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Thursday
I arrived at the track Wednesday around 10pm. Got the essentials setup and went to bed shortly after. The weather report for Thursday looked like rain, so I was going to make a decision about practice in the morning. Woke up at 7 to find it was still dry and it almost looked like the sun was going to poke through. I signed up for practice (all day) and hoped for the best.
It took me all morning to finally get comfortable with the new turn 1 and 1a. It was very difficult to break the habit of the old turn 1, but by the 4th session I was starting to feel good about it. We broke for lunch, and I changed the oil in the bike. Did afternoon sessions, changing out the rear tire for the last one and ended the day with a great session. We never saw any ran and I got about 90-100 laps in for the day. We were running 14-16 lap sessions. It was great!
Friday
Based on the weather report it looked like rain rain rain for Friday. I mounted up the rains Thursday night and sure enough, it poured all night into the morning. Woke to a very wet track. This was my first time on Pirelli rains. I had heard horror stories about the rear, but once I got out there I found that I was having more issues with the front. Come to find out the pressures I was running were too high. Both practices were wet, and I just felt pretty slow. Did get down to the 31s, but am about 2 seconds of my normal rain pace. Not what I had in mind for the start of my weekend.
MWSB
Gridded 2D for this race. This race is somewhat of a blur for me. We had 3 red flags in the first go around, then we tried to rerun later in the day, which quickly ended in a red flag as well. The first two starts I got a great launch and was with the front group for the opening lap. The 3rd restart I got an awful start. They pulled us in after the 3rd red flag. I was having issues with the rear tire, so I decided to get a new one. All my races Friday and Saturday would allow me to run a slick so I figured why not and got one. We went out for the restart of the race later in the day, and after two laps it was quickly red flagged. Loved the grip of the slick though! I ended up being scored 10th.
MWGP (Dash for Cash)
Gridded 3D here. This race had 2 red flags before things really got underway. On the 3rd start Joel beat me to turn 1. He quickly pulled a gap on me and I had to work hard to make up that ground. He had told me he was catching me in 11 during the last race. With that knowledge I worked hard to get faster in 11 and that is where I started to make up ground. 3rd lap into this restart I finally had the opportunity to get by him on the entrance to 12. He got side by side with me going into 1 but I wasn’t going to let him have it back and broke later. I saw Jason Carter ahead and thought I might be able to chase him down. The last two laps I put my head down and really closed the gap getting right up on him in turn 11. I made the same pass into 12 that I made on Joel, but I couldn’t square up the exit enough to get a good drive. As we approached the start finish Jason retook the position. I finished in 12th, but it was a fun race! My rear tire was about 3psi to low, so it was getting very greasy as the race went on, but kept it on the wheels and pleased with the finish. It was great battling with Joel and getting a tow from Carter.
Saturday
I only had 1 race and 1 qualifying scheduled for today. They announced in the riders meeting that they were doing free entry for the ASRA Superstock race because of lack of entries. So I signed up for this, which was the first qualifying session of the day. I quickly headed back to the pit to get slick mounted and on the warmers. They ended up getting 32 entries for Superstock … it’s amazing what a free race will do. (=
Qualifying
I did not know really want to expect here, but Degsy had come over from BostonMoto to offer his help for the sessions. We talked tires and suspension for a bit then he headed out to hot pit. In the first qualifying session (Superstock) I had the rear slick on the bike. After 3 laps I came in to hot pit we made a quick adjustment to the pressures and I went back out, which was a nice improvement. It was sticking better coming off the corners. I could only get down to the low 17s, but this was good enough to put me 9th, which was 3rd row on the grid. My goal was to be at least on Row 3, because I knew I could still get a good jump from there.
My 2nd qualifying session was for Sportbike, which was going to be the feature race on Sunday. It was very important for me to do well here. I had a new DOT for this session and after discussing bike setup with Degsy some more we decided to make an adjustment to the compression on the rear shock. I went out for qualifying and the bike felt great! After 4 minutes or so, the session was red flagged and we had to sit on hot pit for a bit. We left things as they were and went back out for the last 10 minutes. I was able to turn my fastest lap times of the weekend and secure 10th place at the end of the session against a very competitive field. I was very pleased and ready for tomorrow’s races.
HWSB
I got a good start here, but as usual, after the first lap the front pack started to break away. I was in a comfortable 9th place until I hit a false neutral into turn 1. My brain turned off just long enough where I had to bail and go around the banking. As I approached turn 2 control they had me slow down, and I looked back and saw Joel coming through 1a. Turn 2 control slowed me down for what felt like forever, then finally let me go as I tore off down the back straight knowing that Joel was right on me now. I pushed hard to stay ahead but my rear was starting to go off quickly. I was having a tough time coming off the left hand corners. On lap 7 the red flag had come out, we were past halfway, race over. Finished 9th.
Sunday
It poured all night and all morning. Mounted up the rains and went out for 3 sessions of practice. Got better with each one, but was still WAY off pace. I should have been sub 30s, but was stuck in the 31s. Weather didn’t look to improve for the first race of the day so the rains stayed on.
MWSS
Gridded 3A got a GREAT start. I was 4th into turn 1. I followed the leaders very closely for the first lap and a half. 141 got by me in turn 3 on lap 2. I followed him closely and it looked like I could hang with him. We came around for lap 3 and work our way through turns 1 and 1a. I closed the gap on him and knew this could be a good race for 4th. We get through turn 2 and I match his acceleration out. All of a sudden I see the tail end of my bike in my peripheral … I knew this wasn’t going to end well. I tried to grip the tank with my knees and hold on to it, but the bike caught, slipped, then caught again sending me skyward. I landed, rolled a little and slide backwards looking at the oncoming bikes. Everyone did a great job avoiding me and my bike (THANK YOU!). Race red flagged. Pick up the bike, brake lever broke, so I’m done for this race. DNF
ASRA Superstock
Rain had stopped and the track was drying quickly. It was still too wet for DOTs/Slicks but too dry for rains. Rains were already on, so I went with rains. Almost everyone else on the grid made the same decision. I was gridded 3B and got an ok start. The front 6 quickly pulled away from me and I stayed in a very comfortable 7th for the entire race. The track was pretty much dry except for 3 areas, so I could just feel the rain tires getting destroyed. I kept it on the wheels and finished my first ASRA Pro race in 7th place! My laptimes were less than 3 seconds off the lead group. I felt like if I had pushed a little harder I could have been up there, but having just come off the highside I was being conservative. I was very happy to have just run and finished my first pro race and end up in the Top 10.
ASRA Sportbike
This was the focus of my weekend. It was a very competitive grid and I knew I was going to have to ride hard to do well. At this point the track was completely dry. I was gridded 3C for this race and got a pretty good start which put me in 7th going into turn 1. Brent quickly got by me in turn 3. On lap 2 Martire tried to make a pass on me into turn 6 but I was able to hold him off. On the next lap he got me in turn 3, went a little wide and I tried to take him back up the inside of turn 4, but he got the better drive and beat me over the hill. I tucked in behind him and followed closely for the first half of the race. BostonMoto was running pit board for me which let me know that I had a good lead on the next position. I pushed hard for the first 13 laps, clicking off consistent low 16s. Martire finally started to pull enough of a gap on me that I knew I couldn’t make it up without pushing harder. BostonMoto wrote EASY on the pit board so I backed the pace down to the low 17s. Stearns had crashed out in turn 11, so I was in 8th at this point and just wanted to hold the position. On my white flag lap I came into turn 1 and started to hear a bike behind me. I was pretty confused about who was there. As I went through 1a a green bike came up the inside of me. My first thought was to drive hard to turn 2, but then I saw #4 and realized it was Greenwood so I tried to give room to him as he went by with Narbonne on his heels. When I was exiting turn 2 I took a look back to make sure there was nobody else in that battle as I didn’t want to get in the way. At this point I had the best seat in the house and got to watch Narbonne make the last lap pass in turn 6. I held my position and finished in 8th place!
Overview
Overall I had a great weekend! The classic is always a mixed bag for me, but I am lucky this year that the crash didn’t result in much damage to the bike and I was able to get back out there quickly and still ride hard. I had a blast running in the ASRA races, including qualifying. It just had a different feel to it and it is something I hope to do again soon (NJMP Round in July hopefully). I couldn’t be happier with my finishes in my first ASRA event.
I have never run so many laps in a weekend. I was worried about my endurance to do so, but feel very good about how well I did. It has been a lot of work and I feel like I’m really starting to see improvement again.
I have many people to thank from this weekend. First my parents for coming up for the entire weekend (sorry for crashing in front of you)! Special thank you to Joel and Geno for the extra help on Sunday to fix the bike, get my tires mounted and ready for me while I was on track. Congratulations to the entire ECK-Racing team for an awesome weekend and their continued support (sorry Arcy about the bodywork)! Congrats to Pete on his 14th place in his first ASRA Pro Thunderbike Race!
Thank you to everyone else that came up for the weekend including my Uncle Rick, Carri and Shawn, Chris, Josh, Noah, Haley, Jeremy and Family. It was so great to have to support from all of you! Extra thank you to Mike Martire and BostonMoto for all their help this weekend as I continue to get the bike sorted out.
Thanks to our sponsors TonysTrackDays.com, Pine Motorparts/PBE Specialists, Phoenix Graphics, Woodcraft, Moon Performance, RJ's Motorsport, Motorcycles of Manchester, and BostonMoto-Pirelli.
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Congrats, brutha!
Originally Posted by s a x m a n
"why tip-toe through life to arrive safely at death?" Tony Campol
