The time between Rounds 4 and 5 felt like an eternity. While
I had spent a fair bit of time at the track in June and early July, most of
July and August were pretty quiet. There had been a lot of progress made after
the last round, but the better part of two months mostly off from the track
also meant my chances at working on application was minimal once that break
hit. Additionally, during this down time, my bike had ended up cropping up with
a few problems that weren’t so easy to solve, the main one being that my CPS
(crank position sensor) and stator had apparently died. Thankfully I was able
to discover all of this in time to get the parts I needed and have the bike
reassembled in time for the next round without completely freaking out. A few
days before I had been able to test ride up and down the street, and all looked
good in that department.
I arrived on Friday night to get my garage and set
everything up. I like having a chill Saturday morning, so that prep the night
before is nice. Saw some of my friends, then headed home for a good night’s
sleep. Saturday dawned relatively clear with a promise of early sun (instead of
the far-too-common-at-Sonoma-fog) which meant the track would warm up fairly
quickly and we’d probably have some good chances for decent practice sessions.
My plan for the first session was to just finish bedding in my new brake pads
anyways, and then to work on applying my “new” techniques to this bike and this
track. I knew I had my work cut out for me as bad habits are just that, and I
knew I’d be fighting them.
My practice sessions went smoothly enough, and I was seeing
times in the 1:55s which was about where most of my races were at the last
round. I knew I’d pick up some time once we actually got out racing. Once tires
were swapped, I was ready for my one Saturday race, Clubman Middleweight. I’m
not a championship contender in this race, but I like having a Saturday race,
so I’ve stuck with this one for this year. We gridded up as the last race of
the day. For most of this race I had bikes around me I was getting to chase and
some I was trying to stay in front of. Eventually things settled out and the
front group was out there beyond my reach, and while there were bikes nearby,
there weren’t many big battles to the end. I finished the race in 9th
place out of 28. What I did do, however, was kill my previous PB at this track,
getting down to a 1:49.4, a good 2 seconds off the best lap I had ever turned
at Sonoma! I was excited for Sunday, I saw places I could make up some time,
and I was hopeful that I could maybe reach my ultimate goals.
Sunday blessed us with another sunny dawn, and we prepared
for our morning races. I was looking at another 5 races, and Sonoma is a VERY
physical track. On Saturday I had started to experience some “arm pump” and was
starting the day out sore already. I knew that keeping my arms relaxed and
doing things right was going to be key to finishing the day strong. If I got
careless, there’s no way I’d last through all 5 races…
My first race was race 2, 750 Production. This has kind of
been a warm up race for me, but still a chance to get out and race! This race
went pretty smoothly, and there wasn’t really any drama. I completed the race
in 7th of 14, with a 1:51.0, not quite what I had done on Saturday,
but still better than the last time we were here. I then had a little down time
before my next race, so I tried to rest up a bit.
600 Production was the next race for me, and this one can
definitely be interesting with the large grids. They launched us novices in a
separate wave, so we got our own start. We took off, and as we’re going into
turn 1, another racer makes a dive-bomb pass across my front. I have to brake a
bit to avoid being taken out, which stands my bike and I nearly punt Tomas who
was on my right. Thankfully we all managed to get through that okay, and the
race continued on. I tried to hang with the front group, but just couldn’t seem
to pull that off, and ended up falling back a bit. We were getting into the
back of the experts towards the end, however, so I knew my times weren’t
horrible. I finished this race in 8th of 25, getting down to a
1:50.5.
Now it was time to rush in and swap my rear wheel. We had
one race and lunch, and I knew I’d need some time to relax as my next two races
were Formula 1 back to back with my one championship contention, Legacy
Middleweight. I knew that two of these back to back was going to tax me
physically, and I didn’t want to be gassed going into it! Thankfully time was in
my favor, and I had plenty of time to do everything, get some food, and still
rest a bit.
I topped off my gas, and we headed out for Formula 1. Another
huge grid with a lot of riders, so novices again got our own wave. I went with
an okay start, but throughout the race was keeping in mind that my most important race was yet to
follow, and to not completely drain myself in this race. I had a clean,
somewhat uneventful finish, and came in 9th of 18 with a 1:51.7,
which definitely was a result of saving myself a bit. I quickly completed my
“cool down” lap and immediately rolled through to my “warm up” lap for Legacy
Mid.
This race is the one where I’m contending for the
championship. Currently in 3rd place, I wanted to not only defend
that, but also try to see if I could squeeze a 2nd out of it before
the year is out. I knew Sam, who I’ve been battling with most of the year in
this race (and the current 2nd place guy) wasn’t going to make that
easy. Since I’m on the front row for the novices in this class, I knew a good
start would pay off. The experts have a small-ish grid as well, so I had room
to take off into. I knew I wanted to nail my start, so I focused hard on making
sure that happened. I saw the green flag coming and launched, well into the
expert pack, passing a few of them off the start. I did my best to hang with
them as long as I could, although some of them are definitely faster, it was a
fun challenge to hang as long as I could. I ended up having a couple of other
experts that I was getting to race throughout the race, and it was giving me a
good run for my money. We quickly hit wave traffic, and the battles began.
There was one expert in particular who I was determined to pass before the end,
and I finally managed it! While that did nothing for my own placing, it was a
great chance to work with the type of competition I’ll be facing next year. I
wasn’t sure of my placing in my class – I knew I was still in front of Sam, but
wasn’t 100% sure if anyone else had made it around. I came in to the pit to
find out that I had WON! Woohoo! My first win! Finished 1st of 5,
with another 1:49.5, which also meant I did a good job of not tiring myself out
in the back to back races.
Now I had a couple races to relax, but I was determined to
finish strong. I didn’t want that win to slow my determination in the last
race. I’m not very competitive in 600 Superbike, but if nothing else, I wanted
to finish strong against my own times. I knew I’d have to dig a little bit to
make it happen, but it was do-able. I wasn’t that drained yet, I could manage
one more race in good standing. I was alone for this one and got ready to go.
At the very last moment I realized I had forgotten to get my grid spot for this
race! Argh! I quickly ran down and got that and was heading back to the garage
when final call came – I just kept repeating my spot in my head since I didn’t
have time to write it down. Thankfully remembered it, and we got gridded up.
Another decent start, and another race where I couldn’t quite hang with the
fast guys, but wasn’t at the back, mostly off on my own, chasing the random
bike here n there. I finished the race in 10th of 21, but still
finished strong with a 1:49.7. While I’d like to see better placing, I was
still happy to have finished right around my best times.
Overall, I was content with the weekend. While I had hoped
to see my times get into the 1:47s, which I obviously didn’t pull off, I still
gained a fair bit of ground from my previous times and was consistently down at
the new times. Getting that first win of my racing career thus far was a pretty
good feeling, too, and it’s pretty awesome to see that trophy on display.
My highlight from the weekend, however, was having my
track/racing mentor stop me on my way back from picking up my trophy that evening.
He had been a coach of mine since I started doing trackdays 4 years earlier,
and we had ended up racing together in the Legacy race for awhile. Basically he
complimented my riding, and the fact that I was officially riding like an
actual racer, and was legitimate competition. While there’s still a lot of time
to be gained, and skills that need a lot of refinement, to hear that from
someone who knew me as a baby C grouper was pretty inspiring!
This entire weekend wouldn’t have had the same results if it
wasn’t for the amazing help I’ve been lucky enough to get on my journey thus
far. Ken Hill’s advice has been invaluable. I can’t do enough to thank my
amazing sponsors for all of their help in reaching that journey. Please do
yourself a favor and take a look at the links on the right side of my blog here
– these companies are good people, who make products and provide services that
are top notch. I’ve known and worked with most of them long before they were
sponsors, and I truly believe they are the best at what they do….and I’m happy
to explain why!
Now on to my best track, Thunderhill Raceway in early
October! Hoping to go out there and put together some laps that will really
show the work that has been going on! See you at the track!
#1stphorm #iam1stphorm #legionofboom
Comments
Post a Comment