Race Report

I’m not used to waking up at my house, then racing that same day. I can say that it’s something that I could probably get used to, it would just be nice that if I wanted to do it, it wouldn’t have to be at 4:00am. Mission Raceway is about a 3 hour drive from my house. I get myself all packed up, the trailer loaded and hooked up, and my undies all laid out for me so that when the alarm goes off at 4:00am I’m rolling in my truck by 4:07am. It sure makes for a long day, but it’s possible.

After gaining some points last time out at the WMRC races it was a nice touch to be able to start my qualifying races from somewhere other than the last row. I cruised around to finish 2nd on the grid for Pro 600 Supersport, and took the win to secure pole in Pro Open Supersport.

The club has a Pro Superbike class that they run in a moto style format. There’s two heat races, with your results combined to determine the winner. They grid the first moto based on points, then the second moto is gridded based on the results of the first. I had a poor launch off the line in the first moto (getting into T1 in 4th), and took close to 2 of the 8 laps to get into second place. From there I chipped away at the big lead I had to try to make up, getting onto the rear wheel of the leader as we were about to take the last lap flag. While trail braking into a tight right hander I lost sight of the apex in front of the leader. I was unsure of what my tires were about to go over and lifted just a little bit. I ran wide in the turn and it proved to be a mistake that cost me a possible win. I finished in second for the first moto without really getting a chance to try anything for a pass for the lead.

Pro 600 Supersport was a bit of a drag. Again I got a poor start and spent the first 8 laps hanging with the leader, but unable to really do anything about it. He ran a really strong race from start to finish. The last time I raced at this track I wasted my left shoulder and tricep before the end of the day, ruining my chances of winning the Pro Superbike race at the end. Come lap 8 of the 600 race I could start to feel some of the same sensations, and decided that it was best to just do wheelies down all the straights for the next few laps. Third place was miles behind, so I just did some crowd pleasing.

Pro Open Supersport was a bit of a “yawner”. I took the holeshot and cruised to an easy win. In efforts to conserve my arm I just took it easy with one eye over my shoulder, making sure that nobody got close. Chalk up another win for the schmidtastey-shaft.

The final leg of the Pro Superbike race was shaping up to be a barn-burner. I had been strong all day at the track, and conserved myself well to let it all hang out in the heat of the afternoon. Finally I got off the line and took the holeshot, stretching out a small lead over the next couple of laps. Of course a red-flag would end the fun (mostly for whoever caused it though I guess..) and they sent us back to the pits for a lengthy delay. While parked at the side of the track waiting for instruction, another racer noticed an oil leak on my competitor’s bike. I guess they worked on it during the delay because he was lined up next to me again on the start grid when we finally got going again. Again I nailed the start, and began controlling the race from the front. At the end of the second lap I saw the black flag with my competitor’s number displayed. I knew that he would have to go into the pit for a stop and go at the very minimum, but potentially he’d be out. I backed it off a few notches at that point, as I knew I could safely cruise home for the win. I guess he never saw the flag though, cause he kept at it for another couple laps. Just as I was starting to think that maybe I should keep somewhat of a quick pace to keep him from passing me (in case there was oil coming off his bike) he passed me going into turn 1. I crossed back underneath him and as I was driving past to tack back the lead I could see the heavy billows of smoke coming from the bottom of his bike. I let off the throttle and made sure he saw me pointing at the bike so that he’d pull aside and not crash in his own oil. The smoke was heavy enough that it was more than just a mist. From that point I could just cruise to an easy win. So as it turns out I didn’t earn the win the way I wanted to, but I’m pretty confident that it would have gone my way whether the oil leak happened or not.

I want to give a big thanks to Trevor and the crew over at Flexi-Glass bodywork. I haven’t had to do any repairs or replacements yet this year, but they’re always the fastest to get product available to local racers, have the best pricing, and the quality is awesome. They’ve proved to be one of my longest standing sponsorships, and I’m proud to run their products. They’re located in the Lower Mainland of B.C., but are able to transport or ship around the world at more than competitive rates. Check out their link to the right….