Carolina Motorsports Park (CMP), isn’t one of my favorite tracks on the calendar, mainly because it’s the longest drive we have to make, and it’s a single race day unless you’re running endurance. Also, we only race there once a year, so I don’t have a ton of experience at this track. I’ve never had great results there, and last year I didn’t race at all.
This year was different. Annie had a track day on the kart track on Saturday. I was going to race the mini there for the first time, so I had two races, making it feel less like “I drove all the way here for this?” But let’s get on with this 2024 CMP WERA Race Recap.
2024 CMP WERA Race Recap – Annie’s Saturday Track Day
A quick travel note – Annie and I travel well together. Five hours in the car went by pretty quickly.
We got to CMP about 12:30, got everything unloaded and the pit set up, and went to find the registration for Annie’s track day on the kart track with Carolina Supermoto. We got her registered, and was told that for the first hour it was open track until people showed up. Annie got on track at 2PM, the only one out there for a good half hour! It was good for her to get an idea of the layout of a very complex and twisty track.
Other than an incident where another rider hit Annie’s rear tire and managed to yard sale his bike, there’s not a lot for me to say here, since Annie stayed up and I fixed the minor damage with a hammer and a pair of pliers. I hung out with Jon and Bonnie Wilkens and Bonnie’s Uncle Reno while Annie rode. She got some good track time in, and dropped 10 seconds from her first session to her last one.
2024 CMP WERA Race Recap – Sunday practice
I wanted to make sure and run both of my practice sessions on Sunday morning, since I don’t have a lot of time at this track, and I haven’t raced it on this bike. The only reference I had was last year’s practice sessions, where I ran a 1:58.6 for a best lap – not exactly setting the world on fire. I also know I tend to run a second or more faster during a race.
The first practice session was frustrating, as I couldn’t get a clean lap due to traffic. There were a number of lightweight twins bikes who were braking for the kink and bus-stopping in the corners. I didn’t want to make any sketchy passes in practice, so I ended up sitting back quite a bit and getting frustrated. My lap times showed it, too. I only ran four laps, and my best one was a 2:01. I needed to find several seconds if I was going to be remotely competitive.
Second practice was better. I managed to get one clean lap, and dropped my time to a 1:57. I wasn’t going to win at that pace, but I wasn’t going to embarrass myself, either. I was still frustrated, however, since Kevin Moore, my usual rival, ran a 1:55, which meant if I was going to get by him, I needed to find two seconds.
Or so I thought.
Mini practice was pretty uneventful, though I remembered why I dislike the rental Groms. (Sorry, Joe!) I spent a lap or two dragging hard parts before I remembered I have to get far off the bike in order to carry speed. Annie had a pretty good practice as well, but told me later she was wishing we had a second session.
2024 CMP WERA Race Recap – Sunday Mini race
A great thing about the Minis is they are always the last practice of the morning and the first race of the afternoon. When we got the grid sheets for the Minis, it was pretty impressive – 14 of us!
There’s almost no distance between the start line and the first corner at CMP, and Annie was gridded on the front row. I told her to be aware that she was going to be going into the first corner in a huge group, and to just hold her line. She seemed pretty nonplussed by it, to be honest.
The green flag drops, and we’re off. The first corner was predictably crazy, but we all got through without incident, though a couple people took lines through the grass on the outside.
I spent most of the race behind a guy on a red Grom who was riding like a douchebag. There’s aggressive, and there’s dangerous and stupid, and he had definitely crossed that line. I had a few opportunities to pass him, but I was pretty sure he was going to do something dumb and take me out, so I let him have it. I’m not trying to win any championships in the Mini class. It’s not worth getting hurt.
I finished 6th in Grom Cup, right in the middle of the pack, with a best lap of 1:14.395.
Annie came in 2nd in her class, with a best lap of 1:26.459. She got her first podium!
2024 CMP WERA Race Recap – Sunday F Superstock race
Lookin at my grid, I had one mission – beat Kevin Moore. I figured I could get him and pretty much guarantee third. I’d have a battle on my hands for anything more.
Or so I thought.
Before the race started, I was talking with Emma Betters, who was having some mechanical problems. She had gone out for a test lap with an earlier race group, and told me the bike would finish the race and wasn’t likely to kill her, but that’s about all she could figure.
We got on the grid, and Kevin was gridded next to me, and Emma behind me. When the green flag dropped, Kevin got an absolutely amazing start, and Emma got by me in turn one as well. As we got into turns five through seven, Kevin was a good five places in front of me, so I had my work cut out.
At some point in that first lap, I passed Emma, but to be honest I don’t remember where. As we hit the back straight, I realized that between passes I had made, and riders passing Kevin, he wasn’t that far up the road, and I was reeling him in steadily.
As we crossed the start/finish line, there was only one rider between us, though he entered turn one as I stood the bike up at the beginning of the straight.
We got through the first three turns, and I had gained a little. We both got passed by a faster rider as we entered turn four. It didn’t slow me down at all, but the passing rider took a little bit of Kevin’s momentum. I took a tighter line through five, six, and seven, and really picked up a lot of ground. I absolutely had Kevin’s number as we entered turn 8, which you can see in the featured image on this post.
Turns 9 and 10 are essentially part of the back straight – you don’t need to brake for them, though turn 10 can be daunting. I got a really good drive coming out of turn 8 and just put the throttle on the stop. We came through turn 10 with me on the outside, my front wheel just behind his.
We started braking for turn 11. I decided to pass him on the brakes on the inside. I brake later than he does, and start trail braking into the corner. Just about the time I hit the apex, the front tire says “no,” and I wash out the front end. The bike lands on my left leg and I slide under it to the edge of the track, where it finally cuts me loose so I can tumble across the grass.
I immediately stand up when I stop tumbling and walk away from the bike. I am utterly pissed off.
This was the second lap of an eight lap race. I absolutely had Kevin’s number. I could easily have waited for a better opportunity to pass in a later corner. I had five and a half more laps to catch him and pass him. I got excited and impatient and completely forgot years and years of racecraft.
I threw away second place. I have to fix the bike. My left calf and knee are swollen, and I’m going to limp for a week. My left hand is also swollen. I destroyed a pair of boots. My gloves failed and need to be replaced. My helmet visor can’t be used again. My suit has finally given up the ghost, as this is it’s fifth crash, and it’s already been restored once.
Worst of all, I did it to myself, making a sketchy pass that I knew better than to attempt, when I had time to make an easier, safer one.
