TaurusRacing
05-13-2009, 07:38 PM
WMRRA Round 2 – Pacific Raceways and Adrenaline Freaks Track Day – May 8-10
Race results:
650SS – 3rd!!!! OMG I placed for the first time in my life! And there was more than 3 in my class.
MWGPTwins – 6th. Still wondering why us stock SVs are in the class as we are no competition.
600TFS – DNF. Boy this one is embarrassing.
I am still on cloud 9 from this weekend after achieving a few milestones. I was surprised with a visit by my family from California…here to celebrate my first milestone of the weekend. My 40th birthday. He doesn’t know it but Mike Sullivan is my new hero. ;) I set all sorts of personal bests on lap times. And I finally got a podium finish!
Adrenaline Freaks – Friday
Weather was clearing and the outlook for the weekend looked incredible. I had made some small changes to the bike between the last race weekend. Because I was having a hard time turning into corners (I think it really is because I am weak) I decided to lower the front a few millimeters. Oh my, that worked wonders! I had some great practices and control ride sessions. And I finally broke the 1:40 barrier so I went home stoked for the race weekend. I also went home with what would later turn out to be tendonitis on my right wrist. I now realize the throttle will only turn so far to make the bike go faster. Just ask Chris Fratini (65)!
WMRRA Saturday
The first few practice sessions went well and I was already within a half second of my fastest lap time so I was ready for the first race.
650SS – Wow, I felt so comfortable gridding up for this race. Although, I was focused on the race and forgot to turn on my VHolder cam. Anyways, I seem to have good starts so I was ready for another repeat. I again led the train until T3 where Mr. Finken got me in the same place as last 650SS race. That’s ok, I don’t have the motor to keep up with him on the straights anyways. I was expecting a repeat of from last race weekend but wasn’t caught till the 3rd lap where Brian Jeffries got me. The fire was lit under me. I said to myself “let him show you the way my young grasshopper”. Actually I was thinking no freaking way I was going to get blown away again. So I stuck with Brian. Lap after lap I would stay with him and pass him on the straights. So I was thinking that I could do well if I kept everyone else at bay. As I would come into T4 I could just see the next person coming down to T3. So on the last lap I just thought keep Brian close and I got it! But Eric decided to make a rookie move and come into T9 WAY TOO HOT and almost kiss the cones on the outside of the turn. Oh well, I still finished 3rd about 1.5 seconds behind. Watch out Brian.
WMRRA Sunday
It was so nice to have family and friends around for this great weekend.
MWGPTwins – Same as reported in Round 1, I had another amazing start. I was gridded second row but got into T-2 in fourth. It would have been 5th but Shawn Becker didn’t grid after some mechanical issues. Brian got ahead of me again so I decided to stick with him for the second chapter of our saga. We stuck together for awhile until we were both passed by 117. We both stuck with him but I eventually dropped back a few seconds. I think 40 was starting to catch up to me as I was starting to cry when I finally saw the white flag. Does Geritol work for racers?
600TFS – This was again the last race of the day. I was feeling better and ready to go. We were wave started so we were in the second wave. I got another smoking start and entered T2 in 3rd or 4th. Us SVs have to compete against some very fast inline fours. Around the 3rd lap I caught up to a slower rider from the Formula Thunder group. I trailed him in through T9 and thought I would pass him on the straights. That was wishful thinking…as I came into the bus stop I was swarmed by Randy Bailey (282) and Fratini…who both decided to make me the ball in a punting contest and I decided to bunny hop the curbing. I was so pissed…not so much at my inconsiderate teammates (they forgot it was my birthday weekend) but at the rider who held us up. Anyways, that’s racing! I kept Randy behind me but I had to play catch up to Chris. It took me 3-4 laps to finally catch him but I did. I admit it, I came into T2 and decided to hold him up some. He was so frustrated that he came into T3 too hot trying to pass me and went off the runoff road. My thought was that I pushed him to make a mistake. Stupid thought because it would come back to bite me. I was gradually catching up to some of those fours that were kicking our ass until the last lap where Randy had been trailing me for awhile. He poked his nose around at T2 and I decided I would have none of that. I put my head down to finish strong. As I came up to T5 I downshifted…or so I thought. I went into a false neutral and I think I had a senior moment of slight panic. I decided to straighten up realizing I would go off the track and ride it out. That wasn’t to be…I stupidly down shifted again instead of up shifting, dumped the clutch and proceeded to get bucked off into the dirt on T6. Well, there is another learning experience!
All in all, the best weekend I have had racing yet! I finally got a podium and now am down into the 1:38s.
I want to again thank my teammates for helping out…Kevin Klemmer, Chris Fratini, Randy Bailey and our team manager Katie Perry. Again we missed having Chris Sarbora in the pits who was saving himself for the WERA weekend.
Thank you to my sponsors:
Bridgestone Tires - Troy McCrae of Pennell Powersports
Motorex USA
Vortex
Adrenaline Freaks Track Days
PNWRiders.com
MorePower Racing
Vholder
Race results:
650SS – 3rd!!!! OMG I placed for the first time in my life! And there was more than 3 in my class.
MWGPTwins – 6th. Still wondering why us stock SVs are in the class as we are no competition.
600TFS – DNF. Boy this one is embarrassing.
I am still on cloud 9 from this weekend after achieving a few milestones. I was surprised with a visit by my family from California…here to celebrate my first milestone of the weekend. My 40th birthday. He doesn’t know it but Mike Sullivan is my new hero. ;) I set all sorts of personal bests on lap times. And I finally got a podium finish!
Adrenaline Freaks – Friday
Weather was clearing and the outlook for the weekend looked incredible. I had made some small changes to the bike between the last race weekend. Because I was having a hard time turning into corners (I think it really is because I am weak) I decided to lower the front a few millimeters. Oh my, that worked wonders! I had some great practices and control ride sessions. And I finally broke the 1:40 barrier so I went home stoked for the race weekend. I also went home with what would later turn out to be tendonitis on my right wrist. I now realize the throttle will only turn so far to make the bike go faster. Just ask Chris Fratini (65)!
WMRRA Saturday
The first few practice sessions went well and I was already within a half second of my fastest lap time so I was ready for the first race.
650SS – Wow, I felt so comfortable gridding up for this race. Although, I was focused on the race and forgot to turn on my VHolder cam. Anyways, I seem to have good starts so I was ready for another repeat. I again led the train until T3 where Mr. Finken got me in the same place as last 650SS race. That’s ok, I don’t have the motor to keep up with him on the straights anyways. I was expecting a repeat of from last race weekend but wasn’t caught till the 3rd lap where Brian Jeffries got me. The fire was lit under me. I said to myself “let him show you the way my young grasshopper”. Actually I was thinking no freaking way I was going to get blown away again. So I stuck with Brian. Lap after lap I would stay with him and pass him on the straights. So I was thinking that I could do well if I kept everyone else at bay. As I would come into T4 I could just see the next person coming down to T3. So on the last lap I just thought keep Brian close and I got it! But Eric decided to make a rookie move and come into T9 WAY TOO HOT and almost kiss the cones on the outside of the turn. Oh well, I still finished 3rd about 1.5 seconds behind. Watch out Brian.
WMRRA Sunday
It was so nice to have family and friends around for this great weekend.
MWGPTwins – Same as reported in Round 1, I had another amazing start. I was gridded second row but got into T-2 in fourth. It would have been 5th but Shawn Becker didn’t grid after some mechanical issues. Brian got ahead of me again so I decided to stick with him for the second chapter of our saga. We stuck together for awhile until we were both passed by 117. We both stuck with him but I eventually dropped back a few seconds. I think 40 was starting to catch up to me as I was starting to cry when I finally saw the white flag. Does Geritol work for racers?
600TFS – This was again the last race of the day. I was feeling better and ready to go. We were wave started so we were in the second wave. I got another smoking start and entered T2 in 3rd or 4th. Us SVs have to compete against some very fast inline fours. Around the 3rd lap I caught up to a slower rider from the Formula Thunder group. I trailed him in through T9 and thought I would pass him on the straights. That was wishful thinking…as I came into the bus stop I was swarmed by Randy Bailey (282) and Fratini…who both decided to make me the ball in a punting contest and I decided to bunny hop the curbing. I was so pissed…not so much at my inconsiderate teammates (they forgot it was my birthday weekend) but at the rider who held us up. Anyways, that’s racing! I kept Randy behind me but I had to play catch up to Chris. It took me 3-4 laps to finally catch him but I did. I admit it, I came into T2 and decided to hold him up some. He was so frustrated that he came into T3 too hot trying to pass me and went off the runoff road. My thought was that I pushed him to make a mistake. Stupid thought because it would come back to bite me. I was gradually catching up to some of those fours that were kicking our ass until the last lap where Randy had been trailing me for awhile. He poked his nose around at T2 and I decided I would have none of that. I put my head down to finish strong. As I came up to T5 I downshifted…or so I thought. I went into a false neutral and I think I had a senior moment of slight panic. I decided to straighten up realizing I would go off the track and ride it out. That wasn’t to be…I stupidly down shifted again instead of up shifting, dumped the clutch and proceeded to get bucked off into the dirt on T6. Well, there is another learning experience!
All in all, the best weekend I have had racing yet! I finally got a podium and now am down into the 1:38s.
I want to again thank my teammates for helping out…Kevin Klemmer, Chris Fratini, Randy Bailey and our team manager Katie Perry. Again we missed having Chris Sarbora in the pits who was saving himself for the WERA weekend.
Thank you to my sponsors:
Bridgestone Tires - Troy McCrae of Pennell Powersports
Motorex USA
Vortex
Adrenaline Freaks Track Days
PNWRiders.com
MorePower Racing
Vholder