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In round 4, my goal was to hit 21s and I came up just short with my last lap of the weekend being a 122.1xx.
Round 5:
I was hoping to make Friday practice, but my partner was on vacation last week and things at work were hectic, so I had to do without.
Saturday Practice:
I wasn’t feeling that great…hit a super-speedy 25 in the first session, and mostly did the same in the second but squeaked out a 22 on a clean lap. Had a hard time staying loose on the bars, which happens to me with time off.
GTL:
Got a good start behind Brady Ward (122), Shane Lewis (276) and new guy Ben Travisano (130). I managed to sneak by Brady and then had a long battle with Shane. I soon realized I’d have to wait for a mistake from Shane since we were so evenly matched. On the 12th lap, Shane made a small mistake on his drive out of 12 and I was able to sneak by on the straight before 1. I laid down some good hot laps and tried to be a bit defensive, which I’m not very good at yet, and was able to keep Shane behind me crossing the line in 2nd of 11. Better though, eight of the laps were 21s and I got a new PB of 121.254!
LWGP:
I got a great start and slotted in behind super-stud Bill Coolahan (447). I managed to hang with him for four laps when Ben Travisano got around me somewhere. One lap later Shane got by me on the brakes into 3. I went quickly from 2nd to 4th. Ouch. I stuck with Shane though, and managed to juuuuuuusssst outdrive him out of 12 on the very last lap, taking third in a photo finish. I really only got that 3rd by a matter of inches. It was a great race. I think Shane must have missed a shift. Big thanks to John of Dyno Solutions here…no way I would have pulled off the podium without the perfect tune he set up. Also, somewhere in this race, I clipped the curbing in 9 and got myself into a super hairy situation. The bike handled it surprisingly well though, and I just skidded a few feet to the right while the front tire yelled at me. No worse for wear.
Sunday:
The Sunday practices felt much better but rain overnight messed up the track a little. I was feeling great but only pulled off 24s in practice. That wasn’t exactly confidence inspiring.
LWSS:
Well, I had my first botched start here. I was gridded right next Mike Kurtz (816) and saw he had a bit of a delayed start…I guess I got excited and let the clutch out a bit too quickly. I pulled the front wheel up nice and high, then proceeded to shift into neutral. I collected myself and got into turn 1 in 4th behind Mike. At that point I wasn’t too concerned to be honest, Mike was running 23s last weekend so I expected to be able to make a pass along the way without toooooo much trouble. Not true! Mike and I had a stellar battle for all 8 laps, with some seriously tight racing and great defense by Mike. On the very last lap I got a bit of a better drive coming out of 3, and shot toward the apex of 4, but Mike squeezed me out. I could see it was either hit the curb, Mike, or back off…so I backed off and was hoping to make another run somewhere else. I tried to outdrive him out of 12, but he held strong and I finished 0.2 seconds behind him, taking 4th out of a tiny grid of 6 (c'mon people, rain ain't that bad....and it hardly materialized this time). Great racing, with two more 21s under my belt.
LWSB:
I was really looking forward to this race because my friend and pitmate Gennaro (Jay) Anthony (978), JettaJay, was going to be playing with us. We’re pretty evenly matched, so I was expecting good fun. Also my new rival Mike Kurtz was here as were Shane and Ben. Small grid of 9 but lots of fast guys. I got a great start this time and was first into T1 but then I see Kurtz come around me on the outside…he was not messing around. Somehow I was able to outdrive him out of three, but I think Ben did too. I ended up behind Ben for a few laps…hanging with him, when Shane passed me into 3 when I left the inside line wide open. Can’t make a mistake like that with a racer like Shane. I finished in 3rd of 9 with a best lap of 122.459. Felt like I was flying, but was dog tired and it shows in the times. No one was running especially fast in that race.
Summary:
GTL: 2nd
LWGP: 3rd
LWSS: 4th
LWSB: 3rd
New PB of 121.254
Great weekend. Had a blast with the usual suspects and lots of help in the pits. Special thanks to Marco and Boos for help with the stands and warmers all weekend.
Again, thanks to John at Dyno Solutions for the podium power, to Woodcraft and Armour Bodies for making my bike sexy and effective, Dainese for the protection, EBC and Gregg Spears for the best brakes I've ever ridden, and Mad Monkey Motorsports for the data and cash money. Last but not least, Tonys Track Days for the instruction and track time that got me to the 21s.
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Originally Posted by JettaJayGLS
