Kurt'sSV
Mon 4/2/07, 11:08AM
So WSMC has started a new race series at the Streets of Willow. This past weekend was their first round and I had a lot of fun. It was actually really neat to race on that track. I used to not like this track, but they've made a few changes to it making it faster, safer and more fun. We also got a ton of practice time on Saturday and Sunday morning. It was almost more than I wanted.
For 550 Superbike Chris, Stevan, Charlie Coyner and myself made up the front row. Chris and I got good starts. Chris's initial launch was a little better than mine, but I was starting to creep up on him. I thought I might have a chance of diving up his inside before turn one, but I ended up not being in position to do that.
I followed Chris through turn one. He gaped me a tiny bit coming out of two, but I made that ground back up entering three. Coming out of three Chris pulled on me really good and I started thinking oh crap, it's going to be tough to get around him. Luckily for me, Chris missed his brake marker for turn four by a mile and almost put himself in the dirt. I went around Chris exiting turn four to put myself in the lead.
Now I wasn't the fastest guy on the grid and I was wondering when I was going to get bumped back to second. David Raff had come down from up north to race this series. Raff is one of the super fast guys in the AFM. Super fast as in he beat all the yellow SV's in 650 Twins at Buttonwillow. So sooner or later I would see him go by me.
Onto the skid pad I went to end the first lap and that's where Raff made his pass. He went under me using a tight line. Due to his line his drive out was weak and I stayed with him down the front straight and into turn one. Our speed through turn one was actually slower than what mine would have been on my own and I thought maybe I could sneak a wheel on him entering turn two. Well the SOB is an experienced racer so he chose a defensive line entering two ending any of my attempts to play the spoiler. From there Raff gradually pulled away from me.
I caught one of the heavy weight twins bikes in turn seven and went around him in the bowl. Later in the race I caught two other people on the back straight. If I were racing for position with these people, shoving myself by them in the chicane might have been a good passing maneuver, but since I wasn't, sitting behind them and passing them on the brakes into turn eleven was a much safer choice.
There wasn't a whole lot of action for me in the eight laps. It became more of an exercise in keeping my eyes up. When I really looked far, far ahead of myself in a turn I found that my line was tighter and I got on the gas sooner. Raff was on his own and I wasn't going to get challenged from behind. With how turns two and eight are configured it's easy to look behind you exiting those turns to see where people are and I could see that the gap from me to John-Thomas Wood was increasing with every lap. But the race was still a lot of fun and I am really looking forward to next month's round at the Streets of Willow.
Thanks to my sponsors: West Coast GP Cycle, Little Big Racing, SoCalSVRiders.org, Suomy, LP Team Privateer.
Me and Stevan during practice.
For 550 Superbike Chris, Stevan, Charlie Coyner and myself made up the front row. Chris and I got good starts. Chris's initial launch was a little better than mine, but I was starting to creep up on him. I thought I might have a chance of diving up his inside before turn one, but I ended up not being in position to do that.
I followed Chris through turn one. He gaped me a tiny bit coming out of two, but I made that ground back up entering three. Coming out of three Chris pulled on me really good and I started thinking oh crap, it's going to be tough to get around him. Luckily for me, Chris missed his brake marker for turn four by a mile and almost put himself in the dirt. I went around Chris exiting turn four to put myself in the lead.
Now I wasn't the fastest guy on the grid and I was wondering when I was going to get bumped back to second. David Raff had come down from up north to race this series. Raff is one of the super fast guys in the AFM. Super fast as in he beat all the yellow SV's in 650 Twins at Buttonwillow. So sooner or later I would see him go by me.
Onto the skid pad I went to end the first lap and that's where Raff made his pass. He went under me using a tight line. Due to his line his drive out was weak and I stayed with him down the front straight and into turn one. Our speed through turn one was actually slower than what mine would have been on my own and I thought maybe I could sneak a wheel on him entering turn two. Well the SOB is an experienced racer so he chose a defensive line entering two ending any of my attempts to play the spoiler. From there Raff gradually pulled away from me.
I caught one of the heavy weight twins bikes in turn seven and went around him in the bowl. Later in the race I caught two other people on the back straight. If I were racing for position with these people, shoving myself by them in the chicane might have been a good passing maneuver, but since I wasn't, sitting behind them and passing them on the brakes into turn eleven was a much safer choice.
There wasn't a whole lot of action for me in the eight laps. It became more of an exercise in keeping my eyes up. When I really looked far, far ahead of myself in a turn I found that my line was tighter and I got on the gas sooner. Raff was on his own and I wasn't going to get challenged from behind. With how turns two and eight are configured it's easy to look behind you exiting those turns to see where people are and I could see that the gap from me to John-Thomas Wood was increasing with every lap. But the race was still a lot of fun and I am really looking forward to next month's round at the Streets of Willow.
Thanks to my sponsors: West Coast GP Cycle, Little Big Racing, SoCalSVRiders.org, Suomy, LP Team Privateer.
Me and Stevan during practice.