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So this weekend was an absolute blast. Spent all day Thursday getting the 800SS sorted and setup for the one off factory ride of "The Butcher." Actually at this point the plan was for him to ride the 848, so that's somewhat of a lie... I rode the 800SS due to the 848 being in the hands of Bergs, sorting out the 1/4 turn throttle and Brembo RCS Brake Master upgrades.
Friday rolls around and the butcher drops off the 848 and we head out for practice, I know the SS is sorted so we get him out on it first while I ride the 848 and see if all was put back together properly. Bergs comes in grinning, clearly enjoying his stint on the SS. I make a few changes to the 848 and we head out for our 2nd round of practice, after wards Bergs is happy to be getting along with the 800 and we decide he'll focus on that for the weekend. Whether or not that had anything to do with this string of trash talking with Doc, is anything but clear.
So we spend the rest of the day focusing on setup on our respective bikes and call it a day.
Saturday rolls around and it's chilly in the AM, arrive at the track to mid-50's temperatures, and get tech'd and ready for practice group 2.... brrr.
Head out for practice and shake some things out and come back in to make some ride height adjustments, I raise the rear a bit to get her to steer. Head back out for Practice 2 with Mr. Chris Watt and he drags me down from mid 22's to a 1:20 flat.
I'm in race 4 - Supertwins and am pretty excited to get the cobwebs off. This will be my first "big bike" race in over 5 years. Head out and grid up next to E. Wood, R. Nigl, D. Lavelesque, C. Sandoz, I.J. Helmke and Kyle Thompson (think I got names and spellings right). Anyway, needless to say I'm a bit intimidated.
Flag goes off and I get a decent start, in fact I think I'll be getting past a couple of these guys into T1 when BRRROOOOMMM they go flying off in the distance.... holy motor in this crowd battman.
Enter T1 7 out of 7 and by T3, these guys are clearly off. Spend the rest of the race trying to be consistent and work on feeling things out, end with a best time of 1:20 something and finish the race, taking home points and securing my license and # for next year, mission accomplished. Needless to say, this was quite a tough crowd to be amongst. The slowest fastest lap of the group was a 1:14.8... very fast company. I'm not sure I'll ever get near those times but at least for now, I'll look for another Saturday race to have some fun in down the road.
Sunday greets us with the same frigid morning temps as Saturday only a few degrees cooler, I head out for first practice simply to loosen up the joints. My hips are not used to this at all and are clearly showing it. Watt sits this one out going for a new rear tire.
Practice 2, head out with Chris and he follows me for a few laps. I guess I pulled a gap because it took about half a session for him to come past, which eventually he does. Fortunately I can hear his *RIDICULOUSLY LOUD* bike behind me, and I know it's him. He comes by and I tuck in, hoping he'll drag me along again. We spin 4-5 laps and he slowly gaps me a bit, take the checkered flag and look down and see 1:19.89 on the lap timer! Sweeeeet. Lap times later confirm 2 high-19 laps and I'm pretty psyched, hoping to maintain the groove in MWSS.
Race 4 - Middleweight Supersport.
Grid up and I'm a row behind Chris, my goal is to tuck in behind him again, but I get a flying start and end up heading into T1 with about 4 guys behind me. Through the first lap, the lead pack pulls away and I make some mistakes trying to keep up. Come thru start / finish and see a Red Flag. Later on we hear of the details, a huge get off in turn 7 and they send us back to the pits, it'll be a while for cleanup.
The crash cleaned up they call us back out, take another warm up lap and grid up. Get another decent start, but heading into T1 a couple guys get past. I end up with only 1 person behind me, the venerable Mr. Watt. I spend the first couple laps doing everything I can to keep up with this crowd of fast company, around lap 3 I can hear Chris' bike on my ass, I hear him shut the throttle, and pick up the throttle out of every corner, and use this reference to motivate earlier throttle pickup on my part, he's driving me from behind. I make myself wide doing everything I can to keep him behind me, but after a couple laps he gets me down the straight and into T1. I tuck in and try and stay with him, he's pulling quicker times than in practice for sure. He slowly and surely pulls away, but by lap 6 I get a surprise heading up over the hill... the front end comes up and I wheelie the back side down towards the bowl. This caught me a bit off guard as I haven't powered up the front over the hill since some time in 2003! The same result the last two laps and I know this as a sign that I'm on the gas. Come in, again in last, but grinning ear to ear as I was able to fend off Chris for a bit and get some consistent 1:19's, with a best of 1:19.585. I'd hoped to be down in the 18's, but after 4 days of riding I was simply stoked to have seen teens again and gotten the rust off. This was fun, I can't wait to do it again!
Thanks to all the folks in Zip Tie Alley for their hospitality, to Denno , Q and CEO for moral support and encouragement.... and especially to Chris Watt for dragging me down in times. I can't say how much I benefited from having someone I know a little quicker than me to chase. It was a blast and I'm hoping to be able to drop that extra second and keep up with you before too long
Credit to 07BladeRider for the kick ass pic!!!
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Originally Posted by Pookie
Glad to hear you're back out there, bro. 
as you.
you though.
... and the fact that I need to redo my suspension as it was setup for street and track and is definitely outclassed for pure racing.
