3
Round 3 recap.
Shortly after the second round, I decided I wanted to begin testing myself on the SV again. So, after much delayed I started prep work the week before Round 3. This motivated me to get the job done but it meant late nights and a bit of frustration. I was planning on having everything wrapped up on Thursday morning which left me plenty of time to pack and head to the track on Thursday night. ... until I talked to my teammate Steve Heider who persuaded me to make Thursday practice. I’m glad I manned up and went on Thursday so I could get reacquainted with my true love.
Friday morning rained and I decided to skip practice since it would be dry for the endurance race. ECK Racing participated in the ASRA team challenge. Piloting my SV, Shawn Barron, Tim DiLorenzo, Steve Heider, and I took first place in the lightweight class by a margin of 3 laps ahead of the nearest lightweight.
My first race on Saturday was with the KTM, and I wish I could forget this race. I was racing my heart out only to turn 27s, 28s, 29s... to put it into perspective, those were the slowest times I’ve run on the KTM since I threw a leg over it. Not even the first time I rode the bike did I run so slow. On the advice of my teammates, I swapped the transponder to the SV and focused on the task at hand.
My goal for the SV was to run some 21s. Goal met.
Due to my dismal performance on the KTM, I asked Shawn Barron to tow me around practice. I managed to click off a 24 and 25s in practice. OK. Not great but OK. My first race on Sunday was with the KTM and I wanted to keep that momentum going. I gridded up and got a terrible launch. I latch on to the rear wheel of my teammate Smutty. We have an amateur motard that’s in our way but we can’t seem to get past him. On lap 6, I’m heading into the bowl when I go to grab a downshift and I miss it. Ok, no big deal. I manage to get down a gear and then continue. As I crest over 8, I go grab the clutch again and realize there’s no feel there. The lever goes all the way to the bar and I can’t downshift with the lever. If I only had to do one shift I would have kept going, but there are sections where I catch 3 downshifts at a time. I put my hand up and DNF. My woes continue on the KTM. Scott Mullin is at the wall exiting turn 12 and sees me pull in. He checks the bike over. The lever and cable seem operational. The issue must be internal.
Again, focusing on what’s ahead I have my last race on the SV. I manage a decent start and I’m going at a good clip. Brian Faucher passes me on the brakes into 3. I hang on to him and I’m all over his rear wheel into 11. As I’m approaching the apex of 11 I see the fairing and wheel of a competitor and we collide trying to occupy the same space. We do a little dance of “do we or don’t we” crash together. I manage to free my shoulder from his clip on and go into the chute, but he wasn’t so lucky and ended up on the race line. The race was red flagged. Because the half way flags were shown, that was the end of the race. I managed to click off a 20. I’m happy.
It’s Monday and I can barely keep my eyes open. It was a great but exhausting weekend.
See y’all next round.
Isaac
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