3
My weekend really began on the prior Sunday. I travelled to NJMP with Tony’s Track Days and had a very successful Monday and Tuesday riding down there. I made it home in the wee hours of the morning Wednesday, repacked and squeezed in a half day at work. Thursday morning I was off to work and then straight to the track to make Friday practice. Practice went well enough but I could tell I was off pace and to be honest I needed an easy day. Saturday practice times were well off where I wanted to be.
AM GTL: I knew I was screwed for this. I didn’t do any off season training and they extended the race to 25 minutes. I went into turn 1 maybe fourth but picked off a couple on the first lap. I fell in behind 109 (John Dolans Sr) for a couple laps and he was giving me a run for my money. I decided my only chance was going to be to pass him and then try to road block for the next 20 minutes. The passing part worked but that was it. I ran out of steam the last 5 minutes and struggled to keep it upright for the rest of the race. I still managed to finish in second place totally exhausted and with a strong desire to start doing some cross training.
AM P-89L: The Amateurs launched with the Experts so it was good practice for me. I didn't have a problem keeping up with the back of the EX pack and held off making a couple marginal passes that I didn’t need to risk. The race seemed very short in comparison to the GTL and I still had energy at it. First place finish!
AM ULSB: I was the only Hawk in this race??? What happened to the flock??? After some shuffling I was winding up for a pass on 281 (Rick Kaeser) when they threw a red flag. The timing worked for me as I’m a decent starter. They re-gridded us and at the start 351 (Jake Laforge) checked out again. That is one fast kid!!! I passed Rick early on but couldn’t quite hold him off. I spent the rest of the race struggling to find a place to pass him. He had motor on me and I just could quite stick a pass. I had to settle for third.
I was a full second off my pace this weekend but still managed to do OK. I’m confident those results won’t last as the season continues. I know where I can make up some more time I just need to execute it. A huge thanks to the LDR crew for all the positive energy and good times! Sunday morning I packed up and bailed early so I could ride MX over at Kitt’s place. It took me a while to come up to pace but I was feeling pretty confident after a few laps. The track has had a lot of improvements and it was fun re-learning it.