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Another long one. What do you expect at this point?
Got to the track Friday for open practice. BJ, Brendan, etc already had my tramper set up and my bike unloaded. Big thanks to those guys, sure made my Friday easier. I missed my first session due to street bike issues, but was geared up and ready to go for my second. Practice was fairly uneventful. Lots of faster bikes with slower riders, so I did some passing but it usually resulted on getting passed right back on the straights. Had one guy on a fast bike pass between another rider and I, swerve left directly in front of me and then JACK on the brakes at about the 3.5 board. I seriously thought I was going to tuck the front for a second as I went around him after realizing there was no way I was going to be able to check the EX up hard enough to avoid rear ending him. 4th session was cancelled due to a lack of ambulances, so I only got 2 in. Oh well. Learned later on that one of the ambulances was gone due to transporting a rider that had hit Kitt pretty hard into 3. That sucked, but I was pleased to hear Kitt was more or less OK.
Saturday practice was typical and uneventful. I was glad to not be out there with slow guys on really fast bikes, but that was more or less the highlight.
Sat Race 8 PTwins I got a good start and put my head down. A couple laps later I was still leading, filtering through the wave in front of us. You'd think I'd enjoy this more than I did, but in a race I've gotten used to having a faster guy in front of me to try to hang on to. Leading was different. I swear I could feel the presence of Don Smith right behind me. I know he's faster than I am, so where is he? I loved it, don't get me wrong, but it was a lot to think about, trying to hold people off without having any idea where they were while trying to run race pace with nobody in front of me that i wasn't passing in short order Lap 4, I think, We got a flag combo I had not seen before: standing yellow with the ambulance flag. I thought an ambulance on track was automatic waving yellow at least, so I didn't really know what to think. Turns out I should have just stayed as fast as I could and never let up, since it was not waving. Oh well, now I know. Got past the ambulance in 6 and went back to work. Lap 6, comoing out of 12, Don came around me. I'd been wondering when that was going to happen, but after leading this long I wasn't ready to give it up without a fight. He got on the brakes a touch early for 1, and I went around him back into the lead. He showed me a wheel somewhere, I think 6, but I held it open and managed to hold him back. Then on the final lap he got me again, and got through a couple lappers with what was essentially the same pass. It took me a couple turns to find a hole and get through them, and there was no catching him by then. Finished 2nd, very happy to have led a race for any duration for the first time. Turns out I did a PB of 29.5, followed by another pB of 29.2. Sweet.
Sunday, first practice was uneventful. Second practice I got a fast guy tow from Dana for a few laps. Did some passing I normally would not have been able to do that quickly, mainly inspired by my desire to get as much useable time out of the tow session as I could. Got a great line into 1 and picked up a bit in a couple other sections. Really looking forward to using it in the race.
Sunday, Race 11, LWSM, I got another decent start. 2 dirt bikes checked out on the pack in short order, with me in third. Don got around me again, and I wasn't able to make a move to get back around him. Red flag, crash in 2, and the race was over in 4 laps. Don got 3nd, giving one of the dirt bikes a good run for his money. The other one was gone, not even in the same race as us. That left me with 4th, one spot out of the wood. I didn't care too much about that as I had no intentions of placing in that race anyway, but I was a bit bummed it was such a short race as I was finally seeing Don in front of me as someone to try to keep up with and maybe even get around, rather than just a faster guy I'd never see again. Oh well.
Overall, bitchin weekend. Couple new personal bests, first time leading for any noteworthy amount of time, etc. And, of course, always a good time just being there, hanging out and watching friends race. Can't wait for next time.
Sunday after racing Kitt helped me get my bike back to the storage area, which was a huge help as I came on a motorcycle. Thanks Kitt, you're the man! Rode home with "if you like pina colada's" stuck in my head, thanks to Meg.
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Originally Posted by "Dangerous" Dan K
