RSP Racing EX #86 - Round 2
3
Cliff's Notes: Racing is still awesome, new personal best (1:20.6), bike is strong, I am focused, will be ready to attack Round 3 by June.
This was another long track week; a day trip to NYST to test the new track with the Tony's Track Days staff on Tuesday, followed by a departure for NHMS Thursday afternoon. I arrived at NHMS later than I planned to find that for once I was not the first RSP team member to arrive, both Brian Kelly (90) and Mike Weyant (43) were already in the garage and unloaded. I left my trailer at the track from Round 1, and Tony had moved it over already, so I unloaded, set up, and helped with some mechanical work on a friend's bike, while waiting for Keith Draghi (76) to arrive with my freshly painted bodywork. With that mounted, it was off to bed for me. Friday was a tire slinging day, along with helping all the riders in the garage who were doing practice.
Saturday: Practice was uneventful, I went out to get my mind right and warm up, mostly 24's, with a 22.8 to close the second session.
GTL: I took a chance that the training I've been doing at Crossfit Wallingford would allow me to compete in a 25 minute race this season, and I was very eager to see how my lap times would fair across the span of the race. It was a big grid, I was gridded dead last(never having entered this class), and I got a mediocre start. A 26.9 outlap put me in 11th as we completed the first lap, and I kept a decent pace (21/22) until a red flag halted the race and caused us to regrid. The restart was a bit confused, with some racers taking straight to the grid, and some having pitted in and been lined up on pregrid. They rolled those of us on pregrid back and out T12 to take our grid positions, where the 1 minute board was being displayed. When I got into position, half the grid was locked and loaded, heads down and bikes in gear, and half was still finding their way to their spots. I chose to be ready for the green flag, but what ended up being close to 30 seconds at the engagement point proved too much for my 20K mile stock clutch; it began to slip, causing a terrible launch and a slipping rev to redline when I tried to shift. I signaled, and pulled off to the T1 corner worker station, where Tony and Keith were watching the race from. I was able to get the bike to stall in 1st gear, so I ran halfway down hot pit and tried to rejoin the race, figuring I could still get some good laps in. I actually pitted out just behind the expert pack, so I'd be a lap down but could still do some racing. At WOT down the chute towards T3, the clutch just slipped, so I ran through the 3/10 split and came in. End result, DNF. Being my only race for Sat, I chose to wait until racing was over to work on it, I really wanted to relax and enjoy watching friends race. Huge thanks to Chuck Boucher (39) and Adam Butler (820) for bailing me out with some gently used clutch plates and a gallon of oil to get the SV back and ready to roll, and Tony for helping me with the repair.
Sunday: Once again an uneventful practice, mainly just testing out the replacement clutch and practicing starts with it.
Lightweight Supersport: I was gridded in 2D, a perfect spot up front and on the outside. Again a mediocre start, but with a 24.7 outlap, had me crossing the line after lap one in 7th place. I had was hot on the heels of Eric Johanson (106) for the first two laps, then got around and immediately dropped a second per lap for two laps, then another second per lap as I could see the distance to the next bike, Steven Heider (534), become smaller. Unfortunately, coming exiting T2 on lap 7, the the rear spun, then hooked, then spun again, tossing me to the ground. I hit the ground and rolled a few times, seeing my SV, still on its wheels, heading down track still. After coming to a stop, I made my way to the airfence, crawled behind the last one(yes, once again, I hit the LAST piece of airfence available before a hard barrier) and waited for the wave from the corner workers to make my way to the bike. I wanted to ride it back in, but they had already rolled the crash truck, so we loaded it up and I took the ride of shame back to the garage. Came in to find that the last two laps were a 20.7 and a 20.6, setting a new PB in two consecutive laps for me.
When I got back to the garage, I could barely get my gear off before my teammates and friends started tearing into my bike, identifying the broken parts, and getting it ready for my next race. I really can't thank you guys enough, I literally could not have gotten back out there without you.
Lightweight Superbike: I was gridded back further here, in 4D. A poor start had me back into 17th after the first lap, which I only managed a 27.8. A couple of laps later, teammate Brian Kelly (90) managed to get past me as I was held up behind Eric Johanson again and just couldn't find the speed to get around. This entire race was in the 22's, which was a full second slower than earlier in the day. By a couple laps in, my right hand was a bit sore, and I couldn't quite manage full throttle or maximum braking. All in all, last season I'd have been thrilled with this race, so I'm taking it as a good one.
Overall, I had yet another great race weekend with my teammates, my friends, and my fellow competitors. I've got some work to do to the SV, but nothing major, and it will be ready for Round 3, The Loudon Classic. The worst "damage" is that I lost my Qstarz GPS lap timer in the crash, and I seriously have to credit that as the best mod I've made to this bike. Analyzing the lap data has allowed me to really see what works and what doesn't, and put some solid info behind the laps I've done. I'll most likely be borrowing one from Dave Pang (910) for Round 3, and then replacing mine with a new 10Hz unit from Mad Monkey Speed after that.
Thank you to all my sponsors(listed in my signature) and a huge thanks again to my RSP Racing teammates, my ECK Racing and G2 friends and family, Sav from Olympus Racing, Tony and Graham from MTAG, and all my other friends at the track, for your support, advice and help in all matters, directly and indirectly related to racing. I'm feeling strong and focused(*cough* Keith *cough*), and I intend to maintain and refine that for the rest of the season.
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Originally Posted by PainfullySlow
