2008
Season, Round 3 - Mid-America Motorplex, May 25
We finally got our first race
win as an Expert, BUT WE ALSO LEARNED THAT NOTHING WAS GONNA
BE EASY LAST WEEKEND.
We did the NESBA track days at
MAM the weekend before the CCS round at MAM to test and tune
the bikes and I think that really helped. I felt comfortable
and confident on Sunday as we prepared to run in the four "big
bike" classes that I'm contending this season.
The pace we were running during
the NESBA days seemed to be pretty strong and I knew that with
a fresh set of shoes and a bit of adrenaline, we should be able
to drop the few seconds to be competitive. I also had some new
camera's mounted on the bike and I was excited about the opportunity
to finally get some onboard race footage.
Sunday, May 25
GTO (25 minute)
As we prepared for the first
race of the day, Dean asked me to do the invocation for the
opening ceremonies since I am a member of the Christian Sport
Bike Racing team. I eagerly agreed to do it, although I wasn't
100% sure what exactly "doing the invocation" meant.
So I googled "invocation" and figured out that they
basically wanted me to say the opening prayer, no problem I
could handle that!
Well the ambulance was not there
at 8:00am for us to start the day as planned and there was an
announcement made that all events on the schedule would be moved
back exactly 1 hour. All of the sudden we start to hear the
calls for the practice sessions so I jump up and got dressed
to head out on the track and run my practice session. The bike
was feeling pretty good, but the tires were definitely DONE.
These were the same tires I raced on at Blackhawk a few weeks
back and then did 2 track days at MAM last weekend. No problem,
these tires were fine for me to just get myself warmed up a
bit during the short morning practice.
As I bring the bike in, Stephen
Hall (my crew chief) immediately starts to change tires. I pull
off my helmet and gloves and then we immediately start hear
the National Anthem being sung. I think, "Holy crap! I
am suppose to be over in the tower to do the invocation!"
Well, there ain't no way for me to get over there now. And then
immediately following the National Anthem, we hear 1st call
for race 1, GTO (that normally means a 15 minute warning till
the warm up lap). I look over at the bike and Stephen is just
finishing up changing out the rear tire. I grab the tools and
we both start hurriedly loosening the front brake calipers to
get the front tire changed.
No dice, we hear 3rd and final
call! That means we gotta go NOW. The front tire is worn out
- a Pirelli blue SC1 well past its useful life. The rear tire
is not really warm yet and doesn't have the tire pressure set.
The bike does not have enough fuel for a 25 minute race since
I just got in from the practice session. The camera's are not
in their mounts. BUT, it is time to go - so everyone around
us pitches in and as I get my helmet and gloves on, they toss
in a dash of fuel and set the rear tire pressure to something
close - maybe.
(We later find out that the ambulance
was only 30 minutes or so late, but at the time we still thought
the entire schedule was moved back an hour).
As I lined up for the warm up
lap, I was not feeling too good about this thing whole thing.
So, as I waited for the 5 board, I took a deep breath, closed
my eyes and asked God to help me relax, help me focus, help
me to do well and keep me safe. During the warm up lap, I did
everything I could to get some heat into that rear tire because
I knew that the front tire was gone already and I was gonna
have to heavily rely on that rear tire for this upcoming 25
minute race, nothing was gonna be easy this weekend.
I got a great start off the line
and went into turn 1 in the lead with a bunch of angry liter
bikes right on my tail. I put my head down and tried to just
focus on being patient on all my corner entries and getting
on the throttle early and hard for the exits. I focused on getting
the bike stood up as soon as possible so I could really pound
on that rear tire for strong drives. I knew I was parking it
in some of the corners and my pit board showed it as well, I
had almost no gap over second place - he was all over me lap
after lap.
As the laps went by, the front
tire started to really let go under the strain of the pace we
were running. There were many times that the front would just
plow like crazy and I would feel the bars rock back and forth
in my hands as the front lost and regained traction. This was
not fun. Every time I came by my pit board, I saw +0.3 or +0.5
or +0.2 - basically NO GAP on second place so no way to back
off the pace.
As I struggled on the braking
into turn 1, Mark Nudelman (#1 plate holder for the GP region)
came by me on the inside. Well, at least now I knew who had
been hounding me all those laps. I fell in behind Mark for a
lap or so and saw that he was out braking me and I was catching
him on the pipe. As he ran a little wide out of turn 4, I went
by him in turn 5 and did everything I could do to open a gap.
But, it was not to be - same old news as I went by my pit board,
+0.4. Right as I was beginning
to feel despair creeping in, I saw the glimmer of hope - THE
WHITE FLAG.
"Last lap!" "OK,
you can do this." "Your first expert win, don't let
up and don't check up anywhere" "Just relax, be patient
and let the front of the bike come around" "Now, on
the throttle hard, harder, to the stop." "Hold it,
wait, wait - NOW brake hard!" "Don't trail too much,
nice and easy."
This internal dialogue continued
through out last lap and as I came out of turn 14, it seemed
to take the bike 3 eternities to get to that waving checkered
flag! I did it, my first expert win. I was immediately flooded
with all sorts of emotions. As I felt the tears well up in my
eyes, I was glad I had my helmet on so nobody could see me.
As I got to my paddock, several guys were there waiting to congratulate
me and it was an awesome moment indeed. In fact, I'm still grinning
from ear to ear!
Unlimited Supersport (8 lap
sprint)
New tires for this race - Oh
the feel and confidence a brand new set of shoes can give! Woohoo!
The sweet smell of Pirelli magic has never been so appreciated.
Got another good
start for this race and went into turn 1 in 3rd place behind
Matt Hall and Rob Oliva. We all had pretty much the same lines
and corner speed, but I could see Matt was getting a little
better drives out of the corners than Rob and I were getting.
I was right on top
of Rob and I could see Matt was already starting to open up
just a bit of a gap as we went into the tight chicane section
(turn 9 / 10). I was able to square up turn 11 a little tighter
than Rob and that gave me the drive to get by him on the brakes
into turn 12. I squared up turn 14 for a good drive and I could
see that Matt was already half way down the long straight. As
I tried to make up time on lap 2 by going super hot into turn
1 on the brakes, the bike got all out of shape and I was a mile
off the apex just trying to keep it out of the grass.
Uh oh, this is a problem. Not
only is Matt a really good rider, he is also on a wicked fast
bike - this is gonna be a really long day since Matt is gridded
up in all my races. The internal dialogue went something like
this, "You can't do a thing about Matt, just ride the best
laps you can ride every lap and do not let up one little bit
for the whole race". So I settled down a bit and started
to just put the bike on the apex and focus on getting good drives.
I soon was reminded that nothing
was gonna be easy this weekend, as Nudelman kept me honest by
passed me on the brakes into turn 1 on lap 4. I fell in behind
Mark and followed him around for a lap watching to see where
he was stronger than me. I could see a couple of areas where
it looked like he was running a little better line and I also
saw a couple of areas where I thought that I may have an slight
advantage. As we drag raced down the long front straight, I
could see that our bikes were just about dead even so I drafted
Mark a little and repassed him on the brakes into turn 1.
I was able to pick up the pace
just a bit to bring this one home in 2nd.
Unlimited GP (12 lap sprint)
Front Cam
Rear Cam
The money race. Big grid as lots
of fast guys signed up for this one in hopes of getting paid.
I learned a hard lesson last round at Blackhawk about psyching
myself out by caring too much about who lines up on the grid,
so I just relaxed and gridded up on the second row. Honestly,
I was just glad to see that the weather was holding out and
we still had a dry track to race on.
(In hind sight, this race would
turn out to be one of the most epic battles that I have ever
experienced on a race track.)
I got a pretty good start from
the second row and went into turn 1 again in 3rd place behind
Rob Oliva and Mark Nudelman. I was able to get past Mark going
into turn 7 and then I closed the gap and passed Rob on the
brakes into turn 12. I then led the race in frist place for
the next 3 laps and was beginning to feel much more comfortable
at race pace on MAM's really bumpy racing surface.
As I broke into
turn 5 on lap 4, Matt Hall passed me up the inside and school
was immediately in session. So, what is Matt doing differently
to be able to run a full 2 seconds a lap faster than me (I think
his best was a low 32 with my best being a mid 34)? Now was
my chance to watch and learn, so I fell in behind Matt and took
a front row seat to see if there was anyway and anywhere that
I could possibly pass him back. And if not, maybe I could at
least learn what I needed to do differently to get to the next
level.
As we made our way
around the long left handed turn 5 and started the drive out
of turn 6, I immediately noticed that he was pulling away from
me driving the bike out of the corner on the very edge of the
tire. His bike was not running wide and his rear was not stepping
out. Matt has excellent body position and was doing an outstanding
job of getting on the throttle very smoothly, very early and
the bike was setup quite nicely to not run wide when he was
driving past the apex. As I continued to follow Matt for the
rest of lap 4, I noticed that Matt was not that much better
on the brakes than I was and he was not really running any different
lines, but he was consistently getting on the throttle earlier
and harder than me out of every corner. So, as Matt disappeared
into the distance over the next lap or so, I resolved to work
harder on my drives as I strive to get to that next level.
As the white flag waved and the
last lap began, all of the sudden Rob Pretts passed me on the
brakes going into turn 1. Oh yeah, now I remember - NOTHING
IS GONNA BE EASY THIS WEEKEND! So I fell in behind Rob who was
riding like his hair was on fire! I repassed Rob going into
turn 5 and made it stick as I got the bike down on the apex
and got a nice drive out of turn 6. Going into turn 7, I somehow
managed to grab the front brake without letting go of the throttle
completely and the bike just got all out of shape as it ran
wide into turn 7 and Rob repassed me underneath. By the time
I got the bike turned and back on the pipe, Rob had opened up
a pretty good gap on me with less than half a lap to go on the
last lap! I dove hard into turn 9 on the brakes, just in time
to see Rob trying to highside himself to the moon in turn 10.
Amazingly, Rob landed back in the seat and we raced together
down into turn 12. Rob took turn 13 pretty tight to set up for
a nice drive out of turn 14 for a strong run to the checkers.
I responded by jamming the throttle to the stop through turn
13 and shamelessly parking right inside of Rob on turn 14 to
block his drive and make the last ditch pass before the checkers.
My heart was pounding as
we went under the checkered flag with me just ahead of Rob.
Great racing as I was able to
just barely bring home a 2nd place finish.
Unlimited Superbike (8 lap
sprint)
Last race of the day and to be
honest, I was mentally exhausted. I had poured out my heart
and soul in all three previous races, putting forth maximum
effort and running at my limit. I just didn't know how much
was left in the tank as I lined up on the front row one more
time.
I got off the line
quite nicely running the big GSXR up through forth gear before
going to the brakes. I thought that I had the whole shot into
turn 1 when Matt Hall blew by me still on the pipe. Wow, I guess
me and the rest of the field checked up on the brakes!
So I fell in behind Matt once
more intent on getting on throttle early to try and keep him
from dropping me so quickly on the drives. But in the end, it
was just not to be as Matt was riding really well and opened
up a 3+ second lead on me on the very first lap. He was gone.
I settled into a comfortable
pace in second position and kept an eye on my pit board. I was
getting more and more comfortable riding with clean air in front
of me and being pressured from behind lap and lap. I was now
getting much more comfortable at the new pace and as I anticipated,
Mark passed me on the brakes into turn 1 about half race distance.
I relaxed and followed Mark for a lap or so until he ran wide
on the brakes into turn 1. I closed up on him real close into
turn 2 and passed him around the inside of turn 3 to retake
second position. I put my head down a bit and picked
up the pace for the remaining laps to bring home another 2nd.
Summary
I got my first Expert win and
three more 2nd place finishes this round - but nothing was easy
this weekend.
Every round of the 2008 season
is bringing new challenges and new lessons to learn. AND I am
loving every minute of it!
I am a blessed man. I so thankful
to God for all that He has given me and I am so thankful to
my family, sponsors and all of you that are so encouraging to
me.
