The phone rang on a Tuesday morning. It was Ross DeLong with team HDFFC (located in Washington). He inquired as to my availability to race with their team in the upcoming six-hour endurance race in Spokane, WA. As I was already scheduled to be there for the sprint races it really was a no-brainer. All I needed to do was show up and ride their well-prepared GSXR1000. How could I turn down that offer?

Endurance
Day one - Practice
Practice Session 1
Weather conditions - Dry and cool
Tires front / rear - medium front - medium rear
Total laps - 5
Best time - 1:34.02
Concerns/problems - The bike needs to turn a little more effectively.
Notes: The team sent me out to get my impression of their endurance prepped GSXR1000. Immediately I felt the bike could turn more effectively, so with a slight change in the geometry we had the Suzuki turning quite well.

Six Hour Endurance Race
Weather conditions - Dry and cool - strong tailwind
Tires front / rear - medium front - medium rear
Total laps - lots and lots
Best time - 1:32.5
Result - 1st
Concerns/problems - None
Notes: The race went about as well as it could have for the team. Essentially we led every lap from the green flag and charged to a ten lap advantage over 2nd place. I even managed to get the fastest lap of the race on my stint with the bike, although I was taking it fairly easy in an effort to preserve the tires. Hopefully I'll get another opportunity to race some more endurance races with this team. It was one of the most organized and professional endurance teams I have had the opportunity to race with, and it made the whole experience just that much more enjoyable.

Sprint races
Day two - Practice
Practice Session 1
Weather conditions - Cool and dry
Tires front / rear - soft front - medium rear
Total laps - 10
Best time - 1:32.5
Concerns/problems - The rear tire seems to be consistently losing forward grip after just four to five laps
Notes: In an effort to improve the rear tire's grip, Josh from Pirelli worked with us testing different tire pressures. Ultimately we never really resolved the issue (in my mind), however we did improve the situation to some extent.

Race 1 - 600 SuperSport
Weather conditions - Dry and hot - strong tailwind
Tires front / rear - soft front - medium rear
Total laps - 10
Best time - 1:30.6
Result - 2nd
Concerns/problems - The rear tire still continues to lose forward grip after just four to five laps
Notes: The race started out quite well with me, Sullivan and another rider getting out front and setting the pace. We were having an excellent race, swapping positions on a regular basis until the last lap. Unfortunately, there were some close calls with me and the other rider, but in the end we finished second

Race 1 - 600 Superbike
Weather conditions - Dry and hot - strong tailwind
Tires front / rear - soft front - medium rear
Total laps - 10
Best time - 1:30.6
Result - 1st
Concerns/problems - Rear tire … um… still needs to hook up
Notes: This race was the highlight of my weekend. Other that the obvious win it was by far the most enjoyable of the weekend. I really had another good race with Mike Sullivan. We swapped the lead on almost every lap and had a really safe and fast race together. I know I've said it in the past, but racing with Mike is a big part of what I like when riding down here. I know that he isn't going to punt me off in the weeds with a bonehead move. We can get down to the business of racing each other.

From here I have just a few days off then it's time for the double header at Mission. I'm burning up Pirelli Tires and R-Tech fuel at a furious rate. Isn't racing great?

Stay tuned

Oliver

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Ross DeLong	Waiting for the rider change
Pit board	Andrew waves "hello"
	Pi stop
Todd Horn	Dave Alexander	Adam Gua & Ross
Check out my buddies $17,000 US BBR Mini. Yes, that's not a typo this thing is worth (costs) $17,000	Dan driving	The road home