7
Oh man! What a crazy, exciting, insane weekend that was. This might be the first weekend for me that I can safely say I am happy with myself.
so i arrive at the track friday afternoon. nothing crazy in mind but i still had some work to do. I had to put together Tori's bike and replace the footpeg on it. I also had to change my tires and brakes on the SV. for most of you those two sound super simple but it wasnt going to be for me.
I took the tires of the SV and tony showed me how to change my own tires. Tony is always a good time and learning a new skill certainly doesnt hurt. I put on my new Supercorsas V2s, undoubtfully the BEST tire in Loudon right now! Mike Kurtz once again helped me put the tires back on since my rear is such a pain to get the spacer lined up correctly.
Now I had to change the brakes. Mike showed me step by step what to do and I put on my new Veshras. I kept the same brake fluid but I think I will be replacing that before next weekend. So my bike was done and it was already 1130pm.
Headed over to smutty and asked him to come help me with the ninja since I was already exhausted. He had to help Dove finish up his bike so we didnt get to the ninja until 1am. The footpeg had bend in a very weird way so the new footpeg was not sitting right. after a lot of drilling and hitting things the footpeg finally went on, BUT now the damn bike would not shift. Fucking A. tried a few different things and just gave up at 4am. went to bed.
Saturday and i was up at 6am to fix the 250 since Tori was up there to race.
I wont get into details but I want to say that I know how to work a ninja 250 better than any other bike lol. Took the right side of the motor apart and back together like 5 times. finally fixed it and was good to go. Tori rode the bike for practice and a race and it ran 100% great.
Huge thank you again to Mike W and Tony for legit supporting and helping with all the problems I caused. At this point I am exhausted and pissed off. I notice I have blood marks on my fingers from rushing to put the bolts back on the bike quick. whatever i dont even wanna ride now.
but I have to take my bike out to at least make sure it rides good with the new brakes and tires. after all i did all the work and most of you know i am not the greatest mechanic out there.
so I go and complete 4 laps just testing the brakes and making sure that the wheels are staying on the bike. I felt like I was being traffic for people so i decide to pull in early. right at the garage door Bill C is all smiling and point at the board for me. I did a 1:20.7 in practice! that is a new PB by almost half a second. WTF happened? I couldnt believe it, i thought it was an error. Anyways now I am actually excited to race and see what I am capable of!
only one race for Saturday since I decide to not ride the 250 just to be safe since tori had races.
LWGP: 14 bikes registered for this race. I was very excited and i also felt very relaxed in this.
I was gridded 2B for this race and a very good line up was in the first row! I got a killer start (wait to hear about this) and I went right between Josh Kurlon 771 and Mark Fox 413 who apparently was trying to stunt instead of race that day, by bringing his bike 12 o clock up! went into T1 first and just put my head down and rode as relaxed as I could. By lap two Tony said when i was going in 5 the second guy was going into T3. I had no one on the front straight to signal me so I kept looking back to see where the 2nd person is and never saw anyone. I kept my pace until lap 4 or 5 and I even passed 5-6 experts from the wave ahead of me.
Coming back in the pits, i see 4 laps in the 1:20s with the a NEW Personal Best of 1:20.004 so freaking close to the teens but it didnt happen. Heith informs me that its been reported I jumped the start. Mike W tells me I only have 30 mins to protest any results so I immediately head the medie center and do that. They tell me they will review it and will let me know. During the awards I find out that the result is JUMP and I have been penaltized a lap which drops me 6th in the race. I go to the officials and request to see the video from the start. They tell me that it cannot happen until the next morning.
I go there the next morning and we review the video. There is definetly movement of me before the flag. I couldnt believe it but the rules are very clear about this. I agree with the end result and I want to say a huge thank you to all the official involved for 1) doing an amazing job 2) being so patient with me. I had no attitude and I was very polite with all my requests but i definitely pushed as much as I could because I needed the points. Once I saw the video though I have nothing bad good words for all the officials. It really sucks because I originally won the race by 44 seconds, so I could have started from the pregrid and it wouldnt make a difference. Regardless thats racing and I learned from everything that happened. Josh is leading that class and i hope he wins the championship (unless he bumps)
Outlap: 1:23.7
Best lap: 1:20.004 (new PB)
6th Place
Sunday:
This is usually my best day of racing. Rain started early and it was heavy. everyone was throwing on rain tires but Kurtz was preaching to wait until last minute since the rains dont need warmers and what not. I listened and then the officials made the announcement that they pushing the races 1 hour because the rain is expected to stop. The rain did stop at 1pm right when my family and really good friends showed up. I was so happy to have them there once again. I usually win every race my mom spectates so I was ready to.
The legends went out and did their thing about oiling the track. I think race 1 happened around 230? But I could be wrong about that. At this point I wanted to help my garagemates change tires and settle in mentally for racing.
Race 4 - LWSB
Gridded in 1A right next to a guy who has been giving me hell all year so far Rick Kaeser 444 (freaking ducatis). I had the best start i ever had in LRRS and went into T1 first by a HUGE gap! Kept my head down for the first few laps and around lap 3 coming out of T6 I notcied the 2nd place ride Sam Greenwood barely making it over the hill in T5. as the race kept going I put some riders in between us and increased the gap.
Took the checkered in the 6 shorten laps for first place.
Outlap: 1:25.4
Best Lap: 1:20.7
1st Place
Race 7 - SuperTwins
This was the race I wanted to see teens. I am not actively chasing the championship in this class, i just like racing against faster bike in order to push myself. I was gridded 1D and I wheelied the start and went into T1 3rd. I passed someone in T1A (i dont even know how I did that) and I passed the leader on the brakes in T3. 325 Bouchard Christopher Kept passing me on the straight and I was passing him right back into T1 for the next few laps. I kept the lead until lap 4 but then some sprinkles showed up on my visor. I started thinking that I dont care about that class and I have two races that I need to complete in the rest of the day. I immediately dropped my pace allowing 325 to pass me on the straight and not push T1. I was ready to settle for 2nd but a mistake in the bowl (wayyyy too much braking) allowed Spencer Gerry 120 to pass me. I was not willing to push and risk the crash so I comfortably took my 3rd place and saved energy for the rest of my races.
Outlap: 1:24.1
Best Lap: 1:20.139
3rd Place
Race 10 -LWSS
Gridded 1A. Another killer start and going into T1 first with Mark Fox right behind. I can hear Mark being very close to me and I assume he tried an outside pass in T6 but it just didnt happen. I am becoming very fast in T9 and as I am in the apex I hear the sound of scrapping plastics behind me. FUck I hate when people crash. I see no flag as I go into T11 and I keep going. Coming around 9 for the second time I see Marks bike but I dont see him anywhere. Fuck I hope he is ok. Sam Greenwood was behind us but way too far from me. I relax a bit and comfortably take the win and my 36 points. Rushing back to the pits to check on mark. Bike is looking ugly and he is hurting but he still is positive and cheers me up a bit. He will disclose more details about how he is and what his plans are if he wants to. I gas up and wait for my final race of the day...
Outlap:1:23.343
Best Lap: 1:20.3xx
1st Place
Race 12 - Thunderbike
Gridded in 1A I had a very bad start, almost stalled the bike and allowed 444 Rick Kaeser start in the lead. He took a very weird line in T1 one though which allowed me to not brake at all and easily go around him. I stayed on the lead for the entire race never being bothered by anyone. Passed about 8 MW bikes from the wave ahead of me too which is always fun. A very easy win for me.
Outlap: 1:24.3
Best Lap: 1:20.111
1st place
Overall this is the happiest I have been in regards to my performance in racing. Saturday was rough to have a win legit taken away from (only due to my fault) but even worse to see so many red flags and have so many fellow racers end up in the hospital and even season enders for somei hope you all heal up quick an return to the grids ASAP!
Racing is the best thing I have ever done with my life. Nothing has even come closer to making me as happy. My garagemates are family to me. I would like to thank everyone who has done even the tiniest thing to help me achieve what I am doing on the track.
My biggest thank yous go to Mike Kurtz, Mike W and Tony. I would not be racing at all if it wasnt for these guys. They have taken me out situations that would have cost me the season. all my sponsors for having faith and investing in me. They all can be found @ http://www.olympusracing.com/sponsors/ . My friends and family who make it up so often even if it is for a few minutes. I cant believe how many people have come up this year. I think in Race 10 everyone at the Bowl was someone I knew! LOL
All the track staff, officials and corner workers for keeping the series going and all of us safe.
I am by no means a role model but i want to revisit something that I heard a lot over the weekend. Not sure what caused all these crashes, the track felt fine to me, but I heard by a lot of people the possibility of people not hydrating enough. dont forget to drink tons of water guys. It really makes a difference. Not just to you, but you might save someone else too...
Also, I have no kids or pets but i do enjoy the family atmopshere we have at NHMS and I would like to keep this going. I saw a lot of riders moving a lot faster than 15mph around the pits this weekend. Let's all try to avoid that as much as we can. It is dangerous and unnecessary. To the people bringing children and/or pets try to control them as much as possible. lots of kids on bikes, scooter and skateboard while racing is happening is not good for anyone. just my opinion based on the things I heard and saw this weekend.
Stay safe, stay fast and keep it going.
I am excited to see everyone in 3 weeks for Round 5!
Thank you for reading,
Sav
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by tsorfas
