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As has been the trend lately, this report is long. Cliff's Notes: Most successful race weekend to date.
Once again this weekend, RSP Racing teammate Keith Draghi(769)<catahoulabulldog> was not going to be in attendance, so he offered to let me continue to use some components from his Supersport SV. His cartridge forks, Brembo master, and wave rotors allowed me to maintain much greater confidence over my damping rod forks and stock brake system.
Arrived Thursday evening, and just hung out/slung tires on Friday.
Saturday
Eager to get some practice starts and loosen up, I made sure to get out for as much of our allotted practice time as possible. First practice I felt very slow and deliberate, which didn't bother me as I usually need that time to loosen up. Was surprised to see a 22.9 in that session, which bode well for the day. Second practice was nothing special, kept working on starts and kept loosening up.
Lightweight Grand Prix
I got a good launch in this race, and was able to carry it well into T1 to take the holeshot, for a 1:24 outlap. From there, I led every lap from green to checkered, setting a new PB of 1:21.027 in the process and getting my first 1st place for the season! I tried out my old GoPro(first gen SD) cameras for this race, but the front is just empty track, and the rear shut itself off after about 1.5 laps. That video is below. RSP teammate Bill Coolahan(447)<Mustang> and competitor Shane Lewis(276) were both reasonably close on my tail, but I never looked back, just kept my head down and rode my race.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3Kei...ature=youtu.be
Sunday
Went out for both practice, felt alright but tight. A common theme for me is that I am about 1 second slower on Sundays(even on weekends when I skipped ANY partying Sat night and went to bed at 10pm). I've been working on my off event fitness, but I think I need to give a closer look to how I treat my body during the weekend, as in eating better and drinking water later Sat and Sunday.
Lightweight Superbike
I was bumped to the second row on this grid due to some late entries, and I did not get a great start. I was able to get around a few riders into T1, but I still spent the first two laps held up by a rider who was out motoring me, and also no slouch on the brakes, so I had trouble squeezing by. Once past, I knew I was in third but also knew I had some people behind me who would be looking to capitalize on my slow first two laps. Sure enough, somewhere around lap 6 young gun Jake Vader(201) somehow shoehorns his 125 bike in between me and the wall in T2, rocketing around me into the chute for 3. Luck was on my side, as we came upon a lapper and Jake tried to take the fast line around the outside. I stayed waayyyy inside, and basically planted my kickstand at the apex, spun the bike around to point up the hill, and started moving again. This made the lapped rider, and Jake, check up which put me back into third. I held it for the remainder of the race, to find that Jay Ameno(978) crashed out of 2nd place, advancing me to that position. Best lap of 21.8 with most of the race in the 22's. Great fun battling with Jake.
Lightweight Supersport
I knew that both Shane Lewis(276) and teammate Bill Coolahan(447), who have both been finishing ahead of me regularly this season yet both lost to me in LWGP Saturday, would be out to not only shut me down here, but also to battle it out as they are in a tight race for the points in this class. I was not wrong, as both of them got great starts and gradually ran off into the distance. I had no stamina left for this race, and after a 22 early on, I dropped off to 23's, then a 24...and then Aaron Wolfe(115) came around me on lap 5 from nowhere, pushing me off the podium and into 4th place. Not wanting to lose out this particular race podium especially, I put my head down and picked up the pace, throwing down three 1:22 laps at the end of the race, getting by Aaron in T11 and not looking back. 3rd place with a best lap of 22.0.
This was another great race weekend, my best yet from a racing results standpoint. A new PB of 21.0, one each of a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place position is a great way to put my SV to bed for the winter. (more on that in a bit)
As always, I'd like to thank all my sponsors, especially my Round 5/6 sponsor and teammate Keith Draghi(769)<catahoulabulldog> for loaning me his front end, which gave me the confidence to go faster, and also for helping me to get my head on straight with lots of advice and constant prodding to get me moving in the right direction. I really couldn't have made these improvements without you, and I look forward to gridding up with you once again in October.
There's always more people to thank than space to thank them, so please if I forgot you don't take offense:
Center garage neighborhood crowd - all my friends who make the off track part of racing just as fun as the on track part. You all know who you are! This of course includes the people who come up to hang out and support us, specifically this round Eric(ct1200), Brendan(BMC600RR) and Virginia(ginnyleigh), as well as all the family members of my friends and teammates; you guys are all the best! Round 7 in October is guaranteed to be a blast, and I hope we can all close the season out together, and maybe even get some more friends to join us!
My RSP teammates - all of them, present and not - for the constant and continued encouragement and support. I'm keeping it moving, and knowing you guys are following the races and race updates from home means a lot.
Special teammate thanks to Brian, Mike and Bill for helping out in the garage this weekend. With Tony unable to make it up, and Graham pulling his usualy double duty as an LRRS official, I appreciate you guys having my back when I was away from the garage, answering questions of jumping in to mount up some tires for me.
Round 7 will be a whole new ballgame, as I'll be returning the awesome front end to Keith so he can make his return to the LW grids at LRRS in October. Since I've made such gains in performance and confidence, and since I plan to perform similar upgrades to my SV for next season, I've decided not to race it in October. I'd be very disappointed if I went back to the softer front end and didn't do well, and I doubt I'll lose the 80 pounds needed to make those forks work well in the next 3 weeks.
With this in mind, teammate Dave Pang(910)<pangerang> has once again offered to let me run his Kawasaki EX650R for a weekend, so I will be preparing that and running it in LWSB and LWGP next month. I look forward to trying a very well sorted, yet very foreign, machine. I am hoping to find an opportunity to get one full day of race practice in before the next round on this bike.
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Originally Posted by Mr. Kurtz
