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So thursday I had to get the bike ready to go, pack up, and get up to the track to set up and camp out. So a friend of mine had my plastics for a few weeks to do a badass paint job for me, I call him thursday morning and he says I can pick them up early afternoon. I go down to get them and find that he hadn't even touched them (great) so I get back and put the bike back together, pack up and head for the track.
Friday morning I wake up and my bike is covered in dew. My catch pan has a bunch of fluid in it that I just assumed was water from the dew so I take it off and dump it out to head down for tech for the advanced class....I'm half awake and dump it out, then realize that it was gas.....fantastic. I frantically look for where it might be leaking, take the tank off an figured that when I put the fuel pump back in, the gasket must not have seated correctly....put it all back together and that did the trick.
I took the advanced class, which wasn't quite what I was hoping for. Not that I'm amazing or anything, but 99% of what eric talked about was stuff that I had already learned throughout the year...so that was a little disappointing. It was frustrating being in the class since there were something like 40 unlicensed riders, and of course they needed the help more than the experienced guys. Understandable but not what I was hoping for. I tried working with Eric 1 on 1 but he was busy....he had me talk to jeff, who was more than willing to help....and I got to ride with him for a full session 1 on 1 which was amazing, then he stopped by my pit after and we talked for a good half hour about my line and riding and stuff, and I learned a lot just from him....I was pumped. A few of the really fast experts have told me that i'd be like 1.5 to 2 seconds faster if I was on a bike that was capable of it (low/mid 14's!? holy shit...) which was AWESOME to hear, but frustrating at the same time.
Saturday morning I took it easy and worked on my line in T1, my exit of T12, and body position. MWSS was my first race so I swapped tires at lunch and put them on the warmers (thanks joel!). I went out to pregrid for the race and my bike felt wierd, really tipsy. Then I realized that I never checked my f'n tire pressure....which is REALLY bad with the new Ntech Dunlops, since they have to be run at like 23lbs HOT (mind you it takes like 30lbs to pop the bead, so i've got like 10lbs too much). I decided to run the race anyway, but take it super easy and accept last due to my stupidity. After 2 or 3 laps I was following Ivan Debord who wasn't quite up to speed, he parked it going into the chicane and I almost Tboned him, my front tire locked up, slid, and I dropped the bike....got back up and re-entered the race. Wasn't a great way to start the weekend, but it was my own fault. Then the MWGP race was a lot more exciting. I had a great start from the 5th row, kept up with the pack (which is a HUGE improvement for me) into T1, I let a lot of people get past me (i'm racing for last practically so whatever) and found my spot in line. I didn't do much battling, I passed a couple people and finished 13th out of 20 or so. I ran my best time at 1:16.3, and ran like 6 or 7 laps in the mid 16's so I was happy with that.
Sunday morning obviously SUCKED weather-wise. I manned up for first practice and ran solid consistent 1:30's (woohoo) and laughed when I saw that I was the fastest in the practice by like 6 seconds. I skipped the rest of the morning when it was open track.
I ran MWSB and only like 10 people showed up on the grid. It was the first sprint race of the day after the weather cleared up so the track was still damp (though plenty dry for DOT's). I had a fantastic start and went into T1 in like 4th place (behind shane!? holy shit...) I got passed going into T3 and held 5th for a while, 3 laps or so....and kept shane in sight until we got red flagged. I was irritated, cuz my gas light came on during the first lap of the first start, so I was nervous about running out of gas. I got back to pregrid and shut my bike off imediatly. On the re-start I had an ok spot into T1 then got bumped by jorge valencia (left yellow paint all over my tail section) neither of us went down but it scared the crap out of me, I could feel his bike hit my body/bike in the corner. I was in 7th for the first lap, behind Adam Rickard and Kip Peterson...followed them for a couple and then got around them both on the outside in T1 (at the same time) and held them both off for most of the race holding 5th, then with a lap and a half to go Adam got around me going into T9 and stole my first expert trophy from me (my own bad, i went a little wide and he took advantage, it killed my drive and I couldn't keep up to get him back).
All in all it was a fantastic weekend, and I can't wait to head to VIR on the 29/30th later this month. Thanks to everyone who helped me out this season, you're the reason I managed to achieve everything I did this year.
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