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Hi all, I've been on the forum for a while but have joined you wayward souls in the pit this year. I've already met alot of you and thought I'd share a bit of an intro. To be honest, I haven't been on 2 wheels for all that long. Got my license the year before last in September. Insanity, curiosity, stupidity, not sure which one drove me to pick up a S1000RR and book a track day early April 2016. I'm sure you know the story well, but that track day led to about 10 more that year. Insanity, curiosity, stupidity...not sure which one then led me to pick up a dedicated track bike (07 Triumph Daytona) and get my race license at the end of the season. Man......after all those track days it felt so naughty passing people on the inside
My schedule prevented me from entering Round 1 so I did my rookie race in Round 2. I took off, was way ahead of everyone, loving life and passed the checkered flag. I took a leisurely cool down lap and pitted in only to discover...... that I'm a total and complete moron. Yeah, it was the white flag. Did I say I was a total and complete moron? Just as one of the race staff was telling me that, the rest of the racers started to go by. He said he thought I was going slow that entire lap to give the rest of the racers a chance to catch upHaha, darwin award candidate right here. I had 2 other races that day and had no clue if they'd even let me race in them. After some sarcasm and jokes at my expense I was given the green light. Of course in my next race about 3 laps in I went to downshift going into turn 3 only to realize my shift lever was danglin like a porn star pre-fluffer and I was out of that race. I had one final race that day and was determined to finish a damn race. I did, and did ok taking 8th. But to be honest I just didn't feel nearly as comfortable on the Daytona as I do on my S1000RR. I was putting down 1:28's with it on SC1's and had previously done 1:25's with the S1000RR on Supercorsa street tires. PK happened to be near the pits and I started chatting him up. He advised that i should really look into Triple Clamps and after he very accurately described exactly what I was experiencing, and what would change, i was sold. Sign me up, dropped it off to him and he worked his magic.
Again due to my tough calendar I was able to get to racer practice and only enter 1 race Novice Starter 2. Racer practice gave me the chance to try out the new geometry and Attack Triple Clamps. The change was NIGHT & DAY. Before it was hard to turn once leaned over and in Turn 3 the bike would want to go up the hill and off to the left. Now, I almost went off the right side of the track! Those sessions were all about figuring this thing out and changing all of my lines. It was then race time and I was very much at the back of the bus, in row 17.. 1 of 52 racers. It was a crazy one with several red flags and a re-start. But man, I felt so comfortable and was loving life. I actually won, and was shocked to learn that my lap time went from a 1:28 to a 1:23.1.
A few days later I got the email that I was being bumped to amateur. So you amateur guys, first off, take it easy on meI'll try not to be too much of a speed bump for you. I'm beyond pumped to join the ranks of so many great track addicts. You may smell, have foul mouths and make questionable life decisions but I couldn't be more proud to join the club.
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Originally Posted by TB151
when you pulled in
