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Damn, it's been awhile since I have made an official report but thought I would write something. Well, pretty much all of you know how much things have changed for me and to say the least, everything is a big crunch right now. I guess to keep my sanity, I need to get away and ride. Thing is, Jacinta really likes that I race and loves taking the kids to watch me. We make it into a family thing. Hopefully that's how WSMC in Nov will be. Anyways, it's a fine balance between doing something I love and keeping my priorities number one which are 5 priorities of life - my fam. So with that, I decided to save on tire $ and race only the solo race on Sat Nov 2nd in Vegas. I figured to get up at 3:40 AM and start driving to Vegas that Sat. I did. It was a long day to say the least with a party that evening when I returned, but the good thing was the race was over just before 2:00 PM. I was on the road to Riverside at 3:15.

The day was looking great. I get there just before 8:00 (got gas in the morning, ate, stopped to piss, and had to get $$ out of the ATM - forgot there would be a gate fee). So instead of my 7:30 goal, I was 30 min late. Nonetheless, I find a pit, park the truck and rush into the registration area. Line isn't bad, but there's only about 3 guys after me which told me that everyone had registered and I was getting crappy grid position. Oh well.

I barely make the 1st morning practice. I got out there on cold tires. My plan was to buy a fresh new rear tire and use the 2 to 3 good fronts I had. So with the tires left over from last Pahrump, I make my way out. Bike feels great while I get up to speed. I really baby'ed it warming up. Tires slid from time to time, but after 3 laps, I finally starting leaning harder. Man, the suspension felt way better. Goes to show that sound suspension makes a hella difference. After Randy rebuilt my front end for the T200, this track felt way less bumpy and the bike held it's exit line much better (especially out of T2).

2nd practice was more productive. My fresh new rear is on the bike with a very good take-off front (nipples were still present). After changing the gearing, my acceleration out of turns like T2, T4 and T8 was much better - way better. I noticed that the usual rough spots were not really rough (credit the new built front) and my braking points needed much more improvement as a result. So, I needed to progressively adjust my braking points, but T1 and T4 continued to be a mystery to me. I could enter Alex's turn (backstraight sweeping turn) with much more ease so it's a good thing the fastest turn felt good to me.

After the rider's meeting, and before the race, I finally caught some shut eye. Man, I was dragging a little. Anyways, WERA has their act together and first race promptly begins at 12:30 as scheduled. So before I know it, it's time to get ready. I am feeling really good and very confident after the morning's practice, which by the way I got down to 1:25's with ease. So I was really looking forward to the solo. It's 20 laps and it's time to suit up. I am gridded row 5 lane C. I am inside into T1. Ugh! So I chalk it up and get set. I get a good start. Actually I got a hell of a start! I was about 7th or 8th into the turn, but out of the corner of my eye, to the right, I see a rider squeeze in with no place to go. It was Ed. Yep, he thought he could press Lenny out of T1, but in his hesitation to readjust and not stuff Lenny, he lost the front and the whole 6 to 7 riders in front of me scattered. The few that remained kept going and no red flag came out. Ed was fine. So I see about 3 or 4 riders in front of me and one of those riders is Ryan. Michael Beck cleared the mess too and was already checking out after T4. I felt strong and confident. Outside some bobbles and chopped lines, I kept the front in clear view for the first two laps, but couldn't keep or improve the pace. Then I noticed a rider right in front of me. Turns out it was the guy right next to me in the pits. He was holding a good pace, but he kept making errors here and there and it bought me some time to close in. I think for about a good 6 to 8 laps we passed each other back and forth. It was one of the best races I had been in for a very long time. He'd get me into T1 and I would get him back into T6. Finally, on the third time when he passed me, I said screw it, I am gonna sit here. So he led me for about 3 to 4 laps. Sure enough, I saw his weaknesses but damn he was really good going into T1 - that's where he made up all his time. But, I would check up behind him going into T4 every time. So on lap 13 or 14 I could see him making more errors so I think to myself he's getting tired. Mind you, I really don't know it's lap 13 or 14 because I've been battling this guy almost the whole race. I missed the crossed flags and assumed from my trip meter (26 miles) that I have to be more than half way. So I close on him going into T1. I made decision to really go after him into T1. So I stick with him the whole lap after and decided to wait to pass him on the next lap. Going into T1 this time, my set up is much better but one problem for him, he forgot to turn. So he kept the bike up and continued down the paved front straight missing T1 completely. He pushed his braking point way too deep. Consequently, he found his margin for error. I thought to myself right after that "whew, I just might be in 5th place now." Today's race was paying out to 5th place and that $60 could pay for my gas home! So I keep my pace up and now I am really bearing down. I don't want some one squeaking by me in the last 5 laps, so I kept my head down and kept my routine. I wanted to be as consistent as possible. I think with about 3 laps to go Lenny passes me and I think, "nah, he must have exited and re-entered because I have never been lapped this early in the race and seeing on my lap timer that I had 1:23's already. So, he gets through really easy and keeps going (he did exit earlier in the race). Then right when I think the white flag should be coming out, Beck passes me and he gets the white flag. I tell myself to go balls out on this lap and to not let anyone by me. No one passes me and I ended up 7th not 5th like I had hoped. Turns out I didn't see the everyone who cleared the T1 fiasco. Nonetheless, I had a hell of a race, and felt like I could've gone a lot better. I wasn't at a complete 100% effort, but I nearly was. Seeing the times from Sunday's races, I know I would have improved my time even further. It's just that in a 20 lap race, I don't like going balls out in the first 5 to 8 laps because I always go faster after the half way point. Anyways, I felt a lot better with my nearly full 2 sec improvement from my lull performance back in April. Geeze go figure, suspension is key!