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Well, as far as I know, the classic weekend put yet another good racing weekend in the books for just about every NESR racer as we all came home safe & sound & kept it on two for the most part, with only minor crashes. Sounded like most of us had fun this weekend and I did as well so I'm pretty happy with that & I'm relatively happy with how I performed, too.
Friday was nice & realaxing for me... The only race on the schedule that I would have done was GTL, but I opted to drop that for ASRA Thunderbike on Sunday. I got there in the morning & pretty much chilled out all day, asking about the new section, helping when & where I was needed & watching as much of the racing as I could.
Saturday morning I got out there for my practices & tried making friends with the new section... This was more challenging than I thought, as the old section was becoming almost too automatic for me. I felt like I was breaking all the rules by throwing out all of my old markers while trying to figure it out. Both of my practices seemed to get cut short, but at least I got out there to see it for a handfull of laps (maybe 10 laps total all morning).
Race 4 LWSS
I was gridded 2nd row and as usual I was able to get a great jump off the line. I was easily in the top 5 heading into turn one, but being my first start with the new config I got passed by what felt like 20 bikes (there were only 12 starters on the grid) going into turn 1. I musta been in like 10th place coming out of turn 2 I had a nice little battle with Jersey where we went back & forth a little bit and I was able to get him on the brakes going into the bowl on the last lap.
Result: 10th outta 12 with a best lap of 1:22.799.
Race 11a LWGP (originally race 10)
Again, gridded 2nd row & another great jump off the line. This time I was more agressive going into turn 1 and I was able to come out of turn 2 in 5th or 6th position. Scott Ferguson got passed me early and I threw a laso around him & he gave me a nice tow. With his help I was able to fend off a whole string of NESR Sharks that were battling behind me... Oxx, Jersey and Jay Holland were dicing it up all race and I was able to stay in front of them despite running wide in 3, 6 and 11 all on the last lap. After crossing the line a little over a second behind Scott I looked back, saw them and gave a big ole *WHEW!!!* to Oxx who finished just 3 tenths behind me. Jersey had a front row seat for the battle that Oxx had with Jay on the last lap or so. I guess they put on a bit of a show as the race wound down to the end.
Result: 10th outta 16, best lap of 1:22.127 (my fastest lap of the weekend)
Sunday we all awoke to some very wet & rainy weather. Luckily the rain stayed light for the most part and we were able to make the best of it and still have some fun.
Race 2 LWSB, 12 lap race
As usual, gridded 2nd row, I got another great jump off the line. I was able to hold my own through the first section and I was right near the front of the field coming out of turn 2 and only dropped back a couple of places going into 3. Unfortunately, shortly after the green we got red flagged due to an incident in turn 1 that involved NESR's a13x. He got tagged by another rider attempting to make a pass up the inside and they both went down. Both riders were up and okay after the incident, but the crash took out Alex's brake line The restart didn't do me any favors and I quickly found myself a little further back in the pack than I wanted after the opening lap.
I did have a nice battle with 806 Doug Fogg and 74 Michael Dube, however, and finished between them in 11th place.
Result: 11th outta 16 starters, best lap of 1:33.115. LLOOONNNG RACE!
ASRA Race #3, Thunderbike. 15 laps!
The skies brightened up and the sun came out a race or two before this one, so I got my DOT's back on & got ready to go out onto a dry race track in front of my parents who found their way to the grandstands about an hour before the race.
Qualifying was a little rough on me, having still not adjusted to the new lay-out. I qualified something like 18th or 19th outta 21 starters and found myself back on the 5th row. I got another great jump off the line though and made up a few spots heading into turn 1. I tried getting another tow from Scott Ferguson, but he took it up another knotch BIGTIME, found himself doing LOW 1:20'S!!! and was able to walk away from me pretty quickly. Great ride, Scott!
The first 1/2 of the race I found myself in another tight battle with #74 Mike Dube. We went back & forth a couple of times but he was able to get down into the 21's and edge me out in the last half of the race which ended up being a little lonely.
Result: 14th outta 20, best lap of 1:22.473
After that I got to watch some more great racing... Jamie did FANTASTIC in the classic, pulling off an 8th place finish in a very talented field
Huge thanks to Arcy, Jamie, Gene, Jay & the rest of the ECK pit guys, as well as all my sponsors.
See you guys next time!!!