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Race weekend #5 July 19-20th
Arrive at the track Friday around 2:00. And meet the usual cast of characters around the T1A area. Especially one Zip Tie member that is wearing the Go Gino Go !! t-shirt. This has me in stitches all weekend. I did not think anyone would have purchased these that Doc put together. Later on a bunch of us took Chris Watts (stupidhawk) out for his birthday.
Saturday: It’s pretty warm for practice. Knowing that my rear is pretty shagged on the right side (does anyone have this problem or is it just me?) I take the first session fairly easy and try to help SMF out. What was weird is after instructing TTD on Tues & Wed the HAWK felt like a motard. Very strange feeling. After the first practice SMF was comfortably was running 1:23’s. Glad he felt comfortable. Now push it and go faster… For the second session I wanted to push the awkward feeling out and ran the track a bit quicker without much slipping from the shagged tire and was popping my quickest practice laps ever. Knowing I had some time before getting the CW assignment I decided to replace the Bridgestone’s at Street and Competition. Nick had these changed in like 20 min. Thanks bro.
I retired and for the afternoon to corner work in T3. This was the first time that I had worked T3 and what an advantage point. I got to watch Jeff Wood drift his race bike into the turn. This was not his motard. It was GSXR (gixa). It was pretty cool. I also got to see Shane N brake within less than 10” on the left side edge of the track. This is giving me ideas to practice on. The corner was not without its usual problems. I got to pick up a lot of bikes and even a few NESRAIAN. Everyone fared well. Nothing a few $ could fix. The evening to the usual U.S. Marshals BBQ and awards. I retired to T1A with a splitting headache. I guess I did not drink enough fluids while cornerworing. I thought I did.
Sunday:
The weather forecast is all over the place. The first session gets a little wet towards the end of the session and I end up tip toeing around with the slicks for 2 laps.
Second session I needed to recoup from a lack luster session and settle in behind Alan Quinn. The usual happens under breaking cornering and throttling on. For the life of me he kept on pulling away slowly on the straights. What the hell is going on? Why is this 800 pulling like this? I could have forced a few corners but this was practice. Live to fight another day. I saw Alan later on and come to find out his Duc is a 1080cc. That explains a lot.
Pre race: I am out of my mind stressed out. Slicks, rains, slicks rains. Race 8 gets a tire change delay call on the account of a couple of crashes due to a wet track and bikes on slicks. 5 min later the ground is dry. I’m still stirring in my head. Jersey is showing me his cell phone weather radar and it seems to be breaking up. Ok I’ll keep the slicks on. I go consult with Chris Watts on what he would do. He mentions that “you can race in the rain and dry with rain tires. You cannot race in the rain with Slicks.” Race 8 restarts. WTF am I going to do. Everything is completely dry. Lap 2 the ground starts to get wet. RAINS. Everyone jumps onto a part of the bike. Left front, Right front & I’m on the rear. Kate is pilling the exhaust out so I can squeeze the rear off. What a wife. RED FLAG. “What the hell. Forget it. There is not enough time at this point to get tem swapped out. Tighten everything back up.” Someone mentions that they are taking time for a clean up in T2. “RAINS back on” I get the rear on and SMF jumps in to set the nut. I hop out front to align the rotors into the pads and get the axle thru. I hop out back to check the nut and torque everything down. “Front is all set” someone says. I set the brake lever and ask someone else to check the torque on the front bolts. Harrison S. Shoves my gloves and helmet to me and tells me to put this on. I head out to Pre-grid. I get there and they just left. I get stopped by Kathy and she asks me if I just crashed. “No I just came from the pits for race 9”. O.K. GO. I get a full warm up lap. I get on the line and see Jurgen on rains and Dube on Dot’s. The track is still damp.
The Race:
I get the whole shot. I have no idea how that could have happened with everything that just went on less than 8 min ago. T3 breaking, Jurgen gets me on the inside. O.K. settle down and let’s concentrate on formulating THE PLAN. Sit behind Jurg for 6 laps and let’s see what he can show me. I knew that he was on Rains as well so we should experience similar tire conditions. I figured that if I was out front I probably would have pushed hard and cooked my rains mid race. So let’s see if I can save them for as long as I can. After a few laps I he looks back and I’m right on his tail and the track is now dry. I can see him snap his head down like O’ S!@#. I look back to see if Dube is around and he is nowhere to be seen Lap 6 comes and now it the time. I pass him on the left going into T11. Apparently Once I got by he was focused on me and not the line and rode over the curbing in 12 and thru the grass. And while coming into T1 he got a natural and was screaming in his helmet ”NOOOOOOO”. The rest was all the way to the checkered flags for the 4 win of the season.
I have to apologize to everyone for my indecision and abruptness. Just ask Jane. She knew I was stressed out. Without all of you I would not have made it onto the tack. This win was for everyone that helped out. T1A members, family, and friends. I owe you all everything.
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Congrats, brutha maaaan 
Originally Posted by Pookie
