#763 Sept 5th novice 125GP

[rolker]

Showed up Wednesday evening so I could get plenty of track time Thursday and Friday afternoon. Ran some laps in the 31's , beating my my PB!

Saturday, 3 of us signed up for race 8's novice 125GP class. My start isn't as bad as it was last race weekend, but I still end up last going into one. #925 is in first and #512 is in second, so I focus on getting to 2nd spot for now. I keep #512 in sight as I get closer to him, but slowing down a bit for yellows, waving yellows and the ambulance flag make it hard for me to catch up to him. To make it even harder for me, he keeps on throwing obstacles at me by passing EX500's. At one point, two bikes are between me and #512 so I charge in deep in 1 to try to get by both of them, but only get by 1. I get by the other one going into the bowl. I finally am able to focus on getting by #512. I gradually get closer to him at 9, again at 11, but he still gets a good drive out of 12 and I'm not close enough to be right behind him down the front stretch. He probably has at least 20 bike lengths on me as I tuck in as much as possible, and go though all the gears hoping he will brake a bit early into one. He pre-turns, and a bit later gets on the break. I'm determined to not get on the brakes before I'm by him. As soon as I fly by him, I get on the brakes hard and kill my corner speed going into one. I get back on the throttle as soon as I can and hope it's soon enough for him not to re-pass me. I finish the lap without any signs of him challenging me. White flag comes out and I push hard to make sure I stay in front of #512. #925 is nowhere in sight so I goal is to preserve 2nd place. I complete the last lap without incident and finish 2nd!

When I checked my times, I did a 1:29:192 beating my PB by 2 seconds!!!

Met many of my goals this race:

• To not finish last
• To break the 1:30 barrier
• To complete 8 laps without getting lapped by the faster classes in my race

[Rambunctous]

Great job! I also had 3 laps in a row beating my PB which was around 2 years old. Finally.

[OreoGaborio]

Awesome, bro. I didn't even see ya all weekend! Congrats on the good finish & new lap times. Keep up the good work

[DerekSBelanger]

Two more seconds....how many in total does that make for this season?

[OreoGaborio]

Wirelessly posted (Samsung Lube.... Er, Glyde: Mozilla/5.0 440x240 Samsung SCH-U940 NetFront/3.4)

Derek, start racing & you'll see times drop like you wouldn't believe. Think I dropped 14 seconds my rookie season... went from doing 1:38's to dipping into the 24's.

[scottieducati]

DID I SEE A :29 IN THERE?!?!? WOO HOOOO!

[DerekSBelanger]

100mph + so I'd guess you fixed the water problem?

[rolker]

Great job! I also had 3 laps in a row beating my PB which was around 2 years old. Finally.

Congrats to you as well for beating your PB! I sure hope it doesn't take me 2 years to do it again...

Awesome, bro. I didn't even see ya all weekend! Congrats on the good finish & new lap times. Keep up the good work

Thanks Pete! I saw you walk by Saturday while watching #5 (expert 125GP and others) from the T3 stands. I left at the end of Saturday, so I missed a lot of you guys.

[rolker]

DID I SEE A :29 IN THERE?!?!? WOO HOOOO!

Amazing what trying to pass for a position does to someone's laptime!

[rolker]

Two more seconds....how many in total does that make for this season?

Here's my PB history on the RS125 I'm racing.

2009-06-17 1:41.616 BostonMoto - First time on my new 125.
2009-07-15 1:39.373 BostonMoto
2009-07-20 (slower) Tony's Track Days - Only ran 125 half the day.
2009-07-21 (slower) Tony's Track Days - Rained that day
2009-07-22 (slower) BostonMoto
2009-08-03 1:32.823 Tony's Track Days
2009-08-04 (slower) Tony's Track Days
2009-08-21 (slower) Penguin School - Surviving was more important than beating PB
2009-08-22 (slower) LRRS - Ditto
2009-09-03 1:31.811 Open Practice
2009-09-04 (slower) Penguin Practice
2009-09-05 1:29:192 LRRS - Current PB!!

So my biggest jump was done at a TTD. It's also at the last TTD that I decided that I needed to race if I wanted to keep on dropping my PB significantly.

Wirelessly posted (Samsung Lube.... Er, Glyde: Mozilla/5.0 440x240 Samsung SCH-U940 NetFront/3.4)

Derek, start racing & you'll see times drop like you wouldn't believe. Think I dropped 14 seconds my rookie season... went from doing 1:38's to dipping into the 24's.

Competition, similar bikes and being allowed to pass anywhere all contribute to shrinking lap times.
Of course, the stakes are higher in racing, which is why one should think carefully before making the step from TDs to racing...

[rolker]

100mph + so I'd guess you fixed the water problem?

Nope, still trying to figure that one out. The 100mph+ is from accelerating longer after taking my last upshift at the 4 board and braking later into 1.

[DerekSBelanger]

Nope, still trying to figure that one out. The 100mph+ is from accelerating longer after taking my last upshift at the 4 board and braking later into 1.

Fixing the bike would be cool...but thats an even better way to go fast. Nice job!