2
Cliffs at the bottom, if you don't want to read my novel . . .
I skipped round 1, because I was tired of racing in the cold. I'm glad I did, since it was a miserable weekend. So, I'd be starting all of my races in round 2 from the middle to back of the field. I also decided to drop the GTL race from my program and picked up Thunderbike as a brand new race to me. So I knew I'd be starting this race from the back of the grid. I had a chance to shake down my "new" RSV at the previous Monday's Tony's Track Days event and decided that I wasn't yet ready to race this bike, so I didn't bring it.
I did decide to run Friday practice, since I hadn't run the SV since last October. I didn't want to run in the rain, so I got 3 good practice sessions in on Friday before the rain wet the track down. The SV felt so nimble, after lugging the Ape around the track. I managed to get down to 1:20.4 on my best lap, which was a second slower than round 7's best lap time. Last season was up and down in times. I got into the 19s in round 1, achieved my only lap to date in the 17's in round 2, then got progressively slower in rounds 3, 4, and 6. It was round 7 that I once again saw teens, so I was glad that I was only a second off in Friday practice.
Saturday, 5/17
We had torrential downpours in the early hours of Saturday morning, which left the track wet for practice, so I decided to abstain from running. I had mounted my new DOTs on the bike and didn't feel like changing them out. I was in race 9, and the rain was over by 7am. I also finally found a good pressure setting on the Pirelli V2 DOTs, which I struggled with in rounds 6 and 7 last season, which made a HUGE difference.
Race 9, LWGP
I had good points from the previous season, so I got a decent grid position, 2D behind the riders that ran last round. I got a crappy start and ended up 14th into T1 behind both Bill Coolahan (47) and Keith Draghi (76). I managed to get by Keith on the outside of T11 and Bill on the brakes on the outside of T1, but a red flag on lap 2 brought the race to a halt. Turns out it was Brian Kelly (90) that lost the front in T8 and sent him and his bike for a wild ride (an understatement). We re-gridded for the restart and another full 8 laps. I got a better start on the restart and ended up 10th into T1. I ran steady low 21's and got quicker with each lap. I picked off 4 riders and ended up behind Jessie Sandos (18), thinking it was Keith Draghi. I showed him a wheel from time to time, but couldn't seem to get around him. On the 7th lap, Chris Reynolds passed me on the front straight, but I got him back on the brakes on the inside in T3. He managed to get me back on the power out of T10 on the last lap. I ended up finishing 7th of 20 starters with a best lap time of 1:20.047.
Sunday, 5/18
As usual, I skipped first practice and had a nice comfortable second practice. I did a couple of practice starts, since mine really suck.
Race 5, Thunderbike
Since this is a new race to me, I didn't know what to expect. It was a smaller grid than the lightweight races I usually run. Round 1 saw 10 bikes. This round, there were 8 entries. Only 7 bikes gridded. I got a decent start and went into T1 in 4th, behind David Dayon (22). I've had some decent battles with David over the past couple of seasons, but he got really fast at the end of last season. Unfortunately, he was running on his supersport bike, since he had transmission issues with his superbike. I managed to get by him on lap 1 on the brakes into T6 and that's where I stayed for the rest of the race. Of note is that I was gaining on Seth Hahn (91) with every lap I ran, something I never thought I'd do, and kept one of the resident fast guys, Scott Mullin (24) in sight the entire race. I finished 3rd of 7 riders for my first ever expert podium with a best lap time of 1:19.503.
Race 10, LWSB
I had high hopes for this race, since I had done so well in Thunderbike. I gridded 4C in this race. My hopes were short-lived though, when the flag dropped and the SV bogged down (not sure why). It didn't stall and caught, brining the front end up. I ended up going into T1 dead last and 30 feet behind the next to last rider. But it wasn't over for me. I was the man on the move. Over the course of the race, I took 3 riders at once on the inside going into T3, including teammate Steve Heider (49) and Bill Coolahan (47) and a pass on 2 riders on the brakes into T1, including David Dayon (22) and Sam Witham (215). In the end, I managed to pick off 10 riders to finish 7th of 17 starters with a best lap time of 1:18.739, only .8 slower than my personal best.
All in all a great comeback weekend for me. I held my ground against riders that were walking away from me at the end of last season. I have high hopes this year. I just need to get my sh*t together with starts. If I could start at the front of the pack, I might be able to give the front-runners a good contest.
As always, thanks to Annalisa for supporting me. She's the best! Thanks to my ECK teammates, (especially Pete for giving me a different idea for a line from T11-T12) and and all my friends for support and tips on riding. You are my family! Thanks to all of my sponsors: ECK Racing | Tony's Track Days | OnTrack Media | Pine Motor Parts | Woodcraft Technologies | All Balls Racing | Motul USA | Spiegler Performance Products | Street & Competition | MTAG Pirelli | Shorai LFX | MoM's | GoPro
Cliffs:
Sat 5/17
Race 9, LWGP: 9th of 20, best lap of 1:20.047
Sun 5/18
Race 5, Thunderbike: 3rd of 7, best lap of 1:19.503
Race 10, LWSB: 7th of 17, best lap of 1:18.739
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