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Was a great weekend overall!
I got up to the track on Friday with intentions of running Penguins practice. I decided against it since it was 95 degrees and about 150% humidity! Sure enough first session of Penguin practice and it starts to rain. At this point I'm really happy I didn't waste the $100 on practice. I don't have rains so it would have been a big waste of money.
Saturday
I signed up for a race on Sunday which allowed me to participate in Saturday's practice. Well, more rain, wet track, I don't even bother to suit up. I wait a little bit and keep an eye on the radar. The track has been dry and it looks like the rain is going to hold off until the end of the day. I sign up for race 12 and pray the weather holds out. Wouldn't you know it.....race 10 comes along and the big dark clouds roll in......starts to rain......track is wet. Race 11 is about to start and since the track is wet they give everyone 15 minutes to switch to rains. Just as race 11 gets out there the sun comes back out and starts to dry the track. (Meanwhile Traize has been switching back and forth from rains to DOT race tires. ) So I decide to suit up and take my chances since the track looks dry.
Race 12 Heavyweight Superbike.
I grid up in last place and get a pretty crappy launch. I can still see the lead pack and KNOW I need to catch them before they check out. So I start to pick guys off pretty easily which was a big surprise. I get settled into what I think was 2nd place. Little did I know there was a guy who checked out that was something like 13 seconds ahead! So I'm following around 2nd place just feeling him out to see where I am stronger. I'm really making up some time coming into the bowl so thats an option.....I'm really gaining on him in T11-T12...so much so that I had to check up because I was going to slam into the back of him. This caused me to get a shitty drive out of T12a onto the front straight twice. Just as I'm ready to make my move on 2nd place I get passed.......WTF!!! I passed this guy like he was standing still 2 laps ago! Yeah.....apparently he just needed to warm up because he was pretty damn fast. I wound up staying put in 4th place. Every time I tried to make up some ground on these two guys in front of me I would make a mistake. This is where the practice would have came in handy. I entered this race with no practice under my belt for the weekend and it showed. I ran wide in T1 pushing both tires, pulled a nice stoppie going into T3, spun the rear a little bit going up T4 which caused me to lose some time, and finally my peg clipped the curbing in T6 which cause the bike to slide a bit.
Sunday
Wake up to a nice clear sky. I get both practice sessions in and feel pretty good.
Race 3 Middleweight Superbike
I grid up in the third row with my #1 competitor on my left (#180), Kevin (Teammate) to my right, and Dave (Teammate) directly behind me. I know Dave is really strong on his starts so I need to make sure I get a good launch. Green flag drops and we're off. I pull ahead of everyone and it looks like I'm going into T1 with the holeshot but of course, who do I see to my right.....that damn gray RSP bike. (Paint that damn thing already!) At this point I'm pumped since two RSP bikes are out front. I got by Dave in T3 and just put my head down. I knew #180 was back there I just didn't know where. This was a very smooth race for me. I had the entire track to myself with a 7 second lead! I started to get a little tired at the end and dialed it back ever so slightly which my lap times indicate. I don't know why but I got this strange feeling that someone was behind me but I won't look back to see who it is. I get the white flag and start to think I just may win this race. Going into T8 I see a lapper up ahead.......oh shit....this person is all over the track..... I come into T10 and I can't decide which side to make the pass or do I just wait and take them on the straight..........BAM......there goes #180 right around both of us......NO!!!! I flew around the lapper and gave chase but I didn't have any time. He got a better drive out of 12A down the straight and he took the win. It was a great race which taught me a lot. Me backing off ever so slightly allowed #180 to catch me. My last couple of laps were in the 1:21's and he was putting down 1:19's. Overall I wound up 2nd and got myself a trophy along with a new personal best time of 1:20.24. In this race I was able to put down consistent 1:20 & 1:21 lap times which is a nice improvement from last race weekend.
Big thanks to all those who came out to support the RSP team! We really appreciate it!
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It's nice to hear you guys are doing well out there & learnin how it's done!
"why tip-toe through life to arrive safely at death?" Tony Campol
Originally Posted by Tricky Mike
