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See bottom for cliff's notes. Read on for the whole story.
No dilly dally'in.... lets get TO IT!
Saturday race 7, LWSB.
Had a very nice race in LWSB. I went out on the same shagged rear tire from last weekend, but made a couple of changes to the rear shock (stiffer spring) & smoothed it out a little in morning practice. The profile was a little off, but it still gripped well so I gave it a whirl.
I got a great launch and entered T1 in 2nd place behind crazy man Todd Babcock. I got as much of a tow from him as I could and tried to fend off the faster guys behind me for as long as possible. Going over 5 I had Rick Doucette right on my rear tire and I was told later that he tried an outside pass as we entered the bowl but my new found speed through there held him off without much trouble... but as I grabbed my upshift at the T6 grandstands he tried to duck under me as we approached turn 7. He showed me a wheel and for a SPLIT MOMENT I stood the bike up just a hair, but he thought better of it and I leaned right back in, shut the door and held him off until we came back onto the straightaway for lap 2, a victory in itself (as was my 1:20.833 out lap.)
On the 2nd lap Mullin got me (going into T3?) and I did my best to throw a laso around him and get a tow. Things were feeling good despite shagged the rear tire and I kept him close for a while. But on lap three the rear tire reared its ugly head coming out of turn 2 and spun up big, but predictably. It spun low on the apron which put me on a bit of a wider trajectory. I held the throttle steady, it caught and I continued to put the power down. But as I got into the "marbles" up by the air fence it spun up again. I cut it a little close to the soft barriers but managed to stay in the power as it regained traction once more. I took a peek behind me and saw that I had some room so I backed off just a notch.
A few laps later I see Rick Breen in the distance with his head down, charging hard. I did my best to fend him off but he got me on motor down the front straight and put me back to 4th. I tried a re-pass into turn 1, but was unable to pull it off. I pulled along side him on the outside under braking, but I hit the pavement transition HARD, felt my forks bottom out and the front tuck as my Pirelli let out a loud "bark". I knew the transition was coming though and relaxed my arms enough which allowed my suspension and the SC1 to regain traction and I continued on to a 5th place finish out of 14 riders.
I told Scott Mullin after the race that I owed him a beer, as he towed me down to my first 17 on lap 2 with a 1:17.716.
Sunday race 6, Pirelli Diablo 600 Challenge:
After my 2nd practice I checked with registration and when I saw the light number of sign-ups I decided to throw my hat in the ring. I was a super late entry but managed to squeak in with registration and make it to the 11 o'clock qualifying session. Earlier that morning I made a couple more adjustments to my rear shock, threw on a new rear tire and things felt even better than before... it definitely showed, as I qualified second with a weekend and new personal best, 1:17.3.
Come race time I lined up on the grid with FAST expert Zach Holcom & his R6 on my left on pole and fast AM Dave Kagan of RSP Racing on his 600RR to my right. I got a great jump and pulled an early lead, but by the time we reached the 4 boards, both Zack & Dave had out motored me easily. Dave took the holeshot, but Zack quickly got by took off on us, I settled into 3rd place and began stalking the RSP 600RR. Dave was fast and obviously had motor on me, but I was able to stay on his tail through the tight sections and keep him close. On the third lap he made the mistake I was looking for in turn 3, ran it wide and I squirted through on the inside. I spun the rear up in four for good measure, put my head down for a lap to put some space between us and relaxed as much as I could in an attempt to conserve some energy for LWSS, the very next race. We caught up to some lap traffic that held me up bad, but I got by, held onto 2nd and smiled at the thought of another check from Pirelli arriving in the mail
Race 7, LWSS:
Back to back races ain't easy... but they're a lot easier when you've got a whole freakin pit crew helping you out on pre-grid
I got a pretty strong start when the green flew and slotted into 3rd place going into turn 1 behind Todd Babcock & Rick Doucette. Mark Dages showed a wheel entering turn 3 and we tipped in side-by side. I remember considering trying to hold him off but thought twice as I knew he would have the line for four, so I rolled off slightly and let him go through...... and it's a good thing I did, because as he hit the first transition his rear tire quickly let go and the bike spun around like a top, taking him with it into the beach. I checked up as to not run over the guy and that allowed Chris Cucinotta to slip through. I quickly put my head back down and began reeling him back in, but a red flag for an incident in turn 12 from the other wave sent us back to pre-grid.
I got another nice jump and this time the remainder of the race was relatively incident free. Once again, Babcock and Doucette checked out and Mullin snuck past me early. I was exhausted from the race before and wasn't able to muster any more 17's, but I held onto 4th and racked up another 23 points in a highly competitive championship.
Race 10, LWGP:
Easy/boring report here.... Another good jump off the line and once again I watched Babcock and Doucette check out. I kept them in sight for a while but without Nate Mendell out there to dice it up with, I rode a lonely 3rd place from flag to flag to finish the weekend with a podium finish.
Weekend results:
LWSB - 5th
Pirelli Challenge - 2nd
LWSS - 4th
LWGP - 3rd
New Personal best - 1:17.3, down from 18.2 last weekend.
Current point standings:
LWSS
1 98 EX Babcock, Todd 100
2 6 EX Doucette, Rick 95
3 24 EX Mullin, Scott 72
4 187 EX Gaboriault, Peter 63
5 16 EX Kent, Brian 59
LWSB
1 98 EX Babcock, Todd 100
2 6 EX Doucette, Rick 95
3 187 EX Gaboriault, Peter 65
4 16 EX Kent, Brian 62
LWGP
1 98 EX Babcock, Todd 105
2 6 EX Doucette, Rick 90
3 187 EX Gaboriault, Peter 70
4 827 EX Landau, Victor 56
Pirelli Diablo 600 Challenge
1 187 EX Gaboriault, Peter 65
2 535 AM Kagan, David 61
3 53 EX Kasperuk, Wojciech 53
Huge thanks to all of that came up to show their support, my ECK teammates Arcy and Jay Hillsgrove (I miss you, Jamie!!!) and the guys & girls of the "Black Sheep Squadron"
Special thanks to Peter Kates of GMD Computrack and Tony, Mike, Graham and all the guys of MTAG Pirelli. You guys rock!
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Originally Posted by Pookie
