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Race Report - CMRA Round 4 - New Territory


Sometimes in life you just need to proverbially throw yourself to the wolves. Let’s face it, change isn’t easy, and life seems easier when we stay in our comfort zones, but seldom do great things ever happen when that’s the course you choose to take.

Pushing oneself isn’t easy. Doing things outside your comfort zone isn’t easy. A lot can be learned, however, when you try new things and put yourself in situations where you will either shine or fall flat on your face. Or maybe do a bit of both.....

My move to Texas gave me the opportunity to do just that. Since my very first track day, only once had I raced on a track I hadn’t ridden, but I had 2 full days of practice before, and I was still a shiny new yellow plate racer (aka, slow to begin with). That was in March of 2015. Now, in 2019, I had the opportunity to once again throw myself into a situation where I would, no matter what, learn a lot about where I was as a rider, and worst case, make a complete fool of myself.

Deciding to show up to a track I had never seen, with little to no time to do “homework” prior to arriving, to race with an organization I had never so much as attended an event for, surrounded by people I didn’t know was a bit of a leap, but a decision I found surprisingly easy to make. With my goals as a racer where they are, this was a great chance to find out where I am as a rider and racer and, realistically, how close I am to being able to take the next step.

I arrived at MSR Houston on Thursday night with a friend, Jack, who was helping walk me through the ropes with the CMRA. Jack has raced with them for a while but wasn’t back to riding himself yet after an injury, so took his weekend to help this transplant get acquainted with the CMRA. I was also pitting with the single other person I knew there, Shandra, who was going to be racing her Triumph 675.

We got set up and a few introductions were made, and I tried to make sure I was ready for the next day. I hadn’t ridden this bike since getting him back from Gerry (GP Wheel and Frame) after our rather epic high-side at Buttonwillow, so I had more than a few things rolling through my mind. I was able to get the bike through tech that night, so hopefully there would be less to do Friday morning. After dinner it was time for some sleep, but Thursday night didn’t prove to be restful,  and I arrived to the track with less than 45 minutes of sleep that night and rather cranky, on top of everything else I had going through my mind.

Oh well, we deal with it or we don’t, and I just put my head down and got through registration and ready to get out on track, deciding avoiding people was my best bet until I had a chance to wake up and/or a good night’s sleep.

Finally it was time to head out on track – I followed Shandra out, but she was ready to roll and took off. Since I didn’t even really know if I was going left or right yet, I just did my best to figure things out for myself. The practice groups with CMRA are set up different than AFM, and all experts on middle and heavyweight bikes all go out together regardless of laptimes, so it wasn’t particularly easy to find someone to latch onto. I came in knowing I had been going around at a slow C group pace at best, and my times reflected that. My best lap was a 2:19 – definite C group pace.

Combined with my mood, that had me questioning the rest of the weekend – if that time didn’t drop significantly, this was not going to be good. I decided right then that if I wasn’t below 2 minutes on Friday, I was going to scratch the rest of the weekend.

The next session out I had an idea where the track went at least, and Shandra headed out a bit slower and ramped up a bit more slowly. I also had ridden the bike a session and knew it was working and not doing anything too crazy weird. I got down to a flat 2 minutes that session. There was one more morning session, and I decided it was time to start working on picking up the pace a little bit, and I came in to find I had knocked another 4 seconds off, getting into the 1:56s. Okay, looked like I’d be willing to grid up – I knew that was very back of the pack and then some, but it was progress and I knew a little more time would come. The afternoon decided that I needed rest, and rain rolled in, so I got my tires changed and ready for Saturday, with hopes that the weather would start to clear up and I’d get a dry practice and race.

Much more sleep was had that night, and I arrived in the morning, and after some coffee and breakfast, I was ready to go. My first practice session I was right around where I had left off on Friday, rolling in the 1:57s. Still a long ways off the pace, but for having about 20 laps under my belt, I wasn’t complaining too much. The next session I tried latching on to some people and managed to find a little more time, down to a 1:53.8. After this, it was time to wait for my first race.



Thankfully the weather cooperated, and when my race was coming up, things were dry and looking good. We had worked through a few set up and tire pressure issues, and the bikes seemed as ready as it was going to be, and I was feeling ready to go. We rolled up to the grid, only to end up with a restart. Okay, fine, eventually back out we went. CMRA launches off lights, which I knew about, but was a new experience for me, and my first start I totally botched, ending up stalling the bike. I took me a moment to even realize what had just happened (first time for everything!) and then I threw a hand up only to realize I was at the back of the grid anyways, and they were getting ready to release the novice wave behind me, so I just punched the starter and took off with a couple anger-wheelies down the front straight. I caught up to the back of the group before too long, made a couple passes, got passed, and in general had some fun, never really feeling like I was “alone” on the track. I came in to find I had broken into the 1:49’s.



I was determined that Sunday I wouldn’t botch my starts again, so relaxed and watched some of the later racing and made sure I was all set for the next day.

Sunday I decided to skip practice as it had been raining all night and I knew track conditions would change a lot between then and my race. Like an idiot, however, I didn’t look at the schedule very well, and realized too late there were actually 2 full practice sessions Sunday morning and I could have done the second one with more confidence. Oh well, the first race up was A Superbike, where I knew I wouldn’t really do anything anyways, so just made sure I was ready to head out for that.

My start was closer to normal this time and I was starting to figure out the timing on the number boards vs the lights, so was in the mix this time. Had a few battles with a couple other bikes, managing to hold off a few riders for a while (much to their frustration I’m sure), and had cleaned up some lines overnight after reviewing video, so still had a good time chasing a few people down. I came in to find I had dropped a teensy bit more time, down to a low 1:49. I was getting to a time where there were some other bikes to battle with, so was never really alone at all this time.



My last race of the day was the F40 Heavyweight, and I looked forward to that knowing I might actually be able to fight for a place or two. My start was decent enough this time, and I managed to find a few riders to battle with the entire race. Things were slowly coming together now, and I found a little more time, getting down into the 1:47s.



There’s still lots of time to be had – another 10 seconds to be thinking about top 5, and about 12 to be looking at potential podiums. Overall, however, I was not disappointed with my weekend. As always, it wasn’t quite enough for me to be “ecstatic” over my performance, but I wasn’t disappointed by what I was doing, either. I saw plenty of places where I could easily make up some additional time, much of which was just a matter of my lack of comfort with the track, and then just some riding skills I need to clean up/work on.

The best parts of the entire weekend were the things I was able to learn about myself as a rider and racer, and the chance to really test where I’m at, where my weaknesses lie, and what things really are just “preconceived” ideas vs actual lacking skills. What I did learn was that my ideas of what I thought was partly hold me back was probably true, and this weekend also highlighted very specific things I can work on to improve my times. The learning experience was invaluable, and I am excited to take what I learned, work to improve those areas, and make some big steps towards the next goals!



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