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LRRS Round 5 – Race Report – EX#434
Arrival
This was going to be one hectic weekend. My professional career is crazy busy and I was simply unable to get away until much later than I would have liked. I flew in from Montana two hours late after 13 hours of travel and arrived at Hartford BDL at 4pm. We drove to the house, threw everything in the truck, hitched the trailer, drove through a monsoon and finally arrived at the track at 10pm. By the time I got the camper out of storage, set up, and everything else situated I went to bed at 1am.
Saturday Practice
I slept poorly, waking every hour or so and awoke exhausted. I still had work to do to the SV after last weekends mishap which had me waiting for parts. I put everything together quite quickly and made my way to tech. En route I discovered that the bike didn’t want to upshift and I couldn’t find neutral. Considering that I had the clutch apart to repair the damage from the previous weekend I knew something was amiss so I pulled back into my pit.
What happened next was the fastest disassembly ever seen as I drained the water and oil, then ripped the clutch apart to find that a washer was out of place. I cleaned out the debris, threw it all back together, and hoped that there wouldn’t be any lasting damage.
Due to this mishap I missed both practices on the GSXR and barely made the 2nd practice on the SV. I clicked off a few 19s which wasn’t bad considering the iffy weather, exhaustion, and the mental issues of dealing with a motor that had recent problems.
GTL
This is my points race for the year so I attempted to put extra effort into the running. I threw some fresh rubber on courtesy of MTAG Pirelli and made my way out to hot pit only to discover that my crappy mental state had me forgetting to safety wire my front calipers and wheel.
I flew off the grids and my RSP teammates descended on my bike like some hopped up pit crew on speed. I think they wired the entire front end of my bike in under 2 minutes and I was able to get back out on the grids in time to head out with the others.
I was to start in 1B but got a poor launch and wound up getting freight trained into 5th. What followed was some of my worst riding since moving to the Expert ranks. My head simply wasn’t in the game and it showed in my lap times as I got passed out of the blue by returning expert Christopher Reynolds on his RS250 which had way more motor than I did. I managed to stick with him and pass him back a few laps later in T6 as we split some Amateur traffic. With that done I set my sights on Glenn Coolbeth who was a spot on the horizon.
I did manage to creep up on him and on the last lap I made a wild effort to pass in T6. I simply didn’t brake at all, downshifted, and threw the bike into the turn while the rear wheel protested violently. Somehow it stuck and I made it ahead however fatigue and just plain lack of skill killed me and I went wide in T10 where I knew I would. Glenn effortlessly passed me back on the correct line and I drifted back to 5th place which is where I would finish approximately 3 bike lengths behind.
Outlap: 1:22.599
Best Lap: 1:18.182
Finish: 5th out of 15
LWGP
My crash in this race last weekend put a serious dent in my points and I had a less than ideal grid position in 3A. The sun had dried the track but humidity was so high it was like swimming through the air while temps were in the upper 90s. Brutal.
I got a mediocre start, passed a few people after picking the middle line into T1 and settled into T1 in 5th place.
A lap later Seth Hahn (#91) passed me on the brakes into T3 and on the same lap I got passed on the straight under power by Chris Reynolds (#25). The rest of the race was pretty boring as I sat alone in 7th while those in front pulled away. Again my head simply was not in the game and my riding suffered greatly. The heat was almost unbearable.
Outlap: 1:23.048
Best Lap: 1:18.788
Finish: 7th out of 21
MWGP Part 1
I was supposed to be gridded in 5A but the weather was turning quickly and since I had zero practice time and I can barely control the GSXR when it is dry I decided to skip the race which turned out to be lucky as there was a horrific crash on the outlap when it started to rain. The officials decided to postpone the race until the following morning.
Sunday Practice
I went out for both sessions on the GSXR to try to get a feel and the 2nd practice on the SV. It was still damp during the first practice on the GSXR and I nearly highsided to the moon coming out of T12. I dialed it back and just rolled around the track for the rest of the practice sessions. Nothing to note except really crappy performance, bad track conditions, and already unbearable heat as the sun came out.
MWGP part 2
I took my 5A grid position, got a decent start, and passed a few people on the outside of T1 however over the remainder of the race I got passed by everyone but two that was behind me at the start, one of which was Shane Narbonne riding a motard! I was so crappy that he nearly passed me at one point which actually lit a fire under my butt and I rode just well enough to stay ahead of him. I barely clicked off some 1:18s and just rolled around the track like a complete moron after that.
Outlap: 1:22.951
Best Lap: 1:18.217
Finish: 16th out of 18
LWSB
Again my grid position was absolutely abysmal due to my prior crash so I was to launch from 5C. When I got to my grid I couldn’t see the flagger at all no matter where I positioned so I just leaned as far off my bike as possible so I could see half of him. Consequently I got an asstastic start where I dumped the clutch, wheelied, and then dropped back down.
I did manage to pass a few people going into T1 but I was so far behind at this point that I basically gave up right then and there. It was hot, I had 10 hours of sleep in the last 3 days, and I just wanted to go home to my family before I had to fly back to Montana in 30 hours.
The travesty that followed was by far the worst riding that I had done since before I moved to expert. I got behind David Dayon (#611) and made a few lame attempts at passing however I just wasn’t into it and basically sat on his rear wheel for the entire race. This was an utter waste of race fuel and rubber and if I was smart I would have simply pitted in after lap 1 however I was so out of it that it didn’t even occur to me.
Outlap: 1:25.183
Best Lap: 1:20.383 (! Seriously…WTF??!?)
Finish: 12th out of 21
In Closing
Well, they can’t all be great weekends and this one came through in style. At least I retired for the weekend with two working bikes which hasn’t happened since May. My only goals for the weekend were to get back into the 17s to prove that I could and to maintain my 2nd place points position in GTL. Naturally I fell flat on both fronts so I will have to double my efforts for September.
All in all, not a terrible weekend but far from my best. I hope to make a better showing next round for myself, my team, my supporters, and my sponsors.
HUGE THANKS to my teammates at RSP racing for all that they did for me this weekend, it was far too much to count and I also wanted to send out a congratulations to them as well as they all attained new personal best laps this round. Hey, if I have to dump horribly so that they all have great weekends well that is a win in my book
Thanks as well to my incredibly supportive and understanding wife. I haven’t been home in a month, am only home for 4 days, and she supports me for 2 of them at the race track. What a gal!
Finally a sincere thanks to my stalwart sponsors who allow me to follow my dreams, I couldn’t do this without you. Hopefully next round you will have something to be proud of.
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Originally Posted by JettaJayGLS
