s a x m a n w e b s

Morning Practice

Practice this morning was great! I made a change to the rear suspension to try and sort out my issues exiting turn 10. What a difference the one change made. Turn 10 not only felt better, but I was able to get a much better drive off all the corners. I’m very pleased with the change and look forward to the races today! I had a couple people come up to me telling me how quick I looked in the 2nd practice. I felt it, so it was good to hear. John Owens, who has seen me turn hundreds of laps on this track even commented that I was looking fast through turn 3 today. That got me motivated for the races!

MWSS

Gridded 3B, not thrilled with the inside with the new setup, but have to make the best of it. I got a bad launch, wheelie the bike. I quickly got it settled though and made a late brake manuver into 1 to take 7th behind #91. I was able to hang right with the group for the first 2 laps. I was thrilled! At the end of lap 2, 141 got by me in turn 11. I followed him closely for the next two laps. We quickly came up on an Amatuer coming out of 7. 141 got around quickly in 9, but I was not so lucky. I got stuck and had to wait for the exit of 10. At that time 61, gained on me, and tried to pass me in 11, but I was able to beat him to turn 12 and hold the position. I made time back up on 141 through the chicanes and didn’t loose too much off the corners. Lap 6 I knew I had 61 on my tail along with Jones and Holcomb right there as well. I continued to hold them off but as we came out of 10 I could see another amatuer up the track, going through 11. 141 is close enough to get him on the front straight and I knew I had to try hard to get by before turn 1. I drive hard out of 12 and try to brake very late, but didn’t have room to make a clean pass, so I fall in line through the first chicane and set him up to take the inside on the exit. We get side by side into the 2nd chicane, but he didn’t give an inch, so I had to fall in behind again. 141 is now gone and I know the 3 guys are on right there with me. I come out of  the last chicane and pass the amatuer. I hold the position for the rest of the lap and we come around to take the white flag. I try to put a gap on the group through the chicanes as I have been quick there this weekend. Apparently I didn’t do a good enough job as 61 passed me on the inside of turn 3. I squared up the corner and tried to retake the position up 4. We were side by side, but he had a better drive. We get into 6 and I follow him through the back section. I tried to line up a pass in 11, but he was just too quick for me, so I knew that I was going to have to settle for 9th. 61 finished .2 ahead of me, with Holcomb .12 behind me and Jones 1.4 behind him. Great battle! Love racing with these guys!

HWSB

So it rained in race 5, but the track dried for race 9. We went out for the warm up lap to a completely dry track. They called a 15 minute break to see how the weather turned out as it was starting to drizzle. We head back into the pits and I am stuck on what to do. Its not raining yet so I wait a minute. Soon it looks like the sky is going to open up, so we start to scramble to get the rains on. I have to get the front mounted on the rim, so we work quickly get that pulled off so Noel can get it over to Boston Moto to get swapped. As we do that, I hear 2nd call. We tried as best we could but given the amount of time and having to swap a tire, 3rd call came and went. Didn’t get to make it out. Its too bad, I do well in the rain and would have loved to get out there. This is my own fault as I snapped a rotor bolt on my rain wheel last weekend and didn’t fix it in time. Live and learn. It will be fixed for next weekend. We probably could have atleast gotten half the race in before the rain started, but what can you do.

Weekend Overview

Overall this weekend was very successful for me as far as getting the bike sorted out. I feel like I am much closer to getting the bike to where it was last year and I’m hoping for a strong showing at the Loudon Classic in 2 weeks. I really had fun with the alternate configuration this weekend. I was fun to flick the bike through the chicanes dragging knee in and out of them. I have to tip my hat to all the racers for making smart decisions at the start of the races so that we all got through the new section safely. It made for what could have been a tough weekend a very fun weekend. It was frustrating with the mechanical issue Saturday and not being able to make the 2nd race today (Sunday), but I would rather have those happen now then at the Classic.

Thanks to all that came up even if they were not racing to support everyone out there. It is very much appriciated! Thanks to the entire ECK-Racing team for another fun weekend. Thanks to our sponsors TonysTrackDays.com, Pine Motorparts/PBE Specialists, Phoenix Graphics, Woodcraft, Moon Performance, RJ’s Motorsport, Motorcycles of Manchester, and BostonMoto-Pirelli.