[tigerblade]

Saturday was a Lockhart Phillips Sportrider trackday, so we had practice sessions in the morning. We also were making up the races that were postponed from Road America. Those were run in the afternoon along with the rest of the trackday. I did the first two practice sessions and realized that a month (since the Gateway round) without riding is too long. My left wrist was hurting for some reason and it was a problem to pull the clutch in for downshifts. I worked that out a little and it was better for the Road America make-up race, which was Lightweight Superbike. Didn’t get a good start but settled in and pretty much just stayed where I was. Didn’t get passed, didn’t really get a run at anyone in front of me. Finished 4th.

Sunday the weather was a little spotty. It rained in the morning and I skipped practice, hoping it would dry out by afternoon. Didn’t want to mount the rains just to pull them for DOT’s again. The weather did clear by race 9, which was my first of the day, Lightweight Superbike. My start was a little bit better this time and I had a great battle with the guy in front of me who was on a Buell. I really ran up on him on braking and through the tight sections. Showed him a wheel pretty good going into one of the chicanes but it would have been a chancy move so backed off to make the corner. Then we ran up on a lapper and he got by, but I got blocked through the last couple corners leading to the straight. Lost enough time that I couldn’t challenge the Buell again. He slowed on the cool down lap and was shaking his head a little. I followed him into the pits and congratulated him for holding me off; it was fun dicing a bit. He smiled and said “Man, everyone here is FAST!” The guy who has been winning got beat, so I wasn’t too upset about another 4th in this race, especially since I very well could have had 3rd with a little better luck.

Lightweight Supersport saw only 4 Amateurs starting. It was the guy who always wins, the Buell, myself, and another guy. Got a good start and the three of us stayed as a group, leaving the other guy behind. Not sure how many laps we actually got in, but I was happy to be running right up there with the leader and just behind the Buell again. I think I drug both knees more than I ever have and was running right at the leader’s pace. I figured I’d get the Buell and might even have a chance at the leader this time. Didn’t quite work out as the red flag was shown. The “other” guy had dumped oil through at least 4 corners and through pit out. Apparently he didn’t get off the line very well or very quickly, so they called our race complete. A little disappointing since I essentially finished last of the finishers, but I was actually running the leaders’ pace. I can’t help it if we don’t get a lot of entries… Anyway, got my first 3rd place plaque.

Looking forward to Mid America in a couple weeks. Now that I know I can run up front, there’s no going back…

[coderedcbr]

Nice

[Red Rider]

Nice job! I need to follow you around at Grattan to pick up some tips...

[deez]

TBifumi