jadeblue1
Sun 7/15/07, 9:53PM
I was feeling pretty good when I went up this weekend. However, the heat and humidity (although not as bad as thunderhill) was oppressive, and the theme for the weekend became fatigue. I was dog tired all weekend. Saturday I ran up in middleweight practice, and while it felt good, I was getting tsired after 5 laps. ( I only ran 3 sessions because of NRS). I wanted to just stay consistent and say on the lead lap for the solo race.
Solo Gt Light
Chris Sp8s showed up to play, so the solo race was fun. Got a good start, and I was managing to hang on to the tail of the leaders. Gradually they pulled away, but it was nice to not get left in the dust. I definitely felt like I was on a better pace overall, and as I settled into the rhythm & pain of the race, it was 17 laps before I saw Codzilla. Then on lap 18, I saw Chris Sp8s, and then the checkers. I got fourth, but it was a better time than I’ve run that race before.
Sunday, new tire (I’m diggin’ the med-soft Michelins) and practice with the middleweights again. After 2nd practice was the rider’s mtg & the 1st race- Formula Twins Lightweight . I pulled off a lap early so I could get my grid position before the riders meeting. Looked over the sheet, looked again, rechecked again-wtf-I wasn’t on the grid. There had been an error, & they had gridded me on formula twins heavyweight instead. Really aggravating, trying to get myself back on a grid I pre-registered for. I didn’t catch their error in time for a grid correction, so instead of where I should have been, I got to start from the back. But I told myself, that’s ok, I’ll just pretend it’s an afm grid & I’m looking for the starter with binoculars…that didn’t work…being buried in the middle of a 70 bike grid just has a different feel to it. So I decided to just punch my way up from the back and pass as many people as possible. We come around on the warm up lap & grid up & I’m hanging out on the last row all by myself….damn…
Flag drops, we go, and I managed to get myself tangled up w/bryan galvan & # 771-joey toth, & it soon became the battle of the red sv’s (since we all have red sv’s) I was running well, and got a good pass into T1 under brakes on joey-#771. I slid by him & pulled away & went after bryan. We went back & forth for the rest of the race, but he got the better of me at the line. Not bad though, I ran a 1:35… I still had 2 more races to get the 1:33 I wanted to.
Next race, #4, 550 Superbike , I started out pretty good, but on lap 2, I was wiped out, and just hung onto to the back end of #771-joey toth & #39-eric angel. I couldn’t get by joey this time, & I was 2 sec faster than him in the last race. So I just tried to keep whoever was behind me behind me, and just ride hard. I still was going ok, but the fatigue was coming into play-I did a 1:36 .
Last race, the knife in a gunfight race for me, Bott Middleweight, where the sv650 is running up a class. I was feeling good, because there were 2 people on the grid I knew I could get around, and I was gunning for the orange creamsicle bike of #886 David Ortiz. Boy was I bummed when he didn’t grid up! The next bikes even close that I distantly chse was Dixon & Mcginnley who are both at least 2 sec faster than I am. That’s cool, I love a challenge…we grid up, go & on the 2nd lap of the race I saw white smoke start rolling off a bike as it grenading going into t8. I take a lower line, thinking holy crap I’m going hit oil, and I came across exhaust parts, all over the place: the inner packing, the mesh inner tube, can parts, heat wrap, rubber chunks…then the red flag, because apparently the grenading bike’s rider didn’t realize his bike was coming apart underneath him. I was giglling in my helmet while fondly thinking about the mechanical soundness of the buells.
We sat on the pre-grid for about 5 min. waiting for the restart, and that little bit pulled whatever I had left out. I got on ok restart, but I couldn’t keep up the pace. I kept about 1 sec behind Dixon & mcginnley for 2 laps, and then I just faded. I went into t8 on the 3rd or 4th lap thinking “that cloud looks like a bunny” Shook it off, coming down the back straight.”boy, I’m really craving cinnamon rolls” come on girl, focus….white flag, thank goodness, my head is going to explode…I’m still craving a cinnamon roll…wtf… my name is dave…checkered flag-whew!
Racing in the heat is tough, but I usually handle it better. I t was still fun, and I did another personal best-next month I’ll get the 1:33. Thanks again to all my sponsors: Graffiti Palace, Crago Racing, Twin Works Factory, Racer’s Edge Performance-Michelin Tires. Big thanks to John Ryan for helping me out with the running the pink slips everywhere before the riders mtg & helping me make it back onto the grid for the first race-you were a total life saver!
**Big Congrats to Chris Sp8s & Cody for cracking 1:29 in 550 Superbike-good job guys!
Solo Gt Light
Chris Sp8s showed up to play, so the solo race was fun. Got a good start, and I was managing to hang on to the tail of the leaders. Gradually they pulled away, but it was nice to not get left in the dust. I definitely felt like I was on a better pace overall, and as I settled into the rhythm & pain of the race, it was 17 laps before I saw Codzilla. Then on lap 18, I saw Chris Sp8s, and then the checkers. I got fourth, but it was a better time than I’ve run that race before.
Sunday, new tire (I’m diggin’ the med-soft Michelins) and practice with the middleweights again. After 2nd practice was the rider’s mtg & the 1st race- Formula Twins Lightweight . I pulled off a lap early so I could get my grid position before the riders meeting. Looked over the sheet, looked again, rechecked again-wtf-I wasn’t on the grid. There had been an error, & they had gridded me on formula twins heavyweight instead. Really aggravating, trying to get myself back on a grid I pre-registered for. I didn’t catch their error in time for a grid correction, so instead of where I should have been, I got to start from the back. But I told myself, that’s ok, I’ll just pretend it’s an afm grid & I’m looking for the starter with binoculars…that didn’t work…being buried in the middle of a 70 bike grid just has a different feel to it. So I decided to just punch my way up from the back and pass as many people as possible. We come around on the warm up lap & grid up & I’m hanging out on the last row all by myself….damn…
Flag drops, we go, and I managed to get myself tangled up w/bryan galvan & # 771-joey toth, & it soon became the battle of the red sv’s (since we all have red sv’s) I was running well, and got a good pass into T1 under brakes on joey-#771. I slid by him & pulled away & went after bryan. We went back & forth for the rest of the race, but he got the better of me at the line. Not bad though, I ran a 1:35… I still had 2 more races to get the 1:33 I wanted to.
Next race, #4, 550 Superbike , I started out pretty good, but on lap 2, I was wiped out, and just hung onto to the back end of #771-joey toth & #39-eric angel. I couldn’t get by joey this time, & I was 2 sec faster than him in the last race. So I just tried to keep whoever was behind me behind me, and just ride hard. I still was going ok, but the fatigue was coming into play-I did a 1:36 .
Last race, the knife in a gunfight race for me, Bott Middleweight, where the sv650 is running up a class. I was feeling good, because there were 2 people on the grid I knew I could get around, and I was gunning for the orange creamsicle bike of #886 David Ortiz. Boy was I bummed when he didn’t grid up! The next bikes even close that I distantly chse was Dixon & Mcginnley who are both at least 2 sec faster than I am. That’s cool, I love a challenge…we grid up, go & on the 2nd lap of the race I saw white smoke start rolling off a bike as it grenading going into t8. I take a lower line, thinking holy crap I’m going hit oil, and I came across exhaust parts, all over the place: the inner packing, the mesh inner tube, can parts, heat wrap, rubber chunks…then the red flag, because apparently the grenading bike’s rider didn’t realize his bike was coming apart underneath him. I was giglling in my helmet while fondly thinking about the mechanical soundness of the buells.
We sat on the pre-grid for about 5 min. waiting for the restart, and that little bit pulled whatever I had left out. I got on ok restart, but I couldn’t keep up the pace. I kept about 1 sec behind Dixon & mcginnley for 2 laps, and then I just faded. I went into t8 on the 3rd or 4th lap thinking “that cloud looks like a bunny” Shook it off, coming down the back straight.”boy, I’m really craving cinnamon rolls” come on girl, focus….white flag, thank goodness, my head is going to explode…I’m still craving a cinnamon roll…wtf… my name is dave…checkered flag-whew!
Racing in the heat is tough, but I usually handle it better. I t was still fun, and I did another personal best-next month I’ll get the 1:33. Thanks again to all my sponsors: Graffiti Palace, Crago Racing, Twin Works Factory, Racer’s Edge Performance-Michelin Tires. Big thanks to John Ryan for helping me out with the running the pink slips everywhere before the riders mtg & helping me make it back onto the grid for the first race-you were a total life saver!
**Big Congrats to Chris Sp8s & Cody for cracking 1:29 in 550 Superbike-good job guys!