I quite literally have so many people to thank
I don't know where to begin. Just look to the right at the
sponsor bar and know that every company, service provider
and or person on that list plays an intricate role to any
success we have on the racetrack. I sincerely thank everyone
for their continued support. I must however give a special
thanks to Jay Tait, James Cyr and Marc Burgess for working
so hard as my crew this weekend. Also, I am really happy with
how well things are working with Jay and James as my crew
for the Mission races. Also, I would like to thank Scott &
Chris Ponuick for their continuing friendship and hospitality.
Thanks guys.
Notes on practice:
The big buzz around the pits was that Steve Crevier was going
to be racing with us this weekend. It turns out Steve was
testing some parts for his 2005 CBR600RR Hindle Exhaust Pro
600 Sport Bike before the upcoming season opener in just a
few weeks. So we knew the weekend was going to be interesting
to say the least. We mounted up a set of soft Pirelli slicks
as I wanted to see how the softer compound slicks would work
around the track. My first few sessions were good as my lap
times were easily within one second of race pace. As the afternoon
went on we changed the tires to a soft DOT front and a Medium
DOT rear to see how the DOT labeled tires would stack up.
The tires combined with some race fuel and a few turns of
spring on the front forks saw us dip into the 1:10's in practice.
One slight issue was the fact that we were over the Mission
sound limit of 95decebels. Thankfully Lee Hindle had sent
us an insert for our Hindle pipe that saw the reading drop
to the low 90's without losing too much power. Thanks Lee!
Some new tires, race fuel and motivation were all that was
needed and we were set to race.
Notes on races:
Race 1 - Superbike leg 1
For the race I had decided to run a Soft Pirelli front and
a Medium Pirelli rear, which to be quite honest seemed to
give me a little more feedback that running softs front and
rear.
I got a reasonable start and went into turn one in third place
right behind Mark Kruger and Steve Dick. I managed to get
by Steve with a better drive out of turn three and set after
Mark. I followed Mark for two laps to see what kind of pace
he was running and felt I could take the lead. I put an inside
pass on him going into seven and worked to click through some
clean fast laps from there. Unfortunately a few laps later
I made a mistake and braked too early going into turn one
and Mark was able to nip up the inside with a good pass. With
three laps to go I had my sights set on Mark but had my plan
squashed when Steve Crevier put an excellent block pass on
me going into turn one, then passed Mark on the last lap.
Damn he's good. I worked really hard in the two remaining
laps but wasn't able to get Mark and we finished nose-to-tail
1-2-3. Great race! We got 3rd.
Race 2 - Pro 600 Supersport
I wanted to win this one. I got a decent start and found myself
in familiar territory right behind Mark going into turn one.
From here we scraped it out for a few laps and I took the
lead going into turn one on lap three. I just kept my head
down and focused on getting in and out of the corners well
to keep the lap times down. On the second to last lap Steve
Crevier put another excellent pass on me going into turn two
and I wasn't able to make it back. We finished in another
tight group 1-2-3 this time in 2nd.
Race 3 - Superbike leg 3
This was going to be a scrap for sure. Steve Crevier had pole
on his 600, Mark Kruger had second on his 600 and I was in
position three on our little ZX6RR, not to mention the R1
ridden by Brent Luebkert,and the GSXR1000 ridden by Alan Schmidt.
I launched quite well, but this time Steve got the hole shot
followed closely by Mark. Then it happened; Mark & Steve
came together going into one, both of them went tumbling down
the track and I had to take evasive action to avoid running
over Mark's head. In addition, a rider had crashed on the
starting line so there was carnage everywhere. Unfortunately
both Steve & Mark were out for the day thankfully unhurt.
On the restart I got the hole shot and led the race for the
first four laps. I knew something big was behind me because
I could hear the deep tone of the exhaust. Alan Schmidt blasted
by me on the GSXR1000 going into turn four and I knew the
race was on. I followed Alan for a lap to see if I was going
to be able to retaliate in any way. Two laps from the end
I put together a few corners and made a pass on Al going into
the last turn - turn nine. I made it stick and was able to
lead him across the line, but he blasted by me like I was
tied to a post before we entered the kink to turn one. Those
dam 1000's! I only had one shot and I knew it. I was going
to have to wait until the last lap and try that pass again.
The last lap was a flyer for me and I almost passed Al going
into turn seven but decided to take the run on him into nine
instead. I lined it up and shot in. Unfortunately it almost
ended badly as Al must have either heard me or predicted that
I was going to make that pass and proceeded to tighten his
normal line as I came in on him. Unfortunately I was totally
committed to the pass and on the inside. There was nothing
I could do. I had to let off the brakes to avoid taking us
both out and as Al continued to bring it in even tighter we
bumped. He got on the gas to keep his position which spun
up his rear tire and he almost got kicked off his bike. Thankfully
he didn't crash. Meanwhile I was able to squirt off the corner
and take the race win. A very tight and close race.
From here we are going to get to work with Dan and the team
extracting some more HP from our 2005 ZX6RR. I really see
a lot of potential with this bike and look forward to exploring
what we can do with it this season.
Stay tuned.
Oliver
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