Over all I was really pleased with how the day went. Just because I set a new personal best lap time for the std configuration, I beat my previous best time by .45 seconds. Which is just huge, I’d been stuck for 3 years with the same personal best and I know that the other two times I ran that time it was a fluke. This time, I had a number of laps in that range. I wasn’t as consistent as I would have liked, but it wasn’t as bad as some of the weekends I’ve had.
I had a plan for the day, the same one that I’ve been focused on for a couple of months now. Get to the Apex. Add Throttle. Now of course there are some other things that go with this like trailing the brakes to the apex, getting the bike aimed in the right direction, making the apex the slowest part of the corner (where my lean angle is the greatest) then picking the bike up as I add the throttle, driving it to the exit point, using the whole track as much as possible and keeping my eye moving up the track. Each time I made a mistake, I pushed it aside, continued with the plan, trying to make sure that I didn’t make the same mistake again in the next corner.
I prefer small increments of change, rather then the huge leaps some take. I don’t believe in scaring myself. That last TD was a good example, I went at a fast pace working on trailing the brakes to the apexes, and not once did I worry about keeping the bike or my self in one piece. I might have 1 moment a day, where so many of the people I talk with talk about having a ‘moment’ at least once a lap, if not every corner. I’ve gotten grief from some of the guys about how much faster I could be if I’d just push myself more. I’m just not sure I buy into that way of thinking.
Now I did make some mistakes during my races, especially on the starts. (Yeah, what a shocker) I stood the bike up on the start of the first race and stalled it. Now, I was shocked at how quick I got the thing started and took off. Too bad most of the Thunder bike grid got in front of me. I did make it up to 4th by the end of the race though. Then in the next race I spun up the rear tire trying to make the pass on Perry, because once again I got a horrible start, only this time I coasted through turn one in neutral. Not sure how I finished in that one, at the back I’m sure. My third start was slow but without any major foul ups. At least I got the hole shot in Formula Femme. One of the highlight of my day was lapping Mr Riffe. Just kiddin, kinda. Winning that one put me into first place for the EOY championship, not by much though so I still need to win the last race of the year to clinch it.