Even though the weekend was cut short, more on that later, it was a really long and tiring weekend for me. It started with having to be down in Abq, early on Friday to first pick up my bike from the dealership and to get the borrowed air fence into place. That didn’t quite go as planned, it took much longer then it should have. I finally left the track just after 9pm. Many thanks to Edda for letting my stay in their spare room for the weekend. It makes things so much easier, then having to drive an hour + home.
Saturday was our July track day and we were running the new configuration CCW. This was the second time, we had used this configuration, but it was going to be the first time that we raced it. There were very few wrecks during the day, if I recall correctly there was only 4 bikes that went down for the day. While that’s never good, but no one was hurt, and all the bikes just need a repairs to look perfect again. It was really cool to see three of my MSF students out there, and to see them riding really well. It was really a blast to ride, but it is awhole lot more work then the other direction. I was beat at the end of the day, and normally control riding doesn’t wear me out like that. I didn’t feel it on Sunday, but I’m kinds sore today.
Later in the day, some concerns were raised about the safety of the new config for racing. I don’t run the same kind of pace that the really fast guys do so I can’t say that I agree with the things thought were an issue. I didn’t see them at my pace. Some of things I thought were interesting since they are things that were complaining about are in place going the other direction as well. It was decided that, we would run the std config. until some of the questions raised could be answered. I was really disappoint, but I’d rather see everyone safe.
Sunday like Sat was cloudy and humid, I kept hoping that it would just do the same. Spit rain, but not so much that it soaked the track, since we can’t run that track in the rain.
I only got in one practice session, since I forgot to plug my warmers in before registration closed. Opps! At least I got one in, and man was I slow.
First race up was the Nov GTO and I was starting in second place. Shame, I almost stalled the bike and then mis-shift coming up to turn two. I ended up at the back of the pack and was unable to get around one of the riders, even though his like 3 seconds a lap slower then me. I’ve gotta stop being so nice with my passes and stuffing people. I had it like 4 times and just wasn’t willing to shove him outta the way. It was one of the most frustrating races I’ve ever had. Since he was on an 1125r I couldn’t out drive him out of the corners, and I kept almost running into the back of him in the turns. His lines were all over the place and twice I had him come in and almost bump my front tire. I really was mad at myself when I got off the track.
The next race up was Am GTU, and I was on the front row again. I knew that I needed to prove to myself that I could do better and I had a great start. Not a hole shot but I was right in the middle of it and I wasn’t going to back off this time. By the end of the first lap I was in fourth and then Brian who was in 3rd when down coming into turn 2 I saw the back of his bike come off the ground and then the dirt went flying. As I came into the turn I could see the bike laying on him, it kinda freaked me out and I rolled off and thought about slowing way down. Once I saw that he was moving, I picked it back up hoping that I hadn’t let anyone get to close when I did that. It took me a lap or two to get back on pace. I managed to hold on to 3rd until the last two laps. Then I had Sean go by me.. I tried to get back past him, and we crossed the s/f with me right behind him. Brian was fine and the bike was pretty damaged, but he was working hard to find a way to make his next race.
Two races later is started to rain hard and we took a lunch break, hoping it would blow on through. It did for the most part but the ground was soaked and was drying up. So the rest of the day was called and at some point we will make up those races.