argh6
11-21-2005, 11:19 PM
Well, after a long, fun weekend, I can finally look back on what has been a great year of riding! From starting out in new racer school with Jared at the beginning of the year, to winning my first race (albeit a novice one), and all the trackdays in between with good friends, this has been one great year…
My friend Steve (sandogn) and I arrived Friday night just before 10:00p and went straight to work setting up the pits. The next morning I helped Steve get ready for NRS by teching his bike and making sure he got where he needed to be on time. Around 9am, the SKAMPER arrived, Jared’s (pulse) mini-home on wheels. With the casa ‘de SKAMPER set up, our “tent city” was complete. We watched Saturday practice, NRS, and generally just lazed around! What a way to spend a weekend.
Jared and I had signed up for practice starts Saturday afternoon, so with fresh rubber mounted, we headed out for some fun. Since you get to choose what spot you start from, I decided to try some starts from the worst possible positions, middle last row, to see what that was like. All I can say is hope you always get a grid spot near the edge! I pretty much cruised around due to the fact it was so late Jared and I both commented we were going through 2 and 9 by memory due to the sun-glare right in our face!
Practice secession the next morning however went much better. First secession I went out with Jared in tow, because he ‘claimed’ he needed to be towed around to ‘get used to the track again’. Whatever, he was all over me, with his fast lap being a 1:33.269 compared to my 1:34.544. Of course Jason (shaggy) had to try and rile me up, but I wasn’t having any of that and just hung out. Second secession I followed Jared out to follow him around, and I was pretty happy because we both stepped up the pace by quite a bit, with Jared pulling a 1:31.858 and I dropped down to a 1:31.807. We came in feeling very solid (other than a big slide exiting 4, that was fun!) with our performance.
Race #17…
We were happy to have a relatively incident free day that was running on schedule so we didn’t have any sun issues as our race started. Final call came and we ripped off the warmers and headed out. I decided to just go straight out and push hard on my out lap, and everything felt great. I was gridded 2nd, so I was happy, and pretty sure I could get the hole-shot into 1, so I began my start routine. Flag dropped and the guy to my right pulls a nice wheelie, dropping from sight, and that was last bike I saw… I pushed hard my first 4 laps, because I didn’t want to give anyone a tow, pulling my best time on lap 3 at a 1:31.352. Lap 5 began and after going through turn 1, I stole a quick look back, and saw Jared just entering turn 1, and I couldn’t believe I had such a huge lead. I backed off a bit since I had a good lead, and looked again the next lap to see Jared a bit closer, but not too close, so I figured I would just ride it on home. Crossing the finish line 1st was incredible, even though it was just a novice race… Next year, expert!
Many thanks go out to everyone who came out to support all of us, and cheer us on! Honestly, weekends like are only complete when you get to spend them with friends…
:thumbsup:
My friend Steve (sandogn) and I arrived Friday night just before 10:00p and went straight to work setting up the pits. The next morning I helped Steve get ready for NRS by teching his bike and making sure he got where he needed to be on time. Around 9am, the SKAMPER arrived, Jared’s (pulse) mini-home on wheels. With the casa ‘de SKAMPER set up, our “tent city” was complete. We watched Saturday practice, NRS, and generally just lazed around! What a way to spend a weekend.
Jared and I had signed up for practice starts Saturday afternoon, so with fresh rubber mounted, we headed out for some fun. Since you get to choose what spot you start from, I decided to try some starts from the worst possible positions, middle last row, to see what that was like. All I can say is hope you always get a grid spot near the edge! I pretty much cruised around due to the fact it was so late Jared and I both commented we were going through 2 and 9 by memory due to the sun-glare right in our face!
Practice secession the next morning however went much better. First secession I went out with Jared in tow, because he ‘claimed’ he needed to be towed around to ‘get used to the track again’. Whatever, he was all over me, with his fast lap being a 1:33.269 compared to my 1:34.544. Of course Jason (shaggy) had to try and rile me up, but I wasn’t having any of that and just hung out. Second secession I followed Jared out to follow him around, and I was pretty happy because we both stepped up the pace by quite a bit, with Jared pulling a 1:31.858 and I dropped down to a 1:31.807. We came in feeling very solid (other than a big slide exiting 4, that was fun!) with our performance.
Race #17…
We were happy to have a relatively incident free day that was running on schedule so we didn’t have any sun issues as our race started. Final call came and we ripped off the warmers and headed out. I decided to just go straight out and push hard on my out lap, and everything felt great. I was gridded 2nd, so I was happy, and pretty sure I could get the hole-shot into 1, so I began my start routine. Flag dropped and the guy to my right pulls a nice wheelie, dropping from sight, and that was last bike I saw… I pushed hard my first 4 laps, because I didn’t want to give anyone a tow, pulling my best time on lap 3 at a 1:31.352. Lap 5 began and after going through turn 1, I stole a quick look back, and saw Jared just entering turn 1, and I couldn’t believe I had such a huge lead. I backed off a bit since I had a good lead, and looked again the next lap to see Jared a bit closer, but not too close, so I figured I would just ride it on home. Crossing the finish line 1st was incredible, even though it was just a novice race… Next year, expert!
Many thanks go out to everyone who came out to support all of us, and cheer us on! Honestly, weekends like are only complete when you get to spend them with friends…
:thumbsup: