Race Report

I'd never been to Colorado before, or even raced at a super speedway for that matter. Having come off of such a strong weekend of racing and having 4 days of riding at this new track I wasn't worried about getting up to speed. That is until I came off the track from my first practice session. Rolling back to my pit on my bike Thursday morning I wanted to start packing up and go home. Pikes Peak is not my style of racetrack, I hate small, tight turns. Almost the entire infield is done in 2nd gear and there's bumps in places where you'd normally be on the track but you have to modify your line to miss them. There's three second gear hairpins that feel like you're standing still in the middle of them. I hate this place, I hate it, I HATE IT!

Saturday afternoon and it's time for the 750 Supersport race. I've beat myself around the track for almost three days now, I'm going pretty fast (could always be faster) but not feeling entirely confident. During the race it seemed like nearly everyone fell down or at least tried to in the first couple of laps. About 3/4 the way through the race it's red flagged. I'm tired as I've ever been, praying for them to call the race, especially since I'm running in 8th, well my dreams are squashed and we're restarting. Grid positions just don't matter when you're lined up against a whole pack of 135hp GSXR's on your 106.1hp R6, they all rip me a new butt hole off the line and I'm 12th into turn 1. I charge as hard as I can and work my way into 10th by the end. Success! My first top 10 AMA National finish! I'm stoked!

Sunday's the big day, 600 Supersport. I know exactly what 29 laps is going to feel like at this place, I've got myself mentally prepared for it, and I've got myself a tire that will go the distance (my tire was a little too soft yesterday and it greased up bad by the end). I get a decent start and I'm running with a pack of about 4 riders. I work my way to the front of them and I'm battling with Priceclick.com's Kurt Marmor when his bike suddenly slows coming out of one of the turns in the infield. I start driving around the outside of him just as he decides to cut across the line and off the track on the opposite side! We smash together and I'm knocked off of the track and have to cut a corner to make it back on. I didn't gain any time because I was busy pulling his handlebar out of my brake lever so no penalty was assessed. By this time the pack in front of us has pulled a big gap and I'm left to finish the race all alone (or so I think). About 5 laps from the end while I'm going through traffic (and there's a lot of it, I lapped one guy twice!) I notice someone else way up ahead doing the same. I figure he's got to be on the same lap as me so I charge and turn the fastest laps of my race, dead tired. It couldn't have worked out any better, I catch up to him just as we get the white flag, last lap. I concentrate on getting a good run through the fast fourth gear turn 2 that leads onto the back wide open section and into the best passing zone hard on the brakes for turn 3, drive around the outside and blast him on the brakes into 3! What a sweet finish, 15th. Even won a little $$.

A ton of thanks to my buddy Andy Pleune who drove out and put up with me. Ditto for Mark, Katheryn, and the guys at Factory for helping me set up the machine and get it running like a champ. It's the end of a long, busy road trip and I'm looking forward to getting home and having my next race be a nice relaxing, low impact club event. Till then, thanks for reading ...