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Pretty tired after an emotionally exhausting weekend, so I'll try to keep it short. It was my first weekend as an amateur and I was a bit nervous. But keeping up with a couple of amateurs in practice on Saturdays and turning mid 24's really had me psyched. My personal best coming into this round was a 1:26.046.
The Ups!
Saturday, 5/14
Race 2: Amateur LWSB
I realized that my starts need work as I went into turn 1 in 14th in a grid of 16 bikes. After passing 2 riders on lao 1, I made a "bold" (or some would say a douche) move in T3 on lap 2, passing 3 riders into 9th place. I passed one other rider into 8th and was really close to another group of 3 when expert Rick Doucette passed me on my 7th lap, so I never got the chance to catch the other amateur riders or do my 8th lap due to the lap rule. So, I finished 8th with a new personal best of 1:22.649.
Race 6: LWGP
Again, another shitty start. This time 19th of 14 into T1 and got Mike Kurtz in T1A into 8th. I got passed on the brakes on lap 2 into T6 and back into 9th. I pulled yet another "bold" move on Keith Draghi on lap in T3 and back into 8th. it took me 3 laps to catch the next rider, who as it turns out is our own KB. Yet again, I took the insude line into T3 and got KB on lap 6. I came damn close to getting to complete all 8 laps, but once again, Rick Doucette passed me just as I was crossing the start/finish line, so my race was over. I finished 7th of 14. Average lap times for that race 1:24.011 and a best lap of 1:22.651, .002 slower than my PB.
The Downs!
Sunday, 5/15
WIth rain in the forcast, I changed to rains and went out for open practice at about 9:30am. I got into a slow pace, as the track was wet and started reeling in a middleweight bike. Unfortunately, I was still on my high from Saturday's outcome and started getting a little spirited with my riding. Well, it caught up to me when I went into T11 and realized I was off line and tried to correct with a little trail braking and some bar input. BAD MOVE, before I knew it, I was sliding on the pavement and into the grass. The front washed out. Getting it back into the put ans assessing the damage, it looked like I would be able to at least get the bike ridable for my only registered race of the day, race 3 Amateur GTL. I guess I had had enough good luck ad the left rearset bracket was bent beyond the point which it could be straightened and everywhere I tried, no one had one. I was done for the weekend. As for the rest of the bike, I snapped my left clip-on, severely bent the left ear of my fairing stay, and actually snapped the fairing stay at the weld, so it's toast. I cracked the windscreen and did multiple cracks and scrapes to the upper, lover, and tail sections. All of Rich's hard work gone to shit in the blink of an eye.
The Cliffs:
Sat.
AM LWSB 8th of 16, new PB of 1:22.649, which is 3.4 seconds faster than my previous PB!
AM LWGP 7th of 14, avg lap 1:24.011, which is 2.8 seconds faster than my previous fastest average time for a race!
AM GTL DNS on a mechanical
Thanks, as usual to Annalisa, MTAG Pirelli for the new rubber (I absolutely love them!), the guys from RSP racing for trying to help me to get the bike back together and for the support, and of course to my sponsors, listed in my sig.
The damage:
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Originally Posted by Chippertheripper
A true Amateur! 
My T8 crash cost more than double that (of course I got all new bodywork & paint, soooo). Anyways, welcome to racing 
