When: April 27 - 28, 2002
Where: NHIS, Loudon NH
Friday 4/26/02
Since Thursday's practice was cancelled due to last minute paving at the track, I went up
Fri morning in time for afternoon practice. It was about 52 degrees F, and the
windchill was in the mid-40's. I got to the track around noon, got my transponder
and registration taken care of, then signed up for practice. I put the tire warmers
on, but since the bike took so long to warm up, the warmers didn't really do much for me.
I got out a bit late for the first practice and only got a few laps in.
Slooooow laps. I got out for the second practice and started feeling a little more
comfortable. I was still crawling, but at least I felt like I was shaking the
cobwebs off. Thrid practice never happened, since they ran out of time. The
rest of the garage mates showed up, and we grilled some burgers for dinner. It was a
cold night.
Saturday 4/27/02
I missed first practice, but managed to get out for the second round. Starting to
feel a tad better, but the temp was still only in the mid 40's. Cold. The wind chill
wasn't quite as bad though. The day ended up in the low 50's.. My goal for the
weekend was to get the 15 points I needed to move up to Junior ranks.
GP Singles
I had pole position for this race. I got a good start and got into T1 pretty fast.. I figured I might do well, since most people in the amateur race had red practice stickers, but one new kid ended up being really fast. I was fighting hard to keep up with him, but I was running about 5 seconds off my last years' pace.. so he pulled away. I ended up getting 2nd place, which was worth 13 points. My best lap was only in the low 1:33's.. I wasn't too thrilled by the lap times.. but I was happy I kept the rubber side down.. it was pretty cold to be pushing slicks.
Sunday 4/28/02
I was feeling a little pressured to get my remaining 2 points... especially since my lap
times from Sat weren't so great. Morning was in the mid 40's, and practice was
cold... but I was feeling pretty good. Around 11am, it started to snow and rain.
The temperature was dropping. After riders' meeting, I put the rain tires on,
and got ready to go.
GTL
I'm not sure how or why.. but I did really really well in this race. Most of the
grid didn't show up, as it was now 38 degrees F outside, and raining hard. Talk
about miserable! With the bad weather, they reduced the race to 20 minutes, instead
of the usual 30... I got a great start, and managed to go into T1 first. I tried to
be as gentle as possible, and kept the rubber down through the first couple corners.
I went into T3 a tad hot, but got off the brakes and got the bike turned in.
I got on the gas a bit too much and felt the rear end spin out and attempt to catch up to
the front end.. I was about to high-side. The bike snapped up, and I got flung into
the air a bit.. but I refused to let go. I'm not exactly sure how I did it..
but I managed to save it... I rode a bit over the dirt, and looked around as I got
back onto the track.. I was all by myself! It turns out that I had been going pretty
fast so far, and I was winning! yee haaa! But I had to settle down a bit, as
this was only the first 30 seconds of the race. To make a long story short..
I ended up putting 10 laps in, I came out 4th overall in the combined field (w/GTO, who
started in their own wave) and I came in first in my class.. with a 20 second lead
over the field. I even managed to lap a few people! My engine was running at
37 deg C, and it's supposed to be at 52 deg C, so I had to slow down a bit during the
race. I didn't want to push it too hard.. that's exactly how engines cold
seize. 1st place meant 15 more points.. and I was worried about getting 2 !
I got a big round of applause from the crew when I got back to the garage.. I was
freezing cold, but totally psyched!
Lightweight Grand Prix
I was completely unmotivated for this race... to have to put my wet boots and gloves back on, and go back out into the cold rain after I got what I needed for the weekend was not so easy to do. However, I went. I had pole position yet again (gotta love pre-reg), but my bike was running crappy. I should have emptied out the carb after the last race to get rid of the water, but I didn't think to do it. The bike ended up stumbling quite a bit, so I had to slow down. I slowed down by about 10 seconds a lap for fear of losing it.. They cut the sprint races down to 6 laps.. I ended up 4th (out of 4!), but since there were so many entries, I got 9 points.. and yet another trophy! LOL
In summary.. I did really well.. I got a 2nd in GP Singles, 1st in GTL, 4th in LWGP. That meant 3 trophies, and 37 points! Now I can move up to the Junior class and really get my ass whooped ! <G>