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Jamies Race Report August 10-11
NHIS
Friday:
Went out for
practice Friday and thought something was wrong with the bike.
Wouldn't go where I thought I was putting it, etc;. I think I must
have been real tired and just being very lazy with turn ins. I knew
where I wanted to go, but the bike was just not heading
there.
Finally by
the last session I was able to get myself back together and ride the
bike like I needed too.
Saturday:
GTO:
After my
incident, this race is just killing me ... I'm obviously spooked by
it, because I just can't get to pace here. I was doing ok until the
experts started to swarm the AM pack, and I backed my pace of a
whole second for 3 laps ... don't know why. This gave a couple
buddies the chance to pass me, which gave me something to go for and
pick up the pace, which was fun. I was able to catch up to one of
them, but the red flag flew just before we would cross start finish
... heheheh, could have been a fun battle. I got 5th (out of 6th) in
my class ... not where I wanted to be in this class this year.
Disappointed. Thinking of switching this race out to something else,
like the Dash for cash or something.
I enjoy the
longer GT races, just can't seem to get my head back in this
one.
MWSS:
We only got 4
laps into this one. I got a 7th. After the start, the front 5 took
off and I couldn't keep pace, with them, but had a gap on the back
group. Pretty much ran this one alone.
Sunday:
MWSB:
This was a
CRAZY race. People were dropping like flies and the stupidest stuff
was happening in front of me. I decided to let it all sort out,
which resulted in two guys knocking into each other coming out of
twelve and red flagging the race on lap 1. The restart was just as
crazy, but we made it through lap 1. There were 3 crashes in turn 3
during the race, but we were able to keep going. The front group
took off again (my lap 1 is awful), so it was just me in 7th for the
duration of the race. Not too exciting as far as racing
goes.
HWSS:
Got a good
start on the restart and was 3rd going into turn 1. This helped me
get 3 seconds faster on my lap 1 and hang with the front group for a
little longer. I had a nice two lap battle with 388, who had great
corner speed in the middle section, but was a able to catch him and
out drive him on the back section and the straight. We swapped
positions a couple times (which was fun), then was able to get a
great drive on him out of 12, and put my head down and put some
distance on him. Because of that battle, the front group was gone
once again, and I was on my own. I took 5th in this race and got
back down to the 19s again.
My biggest
issue right now is the fun factor. Its not there like it was. I was
having a great time this year up until June, and now I'm just
struggling mentally out there. It gets much better as the weekend
goes on, but by the time I start feeling like myself again, the
weekend is over. Hopefully I can pick up where I left off in Sept
since its a little closer.
I found alot
of drive out of 10 going into 11, but can't seem to set myself up
correctly for 11 now with the speed i'm carrying. Its obvious I
don't have any good reference points out there, so its something
I'll be working on.
My turn 6 got
better this weekend, which is a bonus, along with learning more
about the speed to be had in turn 9. Turn 3 right now (along with
getting through 11 correctly now) is my weakest point. I just am
braking so early, losing so much speed midcorner, etc;. Its why I am
not on pace right now.
Erin is the
best pit crew anyone could have! I love it when she is there! She is
so helpful, supportive, and just a pleasure to have at the
track!
Thanks to Geno
and Kyle for sticking around for the awards so I could get me my 5th
place trophy. Nothing spectacular, but was great to have a couple
people there in support.
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