Saturday’s practice went very well, I felt good on the bike and we were going CCW (Counter Clockwise) which is my favorite direction. I’ve been chasing the Lap record but never ran a lap timer so I didn’t know where I was at. In the third session of practice on Saturday I ended up getting under the CCW 250 Lap record using a personal lap timer. I was confident going into Sundays races. In morning warm up on Sunday I felt great, the weather was perfect for an official lap record and I was under it in warm up as well. My front tire was pretty toast since I had 3 weekends on the tires, luckily Roger from Heems Racing put a new front Pirelli on to help me get the lap record in my first race of the day.
My first race of the day was the 300 Superbike, I got a good start but I knew I needed to get a clear track to get the lap record so I made a sketchy pass into turn one. I checked out from the rest of the field and put my head down. My lap timer was showing 1:18.0’s (Which is under lap record) and on lap 5 my lap timer showed a 1:17.7 and I was super shocked. The last lap coming out of Yuka ( Turn 2) my front end slid out but somehow I saved it and then I looked back to see where 2nd was and I decided to just ease on into the win since I had a big lead and the lap record.
My second race of the day was Ultra Lightweight GP, I got a good start but saw three R3’s pass me into turn one. I dived bomb two of them to get with Mikey who was leading. I knew I needed to be right with him on the first lap to have a chance to win. I tried to get around him for 6 laps in pretty much every corner because I knew if I got in front I had the pace to check out and he knew that too. He raced smart and defensive so I had to settle with a 2nd. Unfortunately, I did not have a chance to get a clear track to try to get a faster lap time but it was a fun race.
The third race of the day was Formula 500, I knew in the first lap I had to get around Mickey so I could check out. I made a few passes into turn 1 and stuffed Mickey into turn 5. I looked behind me on lap two and found Roger stalking me. We had a great battle switching leads. I was following Roger trying to find where I was stronger and when there were a few laps left I passed him under braking going into the carousel. I wanted to ride defensive for the last few laps to keep roger behind me and once we ran into a lapper I didn’t get past him in time and Roger came under me into turn 5. Unfortunately, my rear tire was sliding everywhere and Roger started creeping away. So, I had to settle for a 2nd. However, I did go faster by .10 seconds with a 1:17.64 in that race.
The last race of the day for me was 500 CUP/ Southwest Thunder, I started from the second row and I knew I had to get around the faster bikes in the first few corners. I worked my way to second behind Art and I was following him getting ready to make a pass but unfortunately a rider crashed and caused a red flag. On the restart I had the same plan. A majority of the race I was trying to pass Art but I just could not find a place to pass, he was riding very smart and defensive. When I saw a little gap, I dove right in and passed for 1st. After that I put my head down and checked out. I ended up 1st overall and in class which gave me a win in 500 CUP and Southwest Thunder.
I had a great weekend and a ton of fun! The battles where intense and super fun! I can’t thank everyone enough for helping me! Massive thanks to Roger with Heems Racing for all the help this weekend. I’d like to thank my sponsors, Russ Brown Motorcycle Attorneys®, Heems Racing, Spidi, Arai Americas, Xcel Trackdays, Imune Clothing, ODI Grips and, Sidi for making this season possible for me. Thanks for everyone’s support and I can’t wait for round 4!
