Macau, a David vs. Goliath Type Story.

Macau Moto GP 2010 from Toze Soares on Vimeo.

Nov. 18 – Breakfast at the buffet and then off to the track. The bike was almost ready to go, but we still had to be there to fuel it up and get the warmers on about an hour before the session. It’s something else being minutes away from our first International session with the real bike, the one we’ve been working towards since April (far beyond the Laguna disaster). It was a success! By the end of the first session, in which we were sitting second most of the time, we were in third right behind Michael Rutter and Stuart Easton. These are two of the biggest names in street racing, and probably the two best here this weekend. Of course there was way more time to be had, and there were some mods to the bike, but we knew it was going to be one of those better weekends.
Our next session was going to be at 330, so Jeremy, Jody, and I split to debrief and get the game plane for Q1.
The clutch, tires, shock, and a few little nick nack things were put on the “To Do” list. It wasn’t supposed to take too long, but we did manage to waste a bunch of time trying to mount the tires on possibly the worst machine ever. Regardless, we got it done and had a bite to eat before Q1.
The improvements helped and Jeremy ended up 3rd for provisional qualifying with a 2:27.3 (faster than he’s ever gone here before). As before we came up with a new game plane for Q2 (at 730AM). There was still plenty to do that night so Jody and I were in the garage until 10, but it all got done.

Nov. 19 – It’s 730 and were back at the track for final qualifying, but I have to say it really makes no sense as to why they have bikes on track before any of the cars, especially after seeing all the dust that was lofting off the ground in the first laps of the session.
The craziest part is that even in dirtier, colder conditions almost every single rider went faster, way faster! Rutter and Easton were trading the lap record in the 23s, while Jeremy dropped his best time even more to a 26.3 and will be starting from the front row in P4.
It was an early day for us because there was only the early qualifying session, and nothing in the afternoon. We had a pretty darn good race setup at this point so we decided to try something. From the qualifying lap charts we could see that the place we were losing the most ground was in the twisty top section. We decided to try the bike with a new offset in the front for more of a different type of steering characteristic. Tomorrow is Race day!

Nov. 20 –I can’t explain it exactly, but when I woke up wayyyy to early this morning, about 450AM, I had a really good feeling about how the day was going to play out. Unfortunately the first practice didn’t follow. The change that we made to the bike with the trail actually ended up hurting the turning characteristics in Sector 2. Instead of aiding in the delay it actually took away feeling and caused Jeremy to have to wait even longer for the bike to do what he wanted. We finished the session down in 9th position with a bad feeling. I told Jeremy that it was going to be ok, and come race time we were going we’re going to give him the best bike he’s ever ridden.
Our race start was pushed back about thirty minutes throughout the day because of all the crash happy cars that were on track before us. I think we saw more red flags then a Fastrack Riders trackday before a WERA weekend! Regardless, we were on the grid at 1515 for the start of the warm up lap. It was a cluster getting out there with all the media, teams, and aux personnel, but what an experience. Standing on the front row of an international grid like that was eye opening.
The sirens kept sounding, 5 minutes, 3 minutes, 1 minute. The start was getting close. People cleared the grid. Tire warmers came off. Bikes were started, and visors were dropped. After the warm up lap the riders again took their grid positions with only their bike keeping them company. Man and machine awaited the lights. The scream of the 30 1000cc engines amplified, and when the lights went out the screams turned to howls as thousands of horsepower was poured onto the tarmac.
Jeremy got a great start and ended up 3rd into Lisboa, the first breaking right hander at the end of the straights. Before the end of the second lap Jeremy had already made a shot at Rutter with the horsepower of our S1000RR. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to hold the line and the number six quickly took back second place and built a gap. The race was settling in nicely with Rutter and Easton clearing off out front while Toye, McGuiness, Johnson, and Andrews battled for third.
On lap 7 of 15 the red flag came out for a fallen campatriot. Chris Peris, on a much harder tire that he was used to running, lost grip and put him off line right into a wall. The sight of him motionless on the tv as he lay there helpless with the bike on top of him was heartbreaking. He was transported to the hospital and minus a bruised lung, back, and a concusion he was ok. The bike on the other hand was a different stroy. It looked like someone planted a small charge of C4 in the frame right at the steering head as it was completely separated from the rest of the motorcycle. I know it sounds cliché, but those parts can be replaced. There wasn’t a person in the garage who was more interested in the bike than Chris’s well being.
On the other side of the American Team’s garage we were deciding on what to do with the tire situation. We had a soft qualifying tire on the spare rim for a short restart, but the officials decided that it would be a 9 lapper. There was no way that the soft tire would hold up for 36 miles so we put the USED race tire back on and accepted the hand we were dealt. Jeremy was going to have to make the best of it and he certainly did!
The start of the second race was almost an exact replica of the first with Rutter and Easton slotting into first and second and the number 57 landing in third. After a few laps the electronic gremlins that we’ve been dealing with all year started rearing their ugly head. With the bike cutting in and out amongst Armco barriers Toye was forced to slow. He was passed by Andrews on the other Paul Bird prepped Kawi. With Toye falling back and Andrews quickly pulling to a two second gap things weren’t looking good, but that wasn’t the end, far from it.
On lap 6 of 9 things started going the other way! The bike cleared its throat of whatever it was that it was choking on and Toye was given full control again. Knowing that we’ve come too far, and put in way too much time he decided to put his head down and make a run for Andrews who was still two seconds ahead.
Overtaken by the red mist Toye kept reeling off laps quicker than he had ever gone before, first matching his qualifying time and then besting it by over a second. On the last lap of the race the 2 second gap was now just over half of a second, and he was right on him. Through the fast bend in the first sector Jeremy blew past Andrews like he was tied to a post, and breaking for Lisboa pulled out every motocross and flat track skill he had. Backing it in and making himself as wide as possible there was no way past for Andrews. The monitors around the track were more interested in covering Easton’s final lap and we didn’t get to see the battle for the last podium position on screen, but our eyes were glued to the last turn. First Easton… then Rutter… and then… a lapped rider (that one freaked us out), but finally the battle for third came into view and blasted across start/finish!
Toye had grabbed the final spot on the podium, and his best result ever here at Macau. As a matter of fact it was the first time an American had been on the box in 10 years when Mark Milled did it back in 2000. Everyone was so excited, but we had no idea where we were supposed to meet the rider. When we walked down to the pit entrance, the marshal told us Jeremy would meet us back at the pit box. When we walked back to our garage the teams were telling us that he would be at Park Ferme, so we all ran down there. Still no Toye…
Aparentely there was a mistake form a track worker when the riders were coming in and he led the podium finishers to the wrong place. Never the less I grabbed my camera and a spot in front of the podium presentation. Jody and I were so excited to take it all in and when Jeremy walked out to take his trophy there was a lot of emotion. We’ve worked insanely hard this year with a lot of highs and lows. It’s nice to know it hasn’t been in vain.
This year we built one hell of a motorcycle! It was really almost like a David vs. Goliath type story. For just being a small shop in San Diego we stuck it to a strong field of international competition. There were many other teams there who have been well supported and running bikes all season. The bike that Jeremy beat out for 3rd was a Paul Bird World Superbike for Pete’s sake! Hopefully this means everything I think it means for the success of this program.
After he was done with the press conference he came back to the garage to see his bike being swarmed by fans. Of course Jody and I gave him a big hug and everyone congratulated him for his strong ride. One belated smoky burn out and a few tears later we were ready to go out and celebrate properly! I don’t remember a whole lot of that story, but I will say the level of celebration definitely was on par with the achievements that day!