pulse
02-18-2008, 04:18 PM
I can't believe this section is still here since I haven't raced in so long, but what the hell i might as well use it.
Well the weather this weekend was all you could wish for out at willow, 70 degrees with sunny skys and no wind.....perfect! I also have to say that Bengt is a mad man for getting off work at 3:30 am saturday morning and still being in the new racer school classroom at 8:30 am, you are the man.
This was my first race weekend since december of 2005 so i was a bit nervous on how it would go for me. I decided to do a whole day of practice saturday, as advised by crew cheif sean "you betcha" uryu and I am glad he talked me into it. Bengt was in new racer school so i was riding out there solo, which makes it a bit more difficult to get my times down. I was able to get into the mid 1:31's pretty quickly but was kind of stuck right there. My tires were not top notch but my suspension felt very good. At about lunch i switch out my rear with a softer tire and went out to try and drop some more time. On my second lap i reeled someone in entering turn 9 and i started to drift wide a bit so a could square off for a good drive out. Just as i drift out, josh hayes decides to go around the outside of me, spooking me a bit since there was not much real estate out there:) , and he looks back and motions for me to follow him. Now since i had been riding alone all day i could not think of a better person to show me some things around willow so i put my head down and payed attention. That session i got to swap positions and follow josh's lines for 5-6 laps and my times dropped into the low 1:30's instantly. He showed me some lines i had never seen and gave me some good advice that would help me through the rest of the weekend, he is the man! I did one more practice and a little wind kicked up so I just waited for practice starts.
My practice starts went very well and i was motoring into turn 1 in the lead group everytime so that gave me confidence for sunday.
Sunday morning practice went fine and I got to tow bengt around and help drop his times leaving me with a good feeling that we could go one-two in the race. The first start to our race was a bit hairball with the guy getting run over in turn 1 and another guy going of the exit of turn 2. My start was not great, due to a mis-shift into second, but the red flag gave me a chance to do it again. I lined up 15th on the grid and i wanted to get infront of these guys asap so i would not get caught up in any other crashes. The flag dropped and i motored to the front going into turn one in second and then going instide of the first place guy into turn 2, taking the lead. I put my head down and ran consecutive 1:29 laps not know what was going on behind me. On lap 3 I took a quick glance back on the straight to find no one in sight at all! I was actually confused wonder where the heck everyone was. I did one more lap and check back again not seeing anyone so i went ahead and let up a bit and just brought it home with out risking any mistakes or crashes. I was able to turn my fastest lap of a 1:29.6 and pulled out a 12.8 second lead which was better than I could have hoped for!
Overall it was a very successful weekend and I am stoked on my result and lap times. Congrats to Bengt on his 3rd place finish and he is more than capable of taking 1st in march. Big thanks to Sean for all the help, tire warmers, generator and everything....couldn't have done it with out you. thanks to melissa, nicole and teresa for the support out there! Thanks to Evan Steel Performance for great suspension set up. I will bump up to expert now and learn from the big boys and hope i can take down the new mr. podium...gptechman. Til next time :thumbsup:
Well the weather this weekend was all you could wish for out at willow, 70 degrees with sunny skys and no wind.....perfect! I also have to say that Bengt is a mad man for getting off work at 3:30 am saturday morning and still being in the new racer school classroom at 8:30 am, you are the man.
This was my first race weekend since december of 2005 so i was a bit nervous on how it would go for me. I decided to do a whole day of practice saturday, as advised by crew cheif sean "you betcha" uryu and I am glad he talked me into it. Bengt was in new racer school so i was riding out there solo, which makes it a bit more difficult to get my times down. I was able to get into the mid 1:31's pretty quickly but was kind of stuck right there. My tires were not top notch but my suspension felt very good. At about lunch i switch out my rear with a softer tire and went out to try and drop some more time. On my second lap i reeled someone in entering turn 9 and i started to drift wide a bit so a could square off for a good drive out. Just as i drift out, josh hayes decides to go around the outside of me, spooking me a bit since there was not much real estate out there:) , and he looks back and motions for me to follow him. Now since i had been riding alone all day i could not think of a better person to show me some things around willow so i put my head down and payed attention. That session i got to swap positions and follow josh's lines for 5-6 laps and my times dropped into the low 1:30's instantly. He showed me some lines i had never seen and gave me some good advice that would help me through the rest of the weekend, he is the man! I did one more practice and a little wind kicked up so I just waited for practice starts.
My practice starts went very well and i was motoring into turn 1 in the lead group everytime so that gave me confidence for sunday.
Sunday morning practice went fine and I got to tow bengt around and help drop his times leaving me with a good feeling that we could go one-two in the race. The first start to our race was a bit hairball with the guy getting run over in turn 1 and another guy going of the exit of turn 2. My start was not great, due to a mis-shift into second, but the red flag gave me a chance to do it again. I lined up 15th on the grid and i wanted to get infront of these guys asap so i would not get caught up in any other crashes. The flag dropped and i motored to the front going into turn one in second and then going instide of the first place guy into turn 2, taking the lead. I put my head down and ran consecutive 1:29 laps not know what was going on behind me. On lap 3 I took a quick glance back on the straight to find no one in sight at all! I was actually confused wonder where the heck everyone was. I did one more lap and check back again not seeing anyone so i went ahead and let up a bit and just brought it home with out risking any mistakes or crashes. I was able to turn my fastest lap of a 1:29.6 and pulled out a 12.8 second lead which was better than I could have hoped for!
Overall it was a very successful weekend and I am stoked on my result and lap times. Congrats to Bengt on his 3rd place finish and he is more than capable of taking 1st in march. Big thanks to Sean for all the help, tire warmers, generator and everything....couldn't have done it with out you. thanks to melissa, nicole and teresa for the support out there! Thanks to Evan Steel Performance for great suspension set up. I will bump up to expert now and learn from the big boys and hope i can take down the new mr. podium...gptechman. Til next time :thumbsup: