Mike's Race Report from New Mexico

9/12/04 Arroyo Seco Motorplex - ASMA

Thursday Sept 9, 2004

What a week, finally load up day. I went over to Ball Sac HQ after picking the kids up from school. We got Pat and Brian’s bike loaded up in the Toy hauler, Tom still had some stuff to do to his Fire Blade and RC 51. Wednesday I changed my oil on the 999 with our new Motorex Oil. And thanks to Jason at Section8Superbike I put on my new Ohlins rear shock and Ohlins steering damper. Section8Superbike has some great prices and great service. I loaded my bike into Tom’s trailer because Allen Ankney #313 was going to ride up there with me in the motor home. Pat, Brian and I finished up around 10:45 that night.

Friday Sept 10, 2004

Time always seems to fly on the day that we roll out of town. I always think that we will leave around 12:00pm but we never leave any earlier than 6:00pm. Both rigs left town with all the crap it takes to race. It’s always nice to get up there with no damage. We unloaded the bikes, talked too much and went to bed late.

Saturday Sept 11, 2004

We all got up around 7:00am and when I walked out of the motor home there was bondo popping off every where. Brian was having a venting problem in his tank. He ended up fixing the problem. Practice was going pretty good for me; I seemed to be going around the track without any major issues. I worked on some problem areas on the track and it seemed to be helping my times. I was looking forward to race day, and then my day took a bad turn. I was going around the track at the end of the day and the bike lost power. It really sucks when you don’t speak Italian. No one really new what the problem was. So my day was over. Tim (a friend of BSR) suggested that I switch the spark plugs around. I tried it and it worked, for the night at least.

Sunday Sept 12, 2004

Race day at last! Got up early and had our riders meeting with Roger (track owner) who is a really nice guy. If you ever get a chance to go up there it is worth the drive. Went out for the first practice section and didn’t even get all the way around the track right before the straight I lost power again. Then I knew my day was really over. It turned out to be a good day despite my problems. Watching my teammate’s race was pretty cool. Allen and I held up the pit board for them. The best race was the super twins. I was pretty happy seeing Pat win a race finally! On his new bike no less, what a machine that thing is!!!! Well hopefully I can get my bike running good before Vegas. See you all there.

Mike Coberly

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