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I made it up to the track late Wednesday and set up camp in the typical spot. Thursday practice went well enough. I tested out an SV that I'm hoping to race next year and it seemed to run well. Night and day difference from the Hawk and the next session when I got back on the Hawk it felt like I was riding a pitbike. Practice went pretty well without any revelations.
Friday - ULGP The drizzle started just before our race and I gambled and switched to rain tires. I got a decent enough start and managed to sneak ahead of the only other two bikes that I thought were in the ultralight class. The rain increased during our race and I think most of the other riders were on DOTs or slicks as nobody appeared to be gaining on me. I wasn't going to push it unnecessarily so I just kept looking over my shoulder and making sure nobody was in sight. I caught up to Brady and Chris on SV's and followed them in for the first place finish. Huge props to Eric Wood for donating his trophy. That made my day! I thanked him personally but I want to do so publicly as well. It feels good to earn something for my first place finish!
Saturday - ULGTL This was just plain an ugly race for me. I was still confused why they were running the grids the way they were. There were a lot of SV's (lightweights) mixed in with the second wave (ultralights?) and it made it very difficult to determine where I was in my class during the race. I had passing issues trying to get past a couple of the SV's. One real pucker moment happened going into turn one and I really hope that the other rider doesn't hold it against me. I don't remember his number but I had a hell of a time trying to pass him for the previous lap and a half and my move was to outbreak him going into 1. Long story short, it wasn't a pass I'm proud of and I hope he's not too pissed. I finished the race and found out I was ranked 3rd - behind an SV in Ultralight??? LRRS still hasn't figured out how to keep SV's from being able to register for UL races and it's making for a lot of confusion amongst novices. We got it worked out and Tim (the SV rider) was very understanding. I contested it for contingency purposes and I'll end up with a second place for that race.
Sunday - ULSB I had a bunch of conversations with some guys who had taken the two day school and they gave me some solid advice. Turn in harder (bar input) and hit the throttle sooner is the consensus of what I need to do. I'm definitely working on both but the whole throttle sooner thing still needs a whole lot of work. I was first into turn one but there was no way I was holding off the Kaw motard. He smoked me on the first lap and was out of sight. #380 on his EX was hot on my tail for the entire race and kept pushing me. When we caught up to the stragglers from the first wave I felt like I made good clean passes even while feeling pushed so I finished the race in second place and in very high spirits. Now I remember why I wanted to race! My times aren't even close to where they were a year ago but I'm gaining on them and hopefully I'll be able to make up some more time when I man up and TWIST!
Why LRRS hasn't figured out the whole SV's in Ultralights confuses me. This was the third race weekend and it's still happening on a regular basis. Tim wasn't the only SV in Ultralight that race, or that weekend. Until either the software is changed or all of the novice SV riders are informed of the distinction between the classes it'll keep happening. The rulebook is confusing on the issue to say the least. To make matters worse, if a rider on an SV enters the UL race and is contested then they are DQ'd and lose all the points for that race. Probably no big deal in Novice but still a bummer, especially for an innocent mistake.
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Originally Posted by Trouble
