Yeah.. so even though I've had my provisional novice license since July 07, for one reason or another (usually $$$) I never got around to using it until
this weekend in Las Vegas. James and I packed up the truck Friday afternoon and headed to LVMS..
Saturday morning rolls around and I miss the 1st practice thanks to being in group 1, and having to wait for my tires to get swapped out. Not exactly the start I was looking for at a track I've never ridden before. I keep in mind that my goal here this weekend is to get some racing experience under my belt, not crash, and not look stupid (well any more than normal). Session 2 queues up and I finally hit the track.. Thanks to the rain the night before, the track is still wet. So now I'm out on a WET track I've never seen before, but screw it.. I'm on the track, albeit slowly and mostly trying to figure out where I'm going. Fortunately, the big sweeper at the end of the back straight is dry so I'm able to get a feel for the speed in and out of it. Too quickly, the checkered flag is out and my 'practice' is over.. Best time is 1:34-ish, but I really don't care much..
We break for lunch, then suit up and it's Solo 20 time.. Basically I'm figuring to use this for more practice.. I'm gridded last thanks to post-registration. It's a 2 wave start with Expert and Novice running in the same race. Green flag drops and wave 1 is away.. I bring the revs up, flag drops for us and we're off.. There were 9 riders in my race, and I get past 2 of them by about turn 3, and start looking for the guy ahead of me. I finally reel him in around the sweeper in lap 2, and make the pass going late on the brakes into the double-apex right (turn 7) only to give it back when I horribly blow the entry into turn 1 and basically park it. I spend the next 3 or 4 laps getting back the time lost and finally zone in on the guy ahead of me as we hit turn 5.. and I late brake him into the corner and go ahead of him down the back straight. Unfortunately for me, I just didn't have the pace to catch anyone else, but had enough pace to stay ahead of the guys behind me.. so the rest of the race was pretty lonely. I clearly remember looking up at the starter seeing crossed sticks thinking "GAH.. 10 more to go.." but in reality I felt great at the end of the race and could have run longer with ease. Final position in my 1st ever race was 5th out of 9, with a best time of 1:28.05 coming on lap 17. I'm happy with the fact that I kept it rubber side down, and was able to dice it up a little bit.
Sunday morning rolls around, and I'm feeling really good about how things have gone so far. The track is dry, we go out for our practice and I feel really comfortable, with a couple guys to play with out there figuring out good passing locations and setting new brake markers (instead of just trying to figure out where to go). Funny thing, it felt quicker than the day before, but my best practice time was somewhere in the mid 1:29's. Whatever.. I felt good and I'm finally starting to figure out the decreasing radius left (turn 8) before the right onto front straight.
So now it's time to relax before my sprint race (James and I are only running 1 race today due to previous plans back home). It's funny, I'm not feeling nervous, just ready to get going.. when finally we get the 1st call for A Superstock, and I start getting dressed. Alex comes over and tells me I'm starting on the next to the last row, grid 12E. 2nd call comes and I'm ready to go.. but everyone tells me to wait.. relax.. and I roll out just as they show the 5 minute board. We grid up, with Harry and I on the same row, with Alex just behind us.
Now.. starts are still something very new to me, so when the flag drops, I get away clean, but it's not real fast. Alex quickly shoots ahead of us, and tuck in behind Harry as we enter turn 1. As Jim Cox told me several times in the racing school, nobody ever won a race on the 1st turn of the 1st lap, so I'm not worried. There's a pretty big bunch heading through 2 and as we get to turn 3, one of the expert guys lowsides right in front of Alex taking him out. Rolling through 3 I see a stripe on the ground and worried it's oil I take the turn VERY gently.. It's not oil fortunately, so now it's game on.. I catch up to Harry straight away in turn 4, but he rides very defensive lines, so I had some trouble getting around him. I finally pass him in the decreasing radius left (turn 8), but blow the next corner wide and he takes it back. I set him up heading into turn 3 and out drive him and take the position back in turn 4. Next up is Krystyna (can't remember her last name) and I get her in turn 8 (I'm starting to like this corner) and focus on the guy ahead.. as it turns out, he's the leader and we dice it up over the next 3 laps.. I get him in turn 7 going tight and inside, but he out drives me to turn 8, but I take it back again through 8. He's got more motor than me though (he's on a 2008 CBR1000RR) and passes me down the front straight, but I know a couple corners where I can get him so I wait behind him.. I figure either he'll make a mistake, or I'll get him in turn 8 and block him onto the front straight. White flag is shown and it's on.. I'm trying to pressure him into a mistake but he's riding good blocking lines, but I know turn 8 is coming and he always takes the tight inside line there. We enter 8 and I swing out wide, then cut in and out drive him to turn 9 and stuff him.. unfortunately, I got a big wheelie coming out of the little dip exiting turn 9 onto the front straight, and had to back out of the gas, and he passed me back, taking the win with me .6 seconds behind him for 2nd place. I also had my best time of the weekend in the sprint with a 1:26.32 on lap 7.
So the weekend is a success in every respect. I got my 1st race under my belt, had a LOT of fun in my sprint race and actually challenged for the win in my class. I wouldn't have gotten this far without the help and support of the following people:
My wife.. she's been behind me and supporting me on everything I've wanted to do since climbing on a sportbike 3 years ago. All the BigHeadz guys for their encouragement and pushing, Micky and Clif at SoCal TrackDays, and Jim Cox (Jim Cox Racing/Dunlop).
And James is right.. this stuff IS like crack.. I can't wait for April to get back out there and race again in Vegas.
Saturday morning rolls around and I miss the 1st practice thanks to being in group 1, and having to wait for my tires to get swapped out. Not exactly the start I was looking for at a track I've never ridden before. I keep in mind that my goal here this weekend is to get some racing experience under my belt, not crash, and not look stupid (well any more than normal). Session 2 queues up and I finally hit the track.. Thanks to the rain the night before, the track is still wet. So now I'm out on a WET track I've never seen before, but screw it.. I'm on the track, albeit slowly and mostly trying to figure out where I'm going. Fortunately, the big sweeper at the end of the back straight is dry so I'm able to get a feel for the speed in and out of it. Too quickly, the checkered flag is out and my 'practice' is over.. Best time is 1:34-ish, but I really don't care much..
We break for lunch, then suit up and it's Solo 20 time.. Basically I'm figuring to use this for more practice.. I'm gridded last thanks to post-registration. It's a 2 wave start with Expert and Novice running in the same race. Green flag drops and wave 1 is away.. I bring the revs up, flag drops for us and we're off.. There were 9 riders in my race, and I get past 2 of them by about turn 3, and start looking for the guy ahead of me. I finally reel him in around the sweeper in lap 2, and make the pass going late on the brakes into the double-apex right (turn 7) only to give it back when I horribly blow the entry into turn 1 and basically park it. I spend the next 3 or 4 laps getting back the time lost and finally zone in on the guy ahead of me as we hit turn 5.. and I late brake him into the corner and go ahead of him down the back straight. Unfortunately for me, I just didn't have the pace to catch anyone else, but had enough pace to stay ahead of the guys behind me.. so the rest of the race was pretty lonely. I clearly remember looking up at the starter seeing crossed sticks thinking "GAH.. 10 more to go.." but in reality I felt great at the end of the race and could have run longer with ease. Final position in my 1st ever race was 5th out of 9, with a best time of 1:28.05 coming on lap 17. I'm happy with the fact that I kept it rubber side down, and was able to dice it up a little bit.
Sunday morning rolls around, and I'm feeling really good about how things have gone so far. The track is dry, we go out for our practice and I feel really comfortable, with a couple guys to play with out there figuring out good passing locations and setting new brake markers (instead of just trying to figure out where to go). Funny thing, it felt quicker than the day before, but my best practice time was somewhere in the mid 1:29's. Whatever.. I felt good and I'm finally starting to figure out the decreasing radius left (turn 8) before the right onto front straight.
So now it's time to relax before my sprint race (James and I are only running 1 race today due to previous plans back home). It's funny, I'm not feeling nervous, just ready to get going.. when finally we get the 1st call for A Superstock, and I start getting dressed. Alex comes over and tells me I'm starting on the next to the last row, grid 12E. 2nd call comes and I'm ready to go.. but everyone tells me to wait.. relax.. and I roll out just as they show the 5 minute board. We grid up, with Harry and I on the same row, with Alex just behind us.
Now.. starts are still something very new to me, so when the flag drops, I get away clean, but it's not real fast. Alex quickly shoots ahead of us, and tuck in behind Harry as we enter turn 1. As Jim Cox told me several times in the racing school, nobody ever won a race on the 1st turn of the 1st lap, so I'm not worried. There's a pretty big bunch heading through 2 and as we get to turn 3, one of the expert guys lowsides right in front of Alex taking him out. Rolling through 3 I see a stripe on the ground and worried it's oil I take the turn VERY gently.. It's not oil fortunately, so now it's game on.. I catch up to Harry straight away in turn 4, but he rides very defensive lines, so I had some trouble getting around him. I finally pass him in the decreasing radius left (turn 8), but blow the next corner wide and he takes it back. I set him up heading into turn 3 and out drive him and take the position back in turn 4. Next up is Krystyna (can't remember her last name) and I get her in turn 8 (I'm starting to like this corner) and focus on the guy ahead.. as it turns out, he's the leader and we dice it up over the next 3 laps.. I get him in turn 7 going tight and inside, but he out drives me to turn 8, but I take it back again through 8. He's got more motor than me though (he's on a 2008 CBR1000RR) and passes me down the front straight, but I know a couple corners where I can get him so I wait behind him.. I figure either he'll make a mistake, or I'll get him in turn 8 and block him onto the front straight. White flag is shown and it's on.. I'm trying to pressure him into a mistake but he's riding good blocking lines, but I know turn 8 is coming and he always takes the tight inside line there. We enter 8 and I swing out wide, then cut in and out drive him to turn 9 and stuff him.. unfortunately, I got a big wheelie coming out of the little dip exiting turn 9 onto the front straight, and had to back out of the gas, and he passed me back, taking the win with me .6 seconds behind him for 2nd place. I also had my best time of the weekend in the sprint with a 1:26.32 on lap 7.
So the weekend is a success in every respect. I got my 1st race under my belt, had a LOT of fun in my sprint race and actually challenged for the win in my class. I wouldn't have gotten this far without the help and support of the following people:
My wife.. she's been behind me and supporting me on everything I've wanted to do since climbing on a sportbike 3 years ago. All the BigHeadz guys for their encouragement and pushing, Micky and Clif at SoCal TrackDays, and Jim Cox (Jim Cox Racing/Dunlop).
And James is right.. this stuff IS like crack.. I can't wait for April to get back out there and race again in Vegas.
