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After a very disappointing performance at the Loudon Classic in June I had very simple goals for Round 5: finish my races and compete with the riders around me. During the down time between rounds I worked on my fitness and finished a project bike that is now serving as a training machine: my XR100R flat tracker.
Saturday
GTO:
This is a staple race for me. It’s always a physical challenge to go out and compete for 25 minutes. I got a decent start in the race and settled into a good rhythm pretty quickly. Water finds its level, this is particularly true in GTO. By the 15 minute mark, I had been passed by some faster riders, and I passed several slower riders. Unfortunately our race was cut short due to an accident and red flag with about 7 minutes remaining.
Result: 13th
Middleweight Grand Prix:
My first entry into the Loudon “Dash for the Cash” came and went with little fanfare. I was gridded all the way at the rear of the field and by the end of the race I was only able to improve a few positions.
Result: 25th
Sunday
Heavyweight Superbike:
Tire choice. As it turns out, everyone got it wrong except for #213 Cole Hall. After a wet morning of practice basically every rider went out to grid on rain tires; after a couple of turns into our sighting lap, we all knew we had made a mistake. The race track was basically dry at that point so I committed myself to destroying a perfectly nice set of rain tires. After a decent start I made several passes to get myself into the top 10. I finished the race with no challenge from the rear and unable to advance any further. The real story of this race was Cole Hall starting from the amateur grid and passing the entire Expert field to finish first overall in the race. Completely unheard of, what a ride!
Result: 8th
Middleweight Supersport
This is always a fun race; big grid and highly competitive. I traded places with riders around me for most of the race but I was never really able to advance past my starting position.
Result: 17th
Unlimited Superbike
This is always an interesting race as we are combined with the Novice class. After a solid start I found myself just outside of the top 10 and trying to track down #278 Dave Hemstreet. About half way through the 2nd lap we started catching lapped traffic and that’s where things started getting sketchy. The speed differential between amateur riders and novices is a drastic difference and often times they can be somewhat unpredictable. Nonetheless, its always a fun challenge to pick your way through lapped traffic without getting held up. While I was running a good race, I decided to go for a hero move on the outside entering turn 11. I attempted to pass a pack of 6-8 riders moving quite slowly, and ran out of both room and talent to complete the pass. I ended up bailing on the turn, stood the bike up through the grass and onto the NASCAR oval. I waited for a safe place to reenter the racing line, and continued on. Unfortunately for me, that put me near the back of the amateur pack where I would ultimately finish the race.
Result: 19th
Closing
Although I didn’t really improve this weekend, I did actually finish all of my races this weekend and had lots of fun battles with the riders around me. I seem to have reached a plateau in terms of my lap times and performance and I need to find a way to break through. I’ve come to realize that racing once a month is not going to be enough seat time for me to progress much past where I am now, so I am committing myself to getting out on my dirt bike and the new flat track toy as much as possible.
Huge thanks to Central Mass Powersports. It’s really great to have the support of a dealership behind you. Very much looking forward to the quick turn around and Round 5 of racing in August.
See ya! #910
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Originally Posted by tsorfas
