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Hey Race fans: 728 is back! (and so is 754) NorthEast Motorcycle Road Racing - NEMRR round 5 is in the books.
Pour a coffee, this will be a long read. Cliff notes: UnlimitedGP 3, Dash for Cash: 2nd MWFormula40 1st, MWSS 2nd
After what feels like forever, I showed up with a bike that finished an entire weekend and performed flawlessly! Massive thanks to Eric Block and the boys at BAUCE Racing for this.
I'm no longer in the points battles, so I switched it up and entered UNGP swapping it from GTU to take the pressure off my neck. I was gridded on the fourth row, so had my work cut out for me. I think Mike Guarino bogged in front of me, and I had to swerve all the way to the wall on the left to not collect him. I somehow salvaged a mid-pack start and set off making my passes until I settled into 4th. I was closing down the gap to Arrighi when he nearly high-sided out of 12. I cruised home to 3rd.
Next up was the Seacoast Sport Cycle dash for cash. I lined up on row 2 for this one and got a great launch. I settled into 4th place behind Ian Beam and Jacob Crossman and Geoffrey Bonnard. At one point Justin Landry got by me, but then he overcooked T1 and I was back through. Now I put my head down and reeled in the leaders. I had pace and was waiting for an opportunity to pass, but Jacob Crossman was all over Ian Beam and I had no room to move. Jacob finally pushed past in T10 and I got Ian with a late pass in T9 on the next lap. Ian tried one last move in T3, but he ran wide and I came back underneath. Jacob turned up the heat though and I just lost touch finishing 2nd. Awesome race guys!
Sunday was something truly special though as I was lining up on the same grid with my wife Kerry Smith for the first time on modern bikes. I was on the front row in MWF40 and she was at the back of wave 3 in LWF40. The question was, would I catch her? SHOULD I pass her?
I got a great launch taking a clean holeshot and put my head down cracking off 2 really quick laps before catching some wave 3 traffic. I had a super clean run through traffic and on lap 6 I caught sight of Kerry. I was going to catch her on the last lap! I came up on her group heading into T3 and pulled along side, but thought better of stuffing her into T3. I made a clean pass on her into T6. Phew. Little did I Know she was in 2nd place battling for the win. As I headed into the last 2 turns there was a slower rider in front. I knew I had a gap, so I gave him the corners. My slowing caused Peter Russo to have to check up and Kerry took advantage, passing him for the win! We crossed the finish line together winning our respective classes and sharing a celebration on the cooldown lap. That was something I will never forget. You couldn't have made up a better scenario!
My last race MWSS is a tough one! From the second row again I launched it into 3rd behind Ian Beam and Jacob Crossman. This time I wanted the win. I got Jacob and Ian both on the same lap. I almost collected Ian as he got all out of shape on the bump in T10. I put my head down and held the lead until the white flag. I went super defensive into T3 but ran wide mid corner allowing Jacob to slide underneath. Damnit! I blew it and had no opportunity to re-pass taking second to Jacob again.
These were some of the best races of my career. And to have Kerry racing and crushing it on her new Aprilia made it the best event I could dream up.
Huge thanks to my sponsors: Cyclesmith Track Days, MTAG Pirelli DP Brakes, Superbike Services44, Antham Racing, Woodcraft Technologies, as well as my center 6 crew Geoffrey Bonnard, Semir Faz, Pej AYandeh, Charles Keighley, Matthew Vigue, Michael Weyant, Virginia Faulkner, Noel Guidone, Noah Burnham
Congrats to all the Cyclesmith customers who raced so well this weekend! It did not go unnoticed!
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Originally Posted by Paul_E_D
