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Erin and I got to the track at 11:30 PM Wednesday night. We set up the tent and went right to bed. I had planned on doing all day practice on Thursday, but alittle bit of rain during the night and in the am, kept me away from going out that early.
I signed up for afternoon practice, went out (forgetting to check tire pressure) and stuff just didn’t feel right. I pitted in, and let the tire cool off. Adjusted my tire pressures and went back out for practice. It look me alittle bit to click back into the high 20s for some reason, but eventually got there by my 4th lap of each session.
The whole afternoon was kind of a joke, for $100 we got 4 abbreviated sessions (because of crashes, etcand they added a motard only group half way through the afternoon. Oh well … its seat time I guess.
Got a good night sleep and was up and ready for my 4 races on Friday. Got out for practice and clicked of a 1:29 on my first lap in the morning and got down to the 27s in the first practice and down to the 26s in 2nd practice. I was feeling pretty good.
Race 2, the one race I have yet to finish was my first race. Gridded front row, I get an OK start, but still ended up in 7th or something going into 1. I got passed a couple more times, then I was able to make up some ground. My main goal was to make it through the race and feel like I atleast rode well. We got to the halfway point, and I am thinking “ok, lap 6 is the one you keep crashing on … keep it on 2 wheels.”. I continue to ride fairly well, just holding my position making it to the waving white flag. On the last lap I made one more pass and ended up finishing 10th place out of 28. Just to finish was great, but to get my first top ten finish was very exciting! My best laptime was a 1:25.9.
Race 4, 35 on the grid … front row again. Got an awful start! No idea where I ended up coming into turn 1, but it was a cluster, and not something I was comfortable being part of. Turn 3 was just as bad. On lap 2 I tipped in for 3 and a buell buzzed me as I was approaching the apex … that was interesting. The field finally spread out and I see my pit buddy Geno made it ahead of me at the start. There were a couple guys between him and I, so I put my head down and it was my goal to catch him. I picked off the first guy pretty quickly, then it took another lap to get the 2nd guy. Finally it was time to catch up to Geno. I slowly was making up ground as 2 laps went on, and at the end as we came to the front straight I was on him in 11 and set up for a nice pass on the front straight as we exited 12. I ended up finishing 13th in the race and Geno 14th. That was a lot of fun! Fastest lap was 1:25.7.
Race 10, another crazy middle weight race, were I got an awful start and got buzzed coming into turn 1 by a couple people. I am having a tough time trusting the riders in the MW races … they just seem not to care, so it makes me back off more than I would like to when starting the race. I lose a lot of positions in 1 and in 3. I’m probably in the back of the field at this point. I made my way through a couple guys. I was able to dip into the 23s on my last lap (when I finally got by traffic). I finished 15th out of 25th which is one of my worst finishes. Traffic kills me … I need to learn how to pass (more on that later).
Race 12 was the MWGP race with only 11 people on the grid, I knew this was not going to be good for my index, but the seat time is what I’m going after right now. Got a bad start, but just kept my head down. Deb and Geno passed me early and made it through traffic pretty quickly. My goal was to catch her and Geno. In the first 3 laps I got by the 2 people that separated Geno and myself, but Deb had a good lead on me so I just tried to hit all my marks. If I caught up to her great, if not, that’s ok. On lap 4 I was hard on Geno’s tail coming into 1 and stayed there coming out of 2, where I was able to pull past him just before the braking zone of 3. Now it was time to get Deb, but she was out of sight right now. I was coming into 11 as she was heading out of 12, so I was making some ground, but as I started for the apex of 11 I saw her rear tire cut loose, go back and forth then pitch her off. Seeing her hit her head at least once then lay there in the race line, I made sure not to make an abrupt move incase the person behind me didn’t see the crash. Got around deb and pushed on to Turn 1 where sure enough the red flag came out.
We sat on the pregrid while they helped Deb. Thanks to everyone on pregrid who brought water for us. They tried to grid us based on positions, but it wasn’t working out, so they just had us go with original grids, and do a 5 lap race. I got a GREAT start and ended up 3rd in turn 1-3. I got passed in 3 by one person. I was in 4th for that lap, then got passed again in lap 2, then one more time in lap 3. I ended up finishing 7th with a best lap of 1:24.1. In that race I was in the 24s and lo 25s for the majority of it. I was becoming more consistant (less traffic?). I felt really good about the fact that I am in the 24s now, it felt like a nice step forward.
I felt great about the all the races on Friday and the fact that I finished them all and got my first top 10 finish!
Saturday was an early wakeup thanks to the checked flag restaurant. So up we were at 6am. Cook breakfast and got ready for practice. Went out for our abbreviated sessions and got up to pace quicker than I usually do. This felt very good. Its one part of the mental game that I am trying to work on.
I had two races, one being the 20 minute GT race. 2 large grids, which made me a little nervous, plus the heat. I had never done a GT race, so I wasn’t sure I was going to do physically. I was very nervous leading up to the race.
I was on the front row of the GTU wave and got an ok start, ended up in the middle somewhere I think. Part way through there was a crash in turn 3, and they sent the ambulance out under a waving yellow. This was my first experience with an ambulance being on the track during a race. I was coming through 1a as the ambulance entered the track. Being a bunch of n00bs, the two guys in front of me locked up the brakes and got behinf the ambulance instead of passing it. We were under a waving yellow so a pass couldn’t be made. They finally moved around the ambulance and a whole bunch of us entered turn 3 under a waving yellow. Passes were being made and I lost some spots. I made up some ground as the race went on. I was having so much fun out there. About 12 minutes into the race I was getting pretty good dry mouth and making mistakes in 11 and 12, but I just took a deep breath and stayed focused on my marks. I was really enjoying myself out there. It was the most fun I ever had in a race. When there was a minute left to the race, the red flag came out, so we were done. I had no idea where I finished, I just knew I was exhausted, but had a HUGE smile on my face! What a blast that was! To my surprise I ended up getting 9th! I was so thrilled! I had a best laptime of 1:23.8, and was fairly consistant. You can see where the ambulance came out, and also where I get stuck in traffic. I had several 24s and lots of 25s. So I feel really good about that.
Race 5 I was just glad to get through on a certain level. The first start was bad, my bike fell into N when I let the clutch out, so I was a sitting duck, but there was a nasty crash in turn 2 at the start, so we had to restart. Got a little of a better start, but just madness in turn 1 that I didn’t want to be a apart off, so once again I backed off. I just rode through the race, and felt like I was missing my marks in turn 3 a lot. I had spent a lot of time making sure I was consistent through there and I was blowing it on that race … maybe it was the heat and exhaustion. I made passes throughout the race and thought that I ended up near the back of the pack, but to my surprise I finished 12th with a best time of 1:24. This was about 5-8 spots better than I thought I was and it was in the top half, so I am pleased.
I had officially made it through all 6 of my races, and not only that, I got my lap times down and made a couple top ten finishes. I am very pleased with the outcome.
Looking closely at my race laptimes I can clearly see where traffic really slows me down. If I can get by people I keep my lap times very close together (.5 seconds or less). I really need to work on making passes and not letting people slow me down. It’s a trust factor for me at this point, because I feel like I have no idea what the guy in front of me is going to do, and I don’t know if I am safe to make a pass.
I spent some time with Paul between races watching the experts and we talked more about reference points (specifically turn in) and as the races went on it was a very clear illustration about what he talks about, and why reference points are SO important. It very apparent that as you get faster, the more important those points become and hitting them every time can be the difference between making the turn or not.
My goal is yes to be faster, but really, to make sure I am able to stay very consistent and not let people slow me up. I need to learn just to get by them and move along. Hopefully that will come with more seat time.
It’s going to be a long break before the July weekend … I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself between now and then.
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Sorry I didn't see as much of ya as I woulda liked but maybe that's how ya like it 
... yer probably better off that way anyway 
