0
Sorry for the long read.....
Took Friday off from work thinking I would head up and do practice but after watching the weather, I kept procrastinating and procrastinating and by the time I got up to the track, it was 11PM Friday night.
The lack of a spare set of wheels also made things difficult in the event I did need rain tires. Luckily, Dan Martin let me borrow the wheels off his bike to mount up rain tires for the weekend.
I had finished up round 4 with a PB of 1:23.293 and mt request to bump was turned down. The goal this weekend was to try to shave that down a bit and bump. With the forecast, it was looking highly unlikely but hey; why not try?
Woke up Saturday and immediately checked out the track surface and the weather. It looked damp and my brother and I decided that it would probably dry off enough by practice 8 that we would try running on DOT's. With the exception of a damp spot on the left between 2 and 3, we were pretty spot on with the call and I felt relatively good. 2nd practice, I blew up the entrance to 9 a few times and almost launched myself into low earth orbit in 7. I did knock out a string of 1:22's though!! New PB? I'm OK with that.
I went around looking for some advice on what to do about the bike geometry with rains and ran into Dylan Moore #789. Turns out he was behind me through 2nd practice and noted all of my mistakes and had some suggestions for me. Turns out we were both in Formula 1 and we looked forward to some good dicing.
Saturday:
Race 6 - Formula 1 - We waited until the 2nd lap of race 5 to commit to a tire choice for this race. It looked like there were two cells west of the track and there was a chance they would split the track. We decided on DOT's and out we went. I was gridded in 1A, got a great start and never looked back. My ear plugs weren't sitting in nicely and I kept thinking there was another bike on my ass. I was too focused on not letting him past. Didn't look back until after the checkers at which point, I realized there was no body behind me for a little bit. The tires were definitely starting to go out on this race but I was able to rattle off 22's and 23's. Moore #789 had 20's but I guess he had trouble with his bike off the start. 1 of 9 finishers.
Race 9 - Formula 2 - We kept the DOT's on for this race. Gridded 1B and got another good start and came out of 2 in 1st. I didn't see another bike for the rest of the race. The tires were giving me uneasy feelings and the times show, 23's and 24's. 1 of 9 finishers.
Sunday:
Practice was uneventful but the tires were just not doing it for me. Time for new tires.
Race 5 - Starter 1 - Gridded 6A for this one. Coming out of 12 after the first lap, I thought I saw a red flag but wasn't sure, sure enough, going into 1, the race was red flagged and we sat on pre-grid for awhile. We gridded back up and after the first two waves left, the 1 board came out and was dropped just before the green. Back to pre-grid. At this point, I was worried about running out of gas but I figured my pit was too far away. After baking for what seemed like forever, they gave us one more chance. I hesitated at the green flag and I could see Rui Almeida #120 in my peripherals going into T1. I was hell bent on keeping my string of hole shots intact and got distracted, botching the shift. I started running wide and I guess Rui held off to see if I would go off or not. I made it through 1 and just put my head down. I could hear a bike behind me for a few laps but wasn't sure who it was. On lap 6, Dylan Moore pulled up next to me as we came out of 12. We had a drag race down the straight with him next to the wall. We made eye contact a few times as we went down the straight and I remember thinking: What a F***ing nut"He backed off as we started braking for 1 but now I think my pants were soiled. I was determined to not let him by. I started running defensive lines and as the white flag waved, I was sure he was going to make his move. The move never came and come to find out, he had gone down in 3 at some point and he was at the 3-10 pass through the next time I came through. The battle must have lit a fire under my ass because on the last lap, I knocked off a 20.9!!! The whole race was a bunch of 21's. 1 of 4 finishers over 9 laps? Can anyone explain that one to me?? Is it because of the red flags?
Huge thanks to Dan Martin for going out of his way to give me the wheels off of his bike. What a guy. My brother Dan for playing crew chief and weather man. My mom for feeding us. The T1A hooligans and hooliganettes for the laughs and good times.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by JettaJayGLS
