Race Report

Colorado is too stinking hot. It was like 102 degrees down there and I'm not used to that kind of action. I must have drank about 3 gallons of fluid every day and I can count the number of times I went pee that week on one hand ... practically. Not to mention that it was pretty much a constant hurricane of wind that blew around all the straw from the hey bails and irritated my eyes up so bad I almost clawed them out with some side cutters. Yes, I was grumpy most of the weekend.

Racing-wise though things weren't quite so bad. I qualified my stuff up there on the 4th row with a 0:57.84. The track is so tight and short that 12 guys qualified on the same second as me, and 10 in the 58's too. It seems pretty tight with 22 guys within 2 seconds of each other but the races are so long it strings out by the end. Because the average speed is so slow, yet the race distance is the same as other tracks, the actual duration of the race is pretty long. Couple that with the heat, elevation, and lack of oxygen and it practically turns it into an endurance race.

In Superstock I got a great launch and was right there with the row in front of me. Everyone bottled up on the inside, but when I tried the long way around the fast first turn I got out on the thick painted dashed white line. It was pretty slick and curved in the exact trajectory of my line. It got my junk so out of shape that I thought it was all over. I lost a bunch of positions but kept it up at least. The rest of the race was very interesting with people charging and fading all around. The place is also really hard on the left side of the tire and made tire choice difficult for some. In the end it worked out well, without me getting too tired or the tire wasting away and I finished a solid 12th - but learned a few things. I got a good night's sleep and thought about my race strategy for the Superbike race. I made a bit of a compromise and set my suspension up for how the bike handled late in the race with the tire all heated up and less traction.

I had problems during the qualifying session for Superbike and was gridded on row 9!! I forgot to change the race number on my bike from my Superstock number to my Superbike number and missed a big chunk of the qualifying session - the chunk where my tire was fresh. I got shafted on the start (of course) ... what can you expect from row 9? I steadily worked my way through the field though and was passing guys by the handful. I'd catch a group, pass them all, then charge to the next group. I did this a few times before getting to the group made up of a couple fellow NW'ers (Sully & Dugan), Mizdal, and Livengood. I got by them by around half distance, Livengood and Sully stayed close, the rest steadily drifted back. I thought 10th was mine until late in the race I was passed by Livengood. He must have kept an ace in his pocket because he motored ahead with some strength. I didn't have an answer for him and finished 11th.

The Pirelli tires were the ticket for the weekend. I couldn't have placed anywhere near as good on any other rubber I'm sure. My EBC brakes kept me pounding down into turn 3 lap after lap without any fade. I could stay strong right till the end of the race cause I didn't have to work so hard on the brake lever. Major props to Pirelli and EBC - thanks guys.