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Cliffs at bottom.
Friday night was a long night. Left Boston around 8, stopped by my parents house to meet Marco and then to his house to pick up his bike for his first track day on monday. Then back to my parents house to go put fluids back in my bike as I was out of crush washers last time I worked on it (more on this later) and my friend went and picked some up for me while I was at work. Needless to say, after everything was said and done and put together, I was in bed around 1:30 and then back up at 5:15.
Damp, muddy track in the morning. Practice 1 was to make sure my bike still worked and check out the track. Practice 2 I started turning it up, ended up turning a 1:22.5. Lap after that, coming into one, reach end of pit wall, hit brakes, BANG, I'm on the ground and into the tires. I ended up way up there, slightly behind my bike. Bikes leaking something and one side of my bars was bent to my radiator and my belly pan had completely fallen off with all mounts broken. It hurt, but I'm okay, sore as hell but no serious injuries. If anyone saw this happen and can fill me in on why my right side is in severe agony even though I lowsided onto my left side I would greatly appreciate it.
Got back to the pits, I have race 5, time to get the bike together. We found the culprit being an incorrectly sized crush washer on my transmission fluid drain bolt. Guess my friend got me the wrong ones...Well, Dave and Trevor give me the correct ones, not sure if you guys are on here but thanks a ton! You guys absolutely rock. Adam Clark rolls over and helps me take the bike apart and lends me a set of bars. Adam, I can ship those back to you ASAP if you need em, if not I'll have em for you at the next round. Thanks so much, without those my weekend would have been done!
Well, Because of a different bend, and a slight bend in the new bars I can't get my controls exactly where they were as the bark busters wouldn't fit perfectly on em, but no big deal something I'd have to get use to and had no problem doing so.
First race is Super Singles, just me and one other person in AM so they start us with the experts. I was trying to get my confidence back into one and slowly increased my times. 1:28 out, 24, 23, 22, 22, 23, then a red flag. I take first place out of the amateurs, finish somewhere towards the back with the experts but not last.
Second race, ULSB. I was excited for this one as there is a lot of competition, specifically between me, Jake Vader, Bill Morey and Ben Travisano who is an absolute beast. He ran something like 12 races this weekend and hit 20s. Learned to find out that his bike, the one with all the motor beating me in ULSB last week is one of the Woods old Monster 696, bored something like 100 over with about 80hp...I don't mind losing to him anymore, but I was gonna do my best. I line up in first row on the outside (my favorite spot) and take the holeshot. I absolute bury my head and never look back until the end of the race. Didn't get challenged the whole race. Come to find out that everyone got held up by this big ol ducati that is ULSB legal and by the time they got around him I was too far gone. I then looked at my times for this race and was stunned:
Outlap was a 1:24.5 followed by 1:21.984 (new PB) followed by 1:22.2, 1:22.3, 1:22.4, 1:22.5, 1:22.2, 1:22.5....holy consistency especially considering I road entirely alone the whole race.
That night I drank too much and slept too little.
Morning practice went okay on a dry track. My right side was in agony, so much I could barely kickstart my bike, but it got better as the day went on. The rain came, then the sun came and things dried up.
First race was LWSB, I was gridded 1d (perfect) and was waiting for this race all weekend. Me, Lou, Kurtz, Ben, it was gonna be a fun one for sure. I get a terrible start, and go into 1 in 4th behind Kurtz, Lou and Ben, in that order. Ben and Lou end up getting by and then the battle is on between me and Kurtz. We go back and fourth a few times with some AWESOME racing. I take Kurtz on the inside of 4, he gets me back on the outside of 1, then I out brake him into 3 and am able to hold him off for the rest of the race. I have the video I'm just too tired to put it up at the moment. I start to reel in Lou but there isn't enough time left and I take 4th, my best finish in LWSB so far. Best lap time of 1:22.3.
Next race is Motard. My go-pro died so sadly I didn't get my start on video but it was PERFECT. Since there is only 2 of us again we start with the experts. I start 4a and go into t1 in 4th! Ahead of Shane! Well, that didn't last long. I stick with the guys until Shane passes me on the inside into the bowl. I've seriously never seen anyone brake so damn late and take such and inside line. Oh and lets add to the fact that post apex he waves to the crowd one footed. I keep the fast experts in sight for 2 laps and then they're gone, but hey, I'm sitting in 5th with the experts! Last lap an expert passes me into 1. I could have held him off, but we were in different races, he's an expert, and I had nothing to prove so I let him get the line into 1a. Either way, I take first in Amateur Motard and 6th overall with the experts. Best lap time of 1:22.4.
I did the Tony's day today. Had a good time with the guys. Best part of the day was an awesome tow from Paul, I learned a ton and am comfortable that one session alone has made me a better rider/racer. Lots to work on, can't wait for next race weekend!
Cliffs:
Super Singles: First
ULSB: First
LWSB: Fourth
Motard: First
New PB of 1:21.984 up from 1:21.996.
Had a blast at Tonys.
Special thanks to Adam Clark for the bars, Dave and Trevor for the crush washers, Christian for the help putting my bike back together, my garage/teammates Adam (and family), Lou and Dave for being super cool dudes, Marco for the garage support, Tony for the flawless track day, Paul for the killer tow and pointers, and of course RSP and ECK for the good times.
See you all in 3 weeks!