Nashville Superspeedway played host for round two of the WERA Sportsman Mid-Central race series. This was my first time at Nashville so I didn't really know what to expect. On hindsight I should have gone over and done a practice day but money is tight now so I decided to just do practice and race on Sunday....big mistake.
This was my first visit to a track with garages and they do make setting up your pits much easier than an open paddock for sure. Also there is power which is a nice luxury for club racers. I shared a space with Scott Padgitt, expert 365. Scott runs heavyweight twins on a Suzuki SV1000. Next to us was Gill Cutchen, expert 105 with his SV650 and Triumph 675.
This is the strangest track that I've ever been to. It is a roadcourse built inside an oval so part of the lap is tight, twisty infield combined with the high speed tri-oval section of the oval. Not an easy place to learn, especially for a relatively inexperienced novice like me. First practice was an absolute cluster but by second practice I was getting the hang of it. Unfortunately second practice got cut short when I mis-judged the entrance to the back stretch chicane and had a little excursion into the grass. Well I managed somehow to not fall down but I did hit the ground with my right foot pretty hard so I decided to pit in and check it out. No real damage done except to my pride.
The senior superbike race wasn't until very late in the day so Michelle and I decided to go over to the big grandstands to watch some of the early races that Gill and Scott were in. Unfortunately, Gill had a bad highside wreck on the last lap of his lightweight race. The bike isn't damaged too bad but he landed right on his face. His helmet was really messed up and he has some marks and bruising on his forehead. Anytime you hit your head it is scary but fortunately his wife was there to drive home and he seemed to be relatively ok.
Finally it came time for Senior Superbike. I was gridded inside second row just behind Art Spence and next to Joe Barton. I've raced with both of them before many times and they are close to me in speed so I knew if I could hang on to them I would have some fun out there. Usually I'm a really good starter but this time I was a little slow and also got a big wheelie that hurt my start and both of them were ahead of me going into the very tight turn one. Coming out of one Art had a big slide and Joe and I checked up but it put me about a second behind both of them heading onto the back stretch. I was able to keep them both in sight but couldn't make up any time so the race finished in that same order.
All in all it was a good time but I can't say Nashville is ever going to be a favorite track. The facilities are fantastic but there just isn't any flow to the track at all.
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