Monsterdood
Mon 4/21/08, 3:14PM
So 30 mph winds helped to make it a challenging race weekend. The wind definitely stole a second or two from the bikes under 100HP and made a few corners quite interesting but I was able to pull out a couple of decent races to nab two 2nd places.
In Formula Twins lightweight, I got the hole shot from the 2nd row, but then Palmer powered by me to the inside at corner 1 (does that mean he got the hole shot?). I stayed right with him almost leaning my body onto his rear tire and then he pulled a small gap to turn 2. I closed the gap through turn 2 and proceeded to keep him in sight for a couple of laps. I would check behind me and saw someone a little ways back and assumed it was the kid Drew. On lap 4 I made a few errors and started thinking that I suck with a gap behind me and that he would probably catch me. Unfortunately for him, Marcus got an oil shower in turn 2 and they threw the red flag on lap 5 giving me 2nd place a few seconds behind Andy.
In 550SBK, I was on the 3rd row and had to navigate through the crowd on the start and was able to tuck in behind Andy again going into turn 3. I figured there were some folks behind me so I tried to keep my pace up as much as I could and turned a few 33's (big breeze remember). Around lap 4, dobson on an FZRxxx came flying by with clearly a bit more motor than me. I then proceeded to outbrake him into turn 1. This kept up for a few laps making for some good racing. I noticed he was leaking water out of the tail and tried to stay clear but my faceshield caught some of the spray in turn 2. I figured it wouldn't be enough to cause any traction issues, but it is still a little disconcerting when your opponent is playing spyhunter and you're just racing.
Around lap 6, he had a little larger gap and led through turn 1 and I tried to pass on the outside but I couldn't hold the line and drifted wide a little. Coming back to the racing line on the left side of the track I felt someone tugging at my left boot and looked down to see a front wheel and fork nudging it. I stayed where I was leaving some room on the left and thought it was probably Drew but wasn't sure.
I stayed close to Dobson for the whole lap and stayed really wide into 9, turned the bike and got on the gas super early so that I could try and draft him a little on the front straight. This kept me close and I was able to outbrake and pass him through turn 1. We were approaching a lapper through turn 2 and right at the entrance to turn 3, I was able to slot just inside of the lapper leaving no real room for Dobson to pass me and hopefully slowing him up a little. I then put my head down the rest of the lap (did a 31.something), and beat him by 0.16 seconds for another 2nd place. It was a great race with some good back and forth riding.
Turns out it was Drew's tire I felt on the exit of 1 and it turns out his front brake lever didn't survive our on track meeting. He was railing through 2 (you don't brake going into 2) and charging into 3 when he said he discovered his loss of front brakes. That is not a feeling you ever want to have, but he said he grabbed a boot full of rear brake and went off roading keeping the bike up and in one piece. Good job on that one and way to keep it up!
Thanks to Dunlop for making a tire that will do 31's in the wind, after flipping, and at the end of their 2nd race weekend (2 practice sessions and the last lap of the 4th race). Thanks to Andy and West Coast GP Cycles for supporting Formula Twins LW and most of the racers and to Little Big Racing for supporting 550 SBK.
In Formula Twins lightweight, I got the hole shot from the 2nd row, but then Palmer powered by me to the inside at corner 1 (does that mean he got the hole shot?). I stayed right with him almost leaning my body onto his rear tire and then he pulled a small gap to turn 2. I closed the gap through turn 2 and proceeded to keep him in sight for a couple of laps. I would check behind me and saw someone a little ways back and assumed it was the kid Drew. On lap 4 I made a few errors and started thinking that I suck with a gap behind me and that he would probably catch me. Unfortunately for him, Marcus got an oil shower in turn 2 and they threw the red flag on lap 5 giving me 2nd place a few seconds behind Andy.
In 550SBK, I was on the 3rd row and had to navigate through the crowd on the start and was able to tuck in behind Andy again going into turn 3. I figured there were some folks behind me so I tried to keep my pace up as much as I could and turned a few 33's (big breeze remember). Around lap 4, dobson on an FZRxxx came flying by with clearly a bit more motor than me. I then proceeded to outbrake him into turn 1. This kept up for a few laps making for some good racing. I noticed he was leaking water out of the tail and tried to stay clear but my faceshield caught some of the spray in turn 2. I figured it wouldn't be enough to cause any traction issues, but it is still a little disconcerting when your opponent is playing spyhunter and you're just racing.
Around lap 6, he had a little larger gap and led through turn 1 and I tried to pass on the outside but I couldn't hold the line and drifted wide a little. Coming back to the racing line on the left side of the track I felt someone tugging at my left boot and looked down to see a front wheel and fork nudging it. I stayed where I was leaving some room on the left and thought it was probably Drew but wasn't sure.
I stayed close to Dobson for the whole lap and stayed really wide into 9, turned the bike and got on the gas super early so that I could try and draft him a little on the front straight. This kept me close and I was able to outbrake and pass him through turn 1. We were approaching a lapper through turn 2 and right at the entrance to turn 3, I was able to slot just inside of the lapper leaving no real room for Dobson to pass me and hopefully slowing him up a little. I then put my head down the rest of the lap (did a 31.something), and beat him by 0.16 seconds for another 2nd place. It was a great race with some good back and forth riding.
Turns out it was Drew's tire I felt on the exit of 1 and it turns out his front brake lever didn't survive our on track meeting. He was railing through 2 (you don't brake going into 2) and charging into 3 when he said he discovered his loss of front brakes. That is not a feeling you ever want to have, but he said he grabbed a boot full of rear brake and went off roading keeping the bike up and in one piece. Good job on that one and way to keep it up!
Thanks to Dunlop for making a tire that will do 31's in the wind, after flipping, and at the end of their 2nd race weekend (2 practice sessions and the last lap of the 4th race). Thanks to Andy and West Coast GP Cycles for supporting Formula Twins LW and most of the racers and to Little Big Racing for supporting 550 SBK.