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NV 117 race (etc) report. Sorry for the long one.
Thursday night I rolled up to the track to a very warm welcome from the T1a crew. The LDR guys are a great crew to hang with and I can’t thank them enough for the support and laughter.
Novice Formula 4: My start was much improved after advice from Heath and some practice. Harlan Hildebrand #551 still beat me into turn 1 and we both spent the first couple laps pushing our way through the crowd. He’s much more confident at passing and he walked away from me as we weaved our way forward. I finished in second.
Novice Rookie 4: Ben Travisano #130 walked away from me in the beginning. I managed to hold off Harlan for a few laps and then he passed me. Harlan went down on the last lap so I still managed to hold onto second. During the race I was constantly checking up behind other riders from the earlier waves, unwilling to pass them until the time was right.
Novice Starter 4: OK, game on. This time I’m going to beat Harlan fair and square! My goal is to keep Ben in sight and finish before Harlan. I manage to do both and have a very good race with Harlan. I’m still not confident in my passes but after a lot of back and forth with Harlan he gets hung up behind another rider going into three on the last lap and I stick the pass past the two of them. Another second place finish but I think either Harlan or I could have had a good shot at first if we weren’t duking it out with each other.
In the end I managed to pull times below the cusp to bump to amateur so I’m hoping to be running yellow plates next race.
Monday was a huge breakthrough for me. I did the personal instruction with Tony’s Track Days. Gino and I talked for a bit in the morning about working on a couple of corners that I was vague on and then went out for a session. I started off slow(ish) and worked on a couple corners with Gino talking to me over the headset and sometimes leading me around the track. I pushed myself during the session and came away from it exhausted. My shagged out tires felt like they were slipping in four and while I felt good during the session I talked to Gino about stepping it down a notch for the next session. Later in the day we went out again, the Hawk had a fresh set of tires and I was feeling rejuvenated after a couple of no-pressure practice sessions. Gino had been watching me from the skybox for the Saturday races so he knew my passing needed (a lot of) work. He started by having me pass him in a couple of corners and then he’d read the rider in front of me and push me to pass when he knew I could stick it. Clearly I need to get better about reading other riders. It was crazy fun and I felt quick and confident in myself and my bike. I was much less exhausted after this session and never had a slip or an “oh shit” moment during the entire session. While reviewing the video we timed one of my laps. It was THREE SECONDS faster than my race times. Crazy! Talk about confidence inspiring! A huge thanks to Gino and the entire TTD staff!