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Oh what a ride it's been...
Though only my 5th year, the 2010 LRRS season will most certainly go down as one of my most memorable and for all the right reasons as I far exceeded all of my own expectations and goals.
Looking back at the 2010 Season Goals thread, I said:
I wanted to do 1:17's... I did 1:16's.
I wanted to finish top 5 in the LWSB, LWSS and LWGP Expert Championships. I finished 3rd, 4th and 2nd, respectively, as well as 2nd in the Pirelli Diablo 600 Challenge.
I wanted to race at another venue. I raced NJMP Thunderbolt, nearly landed on the podium and was very happy with how I did against the competition from other regions.
And although it wasn't originally a goal - ZERO crashes!
Really, the only thing I didn't do that I wanted to was compete in an endurance race. I suppose there's still time if I head Southbut the chances of that are slim to none at the moment.
Anyway, onto the weekend 8 recap:
Saturday LWSB - 4th
Going into this race, I knew what I had to do in order to hold onto 3rd place in the standings and it all depended on how Todd Babcock finished. If he finished 2nd I could take 4th and keep 3rd overall by the slimmest of margins (just two points). If he took the win, I needed 2nd to avoid a tie (which Todd would win by default with more wins in the class)... a VERY tall order.
In what Bob Holcomb described as "the most thrilling race of the weekend", Todd Babcock, Rick Doucette, Scott Mullin and I were an absolute FREIGHT train, riding in that order nose to tail for the majority of the race. I'm not exactly sure HOW it all developed, but LWSB quickly became "Traffic Central". I don't think I've EVER had to slice and dice my way through as much traffic as I did in that race. It seemed like we were coming up on bikes 10 at a time, amateurs and experts alike. In the end, Todd, Rick and I would stay in that order, but Scott was able to somehow miraculously leap-frog his way to the front in the melee that was LWSB and help me keep my 3rd overall. I remember coming out of 10 just after he made the pass for the lead screaming jibberish in my helmet. I'm not sure if I was more excited about holding onto the points lead over Todd or watching Scott absolutely dismantle that lap traffic like a frikkin surgeon. It was absolute perfection the way he cut through those lappers.
So a huge Congrats to Scott Mullin for taking the win and helping me out to boot. I owe ya bigtime, bro.
After LWSB, the rest of the weekend (minus LWSS) was, dare I say tame in comparison?
Sunday Pirelli 600 Challenge - 1st
In what ended up being a pretty straight forward race, I had a great battle with Dave Kagan of RSP racing. I believe Dave got the holeshot and I quickly worked my way up to 2nd. I stalked him for a good number of laps until I finally took the lead entering the bowl and gapped out a little. I conserved my energy for the last few laps and took home the win and another nice check thanks to Pirelli Tires.
LWSS - 3rd
In another EPIC battle with the lightweights! This time there was no Todd Babcock, but Mark Dages instead. It was another freight train with Scott coming out on top once again (Amazing weekend, bro!) and Mark & I having a GREAT battle for 3rd. We traded places more than a few times and on one lap, after I made a minor error entering the bowl, the two of us went through turns 6 and 7 virtually elbow to elbow.I made the mistake of paying too much attention to Ricky's line and under braked ever so slightly, which made me run wide and allowed Mark to come up underneath me as we apexed the corner. We rode side-by-side just inches apart all the way to the entrance of turn 8 where I finally had to give way, running over the rumble strip in the process.
In the end, I was able to out motor him down the straight and reclaim the 3rd spot behind Scott and Ricky and just barely hold him off to the finish. Great race, Mark and thanks for helping me push to a new personal best lap time of 1:16.578!
LWGP - 3rd
With 2nd place in the championship all locked up, LWGP was a pretty relaxing race. The goal here was just to ride clean and close out 2010 on a good note. I got a great start and took the holeshot after holding off Rick Doucette into turn one, then again into three as he showed me a wheel down the back straight and into the chute. On the subsequent lap, Scott Mullin took me on the brakes into three on Brett Guyer's former Ducati Sportclassic and Ricky wasn't far behind and I fell back to 3rd where I would stay. I backed it off a notch, enjoyed the view from there and took my last checkered flag for the year.
Huge thanks to all my friends & family for supporting me, come up, cheering me on and helping me out this year. Having you guys with me to help and share the experience with makes it that much more enjoyable.
Thanks to all my sponsors: Pine Motorparts/PBE Specialists & Phoenix Graphics for making ECK #187 look good; Woodcraft, Moon Performance, RJ's Motorsport and Motorcycles of Manchester for parts; MTag-Pirelli for tires (and money) and that sexy sunuvabitch, Arcy Kusari from OnTrack Media for documenting it all...
... and putting it on facebook.
And with that... I'm done friggin typing!
Here's to next year... and maybe some new teammates?
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Originally Posted by Jimmy 2 Shots
