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May 15th, 2011 - Willow Springs
Saturday - Must be Saturday practice blues because it rained a little and then the wind really picked up during morning practices. Wind was so bad that the bike was being blown to the outside of turn eight with the throttle rolled off. Didn't help that this was the first time back on the bike after the lowside in February and my hand would pretty much stop working after four laps. Good thing it was the clutch hand as a quickshifter and clutchless downshifts became the norm. Was running really slow (1:39's) and just couldn’t get much leverage on the left bar. Luckily, everyone else was battling the wind and weren't fairing any better.
Sunday - Morning practice was pretty much the same as Saturday as the hand was still giving me problems with turnin on left handers. Didn't improve times but, did figure out where I might be able to go faster to compensate for the weak left turns.
First race was Open SuperBike and I was gridded second in the Novice wave. I knew the guy gridded first was easily 3 to 4 seconds faster than me so I was pretty determined to get a good holeshot (which I did). I was up in the expert wave going into turn one (a left hander) but since I couldn’t turn as well ended up running wide on the exit and a couple guys got past me. Held my own for the rest of the race however, could only run 1:39's consistently. Ended up finishing second in the Novice class but was pretty disappointed in my performance. The bike was flawless and thanks to the Torco oil was running really cool and never missed a beat.
Second and third race were pretty much the same except I finished third in both of them. Actually managed to run a 1:38 in the last raced however, my hand had cramped around the grip so I couldn't feel it by the end. I had some pretty good dicing with my teammate and actually finished ahead of him in the last race so at least salvaged something.
Thanks to MoPowerSports, HRS, Torco Lubricants, Sidi, Scorpion Helmets, TrackSkinz Leathers (new sponsor), Pit Bull, Bridgestone (CW Motorsports) and to my teammate and crew chief for helping me off the bike at the end.
Saturday - Must be Saturday practice blues because it rained a little and then the wind really picked up during morning practices. Wind was so bad that the bike was being blown to the outside of turn eight with the throttle rolled off. Didn't help that this was the first time back on the bike after the lowside in February and my hand would pretty much stop working after four laps. Good thing it was the clutch hand as a quickshifter and clutchless downshifts became the norm. Was running really slow (1:39's) and just couldn’t get much leverage on the left bar. Luckily, everyone else was battling the wind and weren't fairing any better.
Sunday - Morning practice was pretty much the same as Saturday as the hand was still giving me problems with turnin on left handers. Didn't improve times but, did figure out where I might be able to go faster to compensate for the weak left turns.
First race was Open SuperBike and I was gridded second in the Novice wave. I knew the guy gridded first was easily 3 to 4 seconds faster than me so I was pretty determined to get a good holeshot (which I did). I was up in the expert wave going into turn one (a left hander) but since I couldn’t turn as well ended up running wide on the exit and a couple guys got past me. Held my own for the rest of the race however, could only run 1:39's consistently. Ended up finishing second in the Novice class but was pretty disappointed in my performance. The bike was flawless and thanks to the Torco oil was running really cool and never missed a beat.
Second and third race were pretty much the same except I finished third in both of them. Actually managed to run a 1:38 in the last raced however, my hand had cramped around the grip so I couldn't feel it by the end. I had some pretty good dicing with my teammate and actually finished ahead of him in the last race so at least salvaged something.
Thanks to MoPowerSports, HRS, Torco Lubricants, Sidi, Scorpion Helmets, TrackSkinz Leathers (new sponsor), Pit Bull, Bridgestone (CW Motorsports) and to my teammate and crew chief for helping me off the bike at the end.
Congrats on moving into the race group. Maybe you should think of getting your license and coming out with us???
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