Looking forward to this season
Posted on February 5th, 2013 by admin
Diomede Racing
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Thank you, sponsors for an awesome 2012 season
Posted on November 5th, 2012 by admin
I’m writing this and I’m still hoping that Santa will throw some cash my way so I can head over to FemmeWalla at Chuckwalla in Dec. Meanwhile, I need to tell my sponsors THANK YOU!!!!!
There are so many things that wouldn’t have been possible with hope the help of these sponsors. I couldn’t have really asked for a better first year as an expert. I learned a lot, set some new personal best lap times and had some great races.
PJ’s Motorcycles: To PJ, Thank you so much for all the support. To Aaron, who was the one who had to suffer with me and my bike. You are awesome. Not many other shop mechanics are will to spend time outside of business hours on the phone with frantic girl racer who’s bike just can’t function without some drama on race day. The service I have gotten from these guys can’t be matched.
Speedin’ Motorsports: Brian, you’re a fantastic sponsor and a great friend. I’m pretty sure that no one else would have stayed up so late putting a new water pump in my bike, with the hopes that I could race the next day.
SIDI Boots: I just love these boots, I also love the fact that I didn’t get to crash test them this season. I can’t say the same for the dirt version. They offer unmatched protection. I can’t wait to get more racers into them next year.
Soumy Helmets: Have protected my head from a number of falls. I can’t say enough about how I appreciate the protection they offer, the graphics are some of the best out there too.
Woodcraft: These guys are racers and when you break a part or are putting another bike together at the last minute. They will do what ever it takes to get you the parts and even think of how to do it so that you get what you need and it won’t cost you so much. They are the best!
Chicken Hawk Racing Tire Warmers: I’ve loved all the other sets of CH warmers I’ve had. I use them and then pass them on. Call me fickle, I just want to see how they keep improving them. The new pole positions I got this year are the best warmers I’ve used.
GoPro: This camera proved to be a fantastic training aid. I was able to fix a number of things about my riding thanks to the footage I took and the footage that other took of me.
I’d also like to thank Rybo (Mr. Scott Rybrik) and TMC (Mr. Micheal Carr) for their help this season. Both of them helped me greatly with a few issues I was having, and allowed me to drop significant number of seconds from my lap times. They are some of the best friends a person can have.
SMRI Oct Race Day
Posted on October 31st, 2012 by admin
It was my last race for the 2012 season, I had hoped to go off and do a couple more at some different tracks, but money or shall we say the lack there of got in the way of those plans. This is the first year; I’ve had to cut back drastically on plans due to depleted funds at end of the season. I personally am going to blame work for cutting everyone’s raises and all of my overtime. Don’t they know that impacts the tire budget? How rude. Oh well. Maybe next year, I’ll find someone willing to foot my tire bill or at least part of it.
Because it was our last race of the season, there was the expected drama, upsets and surprises. First of all, I can’t believe that Kelcey set another new record for this configuration. Way to go!! Again, I’ve got to find more pace so I don’t look so slow in comparison. Can’t really blame him, he had some hot competition this round, so if he hadn’t picked it up he might not have finished the season undefeated. (can you tell he’s a teammate?) I’m really proud of what he did this season.
As for me, this race day didn’t hold any thing super special or noteworthy. Well, okay I did clinch the Formula Femme Championship for the 3rd year in a row, even though I missed a round. In 5 years of racing I’ve finished the year’s end for that class –> 1st 3 times. Not a bad record for that class.
I may not have set any records or gone undefeated, but I did have a great year. I set some new personal best lap times for all of the tracks that I rode. I managed for to be more consistent with my lap times. I had races where I was within .3 from lap to lap. Those are huge steps for me, not to mention I didn’t fall down a single time! So that great paint job that Kevin did for the Speedin’ Motorsports team still looks great.
I did get to race at my first WERA round. Wow, those dudes and dudettes are fast. Gridding up beside Melissa Paris (never dreamed that would happen) was pretty dang cool. So was finishing 4th in the race behind 3 AMA racer type girls.
Oct SMRI Track Day
Posted on October 15th, 2012 by admin
I was actually so disappoint to be here for this. If things had gone my way, I’d have been in UT racing with the UtahSBA group at the last Master’s of the Mountains (MoM) race for the year.
Instead I had to settle for hanging out with a bunch of Triumph and Ducati riders. I tell ya it was a hard day. PJ’s Motorcycles sponsored the day, there there were more then usual number of those Triumph and Ducati type bikes there. The turn out was on the lighter side, as it usually is for the new configuration. I still don’t know why that should make a difference, but the riders around here really don’t like to try new things.
The light turn out made the day go by at a nice pace, no bike fell down and it looked like we might have converted a few more TD riders to wanna be racers. Can’t wait to see if they make it back out there in the spring.
Sept Race Day Recap
Posted on September 26th, 2012 by admin
Over all I was really pleased with how the day went. Just because I set a new personal best lap time for the std configuration, I beat my previous best time by .45 seconds. Which is just huge, I’d been stuck for 3 years with the same personal best and I know that the other two times I ran that time it was a fluke. This time, I had a number of laps in that range. I wasn’t as consistent as I would have liked, but it wasn’t as bad as some of the weekends I’ve had.
I had a plan for the day, the same one that I’ve been focused on for a couple of months now. Get to the Apex. Add Throttle. Now of course there are some other things that go with this like trailing the brakes to the apex, getting the bike aimed in the right direction, making the apex the slowest part of the corner (where my lean angle is the greatest) then picking the bike up as I add the throttle, driving it to the exit point, using the whole track as much as possible and keeping my eye moving up the track. Each time I made a mistake, I pushed it aside, continued with the plan, trying to make sure that I didn’t make the same mistake again in the next corner.
I prefer small increments of change, rather then the huge leaps some take. I don’t believe in scaring myself. That last TD was a good example, I went at a fast pace working on trailing the brakes to the apexes, and not once did I worry about keeping the bike or my self in one piece. I might have 1 moment a day, where so many of the people I talk with talk about having a ‘moment’ at least once a lap, if not every corner. I’ve gotten grief from some of the guys about how much faster I could be if I’d just push myself more. I’m just not sure I buy into that way of thinking.
Now I did make some mistakes during my races, especially on the starts. (Yeah, what a shocker) I stood the bike up on the start of the first race and stalled it. Now, I was shocked at how quick I got the thing started and took off. Too bad most of the Thunder bike grid got in front of me. I did make it up to 4th by the end of the race though. Then in the next race I spun up the rear tire trying to make the pass on Perry, because once again I got a horrible start, only this time I coasted through turn one in neutral. Not sure how I finished in that one, at the back I’m sure. My third start was slow but without any major foul ups. At least I got the hole shot in Formula Femme. One of the highlight of my day was lapping Mr Riffe. Just kiddin, kinda. Winning that one put me into first place for the EOY championship, not by much though so I still need to win the last race of the year to clinch it.
August trackday and Races
Posted on August 29th, 2012 by admin
I’ve been behind in my posts, so here the latest.
Both the Track day and the races were held on the ‘new’ configuration. There are things I really like about this config and things that I don’t like, more so then with any other track. This config is bumpy, and it’s bumpy enough in two spots that I struggle with my suspension set up. The two sections I struggle with are the stairway and the drive way. These are great names for the two sections of pavement that were added so we could have a different config to run. The stairway goes from the inner oval to the outer oval there are 3 bumps as you cross each one slightly larger then the last. For me by the time I hit that last bump, my suspension sometimes bottoms out. Making the turn that follows (very quickly) after hard to complete in a non scary manner. The driveway part is great, until you come back onto the oval, if you hit this wrong you catch air and end up way to the inside of the next turn. If you hit it at the correct angle it’s just really rough and it can bounce you off the bike.
In May for Miller I had PJ’s put stiffer springs in my forks, since I didn’t have any preload left to put in and I was on the hard stop for each lap. I wasn’t feeling it bottom out under hard braking, but I usually don’t brake that hard. This is another whole issue that I’ve bee working on for a while now (It’s related to the pink tape on my instrument cluster), I will say it’s getting better. With the stiffer springs I was able to for the first time in over a year run my fastest times on this config. Not just one lap either, but consistently, I had races where all of the hot laps were within .6 of each other. Unlike the last time I was able to put down my fastest lap last year. It was only 1 lap and the rest were off by 1.2 seconds. Best part no bottoming out!!
That taken care of I was stoked for the races the next day. Figuring I’d be able to hit a new personal best. That was until I had a ‘moment in turn 3. I’d just accelerated out of the north hairpin, rolled off the throttle and the bike popped out of gear, and I mean popped. In the video (which doesn’t look nearly as scary as it felt at the time) you can see the bike bounce. I thought for sure I was going to end up going off the track. I literally pulled the bike over to get as much lean as I could, so the bike wouldn’t run off the edge of the track. I dragged the toe of my boot through the corner, on a 675 that takes some doing too, I never touch my toes on the track. It worked out, I stayed on the track, the bike stayed up right and I got it back into gear. I did two more hot laps after that and then called it a day.
The bike popping into neutral was an indicator of things to come for the races then next day. I struggled in 3 of the 4 races with that. I had great starts in every race only to bump the bike into neutral in the first turn. It worried me that I was going to have people run into the back of me every time. I’d lose multiple positions and then have to fight to get around people to make up spots. Not really my strong suit, I’m far too polite in how I pass people. So I didn’t end up with very many good finishes, except for FF which I won and lapped the rest of the field.
July SMRI Race Day
Posted on July 27th, 2012 by admin
From June races:
Am Thunderbike Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2bJthrO99s&feature=youtu.be
Am GTU Video
July…
So does this mean the season is half over?? I hope not, I’m starting to really get into things now. I’ve got some trips I’d like to do and other tracks I wanna go visit, but of course as it always does, it comes down to money. Things aren’t looking as great I had hoped they would. People have been laid off at work, no raises this year, and no more OT. That last one is the killer for me. OT was how I funded most of my traveling.
So I’ll just have to make sure I throw everything I can into racing with SMRI. With that in mind, I wanted to continue with the things I learned at the last race weekend. No more not putting 100% into the races, I wanted consist lap times for the entire race and I wanted to better my personal best time. So I managed 2 of the 3 things… the 2 more important items too.
Am Thunderbike being the first race of the day, seems to usually be my best race of the day. I was determined for that to not be the case this weekend. Not sure what has changed, but my launches have just been stellar. I launched into 3rd place as we all hit turn 1. I lost a position on the exit to a liter bike (twin). I held that right up until the 4th lap when I missed a down shift going into the hairpin, that allowed one of the guys to get under me and push me out on the exit. I spent the rest of the race trying to get back around him, since I knew that I was a little bit faster. I just couldn’t get it done before we came up on some lap traffic. At that point I lost too much ground when I was stuck behind one of them for a turn and he made clean before the turn. I had to settle for 4th. The upside was that more consistent times then I have, until the traffic got in the way. I was still pleased with it.
Next was the Am U race, it was already getting miserably hot out and I haven’t been doing very well with the heat. I considered not going out, but figured I go and see what I was able to do. I hit turn 1 in 4th place again, and coming into turn 2 almost ran into the back of the guy in 3rd, it spooked me enough to allow the guy behind me to get by me. The three of us spent the whole race looking for ways to get around each other. It was a fun race and it ended with me disappointed that I hadn’t been able to get clear and go put down some faster lap times. Once back I checked on the lap times and they were consistent but just a bit slower then I know I can go. I’ve now really got to work on taking the pass when I see it and not over thinking it so much.
After lunch and cooling down a bit I had MW superbike. I was determined to not let that guy get in front of me again. Esp not after his 4 year old was talking smack about her daddy was so much faster then me and I was really slow…. I just couldn’t take that… 😛 I had a great start, I was shocked, third one in a row!!! I knew that I was ahead of Doug and that was the goal, I just had to focus and not make a mistake this time that would let him by. After lap 4 I could see him on the back straight as I was entering turn 5. I knew there was no way he would be able to catch up at that point and when looked again on the white flag lap he was no where to be seen. I was pretty pleased. The laps where consist and roughly the same pace as my first race of the day. Yippieee! I knew that I could work on finding some places to drop time now that things are more consistent. I get back to the pits and Doug is there, what? He had pulled off on lap 5 because he knew that there was no catching me. 😀
Last race of the day, Formula Femme and thanks to my giant goof up last time I was on the outside of the first row. Not where I like to be. So the start was going to be critical to my success. I did okay, and hit turn 1 in third again, again almost running into the back of 2nd in turn 2 because they drifted over and then tipped in. I knew that as early as they tipped in I could get a better drive to turn 3 and if they took their usual line I’d be able to get them coming out. I did. From that point on I focused on consistent and as fast a laps as I could. No repeat of the last race. I really wanted around the Modern Vintage guy in front of me, since he was holding me up, but his unpredictable and strange lines made me too nervous about passing in the spots where I could have and then since he was on a liter bike I couldn’t get him on the straights. Frustrating. I saw by lap 6 again that the girl behind me was still on the back straight as I was entering turn 5 so I got comfortable with not worrying about riding defensive line and try to figure out how to get around bizarre line dude in front of me. I had it worked out until we hit the lappers and then he gapped me on the last lap so I couldn’t. In all the plan worked and I have new things to work on.
SMRI June Event
Posted on June 27th, 2012 by admin
Track Day:
It was a split weekend, where we have the track day on a Sunday and then on another Sunday we have the races. Not sure why the races have to be on a Sunday, when we have these types of weekends, but it works out that way. So this being a Sunday track day we expected to have a great turn out, it worked out to be an okay day for turn out. Again, not sure why that is.
Race Day
I was just not ready for it to be this hot this soon. At the end of the day my truck was telling me it was a 109 out. Ick. Not sure why I thought running 6 races was a good idea for the day. But, I’ve gotten ahead of my self.
First race of the day for me was Am Thunderbike, It ended up being my best race of the day, and not due to my finishing position. I had something to prove this time around. There had been a great deal of smack talk around this class in April. There was no way I was going to give an inch to anyone. Normally, the smack talk doens’t effect me, but this time I was about as close to seeing red as
I’ve ever been over the things said. Since I missed the May round to race WERA I was gridded back in the 3rd row. I’ve always had issues with my launches, but this day they weren’t an issue. I got a great launch and hit turn 1 in 2nd place. I lost two spots on the exit since I was forced to stay low on the exit by one of the guys. I was sitting comfortable in 5th by the time we’d all rounded turn 3. I had a plan going into the race I’d decided that I was going to put my head down and concentrate on hitting my two problem turn consistently each time. That plan paid off, I was hanging onto the 4 bikes in front of me. In the first three laps I was starting to think that I was going to be able to get back by the guy in front of me. But by the half way mark he’d managed to put a little bit of space between us and I just couldn’t close it down. As We were mid way through the white flag lap I realized that the front group hadn’t run away from me. That the 5 of us were all around a second apart. Normally the top three just run away, and I can’t see them any more. Not the best time to let my mind wonder. I made myself focus on the last 3 corners to make sure there wasn’t anyone behind me. Lately, it’s harder for me to hear certain bikes behind me. I’m not fond of not knowing how close people are to me. After I took the checkered flap I got a good look behind me and didn’t see anyone… on even coming out of the last corner. It was nice to have that much of a gap.
The weekend was a learning weekend for me. I rode a first gen 250 Ninja in the 250SS class. Wow… I learned that for those bikes you don’t use the same brake markers as for the 675. You just downshift and tip it in. Too bad I didn’t get any practice time on it and I didn’t figure that out until the 8th lap of the race. It was enough fun that I think I’ll need to have one of those for next year.
The other lesson I learned was that if you are racing, then go race. I made the mistake of not really trying in the Formula Femme race, and as a result it was the first time in two years I ended up 2nd. That just made me so mad at myself and at the Modern Vintage guy who over heated and didn’t move off the race line so I almost ran into the back of him. It killed my getting back in front of the other FF racer. So lesson learned…
Miller with WERA
Posted on May 31st, 2012 by admin
In all a great weekend, I really love this track. I may have to find a way to live here.
Friday was supposed to be a practice day but we didn’t get to go out on the track until the afternoon, too much rain and lighting. I swear the storm was right over the top of the track it caused the power to go out in the garages 2x. It was great to have some time to finish safety wiring the bike and to swap tires around. Since the track was dry after lunch, I did get 3 20 minutes sessions in… which was less then 10 laps. When you’ve got that many corners on a track you aren’t familiar with it’s hard to remember where you are.
I did lose my way a few times, I’ve ridden the full course so I really wanted to turn left after turn 6, but the track goes right, for what ever reason I struggled with Witchcraft in all those sessions. After my last session I rolled the bike into Tech. so I’d have less to do the next morning. I really hate rushing around trying to get on the track.
WERA is an RACE organization. They don’t care if you get any practice time; I hear that’s not what they are there for. Sat, we all got 1 15 min practice session. Then they ran their 6 hour endurance race. So we hung out watched the start and then went home to make a great dinner.
Now the good thing about this was it gave us time to watch the video I took from the bike on Friday. After watching it and getting some great advice from The Michael Carr I thought for sure that I’d be able to drop some time. He kindly pointed out I was coasting into a few corners and that it was costing me. There were also a few suggestions on how to fix a few lines around the track. I think the best lesson he gave me was on the way to the track. We were coming up on Sheep Ln, I was following Mike. He started to slow down, not quickly just gradually. I was thinking what in the world is he doing? The Suburban behind me was not impressed and blasted around both of us then turned onto Sheep Ln. Then Mike’s brake lights came on and I was thinking why bother you don’t need them to make the turn. Then, he hammered it and sped away. I couldn’t help myself I burst out laughing… I knew exactly what he was doing. Teaching me a lesson about coasting into my turns… Dang he’s one smart dude.
So on to the Sunday races, we got 2 15 min practice sessions, it really isn’t enough to allow you to work on any thing its just to see if the bike starts and rolls and let you loosen up a bit. I thought that I’d planned out what I was doing fairly well, but not so much. I had the first race and the third race, dang. I was tired after that. Turns out NOT coasting is a lot more work. Who knew? The first race was interesting being gridded on the 24th row, in the second wave. No chance of being anything but a back marker. It was a good lesson and it got me ready for the Women’s super stock race.
The second race Women’s super stock was the whole reason I decided to come out and run this round. I want to grid up with some really fast women and see if I could learn a few things about how to go faster. As it turns out, I did but I had no idea that I’d be gridded next to Melissa Paris. Talk about intimidating. As I expected she was off like a flash. The three women that finished in front of me were gone by the time we hit the first turn. I thought hey this could be okay, I could live with 4th. Then I missed my second down shift and coasted through turn 6 just like I had done in turn 5. At that point Kat went by me, I was thinking, no way. I just can’t let her do that. I decided to see if I could stay with her. I was actually surprised that in Toole turn and Club house I almost ran into the back of her. I started thinking, wow, I think I can pass her. So I made it a point to stay close to her until we got on to the front straight. When she just walked away from me, but once we got around to turn 3 I was back on her. I waited for the drive out of Witchcraft I got a great drive and made the pass up the inside coming into the Attitudes. I made sure I hit each apex after that until we crossed the start finish line. I’m not aggressive when I race which is part of my problem, but I was really pleased with the pass. I didn’t over think it for once.
The rest of the weekend was anti-climatic after that race. It would have been great to actually place in front Mike for a change, but I just couldn’t get it done and after I scared myself coming out of turn 6 on the gas on the rumble strips with the backend of the bike dancing from side to side. I decided that it wasn’t going to happen and I’d just settle for finishing behind him. It was the only down side to the weekend really… Just once I need to beat the dude.
First Race(s) for the 2012 Season
Posted on April 30th, 2012 by admin
Even though I did go to a race in March with ASMA, I don’t really count that as the first race of the season. It’s more of a kick to the head to get me ready for the first race of the season. SMRI is really my home club so it is the series that counts for me and how I gauge my progress.
So I guess I’ll start with Deming, given the weather there isn’t a lot to talk about. I drove down Friday night so I could be set up and ready to go early Saturday, not that I needed to do so. Deming is always hit or miss with the weather and this time like in February it was a huge miss. It started with promise and quickly went south, it got colder, it started to rain, and then it started to snow about 10 am. So much for getting in some practice on the bike, which had an all new map on it, the hope was it would take care of the surging issue when the throttle was cracked open.
Fast forward to Sunday, still cold but at least it was sunny, the new map, didn’t take care of the issue, it was actually worse. So needless to say, the day was a waste for me. I let someone else use the bike for a race that day, he didn’t seem to have the issues with the surging that I did, but then he most likely went right past it since he’s more aggressive and faster than I am. I wish I’d had the camera on for all of the races then I would have been able to see that I’m back to coasting more again. It’s a bad habit of mine, just like rushing the corner entrances I seem to go back to them when I’m not comfortable with the bike. Really, not the way to go, I should be more diligent about make sure I ride correctly when I’m not comfortable. Oh well, we all have things we need to work on doing better. It was still a really fun day; the ASMA group is really great to be around, going there always reminds me that I need to go faster.
After that weekend, I went back out to Sandia with Aaron so that we could really fix this surging issue. He spent the better part of 2 hours with it on and off the track getting the map adjusted. I rode it around and played around on the new config for a few laps. I didn’t find the surge, anymore, but it still seems to have a bit of a flat spot coming out of the north and south hairpins. Now, I’m willing to bet money on the flat spot being more the way I’m riding the bike then it being the bike. Especially after seeing the video of my first SMRI race this month. After spending all this time and effort getting the bike to a state where I was comfortable on it, I was really looking forward to the first SMRI weekend. We had the track day set up for Saturday and the races scheduled for Sunday.
The weather on the other hand, wasn’t going to let us enjoy the weekend. Saturday started off great, it wasn’t too bad when I unloaded the bike and set up everything so I could head off to run registration. However, by the time we closed registration that day, the winds had picked up and the temps had dropped. As the morning went on it got colder and the winds got stronger and stronger. It was bad enough I didn’t want to ride, I pulled my tire warmers off the bike and I swear that a pound of sand come out of them. I figured I’d go out for the Intermediate session and see what it was like, before I had to tow beginners around the track for the next session. At one point coming out on to the front straight, I couldn’t see the first turn. Now the front straight isn’t that long. Scary. After the school session was over, I parked the bike and put everything away for the day. I didn’t feel it was safe out there to ride, 1 session later the head Corner Marshall called the day since he couldn’t see his corner workers from his tower. This is the second time; I’ve gotten to say I told ya so. When are those boys going to listen? If I don’t want to ride, there is something really wrong and they should consider calling it off, instead of telling me I’m just being a wimp and doing one more session (giving people more time to fall down) before they then decide it’s unsafe to ride.
The last thing I wanted to do was mess up my STUNNING new paint job. Gone are the flowers from the past three years… well almost… there is one flower on the front fender. As you can see I’ve now got white plates on the bike, it was time to grow up. I think that the white has made me slower. Sorry, I’m getting ahead of myself, a huge Thank You to Brian at Speedin’ Motorsports for making this paint job happen and to Kevin Gibson for creating this beautiful paint job.
Sunday the weather was finally starting to cooperate, but the wind from Saturday had left drifts of sand in the pits and on the track that were 4 inches deep. It took hours to shovel my pit area, good thing I had help from the guys next door. We all worked on creating a path in the pit so that you didn’t have to ride through the drifts on your way to and from the track, needless to say this didn’t not leave me feeling good about the stickiness of the tires to the cold pavement As usual I only did one practice session; I’m just too busy with everything else to make it out there for all three sessions, just once I’d like to be able to do that. I was pleased with the bike, it was running great, it felt like it should.
The first race of the day for me was a shocker, I just wasn’t into it. My launch was so bad that I was afraid that I was going to get run into from behind. Found out later, I came really close to having exactly that happen, I hit turn one in 3rd place, but had a guy get around me in the first lap and then another one get around me in the second lap. I knew that I had someone else back there I just didn’t know who it was. As I finally started to pick up the pace, I was bumping the stop in the staircase on this new config yes, it’s like riding up 3 steps, super bumpy. I had issues with it last year too; I should have remembered that I need to add more fork oil to stop that bottoming out. Oh well, that just meant I wasn’t going to be able to do much about fixing my lap times on that part of the track. (I did manage to have the GoPro and the GPX lap timer on for this race so I got some really great data from it.) I just tried to run defensive lines so that if the person behind me got close it would be really hard for them to pass me. I know how to be wide. He didn’t even get a chance to show me a wheel until we came up on lap traffic. I knew that’s when he’d try to make a pass and figured I’d go under when the guys drifted out in turn 6. It worked perfectly. He thought he was going to out power me and I just walked away from them both. I managed to hang on to 5th place in our biggest class of the day!
The Am U race didn’t work out so well for me. I didn’t launch well again, and I was bottoming out on every lap in the turn 1A-1B section. I wasn’t comfortable there so I ended up slowing down there and just trying to fix my rusty riding on all the other sections. I didn’t finish as well, but I did drop some more time over all.
I did four races, but this time I had to run with the big boys, in Middle Weight Super Bike. Ouch, I really hate being a rolling chicane and holding people up. I had a decent start unlike my first race of the day. I managed to hit the first turn in 5th place, but that only lasted until turn 3, by then I was down to 7th, then by the last turn I was down to 8th. I ended up just doing the same thing I had done for the Am race, slow down in the sections where I wasn’t happy and working on other turns to drop some more time. By the end of the day I was only 3 seconds off from my fastest time for that configuration.
Overall I was happy with that, it wasn’t warm out and the track was still really dirty. My last race was the Formula Femme race, it was combined with the Modern Vintage. I ended up with the hole shot. Finally, a decent start, I’ve got to practice those… Now would be a good time before I put in the new slipper clutch. It was about 2 laps before Josh got around me and I tried to hang on to the back of him, but that first section kept causing me to lose ground. I did manage to hold up Matt until the very last lap, the last turn but he ended up with a better drive then me. I finished first for the women’s class.