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Long story short, despite some emotional ups and downs this weekend I had another fantastic race weekend. Good times with good friends and I had some great race results. I became an official Low Down Racing team member, set a new personal best time and finished first in each of the four races I entered.
Long story long, I skipped Friday practice ($) but arrived at the track mid day Friday to set up, pit bitch and hang out. I decided it was finally time for a full set of fresh Pirelli slicks and got them all mounted up and ready to go for the morning. Saturday practice went well enough. Nothing earth shattering but the tires felt awesome and I could do no wrong.
AM GTL: John Dorans Sr (109) is my biggest competition in this race and he was trying out his TZ250 so he lined up in the back instead of up front next to me. I got a decent start and put my nose down. A few laps in I looked back and there was nobody there. My team mates were showing me I had a huge gap so I backed off until a red flag forced us to regrid. Hammer down on the restart and then sort of maintenance to preserve my position. A couple laps later I glance back and there’s another AM bike bearing down on me! WTF??? I put my head down and John, coming from the back of the pack, is solidly in the fight for first with me. Back and forth we go, duking it out. We were both tired and getting sloppy so every mistake would mean that the other guy would pass. Turn 10 of the last lap I was in the lead and managed to get past Roland Arsenault who checked up John long enough for me to get the checkered flag! During the battle I managed to tick off a couple of 01:21’s, including a new PB of 01.21.693.
AM P89L: My biggest issue here was trying to get past BJ. From the start I was hot on his tail but just couldn’t manage to get far enough along side him to stick a pass. I wasn’t going to risk a sketch pass to pass an expert when I knew I was first in my class. A red flag just past halfway made for a short race.
AM ULSB: A teammate went down hard in turn 3 and was injured just before this race so I wasn’t really where I needed to be mentally. Based on last race weekend I knew Rick Kaeser (281) was going to give me trouble on his Ducati. He has just a touch more power than me and otherwise we are fairly evenly matched. It makes passing him very difficult and he can out-drive me into turn 1 on the start. On the first couple laps I was able to show him a wheel in a few different spots but he just wouldn’t give it up. I finally pushed for a pass into turn 11 and when we flipped for 12 he didn’t feel there was enough space for the both of us, choosing to take the straight route across the grass. I talked to him afterwards and he said he was fine with it but I still don’t feel right. I intended to leave him enough space and that certainly isn’t the type of racer I want to be. I tried to clear my head and I pushed hard enough to maintain first place for the rest of the race despite blowing the apex of 3 every single time (looking at the scrapes from Brett’s crash).
AM LWSB: Rick was in this race again so I knew I was going to have a fight on my hands. I caught up to him before turn 3 on the first lap but was more patient this time. I wasn’t going to have a repeat of ULSB. As the race went on I was able to show him a wheel again a few times but was shut down. Finally toward the end of the race he checked up behind a lapped rider going into turn 3 and I rolled on by. A hard fast lap and I took my fourth first place finish of the weekend!
Brett Larson, my fallen teammate, swung by late Sunday with some help to pick up his trailer. It was fantastic to see him up and out of the hospital even if he was still all drugged up. Following the weekend I spent Monday and Tuesday with Tony’s Track Days helping out as a control rider. It was a fantastic way to cap off a great weekend! We had great weather for the event and I was able to re-connect to my other track family as well as meet some new friends.
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99 + 02 SV650 ex-race - 91 FJ1200 street - 03 KDX220R woods - 12 WR450F motard/ice
Originally Posted by The Snowman
