Last round of the 2008 Mid-West
CCS season and I was pumped to lock up my 4 expert level unlimited
classes that I had been contending all year. The weather was
beautiful. The bike was handling good and running strong. The
Pirelli's were sticky. I was feeling in the zone. Plus, I had
lots of friends and family that came out to support and encourage
me. It was gonna be a great weekend, I could tell that from
the very start.
Andy had closed up on me in the
GTO points, but with the win last round at Hastings I had a
35 point lead on him as we went into the weekend. I had a pretty
good lead in all 3 of the other classes and all I needed to
do was keep it out of the ditch and finish respectably.
I had started this 2008 season
as an amateur, but after racing as an amateur for only one day
I petitioned CCS for the bump to expert. They looked at me like
I was crazy, but I insisted on the bump and after meeting with
several of the top folks they gave me the nod with a stern warning
that I better not make them regret it!
As I entered this last weekend
of the 2008 Midwest CCS season, I felt good about my choice
to bump to expert.
Saturday, Sep 27
GTO (25 minute) - 2nd Place
As we circulated the track for
the sighting lap, I was feeling great and also a little nervous.
I had lots of friends and family there cheering me on and I
wanted to do well and not disappoint them and my sponsors. This
GTO class was the tightest class on points and I really needed
to do well to bring home the championship.
I got a great start and had the
holeshot into turn one. I was leading the pack which is always
nerve racking, especially that first lap as all those angry
bikes with testosterone laden riders bear down on you just aching
for you to make the slightest mistake. I just put my head down
and focused on putting the bike on the apex and getting that
throttle pinned as quickly as I could. I ran the first lap waiting
for Andy to pass me, but he never came by me.
I made up my mind to make it
as hard as possible for him. I put my head down and just refused
to let up and kept pushing hard, not caring that I had 18 or
so laps to run. I was burning the candle at both ends. Several
times I caught myself holding my breathe and I had to keep mentally
reminding myself to relax. After 4 laps, I was still in the
lead and was running consistently quick laps and feeling good.
At the beginning of lap 5, I
went into turn 1 deep on the brakes with the back of the bike
wagging back and forth as I progressively squeezed the Brembo
into action. Unbelievably, Andy came by me on the brakes looking
like a cowboy trying to wrangle in a wild stallion. At what
had to be the last possible second, he threw the bike into turn
one with it still protesting. I fell in behind him, not willing
to admit defeat just yet.
For the next three laps, I kept
him in sight but he consistently opened up a little bit more
of a gap on me every lap. As we went into lap 9, we started
to run into a lot of lappers and I was really feeling drained
from all the effort I had put in at the beginning of the race
and I decided to just bring it home in second and bring home
the GTO championship. I checked my pit board and saw that I
had an 8 second lead over third place. Just relax and bring
it home.
But wait a second, what is this????
At lap 12, I looked at my pit
board and it said +0.5! What?!?!? I immediately put my head
down and started pushing hard again. As I came out of turn 6,
I snuck a peak behind me and sure enough AMA pro Brian Boyd
was all over me drafting me down the back straight. I have raced
against Brian at Road America earlier in the season and know
from experience that he is no joke. This was not gonna be easy,
Brian is a fast guy for sure and the crazy thing about Brian
is that he only gets faster as the race goes on (personally,
I think he is an extra terrestrial).
I ran my fastest lap of the race
on lap 14 and was constantly throwing lappers at Brian on lap
15. As we came onto the straight, I looked over at Burrito to
see what he had on the pit board and it was +0. I knew we had
to be getting close to end of this eternally long race and as
I saw the white flag I was encouraged that the end was near
and I just refused to let up and back off on the last lap.
When we went into the carousel
I could hear Brian's bike almost right beside me. I carefully
tried to feed the throttle into the ragged edge of that tired
rear tire as we drove around the carousel with knee and foot
dragging. That rear tire would have none of it as it immediately
started stepping out on me. Fearing that Brian would try to
make the inside pass going into the bus stop I ran the nastiest
block line ever into the bus stop and wound up taking the corner
slow enough that I could almost got off the bike and pushed
it faster. I immediately lit up the rear tire going through
the left hander before turn four and then nailed turn five and
drove it long and hard toward turn six running a defensive line
to keep Brian from passing me up the inside going into turn
six.
As we come onto the back straight,
I glanced back and Brian's #20 GSXR 1000 was still all over
me. I looked up and saw Blume glancing back at me as he was
nearing the end of the back straight having started in the second
wave with the Amateurs. I immediately realized that I was going
to come up on him at the worst point in turn seven and if I
got held up any at all, Brian Boyd would surely pass me in the
last corner of the last lap.
I made the decision to not let
up at all and pass Blume on the outside of the kink going into
turn seven. I knew it was gonna be tight but I had fought so
hard for so long, I just couldn't back off and give Boyd the
easy pass. As I went by Blume on the outside, I had to pull
my should and head in to keep from hitting his left foot. He
later told me that I was very very close to him, I knew it felt
close. I immediately stood the bike up and braked as hard as
possible. The bike was just not slowing down fast enough but
I threw it into turn seven anyway. Amazingly, the front tire
pushed a little but stuck and I was on the front straight heading
toward the checkered flag and my very first championship ever!
Sunday, Sep 28
Unlimited Supersport - 2nd
Place
On Sunday morning, I took my
(new-to-me) 2008 GSXR 600 out for the practice sessions to get
in some badly needed seat time. In hindsight, this was not the
best idea. I was all out of sync the first few laps of this
race as I tried to get out of "600 mode" and back
into "1000 mode".
I held onto to second position
from the beginning of the race and brought it home easily for
my second championship of the 2008 season.
Unlimited GP - 6th Place
The money race,
all the fast guys on 1000's and 600's line up for this one in
hopes of getting paid.
We had some issue
getting the tires changed in between the races and as a result
we were not able to get the tires on warmers before this race.
To make things even more challenging, I get a bad start cause
I think my clutch was going out on me. I got engulfed going
into turn 1 and was running way back in the pack by the time
we got to the carousel. By the end of the first lap, the tires
had heated up enough to stop moving around so much on the throttle
and I was able to work my way back up to sixth. The lead group
was too far ahead for me to catch.
No worries, I still
brought home the championship in this class. :-)
Unlimited Superbike
- 2nd Place
This is a
video from two seperate bikes that were behind me during the
USB race:
I was feeling great
at the start of this race. I had worked with Dustin Boyd, my
Pirelli guy, and we had come up with some changes to the tires
that worked very well in the last race. If I could get a good
start, I felt that I might have a shot at winning this one.
I got a rough start as the clutched
grabbed and engaged early causing me to wheelie the bike all
the way to turn one (as you can see in the video from Josh's
bike). I went into turn one in third position behind Jim Rodefer
and knew that I had to get by Jim quickly to keep Andy from
getting away. I made a daring outside pass on Jim in turn two
(as you can see in the video from Jim's bike) and set sail for
Andy.
I was able to keep Andy in sight
for several laps, but inevitably he just kept opening the gap
on me more and more with every lap.
In the end, I was able to bring
it home in second for my fourth championship of the season.
Summary
It is really hard to believe,
4 Expert Championships in my first year of racing. It doesn't
seem real.
I gotta give out some BIG props
to my sponsors, I absolutely could
not have done it without all your support this year.
I also want to give special thanks
to Brian Blume for all his help over the winter and during the
season. The time you took away from your family to help me chase
sponsor dollars helped this season happen. Your hard work did
not go unnoticed and it is greatly appreciated. Thank you Brian!
In addition, big time thanks
to Stephan Hall for wrenching for me in the pits all season
long. You, my friend, were a true Godsend. Thank you for your
sacrifice and service week in and week out!
Special thanks to the NESBA family
and the many CR's for taking me under their collective wing
and teaching and encouraging me.
And of course, a heart felt thank
you to all of you, my friends and family. You guys have been
so encouraging to me on the boards and at the track all year
long. Thank you all so much!
It has been a great season so
far. I am totally looking forward to ending the season at Daytona
and then seeing what opportunities this next year will hold.
Thanks so much guys.
