I was at Loudon for round 2 of the LRRS. On Friday, I took the Penguin School's basic course. The course went well. The Instruction form Steve Nogueira was great, he put everything we needed to know in plain language.
I was enjoying the Friday practice sessions but had a crash towards the end of the day in turn 10. A little too much front end input and being offline over the transition into the nascar oval led to a wash out. I was ok and the bike just had some minor damage.
Being just 30 minutes before the rookie race I rushed to replace the damaged footpeg assembly and put my clipons and front brake lever back in their proper positions. I was able to get it fixed with several minutes to spare. and successfully completed the rookie race and got my license! :shredder:
I was only staying for Saturday which meant that I was going to have just one race, ULWGP. I was gridded in the third row, and managed to get a good start, being in 2nd position by turn 1. I quickly gave up a few positions and was in 5th by the completion of lap 1. I worked in a few passes and found myself behind Brett Larson, (on of the two others on SV650's). He proved to be a bear to pass but we were dicing it up pretty well until the end. I finished in 2nd and had the most fun on a two wheels I have had in a long time.
My best lap was 1:26 and I felt like I was just scratching the surface of what the bike will do.. Following a fast rider and wanting to pass put me in the spot where I pushed the bike harder than I had in practice. It gave me new confidence in what the tires are capable of and how much more I can start pushing the bike.
Future race reports to come!
