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It was pretty cool to be racing on the Classic weekend.
Friday practice I went out on my new Conti DOT tires to chase pit mate Chris #500, laid down some good laps, felt fast, and came in to see I was running 3 to 4 seconds slower than my PB from my first round in May?. Well at least it wasn't raining!
My left rearset had felt a little funny on the ride in that morning, so I eyeballed it after practice and it was still offset (less than 3/8") from my lowside in T1 last round. I kicked it until it match the right one, maybe that would get my 3 seconds back.
After sporadic light rain in the afternoon that never actually wet the track, it started again as we were getting ready for
race 8 NV LWGP. The rain got harder as we gridded up, and most of us still on DOT's. I made an ultra-cautious start, going wide into T1 and 1a and eventually fell into line for T2. Had a big slide out of T12 a few laps in, decided to relax and just keep it upright for the rest of the race as it was really raining now and feeling squirmy on a very wet track. Don't remember if I passed anyone, caught up to Chris but wasn't fast or brave enough to get by and followed him to the flag for 6th with a best wet lap of 1:50.6. Turns out Trouble from the 2nd wave caught up to us on his rains, stayed in our conga line, and took a 1st in UL on his Hawk!
I got to watch some great racing on Friday. It was amazing to see some experts consistently losing rear grip near the wall exiting T2 or backing it into T3. Shane and Eric rode like two different species, Shane slamming his bike through T1/1a/2 and Eric flowing through the same turns.
I went to sleep at 8 Friday night, but woke up at 3am thinking about racing and never got back to sleep.
Saturday practice was better, almost every lap was faster than the previous, fastest lap of 1:29.8.
By race 3 NV GTL it had gotten HOT. I was drinking as much water as I could hold down but still felt dehydrated as I suited up. On the grid it was cool to see spectators, so I decided to give them a good show on the start. I had a great reaction time from position 3D, passed 2D, fed the clutch out too fast, wheelied, set it down, wheelied again, set it down crooked, had a big wobble and apparently scared everyone near me enough that I didn't lose any more places into T1.
I remember someone with a goatee saying the key to a 20 minute GT is to conserve energy and movement. That's a great theory until you see you're gaining on someone and the adrenaline kicks in. I had a lot of fun passing and making up ground the whole race, even with a throbbing headache, pounding heart, and fried brain. The toughest to get by was I think #938 Mike Wankum (I only think it was him because of the trick online comparisons on my.nhms.com). I hounded him for a lap or two until he went wide in T3 and I made it by easily.
I did get to relax a little mid-race until coming up on the end of the UL wave when I got to feel like a shark amongst minnows, passing in places I'd never dreamed of before like outside T8. I was getting a better feel for the new tires, even had a longish slide through the bumps exiting T10 that felt "right" instead of scary.
I do need to work on quicker turn-ins; I was blowing apexes by several feet as I got faster on the new tires.
I finished 5th, with a new PB of 1:26.85, with Chris up ahead again in 4th.
I took Sunday off to be with my wife, kids, and Dad. Had a great weekend and felt relieved to finally drop some time on Sunday. Also got to wander around and relax more, good to pit with Chris (thanks for the shade and storage space!), chat with Trouble, Doug & Tyler again, and see a few more familiar faces.
Special thanks to Continental tires, Cortech luggage, and bungees.
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Re: NV #122 round 3 (brady)
Originally Posted by PainfullySlow
