Race Report

So often this year it seems that we’ve had wet weather (or at least the threat of) off and on for our race weekends. It was nice to have a race day where the rain tires could stay in the trailer – even if the trade off was stinking hot weather.

After spending a good portion of the morning scrambling around to get the bikes ready to ride, I went out and won all four of my qualifiers to secure pole for the races in the afternoon.

Open Supersport was the first race of the afternoon for me. I got the holeshot off of the line and managed to fend off everyone else for the first couple of laps before I could build myself a lead. We got into the lappers and I pretty much sealed the deal there. I won by a comfortable margin.

The 600 Supersport race was the only one that I really needed to dig deep for all day. I got into turn one in third position behind Jimmy Moore and Mike Sullivan. Jimmy was pulling away very quickly in the first part of the first lap as I was held up behind Mike. All that was going through my head was to get in front of Mike ASAP to keep Jimmy from getting away. In hindsight that was a mistake. I passed Mike up the inside going into turn 4, which leads onto the back straightaway. Unfortunately, by doing so, I destroyed both mine and Mike’s drives onto the straight. Jimmy gapped out a huge lead from us right there, and although I was able to maintain our gap for most of the race, Jimmy won handily. When I think back to it what I should have done is follow Mike through turn four so that we’d both get a good drive onto the straightaway, then pass him on the brakes. That wouldn’t have made as big of a gap between us and Jimmy. Getting out of turn four is so critical to a fast lap time that in reality it’s the worst place for me to make a pass. Live and learn. I finished second with Mike a distant third. After the race, I heard rumors of a protest on Jimmy for using an illegal tail section. I’m not sure if that went through or not. Either way, Jimmy rode very well, and his bike is very fast.

I won the Open Superbike race as well. I can’t remember the details of the race other than I got the holeshot and was never pressured for a pass and took the checkered flag. I guess if portions of one’s memories fail, and portions don’t, that’s a decent one to keep.

The last race of the day was the 600 Superbike race. Although it was incredibly late in the day, very hot, and I was in a rush to get out of there, we had to start the race three times before one of them stuck. Each time Mike would beat me to turn one, and I’d pass him in the first lap. Finally when they let us go the distance I got into the lead early again, stretched out a big lead, and won by a mile. Nice way to finish off the race day.

Unfortunately that was just the start of a very long day for me. After packing up, I left the track at about 6:30pm and needed to be in Kamloops the next morning at 8:00am for the first day of my new job. Basically I was racing from the moment that green flag dropped to finally start the 600 Superbike main until I got into bed at 3:30am. I don’t normally drink coffee – but I sure did that next day. Since then it’s been a whirlwind of travel at my new position. I really am enjoying the challenge, and the people I’m working with. I’ve also bought a new home, and am trying to sort out some temporary residence issues. Busy, busy.

I race in Mission, B.C. this weekend. I’m excited about it, despite the fact that we have to use stock exhaust systems to meet some new noise restrictions. Stay posted, and wish me some luck.