pulse
12-19-2005, 01:53 AM
well i just returned from a very fun and interesting weekend at willow. this weekend we got to experience a few things mother nature can throw at you at the track to give some good experience and learn a few things.
i did saturday practice for the first time this month and even though it was quite cold in the morning it was still fun because it was only me, jiggy and one other guy on the track. nothing like have a whole track to your self to cruise around with a buddy. jiggy and I cruised around in the morning sessions, working on lines and getting a feel for the track. about the 3rd session i decided to start getting on it adn the "willow wind" decided to pick up at right about the same time. the 3rd lap i deciced to head into turn 8 at full speed (or at least my full speed) and got to experience th turn 8 wind i have heard so much about........it really does suck. the front was pushing and the bike was everywhere. i pushed severla yards to the left my first time bombing into 8 in the wind and it was an eye opener. so the rest of the day i decided to figure out how to ride through the windy conditions in case sunday would be similar for the race, turning only like a 1:33.5 which i wasnt that thrilled with. the rest of the evening consisted of ramones, beer and dustin getting hte happy birthday song lol.
sunday moring rolls around and i am pumped to go..............except for the ticking i hear hitting the tent trailer roof, yep it was raining:errf: well this was not in the plans for us but since our race was not until mid day i was not worried yet, as we had plenty of time for conditions to change. greg and I decided to hit up the second practice session in the rain. i must say a brand new rear 208 gp is not the best rain tire i could want, it was slicker than hell. so we tippy toed around in the rain and it was actually a lot of fun and the bike slide every where. it was a very good learning experience for traction and throttle control and i was able to complete a staggering best lap of 2:04 in the rain hahaha:ha: :lift: .
as soon as practice ended and the riders meeting came the rain had completely stopped and the track was starting to dry, it was the beginning of a great day of racing to watch with micheal beck pulling at least 3 wins of his 6 podiums with a healing collar bone and jeff tigert running lap record on his 600rr of a 1:23 something, lots of fun to watch.
we were race 12 and it was time to go. there was only one guy that was faster in practice and he was gridded #1 and i was gridded #2. i knew i needed a good start to try and beat this guy so i focused on that. the green flag drops, i geta great start and go into turn 1 in first and see no one to my sides...just what i wanted. now i needed to try and set the pace with no one to lead me and i found this rather difficult to do. i held down first place until lap 3 or 4 where i got stuffed in turn 1 and the guy was taking off. i knew if anyone would come by it would be him and was up for the challenge. he pulled on me a bit at first but i settled in and began to shorten the lead to about 5 bike lengths with 2 laps to go. lap traffic brought us even closer together as he got held up but i couldnt make the pass because i got held up for a split second as well. the race ended in that way with me less than half a second back. it was a great race and it was fun having the lead for a bit. i turned my fastest lap so far, a 1:30.6 and got my second podium.
congrats to greg on his 4th place finish and congrats to jiggy for two top 10 finishes with a 9th and 7th. it was a really fun weekend and i learned alot. thanks to jason for the easy up adn just all the help along the way, thanks to adam for the genorator ( huge help) adn thanks to the makers of the Scamper for making the weekend possible lol. til next time :) :cheers:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lap Lead Lap Tm Gap Diff Speed
2 2 1:31.756 1.148 98.086
3 3 1:31.584 -0.172 0.976 98.270
4 4 1:31.217 -0.367 0.609 98.666
5 5 1:30.608 -0.609 Best lap 99.329
6 6 1:30.890 0.282 0.282 99.021
the crew.....:squid:
i did saturday practice for the first time this month and even though it was quite cold in the morning it was still fun because it was only me, jiggy and one other guy on the track. nothing like have a whole track to your self to cruise around with a buddy. jiggy and I cruised around in the morning sessions, working on lines and getting a feel for the track. about the 3rd session i decided to start getting on it adn the "willow wind" decided to pick up at right about the same time. the 3rd lap i deciced to head into turn 8 at full speed (or at least my full speed) and got to experience th turn 8 wind i have heard so much about........it really does suck. the front was pushing and the bike was everywhere. i pushed severla yards to the left my first time bombing into 8 in the wind and it was an eye opener. so the rest of the day i decided to figure out how to ride through the windy conditions in case sunday would be similar for the race, turning only like a 1:33.5 which i wasnt that thrilled with. the rest of the evening consisted of ramones, beer and dustin getting hte happy birthday song lol.
sunday moring rolls around and i am pumped to go..............except for the ticking i hear hitting the tent trailer roof, yep it was raining:errf: well this was not in the plans for us but since our race was not until mid day i was not worried yet, as we had plenty of time for conditions to change. greg and I decided to hit up the second practice session in the rain. i must say a brand new rear 208 gp is not the best rain tire i could want, it was slicker than hell. so we tippy toed around in the rain and it was actually a lot of fun and the bike slide every where. it was a very good learning experience for traction and throttle control and i was able to complete a staggering best lap of 2:04 in the rain hahaha:ha: :lift: .
as soon as practice ended and the riders meeting came the rain had completely stopped and the track was starting to dry, it was the beginning of a great day of racing to watch with micheal beck pulling at least 3 wins of his 6 podiums with a healing collar bone and jeff tigert running lap record on his 600rr of a 1:23 something, lots of fun to watch.
we were race 12 and it was time to go. there was only one guy that was faster in practice and he was gridded #1 and i was gridded #2. i knew i needed a good start to try and beat this guy so i focused on that. the green flag drops, i geta great start and go into turn 1 in first and see no one to my sides...just what i wanted. now i needed to try and set the pace with no one to lead me and i found this rather difficult to do. i held down first place until lap 3 or 4 where i got stuffed in turn 1 and the guy was taking off. i knew if anyone would come by it would be him and was up for the challenge. he pulled on me a bit at first but i settled in and began to shorten the lead to about 5 bike lengths with 2 laps to go. lap traffic brought us even closer together as he got held up but i couldnt make the pass because i got held up for a split second as well. the race ended in that way with me less than half a second back. it was a great race and it was fun having the lead for a bit. i turned my fastest lap so far, a 1:30.6 and got my second podium.
congrats to greg on his 4th place finish and congrats to jiggy for two top 10 finishes with a 9th and 7th. it was a really fun weekend and i learned alot. thanks to jason for the easy up adn just all the help along the way, thanks to adam for the genorator ( huge help) adn thanks to the makers of the Scamper for making the weekend possible lol. til next time :) :cheers:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lap Lead Lap Tm Gap Diff Speed
2 2 1:31.756 1.148 98.086
3 3 1:31.584 -0.172 0.976 98.270
4 4 1:31.217 -0.367 0.609 98.666
5 5 1:30.608 -0.609 Best lap 99.329
6 6 1:30.890 0.282 0.282 99.021
the crew.....:squid: