Central Mass Powersports Round 4 #123
5
I rolled in late Friday afternoon with a freshly built GSXR600 and an overhauled KTM. I had planned to practice all day Friday and shake both down, plans are nice to have. I wrenched and wrenched Friday until it was 1am. With Christian’s help we had gearing on the new GSXR. The bikes were looking great thanks to CMP and TSS Graphics, we felt confident.
1 practice session with each bike Saturday morning to perform system checks. A couple of minor hiccups were overcome with the help of Jimmy Alessandrini (Central Mass Powersports Tech). I was so incredibly lucky that the shop sent him up to help, please come back Jimmy!
Jon Dixon (Advanced Traction) was kind enough to join us for round 4. With his help, we found a base setting with the GSXR’s new suspension we could run on and made some positive progress with the KTM. Time to go racing.
Saturday, race 4 – AM Super Singles - KTM (1st) 1.24.2
Great start off the line and we’re right in the middle of the experts. It seemed like a few of the experts were hesitant on lap 1 so I took advantage making a few passes to get myself somewhere in the top 8. I ran around with them for the race, adding reference points and stretching markers. Great way to start the weekend. I took the AM win and finished top 10 with the experts.
Saturday, race 8 – AM HW Superbike - GSXR (16th) 1.22.5
Two goals for this race. First, I needed to get a feel for the sportbike again. It’s been a couple of years since I turned a wheel in anger on a supersport. My second goal was to beat Mo Kaadum (AM #521). At rd. 3 – Mo walked up into my garage and declared a bet was in order. We were going to race rd. 4 – loser wears the winner’s shirt. The GSXR’s new Ohlins suspension was dialed thanks to Jon. I took a few laps to get back into the groove while watching Mo scoot around and then saw an easy opportunity to pass when he missed a shift going into 3. Around the outside we went and eventually on to 16th place. I went progressively faster, felt better and better with each lap. I think I can go pretty good on this bike with a few rider/bike tweaks. Most importantly – I beat Mo! He was such a great sport and a ton of fun to race with, thanks Mo.
Saturday, race 11 – AM Ultralight Superbike – KTM (2nd) 1.22.6
Mediocre start off the line and I immediately settled in behind this weird contraption ahead of me. It looked like an old fz400 but moved like a 250gp. Is this guy in the right race? I watched this strange machine consistently pull a ¼ second on me per lap while I tried harder and harder to no avail. His name is Coombs – he’s not to be trusted. I’m coming for you Coombs.
Sunday, race 1 – AM MW Superbike – KTM (19th) 1.27.1
Awful race. We sat around for 2+ hours while the rainy track dried. Very frustrating as the GSXR was on full wets. The race was finally called next and we all realized it was going to be a dry(ish) race. Christian, Kevin, Jimmy, Ethan – it was all hands on deck. With 2 minutes on the clock – rains were switched out on the KTM to slicks (GSXR only had one set of rims w/rains mounted) and we made the grid with the KTM. I circulated, kept it upright, finished and came home in 19th – meh, one to forget.
Sunday, race 4 – AM LW Superbike – KTM (5th) 1.24.2
Pretty uneventful race, decent jump off the line – diced it up with a few guys and settled into 5th. Lonely race in 5th to the checkers.
Sunday, race 6 – AM Motard – KTM (1st) 1.23.8
AM and EX combined with 2 empty rows between us. I took the AM holeshot and was near the front of the experts going into 1 – let’s get it on. I knew where traction was available from previous races and pushed a bit in places some of the other guys weren’t willing to. I watched Jason Cavanaugh (#67) the entire race. I’d come up the hill out of 3 and they’d enter the bowl. I just couldn’t close the gap but had a ton of fun trying. I won the AM race and finished 4th within the expert race, felt damn good.
Sunday, race 8 – AM MW Supersport - GSXR (DNF)
Mechanical, realized something was up on the out lap. Launched with the green flag, still felt wrong…pulled the clutch in, raised my hand and limped her around back to the pits. This is racing sometimes, we learned.
Sunday, race 10 – AM LW Supersport – KTM (1st) 1.23.7
Holeshot into 1 and never looked back. I focused on relaxing, breathing, being smooth and enjoying this last race of the weekend. Big wheelie on the cool down lap for the awesome corner workers and fans!
Support from Central Mass Powersports, TSS Graphics, Advanced Traction, Pirelli, Jimmy, Ethan, Mr. Smutnick and everyone else who played a part.
I feel like the luckiest man in the world with you guys in my corner!
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