B
biglou
First off, let me say that it was HOT! I mean, humid, 95 degrees with about 99% humidity. Holy cow it was hot! Got to the track about 8AM, just as signup started. I was once again announcing and racing (therefore, I race for free :) ). We had 16 motos X 2 with, amazingly, the 250 beginner class having the most riders at 21. Not even 125 beginner, which is historically the largest class locally, was close. I think it had 14 riders.
First moto was OK, I got a decent start and ran at about the 2/3 pack mark for the entire race. Actually got all five laps in during the first moto without getting lapped. Second time this year that has happened in the first moto. Last year, it took me until the 2nd moto to get in all five laps. *shrug* We were the 11th moto out of the 16, so the track was ungodly dusty and hard to see when you were running tight behind someone. There were also some treacherous ruts leading into a couple of the corners that if you didn't see them, they would bit you. Hard. By the second moto, the track was pretty much blue groove. Slick as snot and very dusty. I got a bad start as I almost wheelied into the Honda to my left and had to lift out of the throttle for a second, which relagated me to a choking, back of the pack start. The attrition rate was high for both motos-lots of guys stalling out with the four-strokes and not getting them re-lit very effectively. I managed to keep the blue beast alive through both motos. (That little stall during practice doesn't count! :D That'll teach me to try to go to the inside one gear too high!)
So, my results? 14/15 for a 14th overall out of 21. I know this doesn't sound very impressive, but here's the deal: I have only been riding for a little over two years, I'm relatively old by comparrison to the majority of my field (36), and since last year, my main goals were to get in all five laps (not get lapped by the leaders) and secondly to not get last place. Last year I managed a couple of 2nd-to-last-place finishes, but that's nothing to brag about. In this race, and in my last race, I have placed at exactly the 2/3 spot in the pack. So it would appear that I am making some improvements. This makes me happy. Happy that I stuck it out in this blast furnace/sauna combination weather that we have now, and happy that I am seeing some improvement in my results.
Like I say, "Better to be the slowest racer than the fastest spectator."
First moto was OK, I got a decent start and ran at about the 2/3 pack mark for the entire race. Actually got all five laps in during the first moto without getting lapped. Second time this year that has happened in the first moto. Last year, it took me until the 2nd moto to get in all five laps. *shrug* We were the 11th moto out of the 16, so the track was ungodly dusty and hard to see when you were running tight behind someone. There were also some treacherous ruts leading into a couple of the corners that if you didn't see them, they would bit you. Hard. By the second moto, the track was pretty much blue groove. Slick as snot and very dusty. I got a bad start as I almost wheelied into the Honda to my left and had to lift out of the throttle for a second, which relagated me to a choking, back of the pack start. The attrition rate was high for both motos-lots of guys stalling out with the four-strokes and not getting them re-lit very effectively. I managed to keep the blue beast alive through both motos. (That little stall during practice doesn't count! :D That'll teach me to try to go to the inside one gear too high!)
So, my results? 14/15 for a 14th overall out of 21. I know this doesn't sound very impressive, but here's the deal: I have only been riding for a little over two years, I'm relatively old by comparrison to the majority of my field (36), and since last year, my main goals were to get in all five laps (not get lapped by the leaders) and secondly to not get last place. Last year I managed a couple of 2nd-to-last-place finishes, but that's nothing to brag about. In this race, and in my last race, I have placed at exactly the 2/3 spot in the pack. So it would appear that I am making some improvements. This makes me happy. Happy that I stuck it out in this blast furnace/sauna combination weather that we have now, and happy that I am seeing some improvement in my results.
Like I say, "Better to be the slowest racer than the fastest spectator."
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