TRACKDAYRIDERS.COM :: FASTTRAX / MotoSeries Round #9

Round 9 turned out to be much more pleasant than what the weatherman called for.
With 80% chance of rain on Saturday, and 75% chance on Sunday - it looked like 100% chance of getting wet.
Turns out that we only got a little wet during the one session before lunch on Saturday, and after that we managed to remain dry for the rest of the weekend!
Saturday night was a blast - hanging out with Team Empty Pockets Racing (but that's to be expected).

Sunday didn't turn out anything like you'd expect.
The story starts with Team MTS not having their new race bike ready for the race, and were gracious enough to gives the slicks from their last race (thanks Team MTS!). This gave us a great idea to split Team TrackDayRiders into 2 teams and let the best man win. But, with the weather forecast being as bad as it was - we decided to play it safe and not run slicks.
So, there we were... brother vs. brother (not literally) for the final round. It was Paul and Ian on the blue SV 650 (the "money-maker" bike, as nick-named due to the dollar sign on the tail section)... vs. Tom and Jon on the red SV 650. I was lucky enough to be placed on the inside position for the race start.
But, Paul got a slightly better race start and was able to beat me into turn 1.
By the 2nd lap, 3 other riders on faster bikes were able to sneak past me on the straights.
Unfortunately, this slowed me down 2 seconds per lap in the turns for the next 6 laps.
This gave Paul a bigger lead than what he normally would have had on me by the end of our 30 minute stints.
Next out was Ian and Jon. By now, the 20-minute racers were off the track, and the track was more open for more consistent lap times.
Ian was able to keep an eye on Jon while he was out there - and I think this enabled him to run faster lap times than normal.
By the time me and Paul headed out again for the 3rd stint (our 2nd stint), I knew that they were closer than I was hoping for by this phase of the race, and that I'd have to push a little harder.
About half way thru my stint, I saw a yellow bike off in the distance, and made my own short term goal to pass that bike before my stint was over.
Each lap I was pushing harder and harder, and getting closer and closer to the yellow bike. I was also gaining more and more confidence in the tires as I didn't feel them sliding much.
Finally, I was coming in to turn 12 as I saw the yellow bike coming out of turn 13 and thought: "This is the lap I pass that bike".
I carried more speed and turned in a little harder than usual in turn 13 to get a harder drive out of the turn.
Unfortunately - since it was still cold and damp, and I hit a slightly different race line - I ended up going thru a puddle at full lean and the tires went out instantly.
Damn - after an hour and a half of hard racing - we had a 30 second lead over Paul and Ian, and now I just blew it!
I eventually rode the bike back to the pits, and me, Paul, and Jon worked on the bike to get it ridable again.
The majority of that work was pulling the dirt and mud out of the bike. Although, Paul did have to replace the broken hand brake lever.
After that, Jon went out on the bike, but due to cold tires, and a clip-on that we neglected to turn back out - Jon "decided to stop racing" by turn 4, and we threw in the towel at that point.
So, we ended up with a first and second place for round 9.

Thanks to everyone for a fantastic year with MotoSeries!