brakstad
03-20-2008, 03:21 AM
A bit delayed, but here it is... As Jared mentioned, 1st morning practice was very cold; literally lost feeling in my fingers and had a very hard time getting my gloves off after getting back to the pits.. Pace was off (high 1:34’s) due to the weather, but overall I felt pretty good…
It had heated up a bit before the second practice; few laps in the 1:31s and one high 1:30, so things were pretty good. This wind died down for this session, which made a big difference in the brake points compared to the first practice.
I had a small oil leak on the left side by the stator cover; could not figure out exactly where it was coming from.. Some minor spay on the left boot after the sessions, but I didn’t think it was too bad so I just cleaned it up between sessions (definitely something I have to get fixed before the next one!).
My first race was the HW novice race; 3rd race of the day. I started in 15th position, got a pretty good start but almost ran off the track coming out of T1 (as I was trying to go around the outside). Made my way around a few people and finished the first lap in 5th place. By middle of T2 I was in 3rd place with a pretty good gap up to 2nd. 1st place dude had pretty much checked out. Kept pushing over the next few laps and started to reel in the 2nd place guy. Think I made it past going into T3 on the 5th lap. I knew I was down on power so I knew it would be hard to stay head… Kept pushing, but on the last lap I didn’t get a very good drive out of T9. I don’t think it would have really mattered; the guy walked past me pretty easily. Finished 3rd and had a 3+ second gap back to 4th place, so I was really happy; my goal was to finish top 10.. All my laps were in the 1:29s except one at 1:30.09 so good progress. It sure helps to have good rubber someone to chase down in front of you!
The MW novice race was the 13th race of the day. This is the one were I was pretty much expected to win (Sean, Jared, Shaggy, etc, etc, thanks for the pressure!). I knew it would be a competitive race as two guys were faster than me in practice. I stared 2nd on the grid, so noting to complain about there… Got a good start and was in 2nd place going into T1; guy that started 4th on the grid (I think) was ahead of me, but I was later on the brakes and came out of T1 in 1st.. So now it was just go time; kept reminding myself that this was a race and not a track day, so I kept pushing as hard as I could… Almost too hard on the 2nd lap; while braking into T3 the rear came off the ground and stepped out to the left… It snapped back pretty hard when the rear tire made contact with the pavement again, so I totally blew the entry to the T3. Was kind of surprised that nobody came by, so I knew I must have had a pretty good lead. As I came across start/finish the red flag was waving. That really pissed my off as I had pretty good rhythm going (and apparently a 3-4 second lead).. So back to the pit, sat there for close to 10 minutes while they cleaned up the track in T4a. Guy was OK, but must have dropped some fluids on the track.. Tires were getting cold, so I was worried about that for the restart.
They finally sent us out for the warm-up lap; I had no idea how long the race would be (ended up being 4 laps), but it was back to square one again (no lead, lined up 2nd on the grid)… Got a good start and went into T1 in 1st place. Took it pretty easy until T6 as I wasn’t sure how much grip I would have. Didn’t have any moments so I put the hammer down from there. I did not get a clean break this time and had two guys right on my a$$. I must admit that I was a bit surprised to get passed at the end of the front straight at the start of the 3rd lap. I stayed close and when I saw the white flag I was thinking: don’t blow this one now… So I stayed close, got a good drive out of T2 and passed him on the brakes going into T3. Kept trying to calm myself down, but knew it would be tight, so I stayed on the gas a bit longer than normal going into T9.. This ended up being a huge mistake as I only did one downshift while concentrating on making the corner. I came out of T9 in 5th gear rather than 4th, so the drive was totally lost… I downshifted and just put my head down.. As we approached the finish line I could see the guy sneaking up on my left side, then he passed me... At the time I really did not know who won the race.. Made it around the track and into the pits. Had my hand up (gesturing who won?) when Sean pointed to me. I was pretty relieved and found out shortly thereafter that I won by 0.002 seconds! Lap times were pretty consistent in the high 1.29s and low 1:30s, pretty pleased with that (I need to get in shape!).
Overall it was an awesome weekend for me with some really fun racing in both HW and MW. I have to do one more MW novice race before they let me go play with the big boys. I’m happy to have collected some hardware now, because I won’t see that again in the expert ranks! Thanks Sean, Deno, Jared, Melissa, Arnold, Janell, Theresa and Tyler for all your support. It is REALLY nice to have friends around to help with the bike and/or provide moral support. You guys rock! I was bummed that Jared’s bike wasn’t running right, but you were still looking good out there in the race! I'm sure you'll get it sorted out before the next race.
Unfortunately I did not get to meet nocontrol; guess I was concentrating on my own thing and we were not pitted in the same area.. Congrats on finishing new racer school and your first race! Hope to see you (and everyone else) out there in April!
It had heated up a bit before the second practice; few laps in the 1:31s and one high 1:30, so things were pretty good. This wind died down for this session, which made a big difference in the brake points compared to the first practice.
I had a small oil leak on the left side by the stator cover; could not figure out exactly where it was coming from.. Some minor spay on the left boot after the sessions, but I didn’t think it was too bad so I just cleaned it up between sessions (definitely something I have to get fixed before the next one!).
My first race was the HW novice race; 3rd race of the day. I started in 15th position, got a pretty good start but almost ran off the track coming out of T1 (as I was trying to go around the outside). Made my way around a few people and finished the first lap in 5th place. By middle of T2 I was in 3rd place with a pretty good gap up to 2nd. 1st place dude had pretty much checked out. Kept pushing over the next few laps and started to reel in the 2nd place guy. Think I made it past going into T3 on the 5th lap. I knew I was down on power so I knew it would be hard to stay head… Kept pushing, but on the last lap I didn’t get a very good drive out of T9. I don’t think it would have really mattered; the guy walked past me pretty easily. Finished 3rd and had a 3+ second gap back to 4th place, so I was really happy; my goal was to finish top 10.. All my laps were in the 1:29s except one at 1:30.09 so good progress. It sure helps to have good rubber someone to chase down in front of you!
The MW novice race was the 13th race of the day. This is the one were I was pretty much expected to win (Sean, Jared, Shaggy, etc, etc, thanks for the pressure!). I knew it would be a competitive race as two guys were faster than me in practice. I stared 2nd on the grid, so noting to complain about there… Got a good start and was in 2nd place going into T1; guy that started 4th on the grid (I think) was ahead of me, but I was later on the brakes and came out of T1 in 1st.. So now it was just go time; kept reminding myself that this was a race and not a track day, so I kept pushing as hard as I could… Almost too hard on the 2nd lap; while braking into T3 the rear came off the ground and stepped out to the left… It snapped back pretty hard when the rear tire made contact with the pavement again, so I totally blew the entry to the T3. Was kind of surprised that nobody came by, so I knew I must have had a pretty good lead. As I came across start/finish the red flag was waving. That really pissed my off as I had pretty good rhythm going (and apparently a 3-4 second lead).. So back to the pit, sat there for close to 10 minutes while they cleaned up the track in T4a. Guy was OK, but must have dropped some fluids on the track.. Tires were getting cold, so I was worried about that for the restart.
They finally sent us out for the warm-up lap; I had no idea how long the race would be (ended up being 4 laps), but it was back to square one again (no lead, lined up 2nd on the grid)… Got a good start and went into T1 in 1st place. Took it pretty easy until T6 as I wasn’t sure how much grip I would have. Didn’t have any moments so I put the hammer down from there. I did not get a clean break this time and had two guys right on my a$$. I must admit that I was a bit surprised to get passed at the end of the front straight at the start of the 3rd lap. I stayed close and when I saw the white flag I was thinking: don’t blow this one now… So I stayed close, got a good drive out of T2 and passed him on the brakes going into T3. Kept trying to calm myself down, but knew it would be tight, so I stayed on the gas a bit longer than normal going into T9.. This ended up being a huge mistake as I only did one downshift while concentrating on making the corner. I came out of T9 in 5th gear rather than 4th, so the drive was totally lost… I downshifted and just put my head down.. As we approached the finish line I could see the guy sneaking up on my left side, then he passed me... At the time I really did not know who won the race.. Made it around the track and into the pits. Had my hand up (gesturing who won?) when Sean pointed to me. I was pretty relieved and found out shortly thereafter that I won by 0.002 seconds! Lap times were pretty consistent in the high 1.29s and low 1:30s, pretty pleased with that (I need to get in shape!).
Overall it was an awesome weekend for me with some really fun racing in both HW and MW. I have to do one more MW novice race before they let me go play with the big boys. I’m happy to have collected some hardware now, because I won’t see that again in the expert ranks! Thanks Sean, Deno, Jared, Melissa, Arnold, Janell, Theresa and Tyler for all your support. It is REALLY nice to have friends around to help with the bike and/or provide moral support. You guys rock! I was bummed that Jared’s bike wasn’t running right, but you were still looking good out there in the race! I'm sure you'll get it sorted out before the next race.
Unfortunately I did not get to meet nocontrol; guess I was concentrating on my own thing and we were not pitted in the same area.. Congrats on finishing new racer school and your first race! Hope to see you (and everyone else) out there in April!