MikeM
08-12-2008, 02:51 PM
#196 Race Report
My brother Brian and I got to the track on Friday for the Adrenaline Freaks day so we could get set up for the big weekend. I was excited because Brian was planning on racing his big bike as well as beastly ZX-10 this weekend. (Luckily I’m done with the 600;-)
I was on a mission to push a little and figure out the Dunlop’s that I had thrown on the bike. Brian and I both have been contemplating a change and we were still on the fence kind of. Brian was trying some other tires but on the second session of the day he had a small miss hap and slid out of 6. Luckily he wasn’t hurt but it did end his day and then he spent all of Saturday putting it back together for his race on Sunday.
Saturday morning rolled around and I woke up around 5AM listening to the dripping of the gutters outside. CRAP! It seems like all we do is ride in the rain up here. As I was getting ready to go I was seriously considering heading off to California, I’m seriously sick of riding in the rain. I know some guys think its fun and all and I’m not bad at it, I just think it sucks!
I finally managed to roll out of bed and headed out to the track not looking forward to riding at all. I mounted up some rains and went out for two laps to scrub them in just a tad. I’ve spent the last couple rain races watching guys like Porter and Lash just throw the bike into the corner and it would just stick and go with the Dunlop rains. I was on a different tire and just couldn’t get on the gas as hard as they could. So I was kind of anxious to give those a try.
After sitting around all day for the 4pm race there was just too much stuff that had happened in the day and our race got bumped to Sunday morning, which was fine by me because it was supposed to be dry.
Sunday Morning
I got to the track in a much better mood today. The weather looked like it was going to cooperate with us and I was ready to try and go fast! I went out in fast practice to scrub in my tires and put my head down a little bit to see how they felt. This would be my first race on the Dunlop’s here at this track so I was curious to see what I could do with them.
Open SS
I was gridded on the front row right next to Sully and on the other side was Ross. It’s a little intimidating to be sitting on the grid right next to the guys you have always looked up too and wished you could actually keep up with.
The light went out and I got an okay start, coming out of Turn 2 I was right on Ross’ tire and he was charging hard after Sully. I was fairly comfortable with the pace we were doing and was shocked when I glanced at my timer and saw a 1:26 flat. It was one of the coolest things in the world to be riding with Ross and Sully, every time we came out of Turn 2 we were all 3 spinning up the rear leaving darkies all the way down the hill. I was having some trouble with arm pump and was cursing my new office position for the last couple laps. I couldn’t quite keep up with the pace the leaders were keeping so I kind of backed off just a bit so that I could bring it home. I had decided 3rd was good way to start the day off, so for the rest of the race I was on cruise control and brought it home still shiny.
After the results were posted I didn’t feel too bad about not being able to keep up. Sully set a new track record and Ross was right on his heels. I was super excited as I had reached my goal of getting into the 25’s this year with a 1:25.9, just barely but that’s all it takes.
Formula Ultra
I didn’t have to change tires for this race which was a new experience for me as I was used to needing at least a new rear for every race, but these were still gripping great. I put race gas in this time hoping I could go a bit faster. I was excited for my brother who got his bike back together in time to come out and play. The last race weekend he was in he had a tire problem and for this race he was trying the Dunlop’s too.
I was on the front row again but got a pretty terrible start, there were even 750’s from the second row coming past me. I got a couple guys going into 2 and was running in like 4th coming out of 2. I was pretty bummed but knew that I could push past a couple people because Eli was ahead of me and he was on a 750. Coming out of 4 I heard Ross’ bike and moved over just a touch because I knew he was going to be after it this race to try and get his lap record back. I tucked in behind him and we started putting our heads down. As we were coming into turn 9 we were carrying quite a bit more speed than some of the guys ahead of us. Eli was riding a different line and cut in hard to the corner. Ross had to get on the brakes hard to avoid hitting him and unfortunately tucked the front. He fell directly in front of me and I almost crashed trying to avoid running over him. I kept pushing since the red flag hadn’t come out but was pretty distracted thinking about my buddy Ross and wondering if he was hurt, he went down hard. Going into turn 2 the red flag came out so they could get Ross off the track we found out on the line that he had a broken collar bone and had the wind knocked out of him. I was relieved to hear that he was going to be okay but bummed because this was not the way I wanted to get a shot at finishing higher than 3rd.
We lined back up and this time I got a much better start. I was right on Sully’s rear tire coming out of 2 and feeling pretty good. I sat back there for a couple laps hoping he would push a little too hard and go wide. Once or twice there was a spot I could have stuck it in there but I didn’t want to fall and really didn’t want to take Sully out trying a stupid pass. I continued to push hard just in case Sully made a mistake but since that doesn’t happen very often I settled for 2nd which is the best finish for me so far this year.
Turned out to be a good weekend, I almost broke even with Suzuki money, I reached my personal goal of 25’s ending up with a 1:25.6 as my best lap, I was able to get a second place in Formula Ultra, I got my AMA paperwork signed so that I can apply to race in Laguna round coming up in September and the best thing of all was that I could say that I was racing with Ross and Sully!
I’d like to thank all my sponsors that made this all possible.
The Good Lord for all his blessings and provision
Team XLSR Racing
Aurora Suzuki
Motors by Fuzzy
KFG Dunlop tires (They ROCKED thanks Barry!!!)
EDR Performance (it ran great Eric)
NESBA
Vortex racing
Veserah Brake Pads
Lockhart Phillips
Powerstands
My Brother Brian
My understanding wife who puts up with me!
My brother Brian and I got to the track on Friday for the Adrenaline Freaks day so we could get set up for the big weekend. I was excited because Brian was planning on racing his big bike as well as beastly ZX-10 this weekend. (Luckily I’m done with the 600;-)
I was on a mission to push a little and figure out the Dunlop’s that I had thrown on the bike. Brian and I both have been contemplating a change and we were still on the fence kind of. Brian was trying some other tires but on the second session of the day he had a small miss hap and slid out of 6. Luckily he wasn’t hurt but it did end his day and then he spent all of Saturday putting it back together for his race on Sunday.
Saturday morning rolled around and I woke up around 5AM listening to the dripping of the gutters outside. CRAP! It seems like all we do is ride in the rain up here. As I was getting ready to go I was seriously considering heading off to California, I’m seriously sick of riding in the rain. I know some guys think its fun and all and I’m not bad at it, I just think it sucks!
I finally managed to roll out of bed and headed out to the track not looking forward to riding at all. I mounted up some rains and went out for two laps to scrub them in just a tad. I’ve spent the last couple rain races watching guys like Porter and Lash just throw the bike into the corner and it would just stick and go with the Dunlop rains. I was on a different tire and just couldn’t get on the gas as hard as they could. So I was kind of anxious to give those a try.
After sitting around all day for the 4pm race there was just too much stuff that had happened in the day and our race got bumped to Sunday morning, which was fine by me because it was supposed to be dry.
Sunday Morning
I got to the track in a much better mood today. The weather looked like it was going to cooperate with us and I was ready to try and go fast! I went out in fast practice to scrub in my tires and put my head down a little bit to see how they felt. This would be my first race on the Dunlop’s here at this track so I was curious to see what I could do with them.
Open SS
I was gridded on the front row right next to Sully and on the other side was Ross. It’s a little intimidating to be sitting on the grid right next to the guys you have always looked up too and wished you could actually keep up with.
The light went out and I got an okay start, coming out of Turn 2 I was right on Ross’ tire and he was charging hard after Sully. I was fairly comfortable with the pace we were doing and was shocked when I glanced at my timer and saw a 1:26 flat. It was one of the coolest things in the world to be riding with Ross and Sully, every time we came out of Turn 2 we were all 3 spinning up the rear leaving darkies all the way down the hill. I was having some trouble with arm pump and was cursing my new office position for the last couple laps. I couldn’t quite keep up with the pace the leaders were keeping so I kind of backed off just a bit so that I could bring it home. I had decided 3rd was good way to start the day off, so for the rest of the race I was on cruise control and brought it home still shiny.
After the results were posted I didn’t feel too bad about not being able to keep up. Sully set a new track record and Ross was right on his heels. I was super excited as I had reached my goal of getting into the 25’s this year with a 1:25.9, just barely but that’s all it takes.
Formula Ultra
I didn’t have to change tires for this race which was a new experience for me as I was used to needing at least a new rear for every race, but these were still gripping great. I put race gas in this time hoping I could go a bit faster. I was excited for my brother who got his bike back together in time to come out and play. The last race weekend he was in he had a tire problem and for this race he was trying the Dunlop’s too.
I was on the front row again but got a pretty terrible start, there were even 750’s from the second row coming past me. I got a couple guys going into 2 and was running in like 4th coming out of 2. I was pretty bummed but knew that I could push past a couple people because Eli was ahead of me and he was on a 750. Coming out of 4 I heard Ross’ bike and moved over just a touch because I knew he was going to be after it this race to try and get his lap record back. I tucked in behind him and we started putting our heads down. As we were coming into turn 9 we were carrying quite a bit more speed than some of the guys ahead of us. Eli was riding a different line and cut in hard to the corner. Ross had to get on the brakes hard to avoid hitting him and unfortunately tucked the front. He fell directly in front of me and I almost crashed trying to avoid running over him. I kept pushing since the red flag hadn’t come out but was pretty distracted thinking about my buddy Ross and wondering if he was hurt, he went down hard. Going into turn 2 the red flag came out so they could get Ross off the track we found out on the line that he had a broken collar bone and had the wind knocked out of him. I was relieved to hear that he was going to be okay but bummed because this was not the way I wanted to get a shot at finishing higher than 3rd.
We lined back up and this time I got a much better start. I was right on Sully’s rear tire coming out of 2 and feeling pretty good. I sat back there for a couple laps hoping he would push a little too hard and go wide. Once or twice there was a spot I could have stuck it in there but I didn’t want to fall and really didn’t want to take Sully out trying a stupid pass. I continued to push hard just in case Sully made a mistake but since that doesn’t happen very often I settled for 2nd which is the best finish for me so far this year.
Turned out to be a good weekend, I almost broke even with Suzuki money, I reached my personal goal of 25’s ending up with a 1:25.6 as my best lap, I was able to get a second place in Formula Ultra, I got my AMA paperwork signed so that I can apply to race in Laguna round coming up in September and the best thing of all was that I could say that I was racing with Ross and Sully!
I’d like to thank all my sponsors that made this all possible.
The Good Lord for all his blessings and provision
Team XLSR Racing
Aurora Suzuki
Motors by Fuzzy
KFG Dunlop tires (They ROCKED thanks Barry!!!)
EDR Performance (it ran great Eric)
NESBA
Vortex racing
Veserah Brake Pads
Lockhart Phillips
Powerstands
My Brother Brian
My understanding wife who puts up with me!