Allow me to "toot my horn" a little
Had a good weekend. It felt SO COOL to be a part of such a big event (I didn't realize what kind of draw a FormulaUSA event had! The place was mobbed!) Was pretty bad-ass checking out some of the bigger teams. Larry Pegram and the Hooters Suzuki team had THE pimp setup! Two-story, air-conditioned trailer, 8 bikes for 2 riders... awww yeah. I can only dream of achieving that level. Pegram qualified 1st in the LP Superbike races with a 2:12.6, on a 145hp GSX-R750 - that guy is FLYING!
My races were ok. Would have liked to have done a little better... but I was stuck gridded in last place (my own fault for not pre-registering.) Out of the 3 races I entered on Saturday, 1 had 27 riders (HW Supersport), and the other 2 had 35-36 (UnlimGP and HW Superbike.)
Unlim GP was a total blast... fought it out with my buddy Mike Shallcross the WHOLE race (trading positions several times each lap - talk about adrenaline rush!!) This is where I remembered that drafting is a good idea... He passed me on the outside of 12, I got him back under braking into 14, and he drafted me going into 1. Wound up getting around him on the last lap, and finishing 5th, with Mike in 7th (Chin on the GSX-R1000 got around him down the front straight in lap 5, but didn't pass me until I had already crossed the finish line - whew!)
Heavyweight Supersport was a little embarassing. Worked my way up to 4th, before noticing that the fuel light was flashing, somewhere around the end of lap 3. By turn 5 on the 4th lap, the light had gone from flashing to solid (meaning I was *really* out of gas) and had to back it off, big-time. I figured a crappy finish was better than a DNF. A few guys got around me, and I wound up finishing in 10th. My friends are NEVER going to let this one die... apparently my new nickname is "gasmaster". DOH!
Heavyweight Superbike, I totally goofed the start, and more or less parked behind everybody until Turn 5. Slowly started working my way up, but wasn't pushing too hard, as I was having some problems with the brakes fading, and wound up finishing 6th. Mike got a much better start than I did, and fought it out with Chachere for awhile (until Chachere went down in 12)... and brought home a 3rd. Go Mike!
Sunday brought the NRRS Unlimited Supersport. I was pumped for this one... National race, and I got to put one of those cool transponders on my bike
Unfortunately, my brake fade problems came back (my fault, I should've cleaned the calipers and swapped in new pads overnight) and found I was having a harder and harder time slowing down. Mike and I were once again duking it out, him in 4th, me in 5th, before coming down into 8, my brake lever was against my knuckles, with no chance in slowing down. Wound up juuuust missing Mike's back tire, and went off into the gravel trap, still in 3rd gear, probably about 70mph. I came in nice and smooth for the first 20 feet or so, before the bike STOPPED and I experienced "conservation of momentum" as I flew another 10 feet or so
I remember thinking to myself as I hit the pit, "Hey this isn't so ba - " as I got tossed. Luckily, I am ok (arm's a lil sore, but that's it) and the bike suffered some scratches and a slightly bent upper-fairing stay. Nothing I can't just bend back
Mike stayed in 4th until the end tho.
DanO, due to some unfortunate miscommunication with CCS and FormulaUSA - did not race this weekend. Doh! But it was great fun nonetheless, and altho I crashed, I was happy to see my friend do well
And I got my laptimes down some more
Best of the weekend was in UnlimGP, chasing Mike down... went 2:28.35. Ya baby
Did anyone else here make it up there this weekend?
