Race Report

At Mission Raceway Park this past weekend we had a double header – with a full program race day on both the Saturday and Sunday. Since before that we only had three race days, this weekend made up the last 2/3rds of the entire season points. I had a pretty good lead in all three classes going in, but because there were so many points on the table I had to still put in a pretty good running. At the forefront through, the WMRC allocates the #1 plate to the winner of the Superbike class, so that was my main focus.

The morning qualifiers were my first laps in anger in almost two months, and I did alright. I got third in the Pro 600 qualifier and won the Pro Open Supersport Q – so was in good shape on the front row for those in the afternoon. Superbike gets gridded up based on season points, so I was on pole for that event as well.

The first of four Superbike races was the first main event of the weekend, and my rustiness showed. I ran in the lead for the entire race, but it seemed I had a few cobwebs to blow out or something. I was getting quite fatigued near the end of the event and made a mistake into turn one on the final lap and let my competitor Kruger by. I fought back in turn 2 and was up the inside of him down the straight stretch headed for the braking section into the tight turn 3 when he moved over and essentially chopped off my front wheel. It was a significantly dirty move that I promised myself I wouldn’t forget for at least the rest of the weekend (do you sense the foreshadowing…..?). I finished in second.

The Pro 600 Supersport event was next, and the first event of brutal justice was upon my competitor. Without my knowledge Kruger crept across his start line in the 600 Q earlier in the day and was given a warning by the race officials for jumping the start. Well, rather than to heed that, he blatantly jumped the start in the main event by over a bike length – well before the starter dropped the flag. It was so blatant that I couldn’t help but look over at it while driving off the line myself, and saw the official shaking his head in disbelief. I knew he would be docked positions and played it cool, knowing my main competition would effectively be out of the 600 championship hunt so long as I finished the race. Oliver Jervis continued to race for the lead with Mark and at one point ran off the track and crashed coming back on in the gravel. I continued to cruise around in what would have been third, but ended up with the win between the penalty to Kruger and the crash of Jervis. I guess you take them however you get them sometimes……

The Pro Open Supersport event I did not need to win. I had a substantial lead in the championship for that class and could easily finish in second without jeopardizing the points lead. Mind you, that was my strategy prior to the turn 3 incident earlier in the day… Off the start, Kruger led into turn one with me in hot pursuit. On maybe lap 4 or so I went up the inside of him on the brakes into the right hand turn one at the end of the big straightaway. I couldn’t quite hold my line though and ran a little wide, allowing him to come back alongside me on the inside for the drive out of the turn. Turn 2 is a left however, and the dirty riding I fell victim to earlier in the day was now at the forefront of my memory. When once again he attempted to pull across my line to cut me off I simply kept the throttle pinned and the bars turned in the direction I wanted to go. He clashed into me attempting to cut me off but it didn’t work out for him. I immediately began stretching out a lead, and a few laps later Kruger crashed attempting to keep pace. I won by a mile.

The final Superbike race of the day was an important one for me. Because Kruger won the first event, he closed on me slightly in the hunt for the #1 plate. At the flag drop I put my head down, took the holeshot into turn one and never looked back to finish with a large lead. Kruger was in a hot battle with Jervis for second well behind me, and pulled out of the race for some reason part way through, effectively handing me a huge championship lead going into the final day of competition, and I took the top step of the podium in all three events for the day.

When the dust settled from the day’s events, and we did the math to figure out where I needed to finish the next day to secure all of the class championships and the overall, the table was stacked heavily in my favour. I had already won the Pro Open Supersport class, and could sit it out if I pleased (but that’s not like me). For Pro 600 Supersport I only needed to finish in 13th position, and for the Pro Superbike and overall #1 plate I only had to finish in 7th in either of the two races to secure the plate.

To find out what happens, and how it could have gone bad, in the next ‘edge of your seat’ episode of schmidtastic.com, it’s coming up after this short message from our sponsors……

Cause if you don’t chew Big Red Gum, then fxxk you! (Talledega Nights quote – if you haven’t seen the movie, sorry for the PG13 content……but go watch it)