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Friday Night: So after getting through the horrible traffic on 495 and 290 I finally got to the track. Upon arrival I realize that I had forgotten my straight forks, which I was going to put on for this race weekend. So I accepted the fact that I was going to race on bent forks again.
Saturday: Practices went good and towards the end of the 2nd practice I was pulling consistent high 1:28's.
P-Twins: I had the inside grid for this race and started next to Dan Kapnis. I got a good start, but Dan beat me into turn 1. In the next lap I found out that Dan pulled on me out of 2, 6, and 12, and I pulled on him braking into 1, 3, and caught him in 9. I never really got close enough to make a move on him, but yet again, I caught a break in turn 3 from Dan. His new (Bridgestone) front slid out on him in turn 3 and then he preceded to lock the rear. His rear slid back a forth a few times, and then he had a mini-highside, but was ok. He didn't come back because of a broken brake lever, and I never saw anyone else for the rest of the race. Another first in P-twins.
Sunday: Practice 1 was less than ideal, and I really never got up to pace time wise. Between practices, Gino informed me as to how to improve my body position, which was really lacking. When cornering I was sliding my butt too far out which was pulling the opposite foot off of the peg, leaving it free trying to grab onto something. He told me to not slide it out as far, and to rest the opposite knee on the tank while weighting the outside peg. This should keep my hands light on the bars which will eliminate wrist fatigue. I tried it in practice 2 and tried to adjust to it, but it was something that will take some time to adjust to. I scraped pegs, which was something that I had never done before, and it was a little unnerving. Towards the end of the 2nd practice I did however manage to get into the high 29's.
GTL: There was a huge grid for Novice GTL, which is awesome! There were 12 riders who started the race! I got a good grid position and started in 4C. I got a decent start and had 3rd going into the first corner. Scott Magnusun passed me sometime during the second lap, I don't recall exactly where. I kept that until corner 12 on the next lap, when Pang passed me going onto the front straight.I ended up keeping 5th place for the rest of the race, which left me pretty satisfied, although I wanted to beat Pang in the worst way
LWSM: In this race we were gridded in back of LWSS. I had grid position 4B this time, and Dan had position 4A. At the end of the GTL race, I had been informed by a fellow EX racer that my front brake pads had worn unevenly, and that metal from the brake pad was hitting the metal rotor. I headed over to Street and Comp and grabbed a new set of brakes and Dan helped me put them on. All I have to say is now I know why EX500's are known to spit out brake pads. The inside pad is only held in by the rotor, which is sketchy at best. I scrubbed them in going back and forth in the pits as best as I could, but I wouldn't know how they would really work until the race. I got a good start and was right behind Kurtz into T1. He towed me around for about a lap if I am correct, until we got our first red flag. We sat in pre-grid for about 15 mins or so and then went out again. Kurtz started to pull away a little bit in the back straight, going into T3. Almost at my braking marker (hah...braking marker...that's funny), in front of Kurtz, a yellow (SV?) lowsided. I was to the right of him, so I took the tighter line and out braked him going into T3. We were again red flagged at the end of this lap and were gridded to start again. 3rd time is the charm, and this time I got an even better start and IIRC I passed Kurtz out of turn 2. I had hoped that if I put someone between me and Dan, that Dan would get stuck behind them and I wouldn't have to deal with him (cause he's faster lol). It worked until lap 6, when Dan passed me on the front straight. We had an awesome battle as I passed him back in turn 3, and he passed me into turn 6. I had a drive on him into turn 6 on the final lap, and thought that this was the only place to pass him, as T6 is very hard to block in. I downshifted and got into the corner, and when I went to roll on the throttle I realized that I was a gear too high. He started to inch away and I jammed a downshift in T7. I caught him again in T9 and was on him in T10. Unfortunately there was no way I could pass in 11 and he got a better drive out of 12 than me, clinching the win. It was a victory in it's own way for me though, as even with the missed upshift I managed to get a new PB of 01:27.513, beating my old PB from last weekend by .9 seconds. Thanks everyone for a great weekend, and thank you especially to everyone who helped cut the patches off of my leathers. It really helped me shave that time off.
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Originally Posted by senecak19
Every man dies. Not every man really lives. 
