Better, but not best
Virginia International Raceway (VIR) - Alton, VA
June 24-25, 2006

After my shitty performance at Roebling two weeks ago, I'm looking forward to this weekend, on a track that I really know. Last minute I decide to do the Friday practice to get some more seat time to get the crash demons out of my head.

It's gonna be hot today, but I don't care, I just need some more practice time to get back up to speed. The day goes well, although there's no timer on the track, I feel I'm getting back up to normal speed. I only do 4 sessions b/c it's just too fuckin hot, and I'm tired.

Saturday, I head to the track. I go through tech and get ready for morning practice. I make sure to get some good laps in b/c USGPRU qualifying is first, before any of the races. Practice goes well, and I'm ready for qualifying. We head out for qualifying and I get a few good laps in, although not happy with my times, I turn a best of 41.67. Kinda sux, as I was hoping to be under 40s, but oh well. It turns out, it's not just me... everyone's slow this weekend. With that time, I qualify 10th!... Compared to last year, I turned a 39.xx and qualified 17th or something like that. Good to know that it's not just me.

Third call sounds for our first race, GTL. We head out and I'm gridded on the front row. As usual, all the buells & SVs and big twins pass me on the start. I head into T1 somewhere in the teens/twenties. There's a lot of bikes ahead of me. Dave Celento passes me and I follow him through some of the traffic. He starts to wade through the traffic and pulls a bigger gap on me and I can't keep up. After a couple laps, things settle out and fall into place. I pass a couple SVs then about halfway through the race, Klaras passes me. I look down and see my times are in the 42/43s.. jeesh, I'm running slow today. I follow John around for a lap, and it starts to get tough for me to keep up, which shouldn't be the case, as we're not going 'that' fast. I notice around a couple of turns, that my tires are starting to slide, and I'm losing confidence in them. My tires are spent, so I hang back a bit, and make sure no one else passes me, and I finish 16th.

My tires are spent. I think the heat and surface of Roebling and the track day ate them up, so I need new ones, however I don't have enough time before the 125GP race, so I miss it. As well, it turns out a lot of other 125'ers didn't do it either.. only 11 people in the race. So that's it for today, and we head home.

Sunday, I head to the track, ready for the big race. First in the morning is the LWGP race, a good primer for the USGPRU race. Just using it as a warm-up, I head out for the quick 6-lap race. Racing amongst the SVs and 250s, the bike ahead of me is waayy ahead of me, but I finish 10th. Not too bad.

So we eat lunch, and the USGPRU 125 race is first after lunch. We grid up, and I'm on the 3rd row. I get a decent start, only a couple bikes pass me on the start, so I'm somewhere around 15th going into T1. Slowly we all start to fan out and fall into place. Within a couple laps, I pass a couple guys. As well, I watch the lead group start to walk away from me, just out of reach. I'm turning 42/41s... not bad, but not as fast as I wanted.

Coming near the end of the race, John Lemak passes me. Now I just beat him in the GTL race, so I know I'm starting to fade. However, I can't let him beat me. So I see the white flag, and put my head down and take off. I'm riding my my ass off and slowly catching him. This is the best riding I've done all weekend. (Too bad it has to be on the last fuckin lap of the weekend) Halfway through the last lap, I'm within reach. I make sure to nail all my turns, and I know that I'm a little faster than him on the last 2 turns onto the straight, so I get as close as I can and get a great drive off the last turn. I pull up next to him, and just barely beat him to the line, by about 1/2 a bike length. Woohoo. I end up finishing up 12th. Should have finished a couple spots higher, but I'm feeling better on the bike.

Next weekend is BeaveRun, the 2-stroke Jamboree, the first USGPRU-run weekend. I'll be flying solo as Rebecca will be in CT for the week, but looking forward to some good track time and an all-2-stroke weekend.