Track: Willow Springs raceway
Date: April 15-16, 2006
Tires: Michelin PRC front, PR4 rear
Weather: 58 degrees F, partly cloudy, very windy

This was the start of the Solo series, which is a 20 lap/30 minute race on Saturday afternoon. I got to the track and went out for some practice sessions before the race since I installed a new map in the power commander and wanted to see if there was any noticable difference, which there wasn't, so reverted back to my custom map. Also installed an Acumen digital gear indicator and DP8 rev light system. Both worked great.

So I put some new tires on the bike and get ready for the 20 lap race. I'm gridded 5th out of 17, but know there is no way I'm gonna stay in that position. To many of the pro's are in this race, using it as practice for the September Toyota 200 race. This is also practice for me, so I'm not worried about where I finish. This is just mini-endurance racing, nothing more. We are also the second wave, with the litre bikes in GTO going first. I'm sure I'll be lapped by the top 3 runners of that class within the 20 laps.

So the green flag goes down and we are off. As predicted the new racers to this take off like a shot and I go from 5th to probably 15th by turn 1. I'm not worried though. These guys will burn themselves out by lap 10. So I just sit back and do consistent lap times. Once I got settled into a rythem, the lap times dropped and then stayed within 1 second of each other all the way to the end, while I caught and passed people. A few more laps and I would have caught more people. It was a pretty boring race and only got lapped by the top 3 guys on litre bikes. Ended up 11th out of 17.

[img]http://img384.imageshack.us/img384/8605/sologturace3jh.jpg[/img]

Sunday:

My first race of the day was 650 Superbike. I had no points for the season going into this race so I was on the second to last row, gridded 29th out of 34 racers. I got a good start and was able to pass a few people before getting to the first turn, which ended up being about 4 racers wide. Since I started on the outside, I had a lot of guys trying to cram to the inside of me. I didn't take any chances and got through unscathed. I managed to power past a couple more people before T2 and then settled into the freight train of bikes in front of me. This was an 8 lap race, so I settled into a good rythem and concentrated on the bikes in front of me. It was a slow progression trying to catch up to those that were only going a couple of tenths of a second slower than me per lap, so I only managed to pass a few more people by the end of the race. No dicing going on, no battles, just a clean methodical race. I finished 19th, but was gaining on a few people, just needed a few more laps, and less wind. It's tough racing when you have 40mph cross winds.

The second race of the day was 600 Superstock. This race would be one to remember. Again, I only had 2 points going into this race so I started 25th out of 30+ racers, but got a better start, since I was on the inside lane for this race. Much better for getting to turn 1. So the green flag dropped and I launched it to get as many positions as possible and set up for turn 1 without having 10 racers trying to get to the inside of me. I stuck it through turn 1 and then once again got into the freight train of racers in front of me. It looked like there was 20 or so people in front, so immediately got into a good rythem. Started clicking off other racers, passing to the inside and the outside. I was really pushing myself in this race. I caught up to a guy named Matt riding a CBR600RR and flew by him on the front straight. I guess he wasn't gonna have any of that cause he came around the outside of T2 on me (a long right hand sweeper.) He was faster than me in that section, but I was faster than him through T3-T6 and retook him after we crested the hill of T6. He then came back around the outside of my going into T9, again he was faster than me in that section, but I wasn't worried, cause I knew I had more power than he did, so I flew by him down the front straight. Unbeknownst to me was that the wind had picked up to around 50mph and was coming from the south. The front straight goes from east to west. I passed him to the right of his bike and as soon as I came out from the "shadow" of his bike, my front end had a huge shake as the wind caught it! Lesson learned: Do not pass on the right side of the bikes for the rest of this race when going down the front straight.

So I passed Matt and his CBR going into T1 and of course he got me back in T2, I pass him again in T6 and he passes me back in T9, only to have me go by him down the front straight. We did this for several laps. What I didn't know was while we were playing around and passing other races, a Kawasaki was right behind us watching the whole thing, he just couldn't catch us. Then on lap 5 I caught up to a familiar name who was going extremely slow for some reason. I attempted to pass him on the inside of T4b, a slow tight right hander that goes down hill and while at full lean, I gave my bike just a bit to much gas and the rear tire spun out from underneath me, cause a low slide with me sliding on my butt down the hill. I saw sparks from my titanium exhaust cannister and the bike spinning around and around like a top. Luckily, it only did minor damage to one side. Those frame sliders helped! The a$$ end of my leathers were gone. But as I slid down the hill, Matt who was right behind me checked up just enough not to run over me as I was sliding and went to the right, while the Kawasaki rider went to my right and missed me also. Luckily, neither guy hit me or my bike.

So that was it for the day for me. I could have fixed the bike up and raced in 600 Mod Prod, but after i crash my mind wouldn't be right, so I packed up. I ended up 14th in the race and got scored since a red flag was thrown with my bike laying on track. Lucky for me, so I got the points.

Til next month amigos. :>)