| Red hot temp and flags galore: June 11th Report
A fashionably late report?
After almost a month off, I was ready to head back to the track for my SECOND weekend of racing action. Again on the forefront of my mind was 'having fun' and continuing to learn what this roadracing stuff was all about.
Well I learned that racing in 95 degree weather is much different than racing in 65 degree weather! By the time my races rolled around (8 and 13) I had witnessed more Red Flags than I've ever seen up there before, I was soon to find out why.
Gridding up for Lightweight Supersport you couldn't help but say to yourself 'hey man.. i'm really melting to death and think i'm going to die' as you waited for the Green Flag. Once that dropped it was off to the turn 1. I don't remember much from this race other than we were red flagged on the first lap! YA!!! I got a worse start 2nd time around and battled my way into 4th and was working on reeling in the Ducati of Todd Malvezzi before guess what.. another RED FLAG. End of Race with me sitting in 4th with a best time of 26.4 (my best being 26.0). Hey at least I made it to the finish and picked up my first ever piece of LRRS Hardware.. ooo sweet.
What did I learn this race? I learned that when it's stupid hot out you are way more prone to idiot mistakes. Think you are breaking hard into a corner? Nah.. you aren't. I made a few goober moves (missing apexs, miss shifts, etc) that really opened my eyes. I could see why the Red Flag Bonanza was in full effect. It was so damn hot and energy sapping that it seemed by body was laggin 2 seconds behind my brain. Bad news.
Little later one (6pm actually) I went back out for my favourite race, #13 Ultralight Superbike. At this point I was worried my tires would probably start fading, as I had bought them in April and the word 'Tire Warmers' doesn't exsist in my vocabulary (or budget?). Either way the flag dropped and off we went. My teammate Bob Stone (Hawk) took off like a bat out of hell and was quickly in 4th place followed by the Hawk's of Eugene Berrio and myself. This quickly turned into another 3 lap 'Hawk Parade' which I always love being a part off. I took Bob and Gene on the front straight and went charging after 2nd place (Todd Malvezzi). Gene was hot on my heels and we quickly picked Todd off and started battling. Bob had faded off to fatigue and Gene and I had a few hairy moments ourselves. Apparently Gene hopped the curb in 3 before I blew the apex the next lap and he squirted by. Lap later trying to keep Gene in sight, coupled with a brain in the 'off position' I blew out 3 and did a full out MOTOCROSS jump over the 'Beach' in 3. Apparently the people in the bleachers were thrilled. I lost Gene at this point as he went charging after the leader (doing a 22.9 at one point) and my tires started sliding around turn 11. Okay.. I've never had that happen before (hey 2nd race weekend), wow that's interesting stuff. I decided since I had a huge lead over 4th and probably wouldn't catch 2nd and 1st to just cruise home in 3rd (which I was thrilled about). Well Gene pushed a little too hard and went down in 10 on the last lap and handed me over 2nd place. Hey I'll take it. I also busted out a new personal best of a 1:24.3 during this race. 1.7 quicker than my previous best. Actually every 'flying lap' during this race was under 26.0, including the slip'n'slide slow laps. Cool.
What did I learn this race? Jumping motorcycles isn't that fun during a race.
I also met a bunch of NESR people and that kicked ass. Hopefully I'll have my National Report (wooo that's a fun one) up later this week. Jim took some KILLER pics this past weekend and I hope to have them soon to add to the Classic Report.
Great meeting you guys!
Pic: Turn 11 - Alex and Bob Stone in Race 13. | 
06-20-05, 12:33 AM
Similar Threads 
