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Race Report - LRRS Expert #434 9/3/11
Pre-Race
It had only been two weeks since the last LRRS round and I was still recovering from my crash three weeks ago. My knee, while feeling better, was still stiff and sore but at least it held my weight and I was hoping it wouldn’t be a factor in my performance this weekend. I got to the track late, set up, and hit the sack.
Saturday AM practices
I wanted to make sure that I got some good practice time in before the races so I decided to run both sessions. This was a calculated risk for me because this was the 3rd weekend running the same set of tires (I normally replace every 2) and I knew traction was going to be a problem. The practices themselves felt ok and I managed to turn 1:19.177 which is great for me although the bulk of my laps were 1:20’s. I was already sliding the rear coming out of 2 and 6 so I ended each session a little early in an attempt to save some rubber.
Lightweight SuperBike
Gridded in 3B (10th) and got a decent start. I ended up on the inside of T1 with #95 Glenn Coolbeth literally laying on my fairings just to the outside of me. Quite an experience! He was quicker to the flop and so ended up in front of me so I settled into 7th place.
The #60 of Bill Tansey shot by me into T3 like I was standing still and pushed me back early into 8th where I would have finished the race if it were not for an unfortunate motor issue of the race leader #6 Rick Doucette which put him out of the race. I coasted across the line on my spent tires without having any real racing to speak of as I ran a lonely 8 laps.
Finish: 7th out of 15
Best Lap: 1:20.009
Lightweight Grand Prix
I was gridded in 4B (14th place) but got an ok start and went into T1 in 7th behind #65 Doug Fogg. I was having issues managing traction with my rear tire as the combination of wear and temperatures made it so that I was spinning up almost every time I got on the gas hard. This took its toll on my confidence and my times showed it.
I sat in 7th for 3 laps until I was passed on the brakes going into T1 by #2 Tim O’Connor and then on the inside of T3 by #95 Glenn Coolbeth. The rest of the race was uneventful as I sat in 9th and didn’t see another expert rider for the duration. I simply was way off my pace and unable to keep up with the riders that I should have been with. Needless to say I am disappointed with myself and my performance for this race.
Finish: 9th place out of 19
Best Lap: 1:20.611
Sunday Practices
I went out despite crappy tires to try to get out of the funk that was holding back my lap times. I tried really hard to convince myself that my tires weren’t sliding all over the place, it was just the carcass flexing on my Pirelli slicks. I managed to turn consistent low 20's which was good enough for me in practice. The day was already heating up something fierce with high humidity so I opted to cut short my one practice session to save myself and what was left of my tires.
GTL
Gridded on the 3rd row, inside (3A, 9th position). It was brutally hot and humid (88 degrees with 85% humidity), utterly miserable conditions for racing.
I got a fantastic start and was 5th into turn one however the race was halted due to a red flag before completing a lap. We went back to hot pit (aptly named today) and then were sent back to our garages to wait out the cleanup. No sooner had I gotten the bike up on stands and the warmers on when they called us back out. Suit up, sweat a lot more, re-grid. Another great start, 5th again into T1…and again the race was red flagged on the first lap. Hot pit, unzip, and they send us back out again.
By now we have been sitting in the sun for about 20 minutes and it was taking its toll on my endurance while the knowledge that the heat I had built up in my shagged tires was rapidly dispersing. Third start I was not so lucky. I had a great drive off the line but two bikes in the 2nd wave came together right in my path causing me to chop the throttle or become a proctologist. Thankfully they were both able to keep their bikes up but I had lost all of my momentum. I was somewhere near the middle of the pack into T1 and spent the next few laps picking off traffic. The excitement of passing some folks ended when I made my way up to a lonely 6th place. By this point the leaders had checked out beyond any hope of me catching them and my teammates were giving me the sign that I had a pretty big lead so I just rode a comfortable pace to finish the race.
Although there wasn’t much happening in the race itself I had some fun trying to keep the bike on-line with the rear spinning up on almost every exit. The race ended when another red flag appeared. I dislike races ending that way however I freely admit that I was glad that the race was over.
Finish: 6th out of 21
Best Lap: 1:19.919
In Closing
I understand that I cannot expect to be turning great times on shot tires however I cannot help but feel disappointed in my mediocre performance. I was off my pace by over a second.
Budget racing is taking its toll on my times and my will to compete; I simply don’t want to get out there unless I have a reasonable chance to succeed. With any luck I will be gainfully employed again soon and be able to race on some fresh rubber. I am trying to focus on the positive in that I was able to get back into the teens and keep the bike upright under less than ideal conditions.
Thanks as always to my friends, teammates, family, and sponsors for making this all come together for me!
Special thanks to the folks that rode up this weekend to watch the festivities, I cannot properly express how much I (and others) appreciate having you there for support.
Thanks to Annalisa for the photo!
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Originally Posted by wheelieman14
