Race Report

This was one of those weekends that really makes you appreciate how great it is when things go your way. I always say that if there weren't really crappy times, then there would be no really great times either. I'm just hoping that this is just warming me up for some of that good stuff.

I spent the first part of the weekend chasing a rear suspension problem. Luckily Circuit One suspension was on hand to lend some advice. We discussed the problem Friday after all of the practice and made some changes based on what I explained and he thought. It paid off, the next morning I dropped 2.5 seconds from my best time the day before. I just summed up all of the good parts of the weekend, now onto the bad stuff.

I crashed going into the carousel in Superbike qualifying just before the 750 Supersport race. A number of things got broken, including the mount on the lower triple clamp for the steering dampener. We fabricated a new bracket and got all the bent parts replaced just in time for the race, unfortunately in our haste we forgot to torque the bottom bolt that holds the steering dampener onto the frame. It fell out on the second lap and it was just mental for the next 14 laps. Sears Point is the last place that anyone wants to race at without a steering dampener. The throttle was more like a wobble-meter and I just dialled up as much wobble as my arms could take coming out of every corner. That wore me out pretty bad, and by the end of the race I couldn't even push in the areas where the front end was stable because my arms were dead. If it were a race for bikes without dampeners I think I would have been in the hunt. It costs me 4 seconds a lap and I dropped from the lead pack back to 16th by the end of the race.

Saturday night was pretty tough on me mentally because of how bad I wanted a good result in that race, but the fact that I had a chance to redeem myself on Sunday kept me going. I got a poor start because my grid position was lined up on the traction sealer and I just spun through the first 3 gears. By the 8th lap it was obvious that I was working away on the two bikes that were about 4 seconds ahead of me. I could see where they were in turn 11 when I hit the brakes and every lap I was just a little closer. I finally caught up and passed for the one position and was starting to work on the next when Duhamel appeared on the outside headed down the shoot into the turn 7 hairpin. I took the long way around to give the leaders the fast line, but didn't move 100% off line because I was still racing for position. Well it turned out that Jamie Hacking didn't want to tighten up his line and just ran into my right handlebar and brake lever, breaking it off and sending me down. I bonked my head pretty good to the point that my right eye was blurry for a couple hours, and twisted my ankle up pretty bad.

The worst part of the whole deal is that I was riding really well, and none of it shows in the results. I had a lot of people paying attention to what I was up to after my excellent finish in Daytona, and it would have been nice to put on a show while everyone was watching. I guess I'll just have to do something to make everyone watch again. We're missing the next round at Road Atlanta, but I'll be out in Wisconsin for the Superbike double header in June.