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June
25-26
WERA National, Las Vegas Also, Britt was fresh from surgery and a thousand miles away racing on her broken collarbone held together with seven titanium screws in Portland, Oregon, and it was a little difficult to stay focused on the task at hand, which was staying with all the bleeping fast guys that showed up. There were 10+ fast AMA regular types in each group, and it was pretty hard to make any mistake and not end up at the back of the grid. Now, the problem is I "know" I can be in the top five with these guys. I believe it with all my big, ugly bones. Therein lays the problem. Running well, and finishing farther back, isn't any fun, leaves me no sense of satisfaction, and causes sleeplessness. Saturday I had new Held Galaxy Gloves, new Oxtar vented Zemke replica boots, a new Vemar helmet, H2O wicking underarmour and cool-max socks, as well as new knee pucks. I was NOT going to have heat exhaustion problems like the last time. The weather cooperated and stayed more like 101ish all weekend. The lower temperatures and hi-tech gear meant zero heat problems. One thing down. The very first session in practice, old tires, old setup, new everything, as uncomfortable as I can be and just cruising, I ran 1:23s. That was a very good sign. I figured that there was five seconds left just with comfort and setup and the ability to really push the bike. So I came in happy and ready to smell flowers and read poetry. The second session I didn't go any faster, but pushed a lot harder. I found a tear in my rear tire and then discovered my tire vendor wasn't going to be there and I was going to have to go with a tire I hadn't run before. I had a set of tires waiting, and didn't have the coin for a full new set for the weekend, so I only bought one rear and bought it early on Saturday. The endurance ran in the afternoon, so I was out of time anyway. No time for setup with the new rear profile, and no time to find out why I was so uncomfortable on the bike and why I just couldn't make the thing turn and drive out of the corners the way I wanted to. Saturday night I was concerned about my upcoming performance, and concerned and missing Britt, and didn't feel like I would be very good company, so I went to McDonald's and got a salad and a Blizzard or whatever they call them, then went back and read by myself. I bunked in the van and tried to get a good night's sleep. Sunday wasn't much better. I was worried about putting too much time on the front tire, and also didn't want to make big changes to the geometry with the time I had left, so I tried to convince myself it was all in my head and to just ride around it. I set up for the first race, and got an ok start, first one of the year. Not great or anything, but I ended up going into turn 1 about where I was gridded on the fifth row or something. There were a ton of people on the grid, and it was mayhem from there. I pushed as hard as I could, but just didn't have anything for the guys in front and finished in 13th place. I was uncomfortable with the bike the whole time, and just couldn't roll the thing in and blast out. I lost time on every corner exit and just sucked, period. F1 seemed a little better, if only because it was my last race, and I had nothing to save for. I just rode on the edge, but the same things happened. I was uncomfortable, no exit speed, just unhappy with the bike. I hoped Britt was kicking ass, as I was the kickee all day. I finished 13th in A Superstock and 16th in F1. My fastest lap time was a 1:20.9. There were a ton of very fast people there, who never got in the 20s, or just did, but I was so uncomfortable and forcing the bike to do the times that I know with a setup I liked I could have taken two seconds off that time. 1:18s would have gotten me firmly in the top five in both races, so I feel like there's hope. So, that's what I can take away from this weekend. Great new sponsors: Held, Oxtar and Vemar. And Hope, I'll be going faster soon, mark my words. Special thanks to Vince and Dave for always asking if I needed anything, and Tom from Wheel 2 Wheel racing for helping me out with a rear Metzeler when I was in a real bind. |
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