Ever since the completion of Round
2 I was looking forward to getting back out to the track. With only one
possible track weekend in between, which I wasn’t able to make for a few
reasons, it was feeling like a rather long dry spell even though it was only
about a month. I was able to get packed up and loaded the little RiderzLaw
truck up early enough on Friday that I arrived to the track around 3:00pm and
was able to start setting up the pit in the area another friend had saved for
our group. Bike seemed happy, I was feeling relatively good, and it was looking
like a warm, but tolerable, weekend. I was excited.
Friday night involved a lot of
socializing as we all caught up and started the smack talk. Eventually I
crawled into bed, but the wind continued to blow. It kept me from really
falling asleep as I worried about the canopies we had set up, and eventually I
crawled out of the tent and took down the canopy. In the dark. In the wind. I
went back to bed only to have the flapping of the tent bugging me, so I took
some Benedryl in a desperate attempt to get a little sleep. That helped, and I
finally dozed off for a few hours.
The sun dawned with a beautiful
sunrise, and we began to finish prepping for a day of practice and some racing
in the afternoon. My practice sessions went well enough, and I was feeling
pretty good on the bike. My laptimes were improving, and I was actually beating
my previous PB (which, at the time, was a wildcard lap that I wasn’t able to
repeat or even come very close to at the time) during practice sessions. I knew
racing would see that drop even more, and I was excited to see what I might be
able to accomplish over the weekend.
Over lunch I went ahead and swapped
my tires to some pretty new Dunlop shine, and made sure I was all set for my
race that afternoon. Per the usual, my weekend would start with Clubman
Middleweight. Since Round 1 my grid spots had started to move further up so I
was pretty much racing with the guys I saw in all my other races, making it a
far less stressful experience. Finally grids were marked, the anthem played,
and we were ready to start racing! I headed out for my warm up lap, and we all
gridded up. The two waves in front of us were released, then it was our turn. 2
board, 1 board, green flag! Off we went! I had a decent enough start, and was
behind the front few bikes, and was starting to look forward what was promising
to be a good race. Unfortunately, red
flag a few corners in put a short end to things, and we headed back to the
pits. Despite having gotten a rather stern warning before the race (after all
the mishaps in the first two rounds), there had been another bad crash.
Eventually the track was cleared, but Race Direction was already over it and
moved our race to Race 0 on Sunday. Oh boy, yet again I’d have all six races in
one day – and on this race schedule, I was back to having two of them being
back to back. Well, I had done it at Sonoma, I figured I could do it here too!
In an unexpected turn, once again
Ken Hill had offered to have Cameron Gish review some of my Saturday video for
some feedback. He was able to find a few things to point out and work on, and
the feedback was once again terrific. Since I had also previously arranged to
meet with Jason Lauritzen to review some video, I headed over there a bit later
and got the chance to get his feedback and some suggestions as well. I had an
action plan for Sunday and for going forward on some things to revise, and some
good ideas on conquering my fears of this particular track. After that, time for
a little more socializing, then off to bed for some sleep. It was another short
night, but the wind had died down, and I got a few good hours in before the sun
started creeping up.
As the dawn broke, the birds came
out in full force, loudly chattering away about their opinions on the beautiful
morning. I tried to catch a little more sleep to no avail, and eventually gave
in and got up to putter around the pits and make sure I was all set for what
was sure to be a long, but fun, day. I made sure the bike was ready, I was
ready, and that I had a game plan in place. I would have some of my
friends/teammates/pit mates in every race, and was looking forward to being out
there with them. Our morning practice was completed, and they set up for the
day full of races. I crawled into my Dainese gear and AGV helmet, ready to take
on the track!
Race 0 started the day off as we
finally got last call and headed out for a warm up lap. We gridded up, the
other waves left and we were up. Finally a green flag and we were racing! My
start this time wasn’t as good, and I was a little further back in the pack,
but still far enough up to have a number of bikes to battle with. As the first
few laps went by, eventually the pack started to spread out a little bit, but I
was never really alone in this race. Coming up Turn 9 I saw a friend and his
bike off track and tumbling, hoped he was okay, but the race was still on. No
red flags came out, so that was a good sign. Eventually we finished our
truncated-to-five-laps race and I rolled across the finish line in 11th
of 27 with a best lap of 2:03.6, setting another personal best.
There wasn’t much time off as our
next race was Race 2, 750 Production. I checked my gas, got my grid spot, drank
down some Skratch Labs hydration and basically got ready to head back out. That
race was called shortly after and we rolled out for our first originally
scheduled race of the day. I had a decent enough start again, and due to the
slight increase in my laptimes, I was again getting to battle it out with
several other bikes on the grid and no longer being out in back. It was a great
race, and I finished in 8th of 17 with yet another personal best of
2:02.3. That checked off one of my goals for the weekend (making it to the
2:02’s), and I was feeling pretty good. The advice from both Cameron and Jason
was proving extremely useful, and my confidence was noticeably improving.
My third race of the weekend was a
little later in the morning, 600 Production. A rather large class with some
stiff competition, but I was looking forward to the challenge of continuing to
nip away at the group. We got out to grid, and were launched. Another great
race with a lot of fun battles, and I finished the race mid pack with a 12th
of 24, but setting yet another
personal best with a 2:02.1.
Now it was lunch break and time for
me to get my rear tire swapped. The swap went well enough and I had some time
to eat a bit and then relax before heading out for our Formula 1 race, which
was the first of my two back to back races. Warm up lap completed and we
gridded up. My position on this grid didn’t thrill me as there wasn’t a very
good place to make use of my good starts, and I got hung up in a little
traffic. Per the theme for the weekend, this was another good race, and we
finished up without any major incidents. I crossed the line in 11th
of 17, with a best lap of 2:02.7. After that I went for a quick “cool down” lap
so I could make my “warm up” lap for the next race, Legacy Middleweight.
This is one of the races I find
rather enjoyable as not only are a couple of my friends in it, but it’s also a
relatively evenly matched group of us since the machines can’t make as much of
a difference. We finally got started, and this one turned into a battle! Myself
and another racer were battling it out, passing each other back and forth for
most of the race. We got hung up behind a slower expert, but he was going out
of his way to not let us pass – as soon as he’d hear one of us behind him, he’d
swing his line right across our front tires. This happened several times, but
eventually the rider I was battling managed to get around. Despite this
person’s efforts I finally managed a pass and was back to chasing down my
fellow racer, but he managed to snag the lead at the end. Either way it was a
great race. I headed back to the pits and after taking care of the bike, I
started to feel like I may be beginning to overheat, so took measures to get
that under control as quickly as possible. The rider who I had been battling
with came by the pit to say hi, and he was pretty sure he had been in 2nd
place – well, if that was the case, that meant I was in 3rd! Sure
enough the results posted and I had officially gotten my first trophy against
the boys! I was pretty excited about that! I finished the race 3rd
of 7 with a best lap of 2:02.2.
We had another break of a couple
races before my final race of the weekend, 600 SBK. I had a decent enough start
on this race, and got to chase down some of the faster riders. There was a big
battle in front of me for what looked like 2nd-5th
places, and I was having a chance to ride with one of the experts who was hung
up behind the group of novices in front of us. I was at least able to get a
little more traction this race, so there was a little more confidence in that
department with a little less sliding around. That made for yet another fun
race, and I finished the race in 6th of 15, and set my personal best
laptime of the weekend with a 2:01.2! I was pretty stoked to see that I managed
to finish that strongly after a long, hot day at Thunderhill!
I can’t thank my sponsors enough
for all of the amazing support this year (be sure to check out their offerings –
great products, amazing service – they really are the best at what they do!) –
we’re dropping time, moving up the placings, and overall it has been a good run
thus far! Round 4 is just around the corner, and I look forward to continuing
to improve at the next one!
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