3
Cliffs: Awesome weekend. Endurance race is a must do for any racer who is capable. New PB: 23.4 and had a blast battling with friends.
Prior to racing/Thursday: Typical long week of work before getting to the track. I worked 46hrs in a 72hr span. The last 24hrs of that stretch was me working 22 of them. Get home, pack the car, load the trailer, shower, and off to the track at 7PM. Luckily, I have an awesome woman who drove to the track so I could sleep on the car ride to Loudon. Arrive around 10PM, unload everything. Hung around for a little bit, I knew I had to swap rotors but decided against wrenching on the bike in favor of sleep. I kept having to wake up in the middle of the night to turn on the air mattress pump. It kept deflating, which has never happened before. Around 3AM I woke up to some furious rain on my tent. Crap. I hope it stops before practice. Go back to bed.
Friday:
Woke up Friday morning early to work on the bike so I could test out the freshly blasted rotors (Thanks Mr. Weyant) in practice. Rotors swapped, I was ready for the only practice session of the day. First couple of laps, I took it easy. I wanted to bed the pads in properly. Around the third lap, holy crap the pulsation is gone. I no longer have to worry about brakes. Then JC came out of nowhere and passed me T1. I hung on to him and followed him for the remainder of the session. Felt awesome and definitely ready for some racing.
GTL:
My nemesis. As always my goal is simple, just finish. Gridded somewhere mid-pack. I had a decent start when into T1 right behind the lead pack in 6th. Picked off a couple riders in the next lap. On lap three I think Kyle gets by me. I try to stick with him but he starts to slowly pull away. On lap 6, I hit a wall. Legs are starting to feel like anchors and I get stiff on the bike. I slow my pace way down. People start passing me as I’m just in conservation mode. I can’t get over the wall. I was really disappointed in myself. Especially after riding the pedal bike or running at least twice a week to work on my stamina. I never got a second wind in the race and my pace certainly showed it.
Outlap: 1:28.3
Best Lap: 1:24.1
Finished: 12th out of 21
Endurance race:
Before the race weekend, this is the one race I was looking forward to and it was the motivation behind me exercising several times a week. For a few weeks, I couldn’t find a team to join, then I tried to form my own team, then got offered to ride a MW, then bills came up so I had pretty much given up due to all the failure. The week of the race weekend, I got an offer from Doug (Carsick/#613) to ride his back up SV. I was excited and nervous but I signed on.
After GTL I considered dropping out as my performance was absolutely terrible. I didn’t want to hold the team back with my slow laps or crash the bike trying to push on an unfamiliar bike. Doug assured me I would be fine. After lunch, Brady and I tried the bike out in the pits. For me it was mostly to get used to riding GP Shift. Seemed pretty straight forward, until I tried to come to a stop. Uhh Crap, it’s backwards.
Fast forward to the actual race. We had Josh (Kurlon/771) do the first stint, then Brady (BlackSV/122), myself and Doug going last. The race was shortened by 15 minutes from the original 3hrs. On the first leg, Josh kicked some serious ass. He put in almost 40 minutes of consistent laps in the 23’s with a few 22’s sprinkled in. I was impressed since he did it without any prior racing this year, on a new to him bike, and it was his first time riding GP shift. Josh pits it, we refuel, swap transponders, then it was Brady’s turn. He rode for his portion of 30-35 minutes. Solid laps in the 22’s for his entire portion, he pits in, we refuel, and I get on the bike.
Pit out and I tell myself just take it easy for a couple of laps. Learn the bike. Go into T3 for the first time, squeeze the brake lever, it feels spongy and almost goes to the bar. OMG AM I GOING TO STOP!?!?!... I let go of the lever a little early and try to crack the throttle open, I proceed to do the herky jerky all the way up the hill. I’m not used to this short throw throttle. Feels like a light switch. After that I just relaxed and tried to be consistent. About ten minutes in, I hit the wall again. Oh no. I can’t do this, dammit. My teammates are counting on me. I try to breathe and just focus on my lines. Only 2-3 laps later I start to regain confidence and start stringing some consistent laps. The rest of the session was amazing. It was seriously one of the best things I’ve ever done on two wheels. Almost like euphoria, it was like I zoned out and worried about nothing but hitting my markers, getting on the brakes/throttle in the same spot, moving my eyes from one point to the next. No worries about the bike, no worries about the position I was in, no worries about the weather, nothing. Just a peaceful exhaust note resonating along with my breathing in my helmet. I felt calm, loose, fluid and at peace with everything around me. I’ve never felt like that while in a race environment. (That feeling is something that I am going to try and replicate during the next GTL.) Eventually, it was short lived as I was told to pit in by Colin (nhbubba/782). I seriously didn’t want to, I wanted to keep going but I knew Doug still had to do his bid on the bike. I pit in, swap with Doug, the team refuels and he’s off.
For those of you guys that don’t know, Doug is my hero. He broke his collarbone the weekend prior to racing. He had surgery holding everything together on Wednesday (two days before the classic weekend). He raced all weekend. GTL and Endurance on Friday. Saturday I think he did 3 including the AM classic on a LW versus the field of MW’s. Sunday he had something crazy like 5 or 6 races. I have no idea he was able to pull all of this off with being in so much pain. You sir, earned your own paragraph. After seeing you do this, any excuse I had was not valid. Thanks again for being an awesome pit mate and letting me ride your bike.
Laptimes: I’m not sure what they were but they probably weren’t anything to brag about.
Finished: 3rd in our class and 7th overall.
After the endurance race we went up to the dark side of the moon aka the always hungry T9 rock pit to watch the AMA supermoto guys. It was awesome to see some of the local LRRS racers trying their hand a pretty difficult layout. Friday after racing, Virginia and I had dinner with Isaac(871) at Brookside. Thanks again for dinner. We hung out with a few people near Kyle(609), Brendan (606) and Isaac’s pit area then the Low Down bon fire for a little while. Went to bed around 10 or 11.
Saturday:
My brother and best friend Adam came up to the track to show some support. It was awesome to have them there. Especially Adam as it was his first time ever being at the track. I went out for practice, felt good. Still a little sore but overall good and ready for my only race of the day.
AM Thunderbike:
My favorite race every weekend. Gridded in the second row. I get a decent start go into T1 about 3rd or 4th. Awesome, I see the lead pack. I’m ready to play. Get passed by Kris (489) over the hill and I stick with him. On the second lap, we get a red flag. Crap. On the restart, I see all the lights solid… feel the bike creep, hit the brakes and everyone takes off. DAMMIT! I take off and ready to shift into second, hit neutral. More bikes go by, AHHHHH! Slam it into second and decide to pass people into 1, turns out there are 6-7 bikes wide going into 1, nope. Get by one person in T1a, then another in T2 and then 3 bikes into T3. I’m right behind Noel going into 6. I think I get by him in 12. I go into T1, get on the brakes, bike is still lurching forward as if I never rolled off the throttle, dafuq?! I proceed to have a nice little tank slapper which made up my mind and I went into the Nascar oval. I see Noel and another bike go by I get back on track and chase them down again. I ended up passing them both. Then I had a fun little back and forth battle with JC for two laps which lead me up to Matt Blake (414) I was right behind him as he made his way around 784. On the last lap, I tried to go a little faster through 9 and got a little too throttle happy, had a nice little slide from the rear tire. By the time I recovered I was way too wide into 10 and lost all the ground I had made up.
Outlap: 1:29.3
Best Lap: 1:23.4 (New PB for 650R)
Finished: 7th out of 20
Saturday it was fun hanging out at the BBQ. Good food, good raffle, and even better people. This is by far the best part of the race weekend. Thanks to Mike(Tokyo Drift) and Jess for riding up to support us, means a lot to many of us.
Sunday:
Woke up to rain. Decided I wanted to put on the rain tires before the tire mounting rush. Especially since I do not have spare wheels, only tires at the moment. Put the tires on, safety wire everything, gear up and ready for practice. Go out in the rain for the second time ever on rain tires, first was the rookie race on the Hawk. Felt like molasses but I stuck with it for the whole practice to get used to the rains.
As the legend cars are racing, one of them spills oil all over the track. Another surprise there…. Not. The track officials took quite a bit of time to clean up. They decided to jet dry the track as the rain was mostly gone. That made my decision to stick with rains utterly useless. With a few words of encouragement from Virginia and a crap load of helpers we got the tires swapped back over to the DOT’s. I was able to get just 15-20 minutes on the warmers but that was better than cold tires.
LWSB:
During the sighting lap, I noticed there were still some damp spots in certain areas but 90% of the line was dry. I grid up in 2A and focus on making sure I have a decent start. Lights start to go on one by one, all solid, then out. I ended up going into T1 about 5 or 6th. I made up a position or two. I settled in right behind the lead pack of Kyle, Matt and Brian(345). Coming out of T10 we see a bike down in T11 and all of us decided to slow it down a notch through there. On the next lap, we see another bike in the air fence on the exit to the straight. Another bike and rider down in T1, standing up with the marshalls nearby. So I pretty much stayed with them for about two or three laps as everyone was taking it super easy. I was coming out of T2 went a little wide and hit a damp section of the track while on the throttle. I almost got bucked off the bike. I lost the lead pack shortly after so I dialed it back and finished the race.
Outlap: 1:37.8
Best Lap: 1:31.5
Finished: 4th out of 18th
LWGP:
I was gridded in 1D, awesome! I was determined to get a good start and fight for the podium. One by one the lights start to light up, then they go solid. They go out, I stay steady on the throttle, ease out the clutch and grab my upshift perfectly in the powerband, BAM I was first going into T1 but got passed on the outside by #150 right before the apex. I try to stay with him, Kris comes by out of 2 and then Matt up four. Dammit! I keep my head down and focus on staying with them. I get passed by Kyle and CEO (103) somewhere along the way. We start going through the track in almost a single file, with CEO leading. On lap three I noticed both of them have gotten on the brakes earlier than I expected into 3, I take the opportunity and try to just pass Kyle but end up getting both of them which was a complete surprise to me. At the crest of the hill I get passed by Rick Kaeser. I figured he would walk away from me since he has a much bigger HP bike. To my surprise I closed the gap to only a couple feet on the brakes into 6 and I was right behind on the exit. I stuck with him and decided I’d get him in 12 just like I have passed a ton of people before. Sure enough coming out of 11 I saw a gap, I pounced on it, he started closing the door fast, I hit the inside curb in 12, bike was completely unsettled and I end up taking the grass but make it out okay on the front straight. I see CEO and Kyle continue on to the straight. Now I’m thinking where is Rick? Is he okay? I lost all focus and can’t believe my boneheaded mistake may have hurt another rider. I come around on the next lap and see the corner workers helping Rick and his bike. My mind went into a 1000 different directions. I couldn’t focus on what I was doing. I lost a bunch of spots in the next few laps. On the last lap, I blew turn 12 again and took the grass but I was able to finish. Immediately after pulling into the garage, I went over to Rick to check on him and apologize. He was visibly upset but I think he understood it was a racing incident. Still I felt horrible, I’ve never put another rider in any sort of danger before with any of my passes. This was not how I wanted to end an otherwise, amazing race weekend but there was nothing I could do to change the outcome. I know I’ve learned a few valuable lesions with this incident. I know next time I may be a little more timid committing to the pass but I’ll know that I’m giving the other person enough room for error.
Overall, I had an outstanding weekend at the 92nd annual Loudon Classic. The endurance race was beyond compare to anything I’ve done so far on two wheels on the track. It was awesome to see so many people coming out to cheer us on through the pits and the stands, especially my brother and Adam. The BBQ and raffle were great as always. Lots of close racing with a many of my friends. I got to help some new rookies out to repay some of the karmic debt that has been bestowed upon me by so many other LRRS racers. Center garage 15 is a blast and great place to be every round. I’m looking forward to July and hoping to continue dropping some time but the overall goal is still the same: have fun and pass bitches.
Many thanks to the following: Josh, Doug, Gary, Kyle, Colin, RSP, MTag, BT1R, Isaac, Brendan, Mike Weyant, Erin Snow, Adam, Faizal and of course my Fiancé Virginia.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by makct04
Thanks for being there this incredible weekend!
99 + 02 SV650 ex-race - 91 FJ1200 street - 03 KDX220R woods - 12 WR450F motard/ice
