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Series: OMRRA
Date: May 29/30
Classes raced and results
600 Supersport - 4th
600 Superbike - 2nd
650GP Twins - 1st
Middleweight Superbike - 1st
I apologize for the delay in
getting this report you. As you'll read later on, I took an
extra day to hang out with Dan & Dale to climb Mt Rainier
(report at the bottom). I can tell you this, we crammed a
lot of life into this past weekend!
Practice:
Things went extremely well in practice. Within two laps I
was going as fast as we had previously so I knew we were in
for a good showing this weekend. Also, Pirelli
had brought their latest and greatest front tire for us to
use so we had an even greater advantage in this department.
Thanks Tom Young and Kevin Graham.
Race 1 600 Supersport
I got off the line well and was in fifth going into turn two.
I made an aggressive pass in the next turn and set my sights
on the three leaders, Mike Sullivan, Alan Schmidt and Chris
Ancien. The pace was fantastic seeing low 1.09's and .08's
(for Chris). Unfortunately, I blew any chance I had of fighting
for the win when I missed a shift exiting the crucial turn
four. With that error the lead group gapped me by about ½
a second and I wasn't able to reel them back in. I was frustrated
with my performance, but was determined to improve upon it
in the upcoming race.
Race 2 600 Superbike
First start - I did well and managed to get to the front of
the pack by turn four. From here I just put my head down and
focused on putting in some clean laps. Alan managed to get
me going into turn seven but as we came out of turn three
on the next lap the red flag brought an end to our race.
Second start - I did really well again and managed to lead
it into turn four. This time Mike Sullivan and I were scrapping
for the lead - and scrap we did. We went back and forth for
several laps until Alan joined the party. We were all pushing
really hard and Alan went wide in turn one leaving the fight
to Mike and I, or so I thought. On that same lap, Chris Ancien
dove underneath me going into turn seven and as we entered
turn nine Chris crashed (thankfully unhurt), in dramatic fashion
I might add, right in front of me. The ensuing events saw
me desperately looking for a way not to become entangled with
Chris's crashing bike. Unfortunately I wasn't successful and
his bike hit my front tire as I went by. Somehow I didn't
crash (SEE
PHOTOS) but the impact had actually bent my front disk
rotor, something I didn't realize until I went for the brakes
going into turn one. To say that I scared myself in turn one
without any brakes is an understatement. So without properly
functioning brakes, I set off to hopefully retain my second
place position. Alan, of course, had other ideas. He managed
to get by me on the last lap, but I just let the bike roll
through the last turn and pinned it in hopes of drafting him
at the line. Somehow I got lucky, timed it right, and managed
to nip him at the line. A pretty eventful race.
Race three - 650 GP Twins
Because this race was immediately after the 600 Superbike,
I honestly don't remember much about the race. My mind was
still thinking about all that had happened in the 600. Despite
my apparent lack of attention we luckily managed to get the
win using the SVZR to make up for my lack of talent, and focus.
Race four - Middleweight Superbike
What a race, or best described as a chess match at 140mph.
My opponent was Cedric Smith on an ultra trick RS125 framed
CRF 450. Cedric rocks on this bike and carries corner speed
that leaves most people drooling. For the first half of the
race we pretty much took it easy getting a feel for each others
relative strengths, but by the half way mark we were certainly
starting to push each other. On the last lap I managed to
get through traffic quite efficiently and hold him to win
by only nine thousandths of a second. In doing so I managed
to get into the 1:12's with a 1:12.9.
Again, a HUGE thanks to everyone involved
in our racing program. Without the support of our sponsors,
friends, and family we wouldn't be here. - Thank you!
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Mt. Rainier!
I debated writing about this in one of my
race reports, but ultimately felt you might appreciate something
fresh in my reports other than race times, results and pictures
of motorcycles. This was actually a pretty big trip for me
personally, and something I've wanted to do for a long time.
Dan & Dale have been mountaineering since the late 60's
with their family, and Dan has often asked me to join him
on one of his expeditions. He has climbed almost every substantial
peak in the west and, as you might imagine, is exceptionally
knowledgeable on the subject. For this trip Dan opted to take
me to Camp Muir on Mt. Rainier. With an elevation of 10,100
ft, Camp Muir was the perfect climb to test my abilities and
tolerance to altitude and thin air. The climb was one of the
more rewarding things I have ever done, although it was quite
physically demanding (I would best describe the climb to Camp
Muir like using a Stairmaster for five hours straight). I've
searched through my thesaurus to best find the descriptive
words to illustrate the greatness of the mountain, but I can't.
Even the pictures fail to show the experience. I guess you'll
just have to go do it yourself! At the end of the day I reflected
on my weekend and laughed with Dan as we compared the extreme
difference from Sunday's 170mph day at sea level to Monday's
2.5mph day at over 10,000 ft. Awesome! One thing I also noticed
was how the mountain forced us to focus on the task at hand.
Funny how life and death situations do that for you. But I
can honestly say that while I was on the mountain I thought
of nothing else. Something that's rare, for me anyway, but
something I appreciate as well. A huge thanks to Dan &
Dale for being amazing tutors and mentors in this life experience.
I'm very grateful.
Stay tuned - next race in two weeks.
Oliver
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