“Adversity does not build character, it reveals it.”
Although most teams accounted (they thought) for the oppressive Georgia heat, they were also in agreement afterwards that they weren’t fully prepared for what Mother Nature had in store for the WERA/N2 Racing four-hour endurance race July 18 at Roebling Road Raceway, in Bloomingdale, Georgia.
Team Yo! was no different. After giving the entire field a two-and-a-half-lap head start due to having to change a fuel pump at third call the team’s first rider Chris Parrish bellowed “It’s on now!” as the bike finally roared to life. Off he went and to say he was on a mission would be an understatement. The 2018 MotoAmerica Twins Cup champ managed to make up two laps in his 84-minute stint and handed the bike off to Darren Crooks in a much better position than when he left. Then the fun began.
After a quick pit stop, Darren picked up right where Chris left off for the first 30 minutes until the skies opened up. Southern summer rain is an interesting phenomenon. It gets so hot in the afternoon that you pray to your chosen deity for some sort of break from the heat and it usually arrives in the form of a 20-minute monsoon. You bask in its glory knowing that within an hour the heat will return with a vengeance and also with the added bonus of 100% humidity. Darren managed to race through this exact event (plus two red flags) all the while making up another lap.
The third stint belonged to Keith Buras, who had the benefit of stable weather but also had to endure finishing the race on a rear tire that was far beyond worn. As with most “mature” racers of his age he dug deep into his memory of riding bikes without traction control and brought it home with ease adding another lap in the process.
Final score: fuel pump 2.5 laps, Team Yo! 4 laps. That was enough for a Lightweight Class win by two laps and a sixth place finish overall. A job well done by all wearing the baby blue Ghetto Customs shirts.
