2
Finished the motor swap and putting the bike together on Friday before heading into work. Boss met me out 2 hours early since I came in 2 hours early so I got to the track a little after midnight! Got unpacked with the help of the crew and Savvas offered me a hotel room for the night with him. After a good night of pillowtalk till about 3am we caught some shuteye and went to bed.
Got to the track in the AM and reg'd and teched only to find out that I had forgot to safety wire the oil drain bolt. Drilled it and safety wired it and passed. Glad they caught that...seriously. Thank you to all you guys in tech from keeping me from being that guy.
Swapped my daytona rubber for something that would work at loudon from the guys over at Dunlop and got out for second practice only to find out that the bike wouldn't accelerate past 13 or 14k. Pulled in pretty quickly and shared my problem with people in the garage. The celebrity Mark Bolduc (tlrman) happened to be in the garage and listened to the bike while caressing the throttle for 2 seconds before coming to the decision that the throttle bodies had come out of the boots. With the help of Doug (sheppo) and Eric Reiter (ct1200) and of course Mark again we managed to get the throttle bodies seated again and the rest of the bike together. I was a little nervous because I didn't have any practice at any sort of speed going into the first race.
Race #2 GTL
I got a great start off the line and was 2nd into T1 right behind Scott Greenwood. I then continued to gang banged as everyone and their grandmother passed me by the end of lap 1. I started off in the 21's and finished with an 18.2. Not bad. Got 8th out of 13.
Race #11 MWGP
I had some new Dunlop rubber on for this race so I was stoked to get out there and get racing! I got a decent start the first time and settled into 15th out of 25. Holy crap this was a big grid! Slowly got up to speed and started battling with...an SV?! WTF! He had awesome corner speed and I could barely pull him down the straights. I later learned he was no other than the #91 of Seth Hahn. Damn. Anyways, I finally manage to get by him in T3 only for him to repass going into the bowl. I tail him for the rest of the lap and take the outside line going into T12 to get a drive on him going onto the front straight. I manage to get by him only to come out of T4 to 2 bikes laying on the ground and a guy jumping up and down waving his arms. We all go back to pit and put our warmers back on.
For the restart we all had new grid positions. I had lost a spot from my original grid but I was pretty close. This time I got a great start and went around a couple of people going into T1. One of my goals was to be less timid going into the first couple corners off the start and to be more aggressive so this was awesome! I got into the groove by following and dicing with a few of the fast guys and then the pack in front of me pulled away once they got settled in. I ran comfortably and with 3 laps to go Justin Landry passes me on the entrance to T1. I follow him for 3 laps, wicked happy that I am actually able to somewhat keep up with him (he's fast). In T10 on the last lap we catch up with 2 AM's. Landry isn't able to make the pass on either one of them before 11. Landry takes the inside line going into 12 so I take the outside so I can hopefully get a drive on them coming out of 12A. Well one of the AM's checks up in 12 and Landry is forced to go over the curb in T12 sending him right into my line! I had nowhere to go and am forced to jump the curb in T12A. I get back on the gas only to see Alex Guilbeault passing me on the outside of T12A. DAMN! I ended up finishing 13th out of 25 starting. I was pleased as punch. I got down to a 1:16.5 during that race which is only .5 seconds off of my PB.
In Sunday practice I was working on my braking into T1 when my mind overloaded and I forgot to preload the front end before hard braking. I tucked the front at about 125mph. The bike smashed into the soft barriers on the Nascar 1 wall and ricocheted all the way down to the outside of the roadcourse T1. I seemed like I slid forever and hit a cone at about 60-70mph (ouch). Thankfully I got right up without any injuries and am not sore at all today. Bike is pretty rough but it will be ready for round 2 or BUST!
Thanks again to Mark Bolduc (the magician) for the diagnosis and help, Doug Shepherd for the help getting the bike together, Mo Kaddam for helping strip the bike, and Eric Reiter for helping as well. You guys are awesome! Thanks to all my teammates for all the help and all of my sponsors listed in my sig! Thanks to Arcy of On Track Media for the great pic too!
It was great to see all of you again and I can't wait for Round 2!!!
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"why tip-toe through life to arrive safely at death?" Tony Campol
Originally Posted by Tricky Mike
