2
Having made so many changes to the bike in the off-season, I decided to run the Friday practice. I was running 3 seconds off my PB, so I felt ok with how I was riding.
Saturday, 4/27
Race 3, GTL:
With the GT races now running 25 minutes, I'm glad I have been doing a lot of cardio activity in excess of 40 minutes per event. I was not exhausted after the race, but I did wonder when the3 race was going to be over. Man, 25 minutes is a long time to ride hard.
I got a great start and ended up behind Michael Weyant (43) into T1 in 6th place. The bike was having some real issues with sputtering throughout the entire range and I was babying the throttle for the entire race. Jake Vader (201), in his first expert race, got be me early in the race and I used him as my carrot. We were like cat and mouse for almost the rest of race, until Steve Heider (534) got by me. I tried to take the position back in T3 with 3 minutes left, but I ran wide and Steve slipped back up the inside. Unfortunately, Jake has a mechanical and I ended up finishing 8th of 17 starters with a best lap of 1:20.839.
Race 8, LWGP:
With the help of Mark Bolduc, we decided to disconnect the accelerator pumps on the new FCR carbs I had installed, because it was running really rich. I didn't get the same launch that I did in the GTL and found myself in 13th into T1, again behind Michael Weyant. This is pretty much where I stayed for the whole race, until Tim O’Connor passed me with 2 laps to go. The bike was still running poorly at the top end, so again, I had to baby the throttle. I ended up 14th of 21 starters with a best lap of 1:20.820.
Sunday, 4/28
Race 3, LWSB:
With Mark Bolduc's advice, I grabbed some new main jets from Miles at S&C and dropped the mains form 160's to 158's. The bike was running 100% better during practice, so I was feeling really good going into this race. I knew I had to get a good start, so I was a bit hyper about it. Unfortunately, I let the clutch out a little too quickly and the front wheel came up high and then a second time and I found myself going into T1 in 21st (or last) place. I ran probably the hardest I have ever run a race and managed to get by 9 riders during the race to finish 12th of 21 starters with a best lap time of 1:19.720, only .009 off my personal best.
So, a decent weekend with decent results. I've taken up where I left off last season and feel that I'm only going to get faster. All changes I made to the bike in the off-season were positive changes and definitely aided in how I ran. I think we're off to a great start.
As usual, thank you goes to my awesome wife, Annalisa, who's always there for me! Thanks to my ECK teammates and friends from RSP, G2, BoRn, and NESR. Thanks to all the sponsors listed in my signature line below.