So, Round 4 is in the books and it was pretty awesome. After a bit of a break from the last round
and a busy "life" schedule these past few weeks, honestly, I wasn't
headed in to the race weekend with a totally motivated attitude. Apparently,
neither were a lot of the other guys, because turnout in the Expert 600s was
terrible. Anyway, as soon as I got the bike unloaded and headed out for first
practice on Saturday, I was motivated again and psyched to ride. Which was important, because I was trying
some new suspension stuff and needed to get it dialed in. After a few sessions and a little
clickity-click on the clickers and knobbers, I felt pretty comfortable on the
bike.
My first race was the King of the Mountain GTU race. I had a crash in this one early in the season, so I’ve been slowly working my way back up the points. This would be my first chance to see what my friend Chad had on his new bike; which, it turned out, he had a lot. You see, he got a pretty substantial cash donation from a sponsor and came equipped with some heavy artillery: a brand new, nicely built R6. It's got a stock engine, but everything else is very "Super": wheels, brakes, electronics, etc. The bike is definitely a huge step above those two Kawasakis he had. Also, my other main competitor, Scott Decker, was back and was crazy fast on his beast of a Superbike (I heard he told someone that thing had 140hp, my bike makes 105…) Anyway, those two dudes were definitely a class above me this weekend. They were running in the high 1:35 second lap times (which was, like, only a second off the fastest premier big-bike lap). My race was pretty good, though. I had the veteran, Jeff Stern, right on my rear wheel the whole time. Lap after lap, Carrie was giving me the hurry-up signal and I just kept thinking, "when is this guy going to give up?" Knowing Jeff is super experienced, I thought he was just stalking me, so on lap 10, I pushed really hard to try to break him and managed a 1:37.2 second lap time! That did the trick and he backed off considerably (someone said they saw him holding his leg when he was coming into pit lane, so he may have had a leg cramp or something and was saving himself for KOM-O). Anyway, I finished 3rd, well behind Scott and Chad.
The next race was the Middleweight Super Stock race. I knew Scott Decker would be riding his superstock bike (which, though still way more powerful and expensive than my bike, was much slower than his superbike), so I was looking forward to battling him on more equal terms. Unfortunately, he and Chad missed the pre-grid and had to start from pit lane. The race started, and I just tried to put in some fast laps so those guys wouldn't catch me. Actually, I was more concerned about Chad, knowing he was on the same bike he ran :35s on; I figured Scott would be slow enough on his Superstock bike there's no way he would catch me. As it turns out, I'm not good enough to run :37s without someone pushing me from behind and, with 2 laps to go, Chad caught me. Carrie gave me the signal that he was coming and, when I looked behind me going down the hill into turn 6, he was right there. I looked at him, shook my head, and moved out of the way... It was his race to win. Because I now had someone to chase, I was able to hang with him pretty easily and stuck with him the rest of the lap and actually almost unintentionally passed him going into Turn 1. It threw me off a bit and I blew the exit with a wheelie and a hit on rev-limiter. My mistake cost me about 5 bike lengths and once I was off his wheel, I lost touch on that last lap and had to settle for 2nd. I was happy for him, though. He's a good dude.
My first race was the King of the Mountain GTU race. I had a crash in this one early in the season, so I’ve been slowly working my way back up the points. This would be my first chance to see what my friend Chad had on his new bike; which, it turned out, he had a lot. You see, he got a pretty substantial cash donation from a sponsor and came equipped with some heavy artillery: a brand new, nicely built R6. It's got a stock engine, but everything else is very "Super": wheels, brakes, electronics, etc. The bike is definitely a huge step above those two Kawasakis he had. Also, my other main competitor, Scott Decker, was back and was crazy fast on his beast of a Superbike (I heard he told someone that thing had 140hp, my bike makes 105…) Anyway, those two dudes were definitely a class above me this weekend. They were running in the high 1:35 second lap times (which was, like, only a second off the fastest premier big-bike lap). My race was pretty good, though. I had the veteran, Jeff Stern, right on my rear wheel the whole time. Lap after lap, Carrie was giving me the hurry-up signal and I just kept thinking, "when is this guy going to give up?" Knowing Jeff is super experienced, I thought he was just stalking me, so on lap 10, I pushed really hard to try to break him and managed a 1:37.2 second lap time! That did the trick and he backed off considerably (someone said they saw him holding his leg when he was coming into pit lane, so he may have had a leg cramp or something and was saving himself for KOM-O). Anyway, I finished 3rd, well behind Scott and Chad.
The next race was the Middleweight Super Stock race. I knew Scott Decker would be riding his superstock bike (which, though still way more powerful and expensive than my bike, was much slower than his superbike), so I was looking forward to battling him on more equal terms. Unfortunately, he and Chad missed the pre-grid and had to start from pit lane. The race started, and I just tried to put in some fast laps so those guys wouldn't catch me. Actually, I was more concerned about Chad, knowing he was on the same bike he ran :35s on; I figured Scott would be slow enough on his Superstock bike there's no way he would catch me. As it turns out, I'm not good enough to run :37s without someone pushing me from behind and, with 2 laps to go, Chad caught me. Carrie gave me the signal that he was coming and, when I looked behind me going down the hill into turn 6, he was right there. I looked at him, shook my head, and moved out of the way... It was his race to win. Because I now had someone to chase, I was able to hang with him pretty easily and stuck with him the rest of the lap and actually almost unintentionally passed him going into Turn 1. It threw me off a bit and I blew the exit with a wheelie and a hit on rev-limiter. My mistake cost me about 5 bike lengths and once I was off his wheel, I lost touch on that last lap and had to settle for 2nd. I was happy for him, though. He's a good dude.
I have to admit, I’m a little concerned with the 600cc class becoming an arms race of machinery. I don’t think it’s good for our club right now. The grids were really small this weekend, with only 7 people in the Middleweight SuperStock race, less in King of the Mountain GTU. This is by far the worst I've seen it this year, with many of the mid-packers, up-and-comers, and even a couple top guys not attending. Regardless, I was psyched about the weekend. Doing a low 1:37 second lap time on such a lightly-modified bike is something I feel like I can be proud of. Anyway, it was fun. However, the small grids were quite concerning.
Round 5 is in a week and a half—I’m leading the Middleweight
SuperStock championship from Chad by just a few points, so if I have any hope
of beating him in the points at the end of the year, I need to really throw
down next round. I’ll also have to beat
Jeff Stern to take over 3rd in the King of the Mountain GTU
championship—which is no easy task.
Hopefully the regulars that took Round 4 off will be back, too.
More later.
-jerry
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