I had a great weekend at Carolina Motorsports Park. We left Greensboro at 4:30 AM sat morn and got to the track at 7:30, (just in time to be the last one to register which meant that I'd be gridded last). Sat practice was good and I was running consistent lap times of about 1:49. I'm still trying to get used to the GP style shift pattern and I planned on doing some experimenting with tires so I ran the morning practice on a pirelli 180/55/17 tire and was spinning up pretty bad coming out of turns. I just couldn't get much traction at lean angles so I switched to a set of Dunlop 190/60/17 tires for the 25 minute race that afternoon. I took 6mm of ride height out before I went out to compensate for the taller tire but still experienced terrible head shake coming out of turn 8 onto the back straight,( I think the corner worker at that station was reaching for a fire extinguisher and ducking for cover at the same time.) I didn't have any money in the budget for another set of tires so I decided to take three more mmof ride height out and race. That didn't solve the problem but it did help as the headshake wasn't quite so bad and I was able to come from the last row and finish second. I dropped my lap times to 1:46, I was happy and we packed it in, got some dinner and called it a night. The next morning I practiced on the dunlops just to get loosened up and then changed to the Pirelli 190/55/17 tires that were supplied to me by Ned at Mid Carolina Powersports (great people! If ur into spotsbikes you gotta check this shop out in Burlington, NC). I went out on the pirrelli's for a few laps and they felt much better. At the start of the supersport race I was gridded last but got a good start and by lap six was in the lead, coming onto the last straight I had the race in the bag and made a stupid mistake which cost me the win. I shifted into forth instead of second,(must have reverted to my old shift pattern out of habit). I came in second by less than a bike length but I ran a 1:44.6 so I was still happy about that. Next up was the $ race and once again I was gridded last. I got and ok start and worked my way up to third place but by the time I had made my way though all the traffic the first two guys had checked out and I didn't have enough time to catch them. I still won some money though and ran my best lap of the day, 1:44:0! The superbike race was the last race of the weekend and I was determined to win. Starting from the last row i got a great start and came out of turn two in second place. By the time we got to the kink on the back straight I had taken over the lead. Things went great for the next 5 laps as i pulled a big gap,(according to my spotter who was signaling me from pit wall). On the last lap there was a communication glitch between my spotter and I, I thought i was in the clear and had backed off a little bit to make sure i made it to the flag in one piece when someone passed me four corners from the flag. I put my head down and went after him, thought I had him on the last turn as he went wide but he recovered well and it was a drag race to the flag. I gave my poor old 02 r1 all she had but couldn't get by him. Lost by inches at the flag.
So there you go, three second places and a third place for the weekend. Good results but even better I made huge gains in the setup of my bike with the new tires. Now all I've got to do is a little tweaking to the rear ride height and practice the new shift pattern and things should really start going well. I'll be doing a practice day and race with Team Pro-Motion on the 28th of this month at VIR to work on the set up of my bike so I'll be ready for the next race weekend. I'd like to thank my sponsors for this past weekend, Speedwerks.com, Lockhart Phillips, Pirelli, HotBodies Racing, EBC Brakes Vortex Sprokets, and Silkolene Lubricants. A special thanks to Swaim Electric, Jason Amos Landscape Design and Mid Carolina Powersports, I couldn't have raced this weekend without you guys.
Hey Bryan, it was great meeting you at tech and racing with you this weekend. That was me in both unlimited races. Too much drama! In SS I thought that expert we caught was going to totally screw-up our race (and he almost did) and in SB there was the cluster F over whether it was a 2 wave start. Myself and a few others sat there when the flag dropped thinking it was 2 wave like every other race that weekend.... doh!! Stupid rookie mistake on my part. Anyway, I was real surprised that you came back to me on the last lap, I figured something had to be up. Thanks for the early Xmas present. ;-)
You coming up to play at Summit in May?
I don't know if I'll make sumitt or not yet. Too early to tell. Ur right though, that was some great racing we had goin on.
I'm glad you had a good weekend at CMP. It was my first race Corner working this year. My wife and I enjoyed the weekend very much. We were on turn 3 and I got to say there were a few scary moments for some. As well as turn 1. :o All the best to all this year!
It was a very good weekend compared to the Jennings weekend 2 weeks earlier. I've never seen that helicopter so many times. :(
Cornerman, you got a good upclose viewing of my favorite battle all weekend. I had an absolute blast in the ex unl ss race. I was battling with Mike D (201) all race long and passed him going into 3 for 3rd place on the last lap. That race made my whole weekend. :D
I'm glad to see #57 doing so well for having just started racing. Makes me feel a little less embarassed when you smoke me on Sunday mornings.