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2008
Season, Round 8- Motorsports Park Hastings, Sep 6 - 7
This round was fun!!!! I had
come through the dip and was really feeling good again.
Andy had closed up on me in the
GTO points and we were tied at 205 each. I really needed to
do well this round to try and open up a gap in this class. It
was gonna be a challenge though. I had never been to Hastings
and did not know the track at all. The GP (Great Plaines) events
are run by Track Addix and their format is to have a practice
day on Saturday and run all the races on Sunday. This would
have worked out perfectly for us, giving us a chance to learned
the track on Saturday had it not rained almost all day on Saturday.
Things were getting desperate
toward the end of Saturday and all the Midwest gang gathered
around to put our heads together. We stared at the track map
and watched a YouTube video of Jason Pridmore riding Hastings.
We all listened and watch the video intently, carefully noting
where he shifted and broke, we watched his turn in points and
closely followed his lines by referencing the track map. We
also used the things we had learned at Freddie Spencer to help
us break the track down into Entrance and Exit corners, etc.
As Sunday morning dawned, the
GTO race was the first race scheduled bright and early at 9:00am
sharp. Since I no longer had a backup bike, I chose not to go
out on the practice sessions at 8:20 on my "A" bike
for fear that I would not have time to change tires before the
start of the GTO race. As the National Anthem played, I was
nervous about going out and racing on a track that I did not
know well. And as the opening invocation was given, I prayed
sincerely that God would help me to perform well and keep me
safe from harm.
Sunday, Sep 7
GTO (25 minute) - 1st Place
As we circulated the track for
the sighting lap, I could see that the track was still pretty
green from the morning dew. Thankfully, the surface at Hastings
is very abrasive and the grip level seemed really good. It was
time to go racing.
I got a great start off the line
and went into turn 1 leading the pack. I just put my head down
and ran every lap for the whole 25 minutes like it was the last
lap of the race and someone was right on my tail trying to pass
me. The Hastings official would not let my crew (Stephan Hall)
out on pit wall to show me my pit board. Thankfully, there was
not anyone close to me. Unbelievably, I won the race by a 22
second margin. And equally important, I was starting to learn
the track as I progressively got faster and started to find
my rhythm.
I'm still not sure what happened
to everyone else, but I was tickled with the win. This was only
my second ever expert win and this was the race that counted
most because Andy and I were tied up in this class and he did
not drive all the way to Nebraska for this round.
Unlimited Supersport - 2nd
Place
Matt Hall is a stud. He consistently
has a few seconds per lap pace on me at every track that I race
with him. And this track and race was no different. I got a
pretty good start and was able to work my up to second on the
first lap. I held onto to second the whole race as I watch Matt
open up a large gap on me. I brought it home in second, thankful
for the points.
I was really starting to like
this track. It really fit my riding style with a lot of late
apex, trail braking type corners. It also has some real fast
sections where my Jiggy Thou was able to stretch her legs a
bit.
Unlimited GP - 3rd Place
The money race,
all the fast guys on 1000's and 600's line up for this one in
hopes of getting paid.
During
a recent NESBA day, fellow racer and Control Rider Steve Pellela
had talked to me about a tendency that he saw in my riding.
He encouraged me to be aware of it and strive to overcome it.
Steve noticed that I have a tendency to lose my Mojo when someone
passes me in a race. My tendency is to stop riding my ride and
start focusing on them and trying to pass them back. This inevitably
causes me to ride poorly and only adds to my frustration as
I lose positions. Thanks for the encouragement Steve, your advice
paid off in this race.
I got a pretty crappy
start and went into turn one in about 7th place. I immediately
noticed that I was "over riding" the bike. I thought
back to the encouragement that Steve had given me. I took a
deep breath and just relaxed and focused on hitting my marks
and getting on the throttle early and hard. It worked like a
charm as my lap times dropped significantly.
I was able to claw
my way back from 7th all the way to 3rd. During the last few
laps of the race, I was even closing the gap up to the leaders
and was feeling more and more confident on the brakes.
Unlimited Superbike - 1st
Place
I was feeling great at the start
of this race. I was having some chatter problems on the front
of the bike through turn 2 and Rob Oliva of Lithium Motorsports
was able to offer me some advice that dialed the issue right
out. Ironically, this advice is what helped me beat Rob this
race. But that is the sign of a true competitor, thanks Rob!
I got a great hole shot and had
a couple bike length lead going into turn one. I just put my
head down and ran my fastest laps of the weekend and easily
brought home another win.
Summary
I can't believe it, 2 wins as
an Expert! This weekend really helped me to get my confidence
back and I fell in love with the big GSXR all over again. I
love that bike.
In the end, I was able to bring
home some badly needed points in the GTO class and I was also
able to open up the gap even more in my other 3 classes!
Great weekend.
Big thanks to Stephan Hall and
his Dad Gary for coming out and helping in the pits. Also, big
thanks to the whole Midwest crew for sticking together and working
like a team!
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CONTACT
INFO: ron@ronhix.com or 630.430.7449
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