Same shit, different weekend
Virginia Int'l Raceway
June 27/28, 2003

Back on home turf, I'm hoping to do well, especially with my new suspension.

Since this is a combined FUSA race, we race on Friday and Saturday, and the National guys race on Sunday

Well, remember those braking problems I was having at Roebling... yea... I haven't seen the end of those yet.

Go out for morning practice, and brakes are working a little better, but still getting this sticking thing going on. It's not as bad as 2 weeks ago, but it's still holding me back. Heeding the advice of Pete Moravek at Tolerant Wives Racing team, I go and hose down the caliper with water, dry, then saturate the rotor with brake cleaner, dry, and repeat a few times. Hoping that this helps, I get ready for my first race, GT Lights.

We get it underway, and brakes start dragging for the first couple laps, but then they free up, and don't drag much for the rest of the race. Got a bad start due to this, but was able to finish 7th. Not bad. Still pissed at these damn brakes.

Now comes our money race, MW Sportsman. This is the last race of the day. We start the race and it's looking pretty dark outside. Storm clouds are starting to roll in. Coming around for lap 2, I start to see lightning. Middle of lap 3, it starts to rain and they red flag the race. Just as I pull into the paddock... it starts to fuckin pour!!!

We very quickly pack everything in the trailer and head home to rest for Saturday's races

I'm not sure what the call was with our race, whether they call it at the last completed lap, or if we'll do it over, but we'll find out tomorrow.

Sunday. Rider's meeting. MW Sportsman is a do-over.

Ok, well, go out for the race, and get a shitty start due to the brake problem. I'm at the back of the pack. On T3 of lap 3, my brakes free up: Woohoo! It's time to start racin'!! I catch up and am able to get into 3rd place, but that's the best I can do with the amount of time I have.

To add insult to injury, I look at the posted transponder times, and the winner (Rob Stewart) had a best time of 1:52.xx, and I had 1:46.xx. All else being equal, I could have easily won this race. Damn I'm pissed now.

Next up was LW SuperSport. Me battling with some SVs. Nothing special here, I get 9th place.

Last race, LW SuperBike, my brakes still dragging somewhat for the first 2 laps. I'm in last place (9th), a good 10 bike-lengths behind, then my brakes free up and I hit it... I get up to 7th place, and almost make 6th. The 6th place guy beats me by 1/2 a tire: I'm talking like he beat me by only 10 inches, we were neck and neck at the line... it sucked.

That's it for this weekend. Pretty good considering my bike situation. I was happy with my performance, but not my bike's.

We pack up and head home, with one month till our next race, I NEED to get these brakes fixed!