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been lurking all summer and finally signed up. so might as well start out with a year end race report. i ride a red and white 848, did most of the summer in novice then bumped to am for NJ CCS and round 7 before finishing the year down south.
a couple fly by's. during the F40 race maybe 160mph heading towards the front straight http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZY07z8bomY same race across the stripe 175mph or so before braking for t1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJr-jzEA7N8.
thursday was the team hammer practice, got 4 sessions total of 95-110min. track time to learn that place. set the bike up on stock gearing and worked pretty good during practice. the infield was a bit difficult to figure out. the 2 horseshoe turns were very different. good thing was the expert and pro's were out there too so could get a good idea of the lines. the banking was another story. there is actually a fast line up near the wall. i stayed lower to keep out of the fast guys way till i was up to speed. by the end of the day was turning 2:10 or so lap times.
friday morning had 2 10-15 min practice sessions. was getting quicker starting to go up into a higher gear in a couple areas. saturday morning had 1 practice, decided to drop 1 tooth on the rear sprocket too. figured in the race if i got a draft would need the extra rpm. as soon as i got on track it seemed like a mistake. my lap times in the last practice were in the 2:07 range. i decided to leave the sprocket on for the race since i usually run harder then practice, was a good idea... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82DCcfhJcys
saturday f40 race second wave start was so far from the flag and the first of the weekend i got a bad for me start. finished 7th, no real battles just ran alone alot. most of the bikes in front were 750 or bigger.
middleweight ss. mostly signed up for more track time. started 10-11 passed 1 guy i think and finished 9th out of 30. dropped my lap times to 2:05 range and was glad i left the sprocket on. was lighting up the first light on the rev limiter with no draft. indicated mid 170mph range http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eHgrUJ8hjQ
sunday was 2 of the races i wanted to do good in but knew the bigger bikes would give me trouble again.
heavyweight ss. started 5th, finished 4th. was within striking distance of 3rd when i got drafted by a gsxr750. kept him close enough on the banking and realed him in in the turns. was all over him in the infield looking for a passing point. got him once ran wide and he got back by on the exit. i carried enough speed in a left kink to swing around the outside to give me the inside for the next right. after that i left him and took off after the next guy but ran out of laps. had a blast fighting it out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHZO4TINVIQ
supertwins. felt good for this race, last of the weekend. garages were mostly empty. sat in the corner leathers on with headphones tuning out the noise. got a decent start and the front 4 took off, pair of 1098's, buell 1125 and some bored out 949 duc. 2 eventually crashed. had a 999 draft by me and got right back in his draft. when we hit the finish line a huge cloud of smoke came off his bike. i rolled off going 175 and moved over looking for a blown engine. stayed off line and slowed a little next couple corners but he kept going. kept looking for a black flag for him but never came. by the time we got back to the banking another buell 1125 got around me. spent the next 3-4 laps on his tail till i got around and left him taking up the chase on the 999 again. too bad but ran out of laps again. did get close enough to see his smoke show again. pretty sure it was the tire rubbing on the swingarm. finished 4 in am class and 6th overall. dropped my lap times to 2:03.