06/30/2015
Wmrra Round 3 of Race-Racing Reporting.
My goal for this round was to drop 1-2 seconds from my previous best, and knew I could find that time in Turns 10-11. Yup, new PR is 1:47.064 - 1.1 ticks or more quicker.
Friday - Instructing for 2Fast was rewarding in a different way that day. My student left happier than someone who's really, really happy, which is the goal. It was hot. Cool, delicious beverages were enjoyed by all.
Saturday - 750ss - got an average start, ended up 8th out of 12. I'm fairly certain I pulled into the pits about 4-5 pounds lighter from sweating.
600ss - refreshed and ready to do battle again - 10th out of 17. Still a ways away from my goal time. In this race, by lap 2 I have swallowed the sun, and my mouth is a pizza brick oven but without the pizza, or beer that comes with the pizza.
Clubman Qualifier - a.k.a. "The Party Class". I was still kinda hesitant about running in this class, but it's been good for me in the past as I really enjoy the folks i race with and the battles are numerous! I grid up in the front row of the 2nd wave, and after Brandi starts us 2nd-wavers with the flag, I get a good start and start looking for rabbits to chase. This was a fun race, and I really enjoyed duking it out with Shane Moore ( #61 on a lovely Duc..) for the last 3 or so laps - swapping positions, having a blast! I have no idea what position i'm in when the checkers are shown, but i find out later i actually came in 1st. But, due to clubman's lap time rules, my times were below the cutoff and so DQ'd me, so "no soup for me.." I don't mind one bit, because my battle with Shane was the bestest fun all year, and chasing/being chased scored me my new PR in this race. The only trophy I needed at this point was the Coke from the bottle over ice, that tasted like brown, cola-flavored victory after this race. Cold, delicious beverages were enjoyed by all, again.
Sunday - Rain. Whaaaa? Yup, Sunday was much cooler than the 98deg-in-the-shade Saturday. Swapped my soft rear out for a medium rear in anticipation for any chance of racing later in the day on the proper tire in case the spotty rain holds off. Which, thank God, it did. Yay, let's do this.
600sbk - gridded up 2nd row - got great start and was up into 3rd or so through Turn 4, and began my slow descent backwards to my eventual placing of 8th out of 12. I learned a lesson about Turn 7 in this race, as a rider stuck it inside of me just before 7, which led to a second rider to sneak by me. Grrr.
750sbk - 2nd row grid again. Great start, up into 3rd until Chase learned from the 600sbk race not to waste too much time behind me and showed me the inside line as he went by me into 6 first lap around. But literally seconds later, Mark took a tumble down the hill at 7, which bumped me back in 3rd. ("don't look. hey, cool sparks. stop looking. don't look. don't look at the crash. look thru the turn. Oh, sorry mark hope you're ok, but i've gotta finish this race..") I started my usual backwards progression, and end up 8th out of 13.
Being able to get those great starts, put my head down and juuuust barely hang on to the lead pack for a couple laps, for Sunday's races, was a confidence booster coming out of this weekend - slow, but sure progress. Learned more about tires, and what they can tell you about your throttle application.
Next Round - July 18-19 at Pacific Raceways in Kent.
photo cred - brendan, my son who claims to never get "photo creds."
