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My first expert race weekend, I had some serious butterflies, to say the least. Having to now run in the same wave with teammate and front-runner Pete Gaboriault, along with the LRRS legend Rick Doucette and the young gun Scott Mullin is a bit intimidating.
I arrived Friday evening and settled in hanging with the RSP crew, as none of the other ECK team arrived until just around midnight.
Saturday, May 19
Race Practice
Nothing major to report. Since I was accustomed to running practice with experts, it didn't seem any different. I was running in the low 22's, 2 seconds off my PB, so I figured I was in good shape.
Race 3: GTL
My best race of the weekend. Since I was a newcomer to expert, I was forced to start in the back row, grid 4B, next to last year's "nemesis", Brian Cooner. (Cooner crashed in [pactice in round #1, so he never raced that round). Green flag drops and I have a decent start, going into T1 in 11th place. My first expert T1 was a lot closer quarters that I had experienced in amateur. Over the next 3 laps, I picked off a few riders over the next 3 laps, including (73) Joe Latona, (484) John Hannon, (106) Eric Johanson, (686) Seth Hahn, and (611) David Dayon, finding myself running in 6th place behind BJ Worsham. Unfortunately, Scott Mullin had a crash in T6 halfway through the race in T6, so I was then running 5th. I tried an inside pass on BJ on lap 10 and couldn't make it stick, running a little wide. 2 laps later, I tried again and BJ closed the door on me and I just barely tapped his rear tire. But that was enough to allow Seth Hahn by me and eventually by BJ and Michael Weyant for 3rd. The rest of the race, I chased BJ, with him looking back every time in T5, giving me a thumb's up. I ended up finishing 6th of 16 starters with what I just discovered is my new PB of 1:20.463. Edging out my previous PB by .003 seconds and running laptimes in the 22's(4), 21's(6), and 20's(5)
Race 8: LWGP
An even bigger grid in this race found me in grid position 6A, on the inside. The start of this race was less than stellar, finding myself in 18th going into T1. This race seemed a bit tougher than the GTL. I managed to pick off 5 riders and finished 13th of 22 with a best lap of 1:21.391.
Sunday, May 20th
Race Practice
Again uneventful, I skipped 1st practice in lieu of sleep and again, found myself in the 22's.
Race 9: LWSB
It seemed that last season, Amateur LWSB was my bad luck race. It seems that this may also be true of LWSB. Another large grid fond me in position 5C, again next to Brian Cooner and "his bike". A low RPM start found me 16th into T1. Over the next 3 laps, I picked off 5 riders and I found myself trying really hard to get past (352) Wes Perry. I tried an outside pass in T6, but didn't have the juice to keep the lead, and he squeezed past me on the inside before T7. Next lap, knowing that he brakes earlier than I do in T6, I made sure I ran rught behind him over the hill and came out of the draft to blast by him in T6, this time making the pass stick. I ran a full lap more and the next time through T6, I decided to try something different. I held the throttle WFO from the apex of T6 all the way to my tip-in point of T9. This gamble didn't work out so well. I ran 10 feet wide of my usual line and tried to get back to where I normally run, knowing that Wes may be right behind me. As it turns out, he was actually RIGHT THERE. When I came back in, his front wheel tapped my left fork leg and it washed my front wheel out, sending my bike and me into the T10 air fence at about 50mph. I went in feet first and my bike kicked the last section of the air fence into the air and landing at least 15 feet from where it originally was. With my bike now laying right on the line at the apex of T10, the red flag came out and the race ended, as it was more than haflway complete. WHen I checked my lap times in the results of the mynhms.com site, I discovered that I was actually placed 10th, even though I had crashed. I inqujired with Graham Patteson and he told me that the rules state that when the race ends on a red flage, everyone is placed with the last time they crossed the start/finish line. I found it odd that my crash ended the race, but I still finished. An interesting rule. So, I "finished" 10th of 20 with a best lap time of 1:21.517.
So, all in all a decent weekend, My goal was to try and finish in the top 50% of at least one race and I managed to finish 2 races in the top 50%.
Cliffs:
GTL: 6th of 16, new PB of 1:20.463
LWGP: 13th of 22, best lap of 1:21.391
LWSB: 10th of 20, best lap of 1:21.517
Once again, thanks to the ECK team, my awesome wife Annalisa for dealing with my ups, downs, and moods, and all my friends for the help and support. Thanks to my sponsors: ECK Racing, Tony's Track Days, Woodcraft CFM/Armor Bodies, Pine Motor Parts, MTAG Pirelli, Street & Competition, OnTrack Media, Asthetic Rain, Motorcycles of Manchester, Spiegler, All Balls Racing, and Motul USA.
Here's a vid of the LWSB race and my unfortunate crash.
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Originally Posted by JettaJayGLS
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