0
Though I'm typing this from home (Tuesday 4:30pm) I've been up at Loudon for over a week, it's been a very fun and interesting week. It's a long report (hey I didn't write one for Week 2 and 3) so the Cliff Notes are: 2nd, 4th, 3rd, T-bone.
Tuesday: I had just gotten back from Road America the day before so Tuesday was spent running around getting ready. Jen and I had to pack everything up for a week away from home. Also I had to swing by Out of Control Racing in Worcester to get my RMZ which was being tuned. Picked up the RMZ hot off the dyno at 6:30pm and sped up to the track.
Wednesday: Spent most of the morning getting my RMZ ready with fresh oil change and general bike prep. I was itching to try out the new T1-2 section and finally got out there after lunch. Spent the rest of the day working with students and really only got a few 'good' laps in overall. Figured T1 out but felt pretty awkward on the bike all afternoon.
Thursday: Open Loudon Practice and I was only going to run it so I could ride around with my long-time homeboy Matt Stone. Matt has been absent from LRRS for the year (new baby) so I was pumped to be able to spin some laps with him. As I went to sleep Wed night thou the forecast was for rain so I slept in Thursday morning. Whoops! Ended up being overcast but no rain all day so I hustled to get out there for the 2nd half. Didn't put too many good laps in as I spent most of the time riding with Matt and his dad Bob Stone and helping them get back up to speed. Was super fun thou and just like old times growing up in the sandpit on dirtbikes when we'd all rip around together. I owe the Stone's almost everything when it comes to my 2-wheel education. Really fun day and Matt finally got to try a motard out when I let him rip Herdy-Grr (my RMZ) for a session. Felt okay on the bike, still wasn't clicking. Put my head down in the last session and things started to make more sense.
Thursday night I really hemmed and hawed about which races to enter. In the end I registered for a record (for me) four races over the Classic weekend. Ultralight Superbikes (I'm in Top 3 for points), Motard (to run with all the dirtybikes), Lightweight Sportsman (good chance for podium), and Sunday's Lightweight Superbike (outgunned on motard but could race in front of Jen's parents and big crowd).
Friday: GO TIME! Finally Race Day and the forecast was for rain all damn day but I'm in good points for the class so was going to do it no matter what. It was raining hard all morning and by the time I pulled my wheels off to be swapped the radar was showing clear skies coming up. So I bagged wet practice and gambled on it being dry for the races. Sure enough rain stopped and the races were run in the dry. Cool. I have a fresh set of BostonMoto Pirelli slicks on (Blue/Blue) and Herdy-Grr is ready to rumble. Ultralight Superbike was Race 8 and it sure is weird doing no practice and your warmup lap is your first lap of the day! I'm gridded on the second row and after missing 2nd place by bike length last round I'm focused on beating Nick Rockwell #156. Green flag drops I get a okay start and am 4th going into T1, Donovan slices Andy Hull's wheel off thou and sends Hull into the weeds and forces me to check up. I'm now in 3rd start chasing Rockwell who leads Donovan. On Lap 2 Donovan gets by Rockwell while I'm just doing what I can to reel Rockwell in. Rockwell is riding a Ducati 800 with gobs and gobs of HP and the thing leaves me for dust on the straights, I'm riding the wheels off in the corners and burning up my brakepads into them to keep pace. I find myself copying his line into T1 for the first half of the race without even knowing it. I'm dumb. His line sucks. I go back to my special sauce line and really start making up ground.
With a few laps left we catch Big Rick Blake thou, Amateur Ducati rider who normally runs up front in AM but had run-off track and was way back. He slows Rockwell and I down for half-a-lap while Rockwell tries to get by with no luck. On the straight Rockwell powers by thou and I'm forced to follow Rick into T1 now.
Going into T2 I try to stuff Rick but he shuts the door on me. I'm pretty anxious at this point cause I know these Ducati's can walk me going into T3 and the Bowl and if I don't get by Blake then Rockwell is going to disappear. I size up Rick everywhere but no luck as we exit Turn 10. At this point Rockwell has definitely gapped back out on me and I'm flipping out. So I rip around the outside of Rick into T11, jump the curb on the right and lay it over on the outside of him in T11. As he heads into T12 I just run Herdy-Grr in there and park it at the apex of T12 forcing him wide but I stick the pass. I look back as we go onto the straight so he knows it's me (and I'm battling for position) and hope he doesn't re-pass me going down the straight with motor (he doesn't, later says he backed off on the straight cause he knew it was me, thx dude). Rockwell has a big gap now and I have 2 laps to get it back. Going into the last lap I've closed back up to his rear wheel and now have to make a decision on where I'm going to get by. My plan is to use the Gene Berrio Method (which Gene gave me the scoop on last weekend) and take Rockwell up the inside of T11. I'm setup perfect for it (just off his rear wheel coming out of the bowl but as we crest T8 disaster strikes!! Just like last round we come up to a lapper going into 9, and that lapper is THE BLACK SQUIRREL. Rockwell goes to pass Squirrel on the outside of T9 and I say "Fuck that" and go to pass them both around the outside of 9. Rockwell runs wide thou so I tighten up my line and as he parks it at the apex of 10 I dart underneath and run side-by-side with Nick as we head over the bumps. His Ducati gaps out thou running into T11 so I shoot across his rear and go full throttle past on the left side going into T11. I stuff it up the apex and as we come out of T12 I hope/pray/twist the throttle till it cracks trying to keep his Ducati behind me as we cross the line. The Start/Finish line never seemed that far away before?! We cross the line .2 seconds apart and I take my highest Expert finish to date, a second place. Ran a 1:20.6. I'm pretty pumped.
Saturday: Saturday practice is uneventful as I mainly worked on some items and did my thing. Ran 22's. I had two races today, Motard and Lightweight Sportsman. Motard is up first and it's a pretty full grid, fun shall ensue. I'm on the 2nd row again and we made it 2 laps before a Red Flag. On the restart (5 lap race) I'm 7th out of T2 and spend the first lap behind #350 Eric Shaw and #59 Travis Beaudoin. I get by those guys and start chasing Donovan, Martire, Root, and Lyskawa who are all running tight up in front. JayRoot is the first to fall out with a mechanical and now I'm in 4th chasing Brent Lyskawa and slowing reeling him in. With 1 lap to go Brent looks back going up T4 and I waved at him. That must have lit a fire under his ass cause he put his head down and ran a high 19 on the last lap while I was pretty pooped from chasing him so hard and had nothing for him. Crossed the line in 4th and ran a 2009 Season-best of 20.4
Next up was Lightweight Sportsman and this was a pretty darn fun race. The details are fuzzy but the main one is I was in 3rd at the start of lap 2 and had JayRoot and Mike Donovan pretty close in front of me. Mike was starting to check out so I just focused on JayRoot and slowly, so slowly, was closing the gap over the 8-lap race. By the time we came around for the last lap JayRoot was only a second in front of me and I was still charging hard. Ultimately I wasn't able to close the gap but as we headed onto the front straight Donovan, who was pretty close in front of us, decides it'd be a good idea to loft a wheelie thru the finish. JayRoot saw this and came >.< close to nipping him at the line, just missing the win by .08 seconds!! I was right behind them both and crossed the line 1.5 seconds behind them. It was a pretty sweet finish for me thou as I've never been able to keep those guys that close across race distance and I set a new 2009/New Loudon PB of 1:19.8. Pretty stoked on that as I feel the New Loudon is slower than Old Loudon and for the first time I ran multiple 19's, not just one freak 19 like I did last year. Also ran many low 1:20's over the weekend and felt comfortable at that pace. At the end of the weekend I had run the 2nd fastest overall motard lap of the weekend and was only 1 second slower than Donovan, who is normally at least 2 seconds ahead.
Sunday: Sunday sucked. I didn't practice as it was pissing rain and by the time I had everything mounted and ready to go it was too late. No big deal. I'm racing Lightweight Superbike and it's 7 Expert rows of big SV's and stuff. The rain would actually play in my favour I figured and even though I haven't ridden in the rain for a year, I was feeling like a Top 8 Money Finish was definitely do-able. There was some last minute stress with my bike but the guys from BostonMoto really helped get it figured out and soon I was sitting on pre-grid in the pouring rain and ready to splash around and have lots of fun! I'm on Row 3 and get a good start and slot in behind Bill Tansey going into T1. As we head to T2 I think about my signature 'stuff the guy in T2' move but decide that's a dumb idea on the first lap in the rain and instead go around the outside of him. In T2. In the rain. I must be stupid. Bill outdrags me into T3 but I just repass him on the brakes. Now I'm behind some other SV and have #187 OreoCookie in front of that guy. I'm 7th. At this point I'm thinking I can get up into the Top 5 probably and start to poke around at passing the guy in front of me (not Pete). I could stuff him in a few spots but don't as it's still LAP FRIGGIN ONE and I haven't done any laps in the rain yet and have NFI what to expect. Did I mention you couldn't even see the apex of T12. Anyhow heading down the front straight #405 Dave Washburn passes me right (motor) at the end of the straight as we are about to get to the braking cones and right in front of my g/f Jen, her parents, and her sister. I'm setup on the outside of him and think 'no big deal' as I'm 99% sure he'll sit-up and slow down before I do and I'll repass him on the brakes into T1. #405 makes a very bad racing decision however and tries to hang with a motard on the brakes into T1, in the rain, on the banking, and of course tucks the front. I see this happen out of the very corner of my eye (I had made the pass at this point), hear "SCREEECH", and think 'ah fuck!!!' just as my rear wheel gets harpooned by 375lbs of SV. I go hurling down the oval at 100mph on my back while screaming FUCK YOU FUCK YOU and signaling this dude is #1. Probably made for a good show. My bike originally pinned my ankle (ow) but eventually stops before I do. I get back to the bike (few more #1's) and find the front brake line is ripped off and that's that. #59 crashed 4 corners later causing a red flag and I wasn't able to make the re-grid. REALLY REALLY pissed as I know I could have finished in the money and I was having good time on that first lap in the rain, hadn't even started riding hard yet. The real kick is I had a few guys come up to me later and tell me they were behind us and watched #405 for the entire lap and he was riding out-of-control. One of the guys said his strategy for passing him was to 'wait till he crashed himself out'. IMO it was just a really stupid decision and in a 12-lap rain race you don't have to be a hero on the first lap. Anyway, I was okay and that was that. Least Jen's parent got a nice show.
(disclaimer: Maybe Washburn is cooler than a polar bear's toenails but I don't know the guy from Adam. All I know about his is from what I experienced on-track and what my competitors told me. Shit happens. Moving on.)
I have to give thanks to:
BostonMoto / Pirelli - Thanks for all the support this year guys and this weekend. The bike felt great and the results have been improving each weekend. That Ultralight Superbike race was for you guys as I saw you up on the trailer each lap and it really motivated me to keep going. Thanks.
Out of Control Racing - Adam at OCR has recently started helping me out with my RMZ and it was very noticeable this weekend. The guy has a small service shop in Worcester and is great to work with. He told me after Round 3 he could get more power out of my RMZ and he did. Put it on the Dyno and got an additional 1.5hp and .5 torque and really cleaned up the engine response. The bike pulled great all weekend. Thanks a ton Adam!
Turn 1A North 10 Best garage mates. Scott, Matt, Bob, Seth, Chris, Lauren, and Big Sid. Plus our neighbors Zip-Tie Alley. Love cracking wise and riding with you guys.
Pete and Mike from GMD - Pete was wandering by BostonMoto when I was over there asking some setup questions. Pete did some compression and rebound work on my rear shock prior to Saturday's races and they were apparent on the bloody Warmup lap! I wasn't sure how it'd work Lap 1 of the race but I pinned it and got some results. Mike Martire is always there (fellow motard brother) to discuss lines, help me in practice, and just bounce ideas off. Huge help and great guy to have in your corner. Thanks guys.
Jeff Wood - Thanks for installing my new chain and everything. Sorry about the shoulder bro.
Leo Vince, Upper Playground, LD Designs, Penguin Roadracing School - Leo for the bolt on HP, Upper Playground for the wearable bling, LD for the sick lid (which I scratched this weekend) and Penguin for the tracktime. Much love!
Jen Ross - Last but not least, my much better half, Jen Ross. I couldn't get thru the weekend without her and she's always 1 step ahead of me getting everything ready. Food, warmers, visor, umbrella, bike stand, whatever. To top it off she goes out Monday and rips her CB to a third place in Forumla CB. Thanks babe, I love you.
Reply With Quote
I appreciate the shout out, you know I'm always here for you.
Originally Posted by Pookie
:
Sucks about the LWSB race, but you kicked some ass the rest of the weekend. That pass in 11 on Friday was TIIIIITS! 
....... 
