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What’s up everyone? It’s Daniel Corbin...
I went to a Pro-Am at Steel City recently, and I thought I’d share how it went with you guys.
Lately I’ve been wanting to race somewhere other than at the local races, and to see where I’m at against the fastest riders around here. I got online, found the Pro-Am schedule, and went straight to the first Pro-Am I could. In addition to all of the fast riders at those races, it’s also good practice because they run twenty minute moto’s, the same as Loretta’s. Plus there’s a minimum of a three-thousand dollar purse, so it’s possible to make at least a little bit of money.
I went to the Saturday practice, and I was kind of scratching my head, wondering where all of the fast guys were. Petty soon they showed up though, and I was surprised at who showed up. Darryn Durham. I was like, why is he here? Isn’t he running the Pro National series? It turns out that there was a break in the National series, and he wanted to ride somewhere close to home. There were also a few other fast riders, like Brain Shuckhart, Steve Roman, Shane Durham, and quite a few others.
Darryn was riding really well, and it didn’t even look like he was trying hard. I was really looking forward to racing with him, but when I got there on Sunday, he wasn’t there! He decided to just go and practice at another track. He probably would have beat me, but I wanted to see how close I could stay. You usually don’t get to ride with a top ten pro rider unless you race the National series. There were still plenty of fast riders left though, and I had some great battles with several of them.
My first moto was 450A, and I found myself behind the eight ball and I had to work my way up through the pack. Steve Roman got the holeshot and was way out in front, and I was worried that I wouldn’t have enough time to catch up. It turned out that I didn’t have to though, because he crashed and couldn’t get up in time to stay in first. Even with that help I still only got up to second, which just goes to show how important the start is.
My next moto was the first moto of 250A, and I was second out of the first corner. But in the fifth corner I got on the throttle a little too hard on a slick spot and both ends of the bike started to swap. I though I could ride out of it, but all of the sudden I swerved off the track. My handlebars hit me square in the chest and then I got thrown down. When I stood up my first thought was that I had broken some ribs. I started trying to breathe, but it took a while just to take short breaths.
The EMT’s and the track crew came over and pulled my bike out of the ditch that it fell in and asked me if I was all right. I thought I was just going to be like ‘yeah, I’m fine’, but instead it came out as a horse whisper that sounded like I was dying. I told them, again in a barely audible whisper, that I just needed to ride it off. They let me go and I started to putt around the track, trying my best to breathe.
It took me two or three laps to breathe normally, and I started to ride a little faster. When I saw that the leaders were getting really close to lapping me I picked up the pace and tried to see if I could keep the gap I had, or pull on them a little. For the next two or three laps they kept catching me a little each lap, but then the finish line flagger decided to give me the blue cross flag. That was it! I looked back and saw that I was still ten seconds ahead and thought ‘I’m nobody’s lapper’! They didn’t gain any time on me after that, and the finish line flagger didn’t give me the blue cross flag again!
Finishing that moto was good enough for me though, people kept telling me how gnarly my crash was. I didn’t see it so I’ll have to take their word for it! In my second 450 moto I got a fourth place start, passed for third quickly, and then started a battle for second with Shuckhart that lasted at least half of the moto. In the end he edged me out, I made a couple of passes on him but just couldn’t make anything stick. He rode very well and it was a really fun battle.
Now we finally get to the last moto of the day, the second moto of 250A. I got a really good start, but slowed up a little too much in the first corner and came out second. Roman got the holeshot and right away we had a battle on our hands! We went back and forth for half of the race, I would pass him, but then he would get me back. I would try to close the door on the inside, but he would just squeeze though! I finally passed him and managed to get a little breathing room, but he kept me honest the whole moto. It felt so good to leave with a moto win, especially after my crash. I know that if I wasn’t doing the training that I am, I would have broken something in that crash!
So that pretty much wraps up another weekend! I stayed in one piece, and so did my bike, so it must have been a good weekend! I couldn’t have done it without all of my awesome sponsors, sponsors;
Coach Seiji,
Racer X Virtual Trainer,
Twigg Cycles, NineoneNine Designs, PR2, Fly, Scott USA, SPFC, Jordan’s Flooring, and my newest sponsor, FMF! (Welcome to the Project!) I would also like to thank my friends, Kevin Klink, and Scott Miller.
My next blog will be after Loretta’s, that should be an interesting one!
