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So Round 7 was the end of my season. Not going to be racing in October due to $$$ reasons. Here's how it went for me....
Practices: Morning practice, track seemed to be a little damp still. I started out slow and started working into it. I only got 4 laps in with the last one being a 1:25.6. Not bad but my rear started feeling a little "twitchy" in some corners. Pulled into the pits after practice and Kurlon noticed a slow drip. Header had touched a radiator hose and had started melting through it. I scrambled and got it repaired in time for next practice.
Second practice was better. Got three laps into it, dropped a 1:23.9 and then got red flagged in. This time out, I was losing drive out of T2, T6, and t12 because the rear just felt greasy. I had checked and rechecked my pressures and everything seemed fine. The tire looked like it had plenty of life left in it, even though I had done 7 races, with most morning practices and the penguin school on my set of Dragon SC pros.
Race 8: Grid up for NV ULSB, lots of new people this weekend. Flag goes and I get an OK start. Lori was on my right and she got the holeshot so to speak, but I came around her in 1, and was in front by 1A and 2. Led the first lap and then caught up to slower traffic from the first wave. In the middle of this, I got passed by Petr on his Husky (same guy that hung with me in round 6). We kept dancing back and fourth the entire race, dodging traffic and using it to block eachother. It was an awesome race. I had motor on him, but my drive was crappy because of my rear tire. We finally had some clear track coming up on the last lap, and I was right on his rear tire when out came the red flag. I had a plan in my head to set up for the pull on the front straight where I knew I had the motor to pass him, but it got cut short. Missed my PB by .4 and ran a 23.9 with both of us bouncing between 24's and 25's passing traffic.
Immediately after the race, I run off to the MTAG garage and talk with tony about my rear. He asked me how long I've had it and you should've seen the look on his face when I told him that I had a season on the set. He told me the tire was on its way out, and to be easy on the throttle and I may get through another race.
I head back to the T1A area, and started talking with Doc and Gino after they finished their races. Swapped the rim twice but ended up with my original tire. Consensus on my problem is that my rear shock spring was too soft (1200#) and i need a 1400# to keep from bottoming out and putting too much pressure on my tire. We tried to add a little compression to slow it down and I head out for Race 12.
Race 12, LWGP: Fun race, only 4 of is gridded up though behind the novie heavyweight guys. Me, Rolker, a TZ250 and tony on his SV. I got an OK start again, nothing great. Go into turn 1 behind the TZ, which surprised me how quick he was. As we went into 3, tony came up the inside both of us and took the lead. I followed for the first 2 laps and was able to get by the TZ on the third lap. By this time, tony was half the straight or better on me. We started going through slow traffic from the heavyweights and it slowed me down a lot. I had a hard time getting around some of them, but thankfully he did too. Lap times were in the 25's and 26's mostly. By the 6th lap, I had open track and made up some huge time on Tony. He was still about half the straight ahead of me when we started the 6th, but i was able to suck him up by the time we were heading into 11. I tip it into 11A, a short ways away from him and flip over for 12. As soon as I made the transition, I knew I had been way to aggressive and too much throttle and I ended up losing the rear. Spun out up the banking, lowsiding. Swearing out loud in my helmet the entire way. I was so mad at myself for pushing too hard for the 1st place, when if I had just held back a little more I would have been fine. Sliders did their job and ended up with some rash on the tail and a broken clutch lever. It fired back up and I rode her back into the pits after. Leathers did their job, my shoulder is a little sore today as to be expected and a few scuffs on my brand new chrome helmet. Learned my lesson though....
Season Recap:
Wow, what an experience this season has been.I feel like i've made a lot of progress and I have much more confidence in my riding ability now. I started out, first weekend, with a PB of 1:36:6. I had a realistic goal of breaking 1:30 by the end of the season because I'd had limited track time with my hawk. I shattered my goal in round 2 with a PB of 1:26.6. I've spent the rest of the season working on my consistency, and also lowering my PB to a 1:23.5. In total, I've run 9 races, 2 of which were DNF's. One because my rear set broke away from the frame in T6, and this last race where I crashed in 12. I've taken a single 1st place finish, four 2'nds, one 3rd, and one 5th.
Overall, I've met a lot of great people and had some of the most fun I've had in my life. Nothing I have found yet, will even come close to the feeling that racing motorcycles gives me, even if it's on a 22 year old, 50hp hawk, it's still awesome. It's not just the racing either, its the atmosphere in the pits also. 99% of the people I have met have all been great, helpful, and fun to be around.
I've received a lot of help from people over the course of the season and I thank you all. Doc, Gino, Bill, and John have been the mainstays with bits and pieces here and there, as well as the knowledge.
I will definitely be racing again next year, come hell or high water. I'm going to the the suspension further sorted on the hawk, freshen up the engine and re-work a few things. I'm also going to try my hand in someof the Middleweight classes with the 03 600rr I just picked up.
What a great summer its been.
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Originally Posted by jcbell1007
