Race Report

Rounds 4 and 5 of the WMRC championship came as a double header. After having missed the first round of the series I’d been chipping away at the leaders ever since. I was excited that we’d get two full days of racing in back to back, for a total of 4 premier Pro Superbike events.

Day 1 really was a strange one for me, as I never saw a single bike ahead of me the entire day. I don’t know if that’s ever happened before. Superbike Race #1 is held before lunch, and only shortly after morning warm-up. I’m gridded on the outside of the front row, got off the line well, and led it into the first turn. From there I steadily wore down my competitors to open up a gap by the end of the race. I won with time to spare.

Race #2 was a little different though. It started out the same, as I got the holeshot and began the race in the lead. I could hear a bike behind me in the slow corners. One of my competitors came with me this time. I stepped up the pace in the middle portion of the race hoping to drop him, but he stayed with me. Towards the end of the race I just made sure I didn’t make any mistakes. It was obvious he could keep the pace, but probably couldn’t get by unless I was to blow a turn or something. I wasn’t about to leave that option open for him so just made sure I kept my nose clean for the closing laps. Unfortunately a little controversy ensued due to an error made by the start/finish officials. I thought while we were going around that the race felt sort of long, but it’s impossible to count the laps while you ride. I just kept going around waiting for the white flag...... Turns out they flew the white at the end of the 12th lap when they should have flown the chequers. Problem is that two turns later, when my competitor was desperate to gain the lead from a little deficit he incurred due to a lapped rider, he fell down unhurt in a slow corner. Originally they had him incorrectly scored in second place as that was the position he held at the end of the 12th lap. Later though, that was corrected, as it’s clear in the rule book that you race to the flag. It’s unfortunate that an error such as that could potentially have affected the outcome of the race, but it could go any way. Plus, who knows? He may have fallen down a lap earlier if they flew the white flag then? I was glad that he was unhurt, and we’d have another go at it the following day.

My efforts were rewarded though, with a perfect result to the day. Two for two in the championship deciding class did me well to continue clawing my was back to the leaders in the point chase for the #1 plate.

I want to say a huge thanks to Pazzo Racing, who have been one of my sponsors for a couple years now. You’ve seen their levers on bikes before, but if you didn’t know where you can actually get them, I recommend checking out their link to the right of this page. You can also check them out on all three of my GSXR’s next time you’re at the track. I go with the ‘shorty’ lever.

Just one sleep, and we do it all over again on Sunday! Check out the next report......