ECK Racing #82 Round 4. Still pluggin away.

[OreoGaborio]

Conversation of the weekend... went somethin kinda like:

Gino - "Pete, what the hell is with you? You're so... giddy!"
Me - "DUDE, I'M AT THE FUCKIN TRACK!!!"
May have had somethin to do to the lack of sleep, too, I dunno

My race weekend, as has been the case as of late, started with... work. Worked Friday overnight into Saturday morning (no Saturday races for me this year), went home, crawled into bed, put my head down on the pillow, tossed & turned for all of 30 seconds, then said to myself "Dude, fuck this!" Got up, grabbed the rest of my shit and hit the road.

Got up to the track round 10, hung out, had a blast & watched some great racin'. Best part was seeing my teammates kick some ass. Gino had a great battle in ULSB and he, along with Jake, Christian and Chuck all got personal best lap times. Fuck yeah.

That evening, got to watch some Legends cars, a few bikes ride flat track & then of course the pit bike & scooter races which were great. Then went out to dinner, hit on a fellow racer's girlfriend, got her to sign up for some track days and then had a hilarious back & forth with our hot bartender, which I'm sure she just loved.



But Sunday was a new day.

Got out there for practice and the bike felt good as always, it was just a matter of how the body would hold up. Abdomen & ribs felt good, which was promising. Wrist felt iffy as expected but better than the Classic weekend. Don't think I got more than a single clear lap but I managed to click off a 19 flat & was somewhat satisfied with that but was still hoping for better.

After practice Joel Allen came over to see how I was feeling and we talked it out a bit. His advice: "Take what they give to ya. Don't force it." Solid advice given the circumstances and that certainly summed up my game plan for the weekend.

Lightweight Superbike has brought some stiff competition this year. Chris Cucinotta has really stepped up his game (but for whatever reason, I didn't see his name on the grid sheets, which came as a bit of a relief) and returning veterans Seth Hahn and Sean Byrnes have both been on a tear lately and they both pose a threat in the points. Gridded 1D I was hoping for another one of my holeshots but I wheelied a bit, not once, but twice, and came down crooked on the second one which left me in 3rd entering T1. I kept Scott & Ricky in sight for the first lap and a half but knew my uncharacteristically bad start meant that Seth & Sean weren't far behind. I put my head down in an attempt to hold them off and sure enough the pressure quickly wore me out and I just wasn't able to be as aggressive and control the bike as well as I wanted. By lap three they both slipped by - Seth in 9 of all places followed by Sean in 11, putting me back to 5th. I tried to hang on to their coat tails and formulate a counter attack but it just wasn't happening. I quickly went from doing 17's, which is where I wanted to be, down to 18's, 19's and even 20's once I knew no one else was behind me and Joel's words reverberated around inside my dome. Supersport still remained later in the day & that's my bread & butter so I eased back & brought it home in 5th with the disappointment of slipping back to fourth in the points standings.

Lightweight Supersport had me a little worried bout the condition of my wirst but for some reason I was feeling optimistic. Determined to get a better start and keep the front end ON THE GROUND I was a little too lazy with the clutch. I still got a good jump with a quick reaction to the flag, but Scotty put the pressure on from the outside row, went deep on the brakes and took the holeshot. From there I held second to the back section, where Ricky got the drive outta 10. We had a little drag race to 11, but again, Joel's words were heard in my head and I didn't put up much of a fight. From there on out I found ways to work smarter, not harder, kept my lap times in the 17's to 18's (one while 19 in traffic) and stayed close enough to the front to watch a great battle.


All in all, not the fastest weekend, but it was still just what the doctor ordered.... maybe not for physical healing, but it was definitely good for my mental health

Big thanks to everyone who came out to cheer me on, my teammates Gino, Christian, Chuck & Jake, Tony's Track Days, OnTrack Media, Asthetic Rain, Pine Motor Parts, Woodcraft Technologies, All Balls Racing, Spiegler Performance Products, Street & Competition and of course, MTAG Pirelli.

[csmutty]

It kills me to see you not in good health because I know what you are capable of. The bartender exchange was a perfect example of that.


Love ya teemie

[JettaJayGLS]

Glad you decided not to sleep, an exhausted Pete at the track is better than no Pete at the track. When that wrist heals you're gonna be a monster.

[The Snowman]

It kills me to see you not in good health because I know what you are capable of.

Grats on the podium. Heal that wrist up.

[nt650hawk]

Great seeing you happy. A happy Pete makes for a happy pit!

It was fun at the bar. We will have to go back and work the other side.

[PainfullySlow]

Glad you decided not to sleep, an exhausted Pete at the track is better than no Pete at the track. When that wrist heals you're gonna be a monster.

+1, couldnt have said it better. Continue to heal up and thanks for getting my pup all riled up =)

[mzdagrl]

definitely a good night out with the eck crew....reminds me of the old days harassing waitresses at olive garden. too bad you were so tired

[loudog]

Well done Pete, can't ask for much more than that with a bum wrist.

Like Joel's words to you, yours were playing in my head during the LWSB and LWSS races..."Don't crash out of a good position." Kept me in check any time I thought about making a semi-risky pass.