Series: WMRRA
Date: March 30th
Classes raced and results
600 Supersport - 3rd
LW Superbike - 1st
600 Superbike - 2nd
MW GP Twins - 1st
Welcome to another year of
racing!
Lots to tell you about our first race weekend
of 2008, but, before I get into all of that, heres whats
new and what you can expect for this year. Where am I racing?
2008 will see me racing in the US for Zlock Racing on Kawasaki
and Suzuki equipment. We plan to contest the WMRRA and OMRRA
series as well as some AMA nationals in the west as they are
relatively close, proximity-wise, to the team headquarters
in Spanaway, Washington. You might see me race the Canadian
National series this year, but more on that as it evolves.
First on the whats new list
is the all new website (you probably already noticed) designed
and hosted by Radar
Hill.
Second, youll note some new sponsors
for 2008. The first is Kawasaki USA, along with Bruce Galvin
(of Kawi USA), who has stepped up to get us our Kawasaki equipment
this year. Id like to offer a huge thanks to Bruce and
the folks at Poulsons for their efforts.
Also, youll notice Im wearing
a new chest protector (although its under the leathers)
sponsored by Mark and Elaine at ACME
Moto wear.
And youll also see me traveling in style
this year with gear bags from Jeff @ OGIO
Thanks to these and all my sponsors who enable us to
do what we do.
The winter was a very productive one for me.
I spent a lot of time training with my personal trainer Dawn
Moyou, who happens to be the owner of the gym that sponsors
me: Planet
Fitness. Dawn did a phenomenal job and pushed me hard
to build my strength to an all-time high without putting on
too much weight from the added mass. Although Im slightly
heavier than last year, by about eight pounds, Im certainly
not lacking the strength to do my job on the bike. I really
have to thank Dawn for all her efforts and Im fortunate
to have her in my program.
I also spent considerable time riding at my
local track Western Speedway. With sponsorship from them I
had the opportunity to ride my supermoto more than I ever
have in the off-season and, as a result, I focused on some
weak points in my riding. Thankfully Kodi loves riding her
mini supermoto with Dad and Im blown away with how far
shes come this year. Being only six years old I think
shell be faster than me by the time shes ten.
As I tell my friends, Ive got to work on my retirement
plan with her. :o)
Anyway, on to the racing at hand.
Notes on practice:
Unbelievably the days leading up to the race
were well below the freezing point with generous amounts of
snow falling and no sign of the inclement weather abating
until after the race weekend. Sure enough, come the race weekend,
we were greeted to the absolute coldest temperatures I have
ever raced in. But hey, everyone else had the same things
to contend with, so on we went with the showthough there
were times when I doubted our sanity. Especially when we started
Sunday morning off with a team snowball fight. Lets
just say its a good thing we race motorcycles more effectively
than we throw snowballs.
Race 1
600 SuperBike
Weather conditions cold & wet
Tires front / rear full rain front full rain
rear
Total laps - 10
Result 3rd
I did well to get off the front row to slot
myself into third going into turn three with Eli Edwards and
Jake Rower in front of me. From there I actually sat and watched
the show as Jake pounced all over Eli in the first few laps
with them coming together in the process. Thankfully for both
riders they didnt manage to take themselves out with
the antics; however I opted to stay as far out
of it as I could because I surely didnt want any part
of that action. The funny thing is, just before I went out
Dale Zlock was talking to me and said quite emphatically:
its time to know when to go slow. His words
seemed to stick with me and to be honest, I just said to myself,
take a safe third and fight when we have a better hand. Seems
weird for me to think this way, but the logic seemed undeniable
at the time.
Race 2
650 GP Twins
Weather conditions - cool & damp
Tires front / rear soft rain - med rain (turbine)
Total laps - 10
Result - 1st
Despite not having any practise on the SV650ZR
I knew we had a shot to win with it. To put it mildly, Dans
SV Superbike makes me look much better than I actually am.
But hey, Ill take it! I got a killer start and led the
field into turn two. With the track 60 per cent dry I knew
the race, depending on the pace, was going to involve some
degree of tire management. With that I took it relatively
easy on the tire and had an excellent race with Josh Ellingson.
His bike was working really well, no doubt because Dan had
built his engine, but he was a little to aggressive on the
exits of the corners and unfortunately roasted his rear tire
with just a few laps remaining. Thankfully my Pirelli Turbine
rain had held up much better than his tire and I was able
to put in a few quick laps at the end to grab the win.
Race 3
600 SuperBike
Weather conditions - cool & dry
Tires front / rear - soft dot front - med dot rear
Total laps 8
Result 2nd
Racing 600s in these classes is like
going out to dinner with a family of axe murders. Its
a crazy class that sees some pretty awesome racing. To be
honest, I love it right now! I got an awesome start from the
second row and managed to get into the top three going into
turn two. It was pretty much the usual suspects with Eli Edwards,
Mike Sullivan and I going for the win. Eli managed to get
out front and was looking pretty strong so I managed to squeeze
by Mike in an effort to stay with Eli. Sure enough Mike wasnt
having anything to do with that and, at one point, proceeded
to pass me on the outside of turn three. The old dog still
has some tricks up his sleeve. Unfortunately, our race was
then cut short when a rider fell in turn eight bringing out
the red flag and a premature end to what was shaping up to
be another epic battle
To be continued.
Race 4
Middle Weight Superbike
Weather conditions - cool & dry
Tires front / rear - soft dot front - soft dot rear
Total laps - 10
Result - 1st
This round came up almost right after the
600 race, so I knew exactly what the track conditions were
and what I could expect. With that I decided to go hard right
from the start and put in at least two decent laps right from
the get-go. I managed to do well off the line and rode into
the lead going into turn two. I really pushed the bike hard
out of turn two and into three in an effort to break away
as much as I could. Luckily it worked and I managed to get
a small gap from the field in my first two laps. From there
I kept things as constant as I could from the directions on
pit wall and managed to keep the lead to the end.
All-in-all Im not too disappointed with
this weekends results. Although I dont think I
rode exceptionally well, I know what I want to work on over
the next week to improve. I feel there are some holes in my
game that I need to close up if I want to find those tenths
of a second I lose sleep over at night.
Again, I couldnt be doing any of this
without the help from all my sponsors, fiends and family.
Thanks to all of you, especially Dan, Dale and the whole Zlock
Racing team for all you do.
Next race in two weeks in Portland
A completely new surface and layout. Should be exciting.
Stay tuned
Oliver
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