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Well, after having some troubles in April and work conflicts for the rest of the summer, I finally made it to race in round 6.
I came down with DarkDuc on friday morning to meet with up Trouble and do some afternoon practice. I think I finally got the electrical gremlin sorted out to be a vibration issue, causing the front spark plug cap to come loose. I had no issues with it until the 4th practice session, and it was subsequently remedied for racing on Saturday. Practice felt a little uneasy because I hadn't been at the track since april, and I hadn't ridden hard since last years september round. Needless to say, the tires stuck and the bike ran. Bill (ynot) estimated on his video that I may have gotten down into the 25's during practice, but I will be honest that it didn't feel that great doing it. Being out of the seat for that long made getting back into the feel of things a process.
Race practice on saturday wasn't great either. I started feeling more comfortable, but the first session I only managed to eek out a 28 something as a best, and second practice I dropped to a 26 flat I believe. Disappointing because I left last season doing consistent 24's and a PB of a 23.5.
Race 2: Having no points, I gridded up in the inside on the last row, 13/14. The start wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either. I was faster than some, but quickly got bunched up in T1 as it bottle necked. After the outlap, I stayed in 13th for a while, chasing ynot and a few others. Once we hit a few of the experts, I was able to grab a pass into T3 which dropped me into 9th and I stayed there for the rest of the race. I dropped back into the 24's with a best of 24.2 in that race. I was consistent in the 25's and 24's that race which I was happy with. I felt much better than in practice.
Race 6: Start was about the same, I was able to rocket past DarkDuc as he forgot how to work a clutchIt didn't last for long though. I picked up a few spots on the start but quickly lost them and dropped back from 11th to 12th after the first lap. I stayed there for the rest of the race, dancing back and forth with a group of 4 or 5 guys ahead of me. I stayed with them for the race but just couldn't find my extra fast to make a clean pass. I was consistent in the 24's and on the last lap, turned a 23.4, beating my PB from last year by .1.
Well, thats the end of my season because I work in october and won't make it down. I've got plans to work on the SV over the winter and will possibly be racing a hawk and an SV next year. I made some good progress over the span of 2 days which I am happy with overall, just wish I could have been faster on the SV but I know that will come with seat time. This was my first time actually riding hard on it and I'm glad I was able to get that quick in such a short period of time. I can't wait till next season and hopefully find 3 seconds or so and get into the 20's.
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