Race reports
June 24-25: VIR, CCS/FUSA/USGPRU
Pat #233
I didnt get there until friday night, but got there at a decent hour and got set up, hung out with everyone for a while. I still had a few knick-knacks to do on the bike so I got those done and got some decent sleep. First of all, I wouldn't have been racing at all if it wasn't for RICK at ACCU-PRODUCTS / 202 Racing. I had sent him both my cylinders and 4 heads to machine/fix. One of the cylinders was so badly messed up it wouldn't be finished in time for this race weekend. So he loaned me a cylinder to run so that I could compete. Needless to say, I wouldn't be racing at all if it wasn't for him! He got my heads done and my other cylinder honed so it was good to go. His work is very impressive!
Saturday morning I was still breaking in the new motor/pistons, so I was going slow the first practice. Jeff Wood came by me on the back wheel between turns 3 and 4. I don't know my times but I wasn't pushing it. Second practice was OK though and I felt better, got going a bit faster.
LightWeight Gran Prix - Saturday afternoon my only race was LW GP, I was gridded on the last row since I post-entered. I got a GREAT start, sliding the front wheel since there was oil dry all over the track. I pushed the front a lot but held on and got into turn 1 pretty good. I made a bold maneuver on the outside of entering turn 3 and passed a lot of people. I ran a hard race, but god held up by some twin for a few laps. I finally got by him and charged for the bikes I could see in front of me. I was super excited when I looked down at my lap timer and saw a 1:38.8 ! Considering I had never broken 1:40 at VIR, I was psyched. I knew I had more in me though too. I had a great race, it was a lot of fun as there were many 250's in the race. I came up behind Bruce Lind (250 legend) on the front straight and went to pass him on the brakes from the outside, I saw him brake very early and thought I could make an easy pass. Boy was I wrong! He kept me real honest and still laid it very late mid-corner and stuffed me a little outside. It was so much fun! I can't say enough how much fun I had in that race. I finished 7th place, and ran a best time of 1:38.204, which was very impressive in my book. It does pay to race with folks that are much faster than you , they pull you around the track and make you work hard!
After that I had 250 qualifying for the USGPRU race. I really tried to get a 37 or better, but there was a lot of traffic, I had to make a lot of passes but really didn't get a single "clean" lap. It was red-flagged on the out lap too because of a crash in turn 7, which was Garrett Carter who tucked the front trying to make a ridiculous pass and he collected Bruce Lind in the process, Bruce broke his arm so he was done for the weekend, which really sucks. Bruce is in his 41st season racing!!!!!!!!!!!! I only saw a 1:39.03 on my laptimer, but CCS scoring had me at a 1:38.685 which put me 6th out of 21 on the grid ! I was very happy, it was a second row grid for me and I was very very juiced. Sunday morning it rained, and all of my friends left. But than after lunch the sun came out and it got STINKIN SWEATY HOT ! Great weather. The 125 race was awesome!
USGPRU 250GP - I was in the middle of the second row, in some great company. I couldn't believe I was starting with some racers like Brian Kracget, Bill Himmelsbach, Sean Wray, etc! I got a FLYER of a start and went into turn 1 in 4th place. Kracget came underneath me into turn 2 and took 4th, I ran there for a few laps until Sean Wray got by me. He tried to pass me on the brakes into turn 1 but went wide and I came underneath him. It was like shit straight out of FIM Moto250 racing! Anyways I had a great race, I really pushed hard. My laptimer did not come on and I did not get to turn it on until a few laps in, but I saw I ran a 1:37 so I knew I was pushing even harder from the day before. Jim Bonner tried to come by me a few times too but I held him off, he has a bullet of a motor in that thing, but I held him off on the brakes and midcorner a lot. Anyways, I had a very fun race but I did get tired. The race was shortened to 12 laps, which was good I guess since I did get so drained from the heat/humidity. Bonner was all ove rme and when I saw the white flag I knew I had to lay down a great lap. I had to pass some lappers and I passed them pretty cleanly, but I had lost some drive down the hog pen because of the passes, and I made a run for the stripe. When I came over the stripe I saw Bonners purple/yellow bike on my outside! I was like "oh well, he has motor on me". Mine is a bone stock, 100% OEM 1994 Yamaha, and I know he has kit parts on his (he was at VIR last month and was the one who had a kit spare cylinder that he wouldn't sell). So, I figured I finished like 6th ?
Well, come to find out CCS said I jumped the start!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was given the meatball flag, never saw it, and was docked a lap. It was total bullshit because I knew I didn't jump the start.
Here's the video to prove it: CLICKY LINKY
Kelly didn't get any pics of me, but got some short videos.
