I really like having just one weekend taking up time for the club. It’s more work up front prepping for the track day and the races, but it really is nice to not make multiple trips down there.
The Saturday track day had a really light turn out, I didn’t spend as much time on the track as I had the last track day. There wasn’t as much need, I helped out a couple of people, but it allowed me to concentrate on my riding.
I was working on trail braking, but I may have taken it too far. I wasn’t able to run the same lap times on the old config that I’m capable of running. I struggled all day with being able to drive out of the corners. I just couldn’t figure out what was up with me, I know I can go around that track faster then I was. I just didn’t know how bad it was going to be…..
Sunday started of smoothly, and was easier then normal. I actually got to run two practice sessions. First time in two years, that’s happened. I wasn’t running close to my race pace, but I wasn’t concerned, as I don’t ever in practice, but I’m usually a bit quicker then I was going.
So just to mix things up a bit, I’m not going to recap the races in order.
Now I had a blast mixing it up with Dennis in the Super Vintage/Fourmula Femme race. Even though we were really in different classes, I had already given him a hard time earlier in the day. He wanted a rematch and he got it, next time he needs to make sure that he has better tires on that bike so we can have even more fun. I got around him in lap 2 or 3 of the race, he didn’t really push me like he had earlier in the day. I was able to gap him and make sure that he didn’t gain on me.
Even more fun the FF race was the SuperTwins/HW Vintage race. I sat in 4th for the whole race, but I had Dennis right on my tail the entire race. He’d get the drive on my coming out of the hairpin and out of turn 4, but he didn’t have enough to get around me. Just enough for me to hear him there and show me a tire a couple of times, I haven’t had to work that hard since the first FF race when he was in front of me and I struggled to get around him for 8 of 10 laps.
That made the AmU race just that much more exhausting. I really hate those back to back races. It’s like the mini endurance racing. Now, after having to work so hard and then to have a so many rider in this class that usually don’t run it and that are faster then me. I knew I didn’t have a shot at the top 5. I was really frustrated though that I couldn’t get around Dave. I know I’m faster then him. That’s when I really started to wonder what was wrong with me. I have never had to work that hard to hover around a 1 minute lap time. I just wasn’t able to exit the corners like I knew that I should. I ended up finishing dead last, this is a first for me this year and I wasn’t happy about it.
The last race was the NovU race; this is the one that I cared about the most. I knew that Mike was going to take off and I figured that Donny would likely finish 2nd. I was really hoping that I could hold up Matt and finish 3rd, but I had to settle for 4th. It was the same thing as in the AmU race. I was working super hard to just get under the 1 minute mark. I just couldn’t figure out what it was.
After getting back to work and talking with some other racers about what they saw me doing and what I was feeling. There just wasn’t a good explanation as to why I was struggling.