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So Friday morning as I am headed up I get a text from Wes Perry saying that they changed the endurance race requirement to 3 riders and asked if I wanted to do it...I hesitated and said...sure let's do it. We got a 3rd rider (our AM rider) at the track. He had never rode a 600 or gp shift...but he rode a zx10 on the track so fuggit...he oughta be good. We snagged a set of Dunlop GP takeoffs from Christian Cronin from Guinard at Race Tire Service and got them mounted up, bled the brakes, and got the bike back together (I brought it to the track in pieces somewhat).
Signed up and decided not to run GTU so I would be fresh for the endurance. I took the first leg and ran about 28 minutes. Bike felt good but was really hard to get it to turn in so it was starting to wear me out. We fueled up quick with help from our AWESOME pit crew and sent Wes Perry out on the bike. Wes decided he would stay out on the bike and not come in for out pit in signal so he ran 35 minutes haha. Then Bill went out on the bike. Impressive enough for a bike he had never rode before and a shift pattern he had never used before Bill stringed together some 1:24's! Guy was awesome! Bill rode about 20 minutes then pitted in and I went out again. Towards the end of my stint it started to rain. I decided to pit in after about 20 minutes...eff this shit I wasn't going to ride in this! We fueled up while everyone on the track was going slow because of the weather and sent Wes out to ride in the nasty stuff hahaha. He did great and progressively turned it up as the track started to dry. He also came in after about 20 minutes or so because his leg was starting to cramp up. Again the pit crew delivered and we had a killer stop! Bill went out again for 20 minutes and KILLED it! Again consistent times in the 1:24's. Couldn't ask for more! When he pitted in we filled up and noticed that the second place team with Houk had also pitted in. Houk for those of you who don't know him is capable of 1:14's... We assumed that Houk would be finishing the race as there was about 40 minutes left. Could we afford another pit stop if he kept running since we were only about a lap ahead? If I was physically able I could stay out the whole time and try to bring it home. Our crew had an awesome stop again and got me out with a full tank of gas...enough to finish the race. Right when I pitted out and got to T3 the bike lost basically all power and I limped it back around and thought about pitting in. I had this same problem last weekend and I remembered that it came back when I idled it in the paddock. I put it up a few gears and idled it around the back section of the track. Right when I got to the front straight the power came back! GAME ON! Every lap I looked at the clock...ugh...20 minutes left! I can do this... A few laps later...15 minutes...still no #909 of Houk anywhere to be seen behind me. Ok. This is about the time the rear started to drift reallllly good in T6 exit going into 7 haha. It was a blast! Really needed some good throttle control and to ratchet it to get around there. 5 minutes left...wow...we are still in 1st...this actually might happen!!! a minute left...finally...I'll get the white flag this lap...YEAH NOPE! Damn another 2 laps! Last lap still don't see him anywhere...this is really happening! Got the checkers and brought home the win!!!! Overall and MW victory! Just awesome. Turns out that wasn't Houk that went out when I went out but was another rider. They made another pit stop and put Houk out afterwards so we finished 3 laps ahead! Our pit crew consisting of: Gino Berrio (crew chief!), Brian Foucher, Brian Kiley, and Terra Hondrogen was just simply...the BEST. Great strategy and awesome execution! And the dunlop tires...damn. 125 laps on a set of takeoffs that still had life left in them when the race was done? WOW. This race was a blast. Thanks to everyone who helped to put it together. Can't wait until next years!
Saturday:Goal was to fix the issue with heavy turn in on the trusty Arrr6. Per advice from Gino I moved the forks up in the clamps 3mm. Went out for 2nd practice and it was better but not as good as I wanted it. In some bathroom talk I had with Kates in the AM he said keep moving it until you cant throw it to turn in anymore because of lack of feeling in the front end. Done. After practice lowered it 2 more mm for a total of 5mm. Testing time was MWGP.
MWGP...the big one!
I got a crap start and put my head down. I always seem to get intimidated going into T1 and back off too early. I knew I was faster than the guys I was in back of so I put my head down and went for it. Bike felt AWESOME with the 2 more mm taken out of the front height. I was running behind Tim Barber and Josh Gallusser. I got by Josh and knew Tim was not going to be easy. He has very wide lines that use the whole track and is very good coming out of the corners. I knew I needed to pass though because I was losing a lot of time following in 8 and 9. I finally got around him and moved up into 14th! After a few laps Sheppo signaled to me from hot pit that I had a good gap. I was motivated to catch riders though and kept pushing. That is until my bike lost all power again. I put my hand up coming out of the bowl and pitted in. Right as I pitted in the power came back again. Dammit! I pitted right back out and flew down pit road. Got in behind Tim Hogan. Managed to get by him and finished in 19th. Overall I was stoked! Got back down into the 16's after I passed Tim putting down a 16.6! I'm backkkk!
Sunday:
MWSS: I got a great start in this race and was running a strong mid pack. Tim Barber, Ron Poulin, and I were all dicing for position. Ron was also having a hard time with Tim because of his defensive lines. He started to get inpatient on lap 4 and went up the inside going into the bowl. As he was braking the rear tire lifted off the ground slightly which caused him to lose traction in the rear. He let off the brakes and never turned in...just went straight. He then clamped on the brakes again running right across Barber's line! He tried to get the bike turned in at that point but it was wayy too late. he ended up tucking it and lowsided into the gravel. Red flag. We waited in hot pit. Gino went and grabbed my warmers and got me plugged in on pit road with the help of Mark Bolduc. They then sent everyone back to pit since it was going to be a few minutes as he had broken his collarbone. I stayed on pit road since I was already on the warmers there and listened to some stories from Eric Wood about him binning a Suzuki ride that he had back in the day. After about 10 minutes or so they gridded us back up and away we went...until there was another red flag after a 5 bike AM pileup off the start coming out of T2. Back to pit road. Once again they held us there. This time with no intention of us going back to the garages. Once again Gino gets me on the warmers on pit road. Most people did not have warmers on so Gino and I strategized about the start. I ended up getting a great start again and slotted into 6th! Carried that for the rest of the race and gapped out 7th! Ended up throwing down some 17's! THANK you to Gino for all the help. Could have never done it without you man! Thanks also to the rest of the team. You guys are a huge asset! Thanks to all my sponsors and friends who came up to support us and have a good time!
And thanks Arcy for the great pics
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Originally Posted by tsorfas
