3
After a great LRRS3, where I dropped my PB from 1.37 to a 1.29.6, I was decided to drop another 3, maybe 4 seconds … but both my body and my mind were not ready for getting bumped to the AM class… I did the logistical preparations : bike in good shape + registered for Eric’s Advance class with Penguin on Friday – thinking that this would shave 2-3 secs of my time.
Thursday I had a very busy day at work and got home around 8pm , put the bike on the trailer, packed everything by 11.30. Tried to sleep.. I could not close an eye all night.. Around 4.30 am I decided to “wake up” and drive from Boston to Loudon.. and easy 1h and 20 mins drive.
Got in Loudon a little after 6am, unpack and get ready for the track day .. but I was not feeling well .. Did track walk with Eric and went in the track for 2 rounds and I was sweating , having a horrible headache and decided not to go out again after the 2nd round. Ended up going in my tent and sleeping for an hour or two – started to feel better.
Saturday came, practice time.. I was feeling much better, felt like I was back 95%. Talked to Merik (381) couple of times, we were both in the same races all weekend and I was looking forward for him to give me some great races.
Watched first few races and saw a bunch of ref flags. I kept wondering what was going on, seemed like everyone was off. Met Merik few times and both of us were pumped up and excited about racing together and improving our times.
Race no 7: Got a decent start , Gunner (911) and Merick (381) pass me on the breaks of T1. I started to chase them… but surprise.. As I enter and start turning on T3, a motard almost t-boned me in the turn – had to straighten the bike and go wider to get out of his way... The motard (919) took that turn very recklessly(by cutting the turn and almost T-boning me) and pushing me out of his way… but I guess this is part of racing. Gunner and Merick started to get away from me and it was looking to be a great fight for the 1st place… but the motard(919) was catching up to them. In lap 2 or 3 the #919 gets in between Gunner and Merick, pushing gunner into the grass – looked like it was contact there, but Gunner keeps going and does not want to give in too easy … In Lap 4, as I come out of T2 I saw #919 trying to pass Merick (by pushing him into the tire walls in T3).. just that Merick did not have a chance to get out of his way. He got T-boned by #919 in what looked to me like a one of the nastiest accidents I have seen during one of my races – both Merick and #919 were down; corner workers were running to get the bike/check on the riders, Gunner somehow make thru without crashing. Red flags come up… As I come down on T9-T10 (on the red flag), I see Merick trying to get up, but he was literally on his knees / could not stand up. This got me really upset – this was not racing, #919 was just there to win at no costs, whoever was in his way he would literally push them into walls (as he tried with me and as he did with Merick). Ambulances were sent and we were sent back to the pits due to lack of available ambulances.
At the restart of the race (30 mins later), the accident got to me, I was slow, scared and upset at #919 for his reckless riding style – I barely managed to get a 8th place. We are there on the racetrack to race and have fun, not to kill/hurt each other!!!
Race no 10 – Formula 2: I was still affected by the accident and by the news that Merick (381) might have broken his pelvis; I had a pretty good few laps, passing #796 and #800 gave me a pretty good fight towards the end .. and I managed to get a new PB of 1.29.213 Was the 9th out of 18 bikes .. happy with the performance, but more worried about Merick – and wondering if he will every race again.
Sunday morning I woke up and was in feeling great! I was determined to go out there and give the best of me. Heard news that the docs did not see any fracture on Merick’s pelvis, but bunch of ligaments were torn …
Practices went well, Stephen (#192) and I were chasing each other a lot during practices … and was looking like the races were going to be fun despite the gloomy early afternoon forecast. Around 11.30 rain started and it lasted till about 1ish.. I was trying to decide whether to put rains or DOTs since I was doing the 2nd , 4th and 10th race of the day. My teammate Brian told me few times to wait and not put the rains, but I decided to change the front tire … while changing the rear , saw that Race 1 was postponed for another hour to get a dry track and decided to put the DOTs. Brian, I deff should have listened to you from the beginning.
Race 2 – was racing against the 600s: Did a wheelie start entered T1 prob the 7th or 8th. I started to pass the riders one by one and ended in a more than satisfying 4th place. It was a fun race, managed to put my knee down in T9 for the 1st time and did it for 2-3 laps in a row… felt great. Track was awesome, not slippery at all .. the grip was the best than I had ever felt.
Race 4 – Rookie 3: Had a great start but #192 and #402 pass me on the straight.. managed to get them on the brakes (thanks Brian and Josh for explaining me how to do that)… Led the race, worried that #192 would catch me and pass me… after the checker flag, I noticed that there was a pretty big gap between me and the rest of the pack … Was happy to get a 1st place this weekend …
Race 10 – Starter 3: Only 4 bikes in this race, again similar as in Race 4 .. They merged the Starter 3 and Started 4 in one waive… Got a good start, but I did not manage to pass #192 on the brakes in T1 … I was close to him and committed to pass him .. saw a chance coming out of the bowl took it , but with the corner of my eye I see something yellow on the treehouse flag station ( I think the corner worked was taking out the flag) and then in T9 I see #413 crashed… I was worried I will get a penalty for passing on yellow, so I decided to waive #192 on the straight line and let him pass me/give him back the position .. but by doing that I ended up getting passed by 3 bikes (Gunner, #192 and #402). Started to catch up with them and passing them one by one .. Gunner gave me a pretty good fight for the lead of the group of riders, managed to get him towards the end on the straight line due to my 20-30 extra HP that the SV puts out comparing to the Ninja 300 … Managed to win this race with one with few 1.30s flat laps.
Overall was a weekend that I could not have predicted: Started with me feeling sick on Friday, Saturday Merick’s accident got to me more than it should have had... but I finished the weekend well with 2 clean wins and no accidents.
Many thanks to my teammates: Brian, Mike and Roland and to Josh for having me in the garage and being a great “date” on Friday night …
Hope to see all of you in 3 weeks!
Dan