Race Report

Laguna is always a blast. I love that place ... the track, the town, the food, the streetsquids ... It was pretty nice to actually have luck on my side for the 750SS race. Luck is a part of racing that can not be discounted. It's easy for someone to not recognize the reasons why you place poorly and just assume that you finished 16th because you suck. And it's also easy for someone to assume that the only reason why you finished 6th was because everyone else had bad luck. My bad luck is good luck for my competitors, and vice versa, so take the good stuff when you can and move on is what I say.

The Superbike race on Saturday went allright. I was running with a group of guys for the first 12 laps of the race until my brakes started to fade and I dropped back. I had an enormous gap behind me so I basically just coasted around. I learned a hard lesson though, because as I was coasting, John Dugan was trying his heart out from way back. I didn't have a pit board and never looked back (bad combo), even at the white flag. That was a bad idea as I got nipped two turns from the end and gave up the position. I don't feel too bad about it as I knew it wouldn't have been a race if I was paying attention. That's the last time I'll do that. I finished 17th.

750 Supersport was on Sunday, in between the two World Superbike races. Man, there were so many people there watching, it was so cool. I almost freaked out on the cool-down lap when I came over the rise of the corkscrew and noticed for the first time how many people were on the hill there. I got a poor start in the race and had to work my way up through the field. I passed 6 riders for position during the race. I found out later that my best lap times (when I was running on clear track from one guy to the next) were as good as the best lap times of the 3rd place finisher. Could you imagine, if I got a good start I could have podiumed! I'd just lose it, so maybe it's better that it didn't happen (kidding). Jimmy Moore had some problems and puked oil all over the track, and my faceshield. I could barely see for the last couple of laps cause my faceshield was coated in oil. I ended up sixth after making every one of my passes on the brakes up the hill towards the corkscrew. I had the bike so out of shape up the inside of guys with the back wheel in the air pointing the wrong way into the turn. A couple times I thought it was going to be all over, but I managed to pull it off. One time I got to my turn-in point in turn six (right hander before climbing the hill to the corkscrew) a little too fast and had to throw it in. I just let off the brakes completely, threw it on its side as fast as I could and skeptically hoped for the best. The back end came around but settled a bit as I got to the apex. I rolled back on the gas with a bit of a wiggle up the hill and absolutely NAILED it. I think I loaded my shorts there just before the apex, but once I had the throttle wide open again I sure felt like THE MAN. Anyway, it all worked out good with a super-solid sixth place finish. I moved myself back into the top ten in points, and hope to keep the drive going.

We're having our XR grand nationals this weekend. The Tuff Dog team has been spending quite a bit of time preparing the courses and stuff. It really should be a great time. I hope a lot of you can make it out. There's info on the site if you're interested. The morning after that we're heading out to Mid-Ohio and Brainerd. Wish me luck and keep checking for the updates (sorry this one was a little late).