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Round two in the books!
Great weekend overall. Showed up on Friday evening, unpacked and hung around telling lies and drinking cerveza before hitting the hey. I was really pumped to work on some things I'd figured out during the time off.
Saturday Practice 1: I went out in this session to work on corner speed, to do so I was braking very early and softly, and wasn't concerning myself with exit drive. Considering that, I was shocked to come in to find I beat my Round 1 best and hit a 25.
Saturday Practice 2: I ended up getting out a bit later than I would have liked to and as a result was behind everyone starting the session. I weaved through people for the first two laps and was able to lay down a hot lap. Shockingly, I laid down a PB 123.7. Buuuuuut, the next lap I made some mistakes coming into and out of the bowl. I took an odd line, going too fast, was apparently a bit tight on the bars, and data shows a bit greedy on the throttle. Fall down go boom. I was a bit frustrated that I wasted 10 minutes of practice, but had bigger problems. The fairing stay broke in two places, my radiator was smacked up, and almost every part of my rearset was bent. HUGE thanks to everyone who came to help especially Christian (Smutty) and Kevin (Outlaw) for their ingenious repair to my stay, which involved JB weld, hose clamps, and a pepsi can. Strong like bull! Also shout out to Peter Kates for helping me straighten my rearsets. Saved me a ton of cash and time! Another big thanks to Wendy (Adam's [Rada] wife) for sewing up my leathers nearly good as new!
Alright, moving on...time to race. The bike was relatively good to go.
Race 1 (Saturday): Honestly, I don't remember much of this race. I have to start writing my report as the weekend progresses. But, I came in first and pulled a 124.735. I was really happy with that considering I crashed on the last lap I rode before starting the race.
Race 2 (Sunday): In the Sunday practice I was running with Jay (JettaJay...our new garage mate), and realized quickly I was going to have some serious competition in the upcoming races. He made a gearing change to his little beast and it was clearly a game changer for him. He was cooking. I had pole position and wanted to make use of it to try to get away from Jay...I had a great start and held it as long as I could into T1 and managed to stay in first. A waving yellow flag came out after the first couple laps for a T6 crash and I kept running into lappers there (that I couldn't pass), so I continually lost time in that section of the track and knew Jay would be motoring my way...which put the pressure on everywhere else. One dude even put his hand up and stopped racing at the yellow flag...that REALLY got my goose. I can't pass him and he's going 30 into the bowl. Dude-a! Anyway, long story short...123.9 and 1st.
Race 3 (Sunday): I got a pretty good start, but wheelied a bit. Jay took me into T1 as did 744 (Michael Hakey). I knew I could eventually get around Michael, but wasn't sure about Jay. He's got some serious braking skills and was pulling hard in practice. Turns out I have a bit more motor than Jay and was able to use it on the straight on the first lap. I dove as deep as I could into 1 and held the lead for the rest of the race. Jay was keeping the pressure on though. I never really got the lead sign I wanted from my wall mates. He was sticking close. 1st. Race PB of 123.821.
Serious applause if you made it through all that rambling. Big thanks to my sponsors, Woodcraft, Armour Bodies, Dainese and the Mad Monkey of course. Also thanks again for all the help fixing the bike. Keith, I will bring you new JB Weld for round 3! Also thanks to my garage mates for the good times and helping hands throughout the round. Finally, thanks to Boose for the professional pit hands. Great weekend...time to get the bike back to good.
Taking over where Adam left off (this is the pretty side BTW ):