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Last week, I was vacationing in New Brunswick just a couple of hours away from Atlantic Motorsport Park (http://www.atlanticmotorsportpark.com/) so I packed the race bike and decided to go on a little side trip to Shubie for Atlantic Roadracing League's Round 4 of racing.
Thursday evening, I drove down the Trans-Canada to Nova Scotia, exiting at Shubenacadie. From there I drove down a small country road that eventually turned into a dirt road before arriving to Atlantic Canada's best kept secret.
After picking a spot to setup camp for the weekend, I took my bicycle out for my first look at the track. The track is a lot like Loudon. It is technical, bumpy, has lots of turns and elevation changes with minimal straights. Boy was I looking forward to taking the RS125 out on it the next day. After 3 laps on my bicycle, I had enough of the elevation changes so I wandered around the paddock meeting the locals that were setting up as well as a few national teams showing up early for next weekend's national event. Everyone I met there was very friendly and welcoming making me feel at home right away.
Friday morning, I finally get to take the 125 on the track. For the first couple of sessions, I followed a couple of kids on 125's racing in Canada's development spec series. Those 125's were not quite like mine. They were CBR 125's developing a whopping 12hp! Following them was great, they were relatively fast using small bike lines yet I didn't have trouble keeping up with them as I still figured out where I was going. The rest of the day is spent refining my line and picking up reference points. In the process, I finally get to do something I don't get to do at Loudon. I actually passed someone just by vastly outpowering them! That first day on the track, I established my PB at 1:31.398.
Saturday, I was relieved that I still remembered much of what I had picked up the previous day and I felt good during the 3 morning practice sessions. After lunch, I go out for two back to back qualifying sessions for the 125/motard race and the LWGP race. By the end of the day, I established a new PB of 1:28.241. I was very satisfied with that new best time, but it was still nowhere near good enough to beat any of the regulars with times in the 24s and below. That evening, I join a few people for a track walk where I get a closer look at all those bumps that had almost bucked me off my bike a few times. Following the track walk, I got to meet more friendly locals gathered around the camp fire. Man, I love the atmosphere of that place!
Race day finally arrives and I start the day with a couple of practice sessions. I felt good during those sessions, yet I only got down to the 30's.
Next up is the 125/Motard race. The only other guy on a 125 is an expert on a Yamaha, the rest are on motards. For some classes, the fields are so small that the amateur and expert races got combined into one. I don't get too good of a start and I end up last going into turn 1. My goal now is to stay with the pack and try to not finish last. Unfortunately, the pack slowly slips away from me and end up by myself, waiting to be lapped. At this point, I'm looking for any small personal victory I can find. One of those small personal accomplishments came at the halfway point of the 10 lap race where I managed to make it to the crossed flags before getting lapped! I finish the race only 1 lap down and with only 2 bikes having lapped me.
The next race for me should be more interesting. I don't expect to do better than last in the LWGP race, but the LW Vintage race is run at the same time and some of these vintage guys were running similar times as I was during practice. The vintages are gridded behind us and we all start in a single wave. Again, I don't get a good start and get passed by every vintage bike before turn 1. I do get buy 2 of them again before the end of the first lap and I spend the next few laps chasing down a 3rd vintage guy. I finally make a pass on him entering a turn, but I screw up my line so much doing so that he easily repasses me exiting the turn. I do stick with him close enough this time exiting the last turn to finally get by him down the short front stretch. I set my sights on the next vintage bike, but don't have enough time to catch him before the race ends. During this race, I managed to lower my PB again to 1:27.772.
Despite the track having a few bumps and the facilities being a bit rustic compared to Loudon, I really enjoyed my visit to Shubie. I hope to make it up there again at least once a year, and I can see Shubie becoming my home track away from home.
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Originally Posted by Pookie
