CCS Blackhawk race write up Sept 27-28

[Raven R1]

CCS race write-up:

Blackhawk Farms on a double points weekend and I have 292 amateur points accrued so far this year, if I enter more than one race I will lose my amateur status. I came into this weekend with the intent of only running the Unlimited Supersport Race (USS); I was second in points behind Smiley who had the championship sewn up because he had raced the majority of the weekends while I had only raced half the schedule. I knew that I could lock up 2nd place in this class as long as I just entered and gridded up. On the way to Blackhawk with my entire family I thought about just entering all the races I normally enter and letting the chips fall where they may, if I get bumped to expert…so be it.

When I arrived at Blackhawk bright and early on Saturday morning I immediately had a conversation with Ron Hix and asked him his thoughts on what I should do. He told me that I should just grid up for my races, enjoy my last weekend as an amateur and go to the next level, he told me that if I wanted to get faster and excel that I needed to run with the guys that will push me to become a faster and better rider. After I put some more thought into it and talked with my wife I decided to go ahead and register for the races I normally run and to also sign up for the GTO, which I had never run before.

GTO:
Up to this point I had always entered the sprint races and had never ventured into the land of the GT races. After my first GT race…I have to say whoever invented this race was a sadist. I figure that my viewpoint on this might change with the loss of about 30lbs…but right now…this race was horrible for me. I lined up for the race with tires that already had 2 sprint races and one trackday on them which meant that I would have to be a little more cautious. I started out and tried to pace myself for about half the race but I didn’t see the half way flag come out and kept thinking “man, where is the white flag?. We must be on lap 50!” combined with thoughts of “Did they forget about us? Did the flag person go for a cup of coffee? When will this end?” I worked my way up to 4th place and couldn’t see Johnny Leconte in 3rd place anymore so I just settled into a good, but thoroughly tired, pace and managed to limp across the line still in 4th, but thoroughly out of gas. The tires really started to go away on me towards the end of the race as I felt the rear kicking out in 1, 6b and 7 and the front sliding in the carousel. I don’t regret entering the race because I wanted to know what it felt like to run flat out for 25 minutes, but in reality I really don’t have the stamina to run one of these races competitively right now and it really gave me some insight into how out of shape I am.

Unlimited Supersport:
I was very excited about this race and felt I had a very good chance to win it. I had some “new to me” tires on (read: takeoffs) and was feeling good. I entered turn one in 3rd and moved past the 2nd place guy on the inside entering turn 3. I caught up to the leader Smiley at the end of lap 1 and when we both finished turn 7, I figured he had enough of a lead on me that he would outrun me down to turn 1. I then started pulling on him like crazy down the straight and blew past him going past the tower. (I later found out that Smiley was having transmission troubles and was banging the rev limiter in 3 all the way down the front straight) I was now in first and I just thought about being smooth and consistent and hitting my lines and not doing anything to take myself out of 1st. I looked back several times throughout the following laps and seemed to be gapping the field a little bit. When I turned around towards the end of lap 6 I didn’t see anyone right behind me so I dialed it back a little bit to try and save my tires and cruised to my second win of the year. I can’t even begin to tell you how exhilarating it is to take it across the line in first place…it just doesn’t get much better than that feeling….knowing you may not have run the fastest lap…but you ran the best race.

Unlimited GP:
I knew I wouldn’t have time to change tires before this race so I gridded up with the takeoffs I ran in the last race. I also knew this would be a tough race with a couple of very fast 600 riders entering. I knew I would have to run fast and consistent to podium this race. I entered turn 1 about mid pack and proceeded to work my way through until I came up behind Smiley in 3rd. I spent the next 4 or 5 laps right on his tail trying to get the drive on him but not quite getting it done. Smiley and I run a VERY similar pace at Blackhawk so it’s tough for me to get by him, he is incredibly strong on the drive and handles the bike very well…I could see the bank end working its way out on him on every corner and him just feathering the throttle to bring it under control. Towards the end of the race my tires really started to move around on me and I struggled to put together fast laps. On lap 6 I figured if I didn’t get the pass on Smiley done that I wasn’t ever going to get it done. Coming into turn one on lap 7 I held the throttle open just a hair longer and came in deeper on the brakes than I ever have on the inside of Smiley. I struggled to get the bike in control coming down to the Apex with the backend wanting to come up. I finally managed to get the bike settled down but by this time I was right on the apex and if I were to take it at speed I would have been pushed out way wide and Smiley would have driven up underneath me. I figured if I slowed the bike a hair more and turned it up the inside of 1 he wouldn’t have the opportunity to drive up underneath me so I took a chance that he had committed to the inside line and shamelessly parked that bike right in front of him to take the position. I had to run incredible defensive lines throughout the last lap to keep him from coming up the inside of me, my tires were really fading fast and the bike was all over the place on the drive out of the corner. I managed to hold him off and bring it home in 3rd and got a new personal best laptime at Blackhawk with a 1.14.075 best my previous mark of 1.14.194.

Unlimited Superbike:
I knew two things for this race…1. I needed to put on new tires 2. It was the last race of the year and I wanted to let it all hang out and see where that took me.

I worked between my last race (race 7) and my next race (race 10) to get on the tires that Dustin had changed for me and put on my spare set of rims after race 5. With the help of Chris and Joe I managed to get them changed and onto the warmers as race 9 was on their sighting lap. I knew the tires wouldn’t have a lot of time to warm up but it was the best that I could do. I waited to the last possible second to pull the warmers off and went out for the sighting lap. As I came around turn 7 for the sighting lap I felt good…my tires felt good…I was ready to go. Entering turn one I was in third place behind Smiley and Mike Ayers. I worked my way past Smiley on the 2nd or 3rd lap and started after the leader Mike Ayers. On lap 4 with Smiley right on my tail we came up on two Experts that had gone off course and were coming back on. I got past the first expert quickly and fell in behind the other expert waiting till I could pass. I followed him for a little more than a lap and was right on his tail when he started looking for me coming out of one, he checked again for me right before two as I was setting him up to take him up the inside entering 3. I just had committed to the pass and was rolling on the throttle when he put his arm up and moved over RIGHT INTO ME! My first thought was “This isn’t going to be good…I’m going to crash”, I moved to the right as much as I could to give him room and we collided as he continued to move right. We seemed stuck together for an eternity as I saw plastic flying off of one of our bikes….I just concentrated on keeping the bike upright and not being abrupt on the controls. He finally moved left and I saw daylight up the inside and rolled on the throttle expecting to see Smiley flash by on my left making the pass. I shrugged off my little get together and turned my attention to catching the leader, I continued to push and was pulling closer to him when I crossed the finish line in 2nd. I managed to better my previous lowest laptime (1.14.075) that I set in my previous race with four laps in the 13’s and a best of 1.13.496.

I ended up finishing 2nd overall in Unlimited Supersport while only racing 5 race weekends. I also dropped my laptimes at Blackhawk from a 17.5 to a 13.5...overall not too bad in my opinion.

I feel good about this season even though I didn’t have a chance to run a full season and vie for an amateur regional championship. I think I could have been competitive in a couple of the classes and might have even taken 1 or 2 regional championships home with me…but I will never know. Since I knew that I accrued more than the 400 points needed to bump up to expert I briefly considered applying for a change of status to remain an amateur for next year and trying to compete for a regional championship. I once again sought the advice of Ron and also called Marshall Skloss for his opinion…I valued each of their opinions as they both have run a full season, one as an expert and one as an amateur. After speaking to both of them I have made the decision that I will not apply for a status change and I will remain an expert. Marshall made an excellent point in letting me know that being an expert gave me much more flexibility than running for an amateur championship, if it was raining and I didn’t want to race then I didn’t have too. If my kids were sick and I couldn’t make it for a race weekend…no big deal. Thinking about this…I thought that winning a class championship wasn’t as important to me as just getting faster and working on my skills. This leads me to what Ron said to me. He said “how are you going to get faster if you aren’t racing against guys who are faster”. Taking both of these guys advice and also analyzing my progression…I decided their advice was sound and it was in my best interest to take the bump to expert.

Thanks to Murf, Burrito, Gu, Smiley, Malik, Chris, Joe, Marshall, Dustin, Ian, Paul and anyone else that helped me throughout the season with their support and advice. Also a special thanks to Ron Hix for convincing me to get my butt to Freddie and with all your help and guidance throughout the year.

[jigs]

Great read bro!! I'll say it again....most improved rider by far this year.Really impressive watching your ascention....and alot of fun...see you in DAYTONA baby!!

[Tgunn13]

Nice job, Brian!! AWESOME read!!! You have really come a long way this season, and I tip my hat to you.

[spuds]

nice write-up brian!!!

and good job this season!!!! droppin that many sec. off in a year is amazing!!!!

[Raven R1]

Thanks guys...enjoyed this year and I appreciate everyones support

[pointer]

WTG Mang...

[Murf99]

It took me a couple of days worth of 'quota' time to get through - but thanks for posting up. I know that others appreciate your insight into the sport.

Brian, you've done really well this year - you have a lot to be proud of. Would you have beleived, 2 years ago, that you would be turning 13s, a NESBA CR, and winning amateur races? Would you have beleived that at the beginning of the season?

Great work, and congratulations on your results - not just this weekend, but all season!