jadeblue1
Mon 5/7/07, 8:49AM
I didn't race the round last month, and after watching everyone else, I knew I had to do the rest of the S.O.W. series. :D
Saturday was windy as heck, and I went out the very first session to check out the track before helping with the NRS. It was great because nobody else was out there, but it was cold enough I was sliding all over the place. But it was good enough to get a feel for where everything was.
As mentioned in Chris's report, there was an "oil" incident, so they combined USGPRU with Lightweight practice. I got 1 practice session in the afternoon, but I couldn't run very good because of all the 2 strokes-I would give up the line in a corner because while an sv can clobber them on a straight, they rail on corners, so I didn't want to be stuffing them. (when you're side by side with elena myers or kevin murray, you know they've got you in a corner)
Sunday am-1st practice session-I was still trying to figure out what gear I needed to be in for T2, 3, 4, & 10. I realized i was downshifting too far & killing my drive. Luckily, I was pitted next to KK. So I asked him a few things after 1st practice, tried something else in 2nd practice, still didn't have it figured out, asked KK a few more things, and decided to try it in the 1st race.
1st race was 550 SBK. I just wanted to run 2 sec faster than practice & finish in the top 5. I couldn't see the starter, so I launch when the guy in front of me flinched. I got a pretty good start, but the 1st lap was so sloppy because I was trying the new shift things. I got it straightened out by lap 2 & just kept my eye on stevan. I was goingto finish behind him, but that was ok-he had a few sec onme & i just wanted to hang with him. On the last lap, I downshifted too many gears again going into T2, and the 2 stroke I held off the whole race slid under me going into T4. I was on his butt for the rest of the lap, but he outdrove me on the skid pad. I ended up going from 6th to 7th by less than 1/2 sec.
But now I knew roughly what gear I needed to be in & where.
2nd race-Formula Ltwt Twins. Again I just wanted to go faster than the first race & finish top 5. Again, I couldn't see the starter, but I was gridded behind David Raff, so I went when I saw his shoulders move. I saw Stevan wheelie & then he disappeared behind me, we went into T1 I grabbed onto Ed Milich. Stevan appeared beside me as we turned into 3, I thought this is going to be a little tight, but it was a great close pass & Stevan was going hard. So we went 3 in a line thru the bowl & Stevan got around Ed on the back straight into the chicane, I was hot on Ed's tail & as we tipped into t10, Stevan went sliding across the track, into the gravel & starting running away from the edge of the track. It was a great dismount-almost like he planned it... back to chasing Ed...for the next 5 laps...not quite being able to pull up on him, but sweating like a pig & throwing my big girl around like I never have before. It was SOOOOOO much fun!
I finished 4th & went faster than the 1st race, killed my front tire-it was a good day.
mr sp8s-i will be consulting w/you about gears for this track...I still think I'm shifting too much. ;)
Saturday was windy as heck, and I went out the very first session to check out the track before helping with the NRS. It was great because nobody else was out there, but it was cold enough I was sliding all over the place. But it was good enough to get a feel for where everything was.
As mentioned in Chris's report, there was an "oil" incident, so they combined USGPRU with Lightweight practice. I got 1 practice session in the afternoon, but I couldn't run very good because of all the 2 strokes-I would give up the line in a corner because while an sv can clobber them on a straight, they rail on corners, so I didn't want to be stuffing them. (when you're side by side with elena myers or kevin murray, you know they've got you in a corner)
Sunday am-1st practice session-I was still trying to figure out what gear I needed to be in for T2, 3, 4, & 10. I realized i was downshifting too far & killing my drive. Luckily, I was pitted next to KK. So I asked him a few things after 1st practice, tried something else in 2nd practice, still didn't have it figured out, asked KK a few more things, and decided to try it in the 1st race.
1st race was 550 SBK. I just wanted to run 2 sec faster than practice & finish in the top 5. I couldn't see the starter, so I launch when the guy in front of me flinched. I got a pretty good start, but the 1st lap was so sloppy because I was trying the new shift things. I got it straightened out by lap 2 & just kept my eye on stevan. I was goingto finish behind him, but that was ok-he had a few sec onme & i just wanted to hang with him. On the last lap, I downshifted too many gears again going into T2, and the 2 stroke I held off the whole race slid under me going into T4. I was on his butt for the rest of the lap, but he outdrove me on the skid pad. I ended up going from 6th to 7th by less than 1/2 sec.
But now I knew roughly what gear I needed to be in & where.
2nd race-Formula Ltwt Twins. Again I just wanted to go faster than the first race & finish top 5. Again, I couldn't see the starter, but I was gridded behind David Raff, so I went when I saw his shoulders move. I saw Stevan wheelie & then he disappeared behind me, we went into T1 I grabbed onto Ed Milich. Stevan appeared beside me as we turned into 3, I thought this is going to be a little tight, but it was a great close pass & Stevan was going hard. So we went 3 in a line thru the bowl & Stevan got around Ed on the back straight into the chicane, I was hot on Ed's tail & as we tipped into t10, Stevan went sliding across the track, into the gravel & starting running away from the edge of the track. It was a great dismount-almost like he planned it... back to chasing Ed...for the next 5 laps...not quite being able to pull up on him, but sweating like a pig & throwing my big girl around like I never have before. It was SOOOOOO much fun!
I finished 4th & went faster than the 1st race, killed my front tire-it was a good day.
mr sp8s-i will be consulting w/you about gears for this track...I still think I'm shifting too much. ;)