3
FRIDAY:
Left work about 90 mins later than planned, but being able to arrive w/a ready-to-ride motorcycle and just enjoy the night was fantastic.
SATURDAY:
Race 2 - I decided to sign up for the GTL, in lieu of LWSB. I seem to get my butt handed to me in LWSB, and I've pretty good cardio stamina and used to enjoy GTLs, so let's see how it goes. I'd done some strategizing in the morning with teammate #29 Michael Weyant based on my new curves from Dyno Solutions, and talked about different launch and shift points. Trying those out in practice helped apparently, as I got a KILLER start from my TERRIBLE grid position of 5B (last row). Went into T1 in 6th or 7th, passed RSP Racing teammate #76 Keith Draghi and/or Souhegan's David Dayon in T1A and T2, and someone else on the brakes entering T3. I'm heading up T4 in...THIRD? What?? I believe I was behind #81 The Oreo and #91 Seth Hahn. I'm seriously in third? Eventually slotted into second (SECOND?! WHAT?!) behind Hahn somewhere...just don't remember when or why. Stalked Seth for a bit, and was pulling on him in places... Then - really? is this happening? - I PASS HAHN around the start/finish about a third of the way through the race. I'M LEADING A FREAKING EXPERT RACE! HOLY CRAP! Before I can even finish celebrating in my helmet, #81 passes both of us on the inside before T1... After that, it was tons of trading places with Pete, #1/#6 Rick Doucette, and #24 Scotty Mullin. How am I playing with the aliens?! I actually passed Ricky?! And several times shut the door on all of them! I'd settled into 4th, with a relatively comfortable lead on Hahn...who apparently was stalking me back. A few false neutrals (which I will be quickly rectifying) allowed him to gain even more ground on me, and he eventually passed me somewhere on the 2nd the second to last lap. I ended up crossing the line a handful of bike lengths behind him. Myself and some others in the race saw a few people in our wave creep the start, but only Pete was dinged after several hours of review; unfortunately for him, with the penalty of three finishing positions. That means: Finished 4th of 19 (NEW PB!!), best lap of 1:18.658 (NEW PB!!), and an outlap of 1:24.071. Hit 19s NINE times, and an almost-identical 1:18.689.
Race 8 LWGP - Gridded in 2D. All I have to do is exactly the same as earlier; no big deal. Welp, of course, I botched the start, and pretty much held 7th through the entire race. Made lots of excellent (IMO) passes on AM traffic throughout the race. #52x Ted Temple finally passed me on the inside entering the bowl on the last lap, and I couldn't get it back from him. Finished 8th of 26, best lap of 1:19.933, and an outlap of 1:23.800. Two laps in the 19s, four in the low 20s.
SUNDAY:
Race 11 LWSS - God, race 11?! Gridded in 1D, woohoo! Row 1 is Ricky Doucette, Oreo, #49 Steve Heider, and myself. OK Bill, just do what you did in the GTL again. Green flag flies, and I actually do get a decent start...Heider botches it...and I shut the front door on freaking Ricky, entering T1 in 2nd behind Pete! Flop for T1A, and the rear end slides out what feels like 4"...ok, that's in my head a little bit, and Ricky takes advantage and rockets under the inside of me exiting T2. I followed him and Pete for about two laps, went a bit too hot and deep into T6 once, and blew T3 just about every time I hit it the entire race. Heider snuck by on my inside at the end of the straight on lap 3 (?)...I *almost* took him back on the brakes, but definitely would have run out of talent so I backed off. Spent the rest of the race chasing him, with no one behind me. Finished 4th of 11 and only about 10 or so bike lengths behind him, best lap of 1:19.768, and an outlap of 1:22.229. Three laps in the 19s.
A huge thank you to my RSP Racing teammates for all of the support and camaraderie, as well as that from their families and our friends...also to our awesome sponsors who help us do these crazy things: Tony's Track Days / MTAG-Pirelli / Woodcraft / Dyno Solutions / Sport Bike Track Gear / Knox / Brunetto T-Shirts / 434 Racer Parts / Mad Monkey Motorsports / GMD CompuTrack...especially MTAG-Pirelli for the awesome tires that, despite being pushed without the proper pressures, still slid predictably and only for a short distance each time this weekend.
Certainly I don't want to lose this momentum, so now I have many introspective nights ahead of me until the Round 3 schedule comes out, to determine how to figure out what part(s) of The Classic, if any, I can attend.
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