
 ..and Richard is off in a strong crosswind. |
 He made it to the 2 Mile marker, and there was silence in the truck until we reached him to hear what went wrong. |
 Turned out to be a pinched fuel tank vent line. |
 Richard tucks so far down and into the fairing that his helmet must have pinched the line. The vent was rotated out of the way... |
 and we went back to the line. The winds were getting stronger, and our speed was way off. Imagine having to counter steer to compensate for sideways slipping at above 150 MPH. |
 So Aaron picked up the last timing slips of this meet. |