Oh, thanks bro! I was just about to post up a little race report here & saw this... thanks for puttin a nice grin on my face.
Good to finally meet ya, sorry I didn't get a chance to swing by & hang out, I was either busy, tired as hell or away from the track checking out a GS500 for my girlfriend (which she's buying
) I'll try harder to come over & chill w/ you guys in September. If not, c'mon over to any of the pit areas by the top of the hill & you'll usually find me. I'll introduce ya to the whole crew
A contrats back to you, too... I see ya did a 23 flat in Thunderbikes, did you break into the 22's at all?
Anyway, here's that full report.
I raced last race weekend, the first race in 3 months since my injury.... but last race weekend was a little bit of a flop. I was happy w/ what I was capable of in practice, but limping a bike to the checkered w/o enough fuel in the tank to run 100% in the only race of the weekend isn't fun (damn rookie mistakes). Luckilly, this weekend was much better. The wrist still bothers me in some places, mainly trail braking into the bowl (hard on the brakes and turning left, countersteering w/ that left hand) but not as bad as last weekend.
Saturday:
Lightweight Sportman.... I had a nice little battle mid race w/ fellow EX rider Conor Joyce & edged him out by the end with two laps left. I woulda been happy w/ 26's but when I checked the times it showed I clocked off three laps in the 25's... I'm back within 1/2 a second of where I was at before I broke my wrist
On the last lap I checked behind me for Conor & saw I was about a second or two ahead of him, so I backed off just a touch but still rang up a 1:25.470, my fastest of the race. I crossed the line well behind a gaggle of motards in 7th place but got the moral victory of being the first AM EX500 into turn 1 & the first AM EX500 across the finish line. Granted, some of the major EX500 players were absent, but it was still a great feeling being back in front of the usual guys I'm ahead of.
Sunday:
Production Twins, the "main event"... I got the holeshot on the first start, put my head down for a lap, but out comes a red flag as we go into turn 1 for the second time.... On the restart I got another great jump and woulda been 1st going into turn 1 but I popped outta gear 1/2 way to the 4 board... I got it right back into gear quickly but my teammate Clayton beat me to the turn 1 turn-in point.... I re-passed him around the outside in turn 1 & was first going into 1A.
After that Clayton and fellow EX-er Jonathan Vaughan started picking up the pace & they each got past me. After the race Jonathan complimented me on my lines, cornerspeed & braking points. He said I rode really well & was a tough one to pass. He had to follow me for a few laps to pick up on any weak points, but he eventually found one & squeaked off a clean pass.
A couple laps later Conor Joyce snuck past me going into turn three but went a little wide. I was able to get a slightly better drive out of 3 and up 4 and re-passed him going into the bowl on the brakes & didn't see him again the remainder of the race.
I started catching Clayton & John when they began getting into a little bit of traffic & pulled to within less than 1/2 a second of them, but they were able to get through & picked up the pace again.
On the white flag lap, they came up to another big gaggle of motards, 125's etc and I pulled back up to them going into turn 11... I knew I wasn't gonna be able to pass either one for position w/ all the other bikes that were between us so I left a little room between me and a Motard that was in the back of that pack. At that point, coming into 11, Charlie Tarna passed me but had to check up because of the motard. His line was wide into 11a and thus outta 12 and I was able to get a slightly better drive. We drag raced to the checkered and I beat him by half a wheel... only 23 THOUSANDTHS of a second I clocked off mostly 26's and 27's, but rang up another mid 25 and finished 3rd. The first 4 EX's to cross the line did so with only 1.5 seconds between them... MAN it was a great race
If i can get that last 1/2 a second to be back where I was before breaking my wrist I think I can give Clayton & Jonathan a run for their money
Congrats Oreo...
Linear Mode
