Saturday Practice.
This was the first time that I had ridden the bike since my crashfest race weekend in July. The 1st thing I noticed was that the suspension wasn’t working right at all. The front was hopping thru corners, the rear was too stiff. The new performance friction brake pads felt like crap and I had was NOT feeling comfortable on the bike.
I had Mike of GMD do some adjustments to the suspension. We also noticed that the brake line was loose at the master cylinder. I guess I smacked it good in the last crash and didn’t notice that. Obviously I tightened that and got ready for a second practice session. The brakes still felt mushy (but better now that brake fluid wasn’t dripping out when I applied the brake) but the suspension was working better. I bled the brake lines and put in Double HH pads (I prefer them over the performance friction).
By the end of the two practices I knew it was going to be a long weekend. I felt very slow and overly cautious. I could not find any rhythm… basically I could not get my crashes out of my head...
Race 1.
Heavy Weight Super Bike
During the second lap I pushed the front while trying to over take 3 riders in T6 (the bowl). This should have been a fairly easy block pass, but as of late I seem to make everything more difficult. All I had to do was block their line by out braking them into the turn and out drive them out of the turn. I have done this many times but instead I carried too much speed into the bowl (T6) and lost the front. I picked up the bike, finished the race in last place. A last place is better than a DNF….but this crash really got into my head.
Race 2.
Middle Weight GP
My focus was to get a decent start and actually finish a race. I got a mediocre start and went into T1 mid pack. I made one or two passes and ended up taking a 7th place.
Sunday
Morning Practice
Nothing felt good. I felt tense and very uncomfortable. Every corner I was waiting for the front to push. The bike was actually holding the lines great, but after 3 crashes in two race weekends I guess my head was not in a good place. I usually make time on people from T4to T10, but this weekend I was pooching through that section. Even T1 where I am usually pretty good and have a lot of confidence I was awkward. Pretty much I had very little confidence in myself and the bike. I decided to just ride the races and not worry about placing, just finishing and getting a few points.
Race 1.
Heavy Weight Super Sport
I got a lousy start and was banging elbows with a few guys in T1. I settled into position and ended up taking 9th place.
Race 2
Middle Weight SuperSport
I got into the middle of the pack going into T1. I worked my way up and made a few passes. I then caught up to the lead group of 5 bikes. I paced myself and was closing in on the two of the guys in the back of the lead group. I stayed with the group, but decided to wait for one of them to make a mistake instead of trying to over take any of them. Unfortunately everyone rode a very smooth race and I never pushed a pass….I took 6th place
Race 3
Middle Weight Super Bike
The weather went from sunny and nice to dark skies. It poured and the track was soaked. I had no time to throw rain tires on. I went out and pooched around the track. I almost high sided 2x in T2 and once in 1A….needless to say…the few guys with wets on took off and lead the group. 14 people entered the race, only 7 of us went out and attempted the race. I took 4th….not very eventful…..this was the true meaning of survival…
I survived a weekend but with another crash and a lot of mental frustration. Hopefully in two weeks I will have the crashing out of my head and get back into the groove…
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. I went down hard in T6 in 01, took me a while to shake it, actually I finally put it out of my head by balming my tires (they were bad) and changing from pilot race to dunlops. On the bright side T6 maybe one of the easiest corners to regain your confidence in 
. See you in Sept!
