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To begin with, I would like to thank Marc Burgess for all his
help and support with this series. Also a big thanks to my buddy
Jim Harker for his hospitality every time we came over for a
race, and to Steve Dick for his continued support of my race
program.
This weekend was a rather important one. I went into it with
a good possibility of taking the overall championships for
both 600 Supersport and Open Superbike. As it turned out,
I missed the 600 crown by just a single point. But, was it
ever close!
Notes on practice A few days prior to race weekend in Mission,
BC I had traveled to Portland with Dan Zlock and the team
to ensure the 600 would be 100 per cent for the final round
of the WMRC series. They say preparation pays off but in this
case practice was fairly uneventful because the bike was working
well just about everywhere. All we needed to do for the races
was to add race fuel and new Pirellis!
Race One Open Superbike (Round One)
I blew the start and went into turn one in fourth position.
By turn three, I was the third rider in the pack and pushing
hard. Unfortunately I made several mistakes and wasn't able
to get by the second place rider, which was something I needed
to do for a shot at the title. I was frustrated with my errors
but remained calm as there was still the second leg to go.
Race Two 600 Supersport
In this race I had a real shot at the title. I had talked
to some of my friends and we came up with a game plan. Basically,
I had to get out in front and a couple of my fellow racers
were going to stay in front with me giving us the gap in points
I needed to take the win. Wow, what a race! Apparently the
suspense in the crowd was great as "the game" played
out on the racetrack. I got the win I needed and was able
to put one rider between the points leader and myself. However,
the second rider I needed between got balked hung-up in traffic.
And, unfortunately, that one position was the difference between
first overall and second. Oh well, that's racing. It came
down to the wire and made it exciting for the spectators and
the teams. That's how it should be.
Race Three Open Superbike (Round Two)
I got a better start in this one and was in third going into
turn two. A few laps later I managed to get by and put my
head down in an attempt to catch the leader (Steve Dick).
Unfortunately I wasn't able to make up the lost ground on
Steve, but it was a phenomenal race as the gap was constant
throughout.
So as you can tell it was yet another great weekend of racing.
I ended up taking the number two plate in 600 Supersport and
the number three plate in Open Superbike. This weekend I travel
to Seattle to attend the final round of the WMRRA series.
That should be interesting, to say the least.
Again a sincere thanks to everyone involved in this race
program. I can't possibly put in words how grateful and truly
lucky I am to have the support that I do.
Thank you.
Oliver
Photos
Please click on image to enlarge
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