0
I was going to make this short, but not sure how to write a short report.
This was my first weekend running on Pirelli slicks and I have to say, I am EXTREMELY impressed!
Saturday:
First practice:I went out and the issue I was having at Thursday's TTD with the intermittent engine bogging at load was happening again. I pitted early and proceeded to replace my coil set.
Second practice: After changing the coils, it was night and day. (I now need to diagnose why I've now had to change coil sets twice this season.) I laid down a few mid 23's, so I was on race pace. I was also stood up in T1 when I split expert #106 on the inside and another expert rider on an FZ6, who decided to stand the bike up as I was passing him on the outside and made solid contact with the left side of my bike. I ended up going through the Nascar turn, along with expert 106 and Keith Draghi. (sorry guys)
Race 2, AM LWSB: I gridded in the 3rd row inside (6A) and the stall monster got me again. (Even after changing my clutch) I went into T1 dead last and took one motard on the flop for 1A. As Chris Aho (500) mentioned in his race report, he high-sided in T12. I was setting him up for an inside pass when I saw his rear tire break loose, so I straightened up to go around him and his rear wheel swung around and whacked my bike in the left side enough to bend my rearset in. It also nailed my swingarm pretty good and my rear tire started spinning up. I spoke to Tony afterwards, who was watching the race from T12 and he commented that he didn't know how I kept the thing away from the wall and upright.
I had a lot of ground to make up, so I put my head down and ran with it. In the end, picking off another 5 riders and a new PB of 1:21.784 to end up 7th of 14 riders. Only a single 21 with the rest at 23-flat.
Race 6, AM LWGP: Gridded first row on the wall this time. After adjusting the bike's clutch actuator, I found starting to be a little easer. I went into T1 in 6th place, after hitting the rev limiter from 2nd to 3rd. I picked off 2 riders, one of them my first inside pass going inside in T11, and the other one the outside of T6. It was a pretty consistent race after that, but I knew that Mike Kurtz and Dave Pang were both right there.
I lost 4th place when Mike took me in the stretch between T10 and T11 on the last lap and finished less than a bike length in front of Dave for my first top 5 amateur finish, ending up 5th of 14 riders with a string of low 23's.
Sunday:
I skipped first practice, since I wanted to save something for the GTL. I went out for second practice and damn-near put myself into the tires in T3.
Race 2, AM GTL: After pulling myself together after a tough practice session, I was gridded 3rd row middle, 7C. I got my best amateur start to date, hitting T1 in 5th position. I took Lorna Murphy high on the outside of T6 in lap 2 and hung onto 4th position until lap 6, when Brian Cooner passed me on the outside of T11 and checked out. I seemed to fall apart physically after that, but actually stayed very consistent, stringing all low to mid 23's and took an easy 5th place of 16 starters, crossing the finish line before 6th came out of T12.
All in all, I'm happy with the weekend. I was able to stay somewhat smooth and consistent, thanks to Gino and the instruction he gave me Thursday. The new lines worked extremely well.
Thanks to Woodcraft, AMSOil, All Balls Racing, Annalisa, the ECK Racing team, Tony's Track Days, MTAG Pirelli, Peter Kates of GMD Computrack Boston, and everyone who helped and came out to watch.
I've decided to skip round 6, because I need to dig into the front calipers and won't really have much time between now and the less than 2 weeks I now have, since the new pads I ordered also won't be here until probably next week, when I'll be in Toronto. I'm still thinking of heading up for SUnday's races and the Larry Lap though.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Chippertheripper
Re: #565 Round #5
