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2012 LRRS RD 6 Gino #929
This weekend was introduced with some USCRA riders which was welcoming to see. Not only was it great to see the older Vintage bikes other than mine it was good to see them out on the grid with me. It did produce a little bottle necking with the practice session but once you quickly got around them there was plenty of room to roam around. Best lap in practice was a 19.2 with traffic complication.
Saturday Sept 1:
Before I get all caught up in things. Thanks to my wife, Kate and her friend Marybeth for showing up and showing her support.
In the pits I stripped off the tires to get me some new B-stones mounted. I also noticed that once the bike cooled down the coolant overflow had a higher level. So I pop the tail and tank and address the system by topping it off and draining the bottle down. 5 years of this hardship… When will it end???
They weekend they moved P89 to Sunday because of the USCRA group racing on Monday so they accommodated them by moving this event. This was nice of the organizers and I welcomed it. I was able to go into ULSB all cooled down and focused. My race is with Matt Grendron and no one else. Not even Christian Cronin as he only has 30 point in the series. “He is not even in contention for the overall points so think about him.” I just need to stay up on the track and not give my 12 points lead away to Matt. Focus. I roll out. Plan; don’t jump the start, get an out lap in the 20’s hit a minimum of 3 to 5 laps in the 17’s. This should set the tone and provide a comfortable time for me in front of Grendron.
Green flag drops. Matt gets a bit of jump on the start initially and I roll up past him. I as I get to the wall it appear to be Trevor Arvidson out on the outside. I lead the group thru the first 2 laps. Lap 3 Christian Cronin passes me on the outside exiting T10. My bike thru this section can be like riding a bucking bronco. Rear end can come up, front end can come up , toss in a tank slap so I’ve been pussy footing out of this section just to make sure I stay up. I hang onto his tail. We come out onto the straight I let he hammer drop. Roll in behind his draft. He looks back, sees me and waves. I don’t know if he was saying by as I rip on past him, Hi I’m here or to instigate me. I thought it was funny. Christian from the little I know about him is a great/fun guy to be around. He’s the same on the track. I’m glad I can at least be able to ride with him. Hell he races AMA. Why would I not want to be in this position? I rip past him and begin to push things further. Hey wait. I thought my race was with Matt.. F it. Game on….. Next lap T10 he does the same thing. F er. O,k. If I have to settle in behind him how far away can I be to draft past on the S/F line. I set up a distance of maybe 30’ going into T12. Perfect. I would get him at the line. Head down. Let’s push some of these breaking markers. Deeper and deeper. I go. Lap 5 no more t10 pass. I like this pace. Keep it going. We begin to funnel thru the lappers without complication. Lap 8 I see a group in front as I crest T5. It’s going to be T8-9 I am judging. We roll up on them. I get one on the outside of T8 and the other I begin to cross over for the outside. He hits the throttle hard. Who wait wtf. I know where he’s is going. I just hold up a split second on the outside and he is going straight to the apex. This could have been bad if I continued on the outside. I’m betting all 3 of us would have gone down in a blaze of glory. I end up transitioning back to the left side for a high drive out because all he is going to do is go straight across the exit of t10. I had no problems with this maneuver and Christian did not come around. I take T11 a little cautiously knowing I need to keep this up and if I needed to I could handle a draft pass at this point. I took it in and thru to the S/F line for the win.
Both Christian and I posted our new personal best lap times. He did a 17.2 and I did a 17.1 on the same lap.
20.976
17.592
17.887
17.868
17.482
17.370
17.191
18.146
Average 18.064. WOW just wow.
I had a great chat with him later. We both had a great time out there and finally caught up on the last time we were out together and posted our PB back in July. We keep pushing ourselves faster and faster.
You can read he Pit Bike race report for those details. http://www.nestreetriders.com/forum/...e-reports.html
Good night Saturday. Rolled to the 99 with ECK,wife, MB Eric,Brian. It is always a good time out with us. MB orders a pomegranate Martini and Brian gives her shit for ordering a foofoo drink at the 99. Then Christian orders up. I just about choked. Here Brian is giving MB shit well Christian has to outdo the last order of a martini with a Cosmo. The shit really hit the fan ….. Laughs went on all night.
Glad I brought the pallets for the Lodown T1 hang out and up to 2:30 in the am.
Sunday:
No practice. Went thru the coolant system again. And prepare for p-89 against all the vintage Ducatis, fzr 400 and ex500’s . I drop a fast of 1:22 for the win. I got to somewhat enjoy what was happening behind me with Johnnie and bill working the expert group. Congrats guys.
Next event I will be working on my T10 exit maybe for those .1 .2 of a second…..
Points lead:
ULSB - 25 points
P-89 - 34 points
Fingers Crossed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks to all my sponsors and most importantly I want to dedicate this weekend to Dereck Chaput. He lost his life in a motorcycle accident. Dereck is the son of one of our sponsors, Mudd of Pine Motor Parts.
May he ride on in our memories forever.