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I Got what I needed this weekend... alot of practice and track time. I started my 4-day Classic weekend by sneaking out of work and getting up to the track for Thursday practice. It really helped alot and got me feeling good on the bike once again. I spent most of the day working on my lines and my body position. If anything, practice helped me break out of the rut I was in, as evidenced by my laptimes later on in the weekend.
So Thursday practice was very beneficial, but it did have a downside... on the last lap of the last session, a rider came up beside me on my right as we entered the braking zone for t3. He got so close that we rubbed lightly, and he went down. This all happened while we were going in a straight line, so I was a little surprised he crashed. I went right over there on my bike once I got off the track so I could see if he was alright, but was met with a bunch of shouting about how I just ruined his 18,000 dollar bike! I don't want to mention anyone by name, and most of you know who I'm talking about, but anyway, after his dad got done yelling I just simply said sorry, but I can't really see how that was my fault. There was plenty of track to go around me to the inside and we weren't even turning... it weighed on my mind for the rest of the weekend and it sucks about the bike, but at least the kid was okay. Later on Sunday when I was driving home, I had another encounter with the old man as he tried to run me and my 6-yr. Old son off the highway whilst giving me the finger and gesturing to pull over. I just shook my head... if he wants to fight, it will have to be when I'm not with my kids... . Anyway, other than that incident practice went well and I was ready to go racing.
I did gtu on Friday, mwgp on Saturday, and hwss on Sunday. Even though my laptimes improved this weekend, everyone else's must have too, because I took my usual 8th/9th places in the 1st two races, but the Classic was better.
The Classic was a badass race. I could sense the high level of competitiveness and overall I've never felt that way in any other race. I got a great start from row 2, went into t1 with the top 5, started to fall back a few places for the first couple of laps, but settled into a groove and started dropping my laptimes. I was chasing a couple guys and making progress when I came out of 12 and almost slammed into a bike laying on the racing line. I got around the bike and started charging down the straight but the red flag came out... . The next start went even better and I flew off the line into 3rd before t1. I did some laps before a group of guys passed me, and from there it was a non-ending battle with an orange machine of some sort. He passed me once before the bowl but I got him back on the brakes, then a bunch of times on the front straight I outbraked him into 1. Then the white flag flew so I put my head down and just tried to go as fast as I could w/no mistakes. It worked and I kept the orange bike behind me, as well as set a new pb of 1:21.8. I ended up 12th out of about 20 racers. I know it's not setting the world on fire, but it feels good to get out of the rut! Plus, when the experts went by me in t9 I realized there's time to lose over there next time...