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Finally got home and largely unpacked about 30 minutes ago (edit: 90 minutes ago now...why do these things take so long to write?!), and considering my report from Round 4 came ~10 days after the weekend, I figured I'd just write this now while it's relatively fresh...if I can stay awake long enough to type it...
Got to the track Tuesday night at midnight for Tony's Track Days Wed and Thurs. Started unpacking my stuff Wed around 615am, and found that leaving all your gear in your gear bag for a month is a BAD idea. Long story short, had an awesome two days with TTD.
Friday I was to "work remotely," which normally would mean about 2 hours of actual work, and having the rest of the day to goof off. Unfortunately the proposal I'm working on, and the fact that my group of four people is effectively only ~1.75 people right now, so I literally worked a full day.
My goal for this weekend was to beat my previous PB of 1:23.026. I'd also switched from stock brake lines to braided stainless, so I hoped to get better brake feel and move my brake markers deeper. Saturday I was signed up for LWSB and LWGP; and my parents and grandparents were supposed to come up to spectate. So between practice, bench racing, and trying to tell my parents for the 400th time how to get to NHMS, where to go, when to be there, and what races I was in, Sat morn was pretty busy. I was only running 25s and 26s in practice...not quite as good as I would've hoped considering "you" normally run about two seconds slower than race pace in practice, but I'll take it.
LWSB - I run a string of 24s, with a best lap of 1:23.248 on my last lap. I got held up in some traffic, and it took me longer than it should have to pass those riders. I finished 8th out of 15; not as good as Round 4, but not bad for my 2nd AM weekend.
LWGP - Gridded in roughly the same position and having taken some lessons from LWSB, I had high confidence that I could perform better in this race. I was even 6th going into the first T1 - beating out Lorna Murphy (who usually out-brakes me on the start), Dave Pang (who's always in front of me on the start) and Keith Draghi (who I've almost beat to T1 twice previously) - which I felt pretty good about. Unfortunately I got held up by 449 Kevin Fogg on the 2nd or 3rd lap who I couldn't figure out how to get around initially. By the time I'd figured out his weaknesses, #769 had passed me (I believe as I braked too early going into T3...still haven't figured out those new brake markers). Keith eventually passed 449 in T12, and I thought I'd be able to get him too on the drive out of 12a, but 449 pulled me on motor. Finished 10th out of 15 with a fastest lap of 1:23.276. I felt like I was giving 115% on this race, so I was really disappointed with the results. The only bright side was, pretty much consistent 23s and 24s again, and I learned some things about 449's and 769's riding styles.
I typically do GTL on Sunday, but this round I signed up just for LWSS (Race 8) due to some unexpected expenses with the new house in the past few weeks. In practice I was going to work on a new line into T1, and on T11-12a where I definitely give up a lot of time. First practice felt good; but 2nd practice was even better. I passed several people including our friend the roadblock, and in places I don't usually pass. I put down a couple 23s, 24s, and 25s in second practice, so I was PSYCHED for the race. I could taste 22s, if not better. Fast forward to Race 5, check the weather map - doesn't look good. As Race 7 gets onto pre-grid, it starts to rain. OK, 15 minute rain delay to decide if you want to swap tires. I really didn't want to go to rains. I don't mind racing on them, but I wanted 22s!! That 15 min delay turned into nearly an hour and 45 minutes. I was getting more annoyed as time passed, but stuck it out and left the rains on. In the middle of that delay, they ran Race 7, and called it at 6 laps due to lightning.
Safety Director eventually made the call that all subsequent races would be 6 laps, as we'd quickly be losing daylight. Finally Race 8 gridded up after the rain largely subsided. AM LWSS had 7 entries; only 4 of us showed up to the grid; and only 3 of us on rain tires. I get apparently a not-awesome start, as Kurtz took the holeshot with Keith close on his tail. I settled into a close third, and watched Kurtz (on DOTs) get squirrely coming out of T2. Keith and I pass, and I'm right on his butt for about three laps. On Lap 3 I take him going into T3, proceed to lead for the first time as an AM...until T2 on Lap 4 where I got just a bit too anxious/confident and got on the throttle a little too early/hard. Rear spun up and out as I transitioned to the oval, and I slid, sitting up and spinning horizontally, towards the tires. Bike hit the tires about 20 yards away. Those of you paying attention will remember that I did almost this exact same thing on Friday of Round 3 in the rain.
Anyway after what seemed like four hours of sliding, I ran to the bike and got it restarted, and luckily this time it was ridable. I didn't realize it, but I slide right behind #276 who was now in 2nd place. I could've passed him at least three times before the end of the race, but I wussed out thinking the bike felt a little loose in T6 (I didn't really do a thorough check to make sure everything was still there after the lowside). I actually only lost by about 3/4 of a bike length...got my first AM podium (3rd place...out of three finishers ), though I'll be kicking myself for a while for throwing away 1st place (even though Keith "knew" I'd mess up ). I had the fastest lap of the race, 1:30.233...which is 10 seconds better than my previous fastest rain lap, and would've been good enough for fourth in EX LWSS if I ran them consistently.
All in all, not an awful weekend, but not a great one for me as far as I'm concerned. You really do get an insatiable appetite for laptimes when racing...
A big THANK YOU to Tony and all the Tony's Track Day's staff for all the advice, to all the TTD customers (without you, I wouldn't have such a great job), my RSP Racing garage-mates for all the advice, assistance, and moral support, a ton of fellow racers (namely the ECK Racing boys, #565 Chuck Boucher, Jeff Vader, and others I can't remember because it's 1240am) similarly for riding and racing tips, MTAG-Pirelli for my awesome Diablo Supercorsas, and the (un)fortunate and random series of events in life that have led me to race, now. Though expensive, frustrating, and time-consuming, track days and racing have been increasingly awesome. The same goes for all the people I've become friends with through those activities - as much as it sucks to sleep not in your own bed, shower in a smelly bathroom, eat out of a cooler and a shopping bag in your car, and otherwise be out of touch with the world for a week at a time - all you guys (and girls) help tremendously to make the track an even more fun place to be.
Unfortunately I'm going to miss Round 6, but I will get 22s in October!
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Originally Posted by OreoGaborio
Don't your feel yourself coming down with a cold?
