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Race Report – Rd7– 10/6-7/12
Arrival
I flew in to CT on Wednesday to allow for some time to decompress and rest up before the weekend. Nothing much to report
Friday Practice
Once again I signed up for Friday practice in order to work out some things with the bike. I was looking forward to getting my GSXR back from GMD Computrack after discovering that the reason I was having such a difficult time with the bike was that it was stuffed back 13mm in the front and bent to the right 7 or .7 degrees…I cant recall which. Either way, it is irrelevant when you end up running ~90mm of trail.
Sadly this was not to be as Pete informed me that the frame was beyond repair and needed to be replaced. Well, I will simply add this to the pile of expenses for this year and hope that I can actually make a middleweight showing in 2013.
With that in mind I focused on installing the flatslide carbs I picked up for the SV650 superbike and getting that tuned in. I spent the afternoon turning laps while making adjustments.
Saturday Practice
Uneventful practices due to the extreme cold. Between this and the constant threat of rain I kept my pace slow and deliberate while I tried to work on lines, reference points, and pushing brake markers.
I knew I had to conserve my energy for the GTL battle so I wasn’t pushing terribly hard.
GTL
This was going to be an interesting battle. I was still holding onto my 3rd place standing by only 4 points above Glenn Coolbeth (#95). I desperately wanted to keep this position so my goals were simple: finish the race and be no more than 2 positions behind Glenn which should ensure that I kept my year-long goal of earning a points podium.
I was gridded in 1C and got a decent start however Scott Mullin (#24) got an amazing start and easily pushed ahead with Rick Doucette (#6) right behind. I got passed on the outside of T1 as usual by Seth Hahn (#91) who just charged ahead and so I slotted into 4th place from the start. On the T2 straight I looked back to find Glenn and he was nowhere in sight. From here it was simple: take it easy so I finish and don’t let Glenn get ahead of me.
I managed to keep the three front runners in sight for a bit but they were steadily pulling away from me. On lap 2, returning superstar Todd Babcock (#98) flew past me on the exit of T12 like I was going backwards in time. I managed to close back up on the entrance to T1 but he wasn’t having it and quickly pulled away as he was on a mission.
I encountered AM traffic on lap 5 but it didn’t cause any issues however I did start experiencing some front end chatter in T9 which was odd considering I wasn’t pushing all that hard. Also the new flatslides were performing well and certainly there was a performance increase. The downside was that I kept running out of gear in a few areas (T3, T6, and entrance to T1). Clearly a gearing change is in order for 2013 (currently running 15/46 and will now fall back to the 15/45 that pretty much everyone else runs).
I kept looking back but wasn’t seeing Glenn which I couldn’t figure out. I assumed he had a mechanical but later discovered that he stalled the start and spent the first half of the race turning low 17s and working through traffic.
A few laps later I got passed on the front straight by Chris Reynolds (#25) under power pushing me back to 6th place. I am still amazed at how much power those TZ250s can put out in the right hands. The same lap I got a shock when Glenn showed up and passed me in the T11 chute (my weakest spot by far).
Ok, now I had to be careful. I couldn’t let anyone else pass me. I tried to stick with Glenn but we encountered some traffic that worked in his favor and he was half the straight ahead of me by the next lap. From there he just continued his charge and left me in the dust.
The next lap I saw my friend and fellow racer Jake Vader (AM#201) had crashed in T1 which reminded me that all I needed to do was finish the race at this point so I kept things very easy and rolled the next 3-4 laps to the finish easily.
I crossed the checkered in 7th place, only one position behind Glenn and secured my 2013 GTL 3rd place in the class championship!
Times were not what I would have liked but in this case it is better to be smart than fast. At least nearly all of my laps were in the 19s so at least I was consistent.
Outlap: 1:22.081
Best Lap: 1.19.068
Finish: 7th
Lightweight Grand Prix
There were 33 entrants signed up for this race and I was really looking forward to a fun race now that the pressure of GTL was over with however 30 minutes before the start it began to rain.
Now a little background: my 3 year wedding anniversary was in two days. Our first year was spent with my wife drooling on the couch from Percocet after breaking her collarbone and ankle at a track day. Year 2 we ended up having her kids at the last minute due to her ex not holding up his end of the bargain so it ruined our plans. After the unwavering support she has shown me during my racing career I decided to put on the big-boy pants and painfully withdrew from the race.
Due to the cold and rain nearly half the grid DNS’d and I watched with much pain as Scott Mullin took home first place turning 1:33s. While I am sure Scott could have easily wicked it up some, I felt that I could have easily gotten my first EX podium here. Sometimes doing the right thing really sucks…
Still it was a fantastic race to watch as RSP’s own Bill Coolahan (#447) who bumped to the expert ranks this very weekend was running in 2nd place throughout the entire race until an unfortunate crash in T2 pushed him back a few positions.
Sunday Practice
Since the GSXR was fubar’d I was only slated to be in LWSB today so I just went out for one practice and rolled around a bit. Nothing special to report.
Lightweight Superbike
I was gridded in 3A and got a decent start. I had a pretty interesting time with Doug Fogg (#65) on his ridiculously overpowered Buell and Chris Rau (#245) but not much to report otherwise. My heart simply wasn’t in the game and my times showed it. Not how I wanted to finish the season but what can you do?
Outlap: 1:24.187
Best Lap: 1:19.581
Finish: 8th out of 28
Conclusion
I played it smart and brought home a career long goal of finishing in the top 3 points race for an EX bracket; GTL. My laptimes and finishes weren’t all that great but in light of what was going on I think I did fairly well.
My deepest and most sincere thanks to my sponsors who have helped me make this dream come true: Spears Enterprises, SportBikeTrackGear.com, Knox Armor, EBC Brakes, Tony’s Track Days/MTAG Pirelli, and Dyno Solutions. Your unwavering support played a large part in the success of my first full year as an expert CCS racer.
A huge shout out to all the people in the LRRS community which is a large part of the reason why I continue to fly back and forth from Montana to run this series. There simply isn’t enough room to name everyone but you know who you are.
The RSP team is far and away the best bunch of people I could ever hope to share the grids with. You all offer your help, insight, and one hell of a good time at every event. I cant imagine racing without you all there. Thank you for being my friends and teammates.
Finally my wife and family: Your unwavering support of my insane hobby means more than I can ever express. I am truly blessed to have you all in my life. Thank you for being here for me while I see just how far I can push myself.
Video to come and watch for my Year In Review!
Some pics from the weekend…
Pretty decent start for GTL
The new Heroic suit looks pretty badass! Thanks Todd of HRA!
Body position has improved dramatically since 2011...
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