sckego
doesn't like crashing
Whooo, it’s been a hot minute since I’ve written one of these. After my Blank-Trophy Round 1, I skipped Rounds 2 and 4, and had a largely uneventful Round 3 at Thunderhill. I’ve had Sonoma Round 5 circled in pen, though - it’s one of my favorite tracks, and a few of my coworkers were committed to doing the NRS and coming racing with me. Unfortunately, they all wussed out and and went racing up the hill with SMUSA instead - ah, whatever, I’ll drag them into AFM some other time. I’m not missing this one, though.
The Feel Like A Pro garage, all lined up and ready to race!
Saturday started off both promising and frustrating. The bike felt great right out of the garage at 9am, the track was still cool but not slippery, and I still remember the track pretty well from the Sonoma round last season. I was passing a lot of bikes, and figured I should probably move up to practice group 3, which is where most of the riders I tend to race against were. Sure enough, my 2:04 was a full two seconds quicker than the next rider in group 2, and I would have been faster than about a third of group 3.
Unfortunately, tech had some time cutoff sheet that said I needed to do a 2 flat to get into group 3. I pointed out that literally only 3 riders out of the entire group 3 field did a sub-2 minute lap. "We'll, it's early, people are still warming up. Come back when you get to a 2:00 and we'll bump you up." Arg.
The next two sessions were similarly frustrating. I got down a 2:01, but kept getting hampered by traffic, some running over 20 seconds slower, and I was making risky passes into fast corners chasing this arbitrary lap target... Finally I pulled aside a rider rep and told him I felt it was a safety issue, and he managed to get me into group 3. Whew! The final two sessions were much more comfortable, with barely any passing at all, so I was able to focus more on my riding, instead of other traffic. Really wish I could have just been in the correct group from the start.
Finally!
The 400 Superstock Novice race was my first of five on the weekend. I was gridded last in the field, but managed to get by expert #217 Carl Andersen on the first lap, and was keeping touch with my FLAP teammate expert #981 Xiao Xiao. I didn't quite have enough to go for a pass, but it was really fun chasing him down, and trying stick with the faster 350 riders as they caught and passed us. A Turn 1 crash for #755 Aden Thao allowed me to slide into 3rd in the novice field, finishing just a second behind Xiao and nabbing my first podium of the weekend. Not a bad start!
Getting stalked by the 350 field through the bus stop: #17 Eric Kondo, #667 Steve Driscoll, and #64 (?) hiding behind Eric.
On Sunday, I got to the track excited and ready to go. Morning warm-up again felt great, and my 2:03 put my dead in the middle of group 3. See? Told you that's where I should be.
Screaming past the Banana Slug curb inside Turn 5
My first race of that day was 400 Superbike, starting from an outside grid position. I got a pretty good start sweeping around the outside of turn 1, but promptly blew the braking zone into 4 and got passed back. I spent the next few laps trying to chase down Xiao again, and got some help as the faster 350 riders started passing me, giving me a bit of a tow and some extra draft through the high speed bits. A bit too much speed, perhaps, as I again blew it on the brakes into 7. That was enough to lose touch and allow another bunch of 350s past. I finished 9 seconds back from Xiao, 4th in the 400 novice field. This awesome video from 350SBK rider #327 Ramkumar Subramanian features me getting swallowed up by the 350s from about 8:00-10:00.
youtu.be/OUfbJqAOYC4
Trying (and failing) to keep touch with #667 Steve Driscoll as he swept past me in the esses.
Next up was Lightweight Twins, which is usually a pretty big field with a lot of action. Sure enough, 14 experts and 10 novices were lined up on the grid, with me again on the outside. I got a great launch and was again ready to go for some positions around the outside of turn 1 when bikes started making contact and jostling just ahead. I made a quick decision to alter my line towards the outside to give myself a chance at avoiding any crash, but I went a bit too wide and ended up dirt-tracking it up towards T2, and everybody who was bumping around got it back under control with no further incident.
After I got back on the pavement, I started making up ground that I'd lost through T1. It took a few laps to catch and pass Carl, then #867 Krissie Coseteng for 4th in the novice group. Xiao was next in line. We had some great side-by-side racing through 7 with him managing to hold onto the lead around the outside, before I finally got past him at the entry to T11. The final lap was me taking defensive lines the entire time, just trying to make sure I wasn't going to get passed. I managed to hang onto the position to the checkered, and turned around to flash a thumbs-up to Xiao, and did a double-take as Krissie was right behind me, only 0.4 seconds back at the flag. Whew, good thing I was riding defensively! I managed six 1:59s in a row, which I was really happy with.
Getting racy with Carl Anderson in Turn... 4, maybe?
![o6VuumYl.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/o6VuumYl.jpg])
Having just got past Xiao Xiao, with Krissie Coseteng sneakily stalking us both...
Wifey Victoria and the kids showed up at lunch to hang out and spectate from the grassy hills at the entry to T2. This is the first time they’ve come out to watch me race since Sonoma 2014, when I highsided myself out of the Carousel during the Formula I race. I’m hoping to avoid a repeat performance…
Kids cheering as Daddy comes streaking up the hill into Turn 2.
Formula III was a long, tough race. It was the hottest part of the day (even though it wasn’t THAT hot), I was still full and sluggish from lunch, and I just wasn’t feeling fast. I settled into 5th off the start and stayed there all race, unable to make up any time on Xiao, and keeping comfortably in front of #896 Robert Sissons. Basically rode around by myself for 6 laps which felt like 10. Couldn’t believe how long it took for the white flag to come out.
Bus Stop
My final race of the weekend was the Calishine Racing Ninja Cup. I was feeling pretty good after the nice break during Formula Pacific, and my goal was to see if I could hang with Xiao again. I lost a bit of ground off the start, but was gradually able to start reeling him back in. We started coming across the 450 Superstock backmarkers, and getting caught by the faster 300WSS riders, most of which seemed to work to my advantage. Finally, we caught up to a 450 rider in T1, and Xiao went for an inside pass up the hill, but got the door closed on him. I was set up towards the inside of T2, and managed to shoot past them both on the brakes, right in front my my family! I could hear them cheering in my helmet as I zipped up through T3. I kept pushing hard for the last few laps, made it past a few more 450s, and got passed by way less 300s than usual. Ended up with a 1:58 fast lap, and another 3rd place.
Slowly gaining ground...
Got 'em!
As is becoming tradition, there has to be some mixup with trophies. I promised the kids they’d each get one as we walked down to pick them up, but apparently the box with the Ninja Cup trophies didn’t make it to the track. Oh well guys, you get to just share the one.
Overall, it felt like a really successful weekend, and I had a ton of fun. I managed two third places and a handful of 4ths, set a new PB at a 1:58, and got some really great racing action. Pretty stoked with how everything turned out. Huge thanks for Dave, Pat, and the rest of the Feel Like a Pro crew for all their help. Till next time,
All action photos credit https://www.oxymoronphotography.com
The Feel Like A Pro garage, all lined up and ready to race!
Saturday started off both promising and frustrating. The bike felt great right out of the garage at 9am, the track was still cool but not slippery, and I still remember the track pretty well from the Sonoma round last season. I was passing a lot of bikes, and figured I should probably move up to practice group 3, which is where most of the riders I tend to race against were. Sure enough, my 2:04 was a full two seconds quicker than the next rider in group 2, and I would have been faster than about a third of group 3.
Unfortunately, tech had some time cutoff sheet that said I needed to do a 2 flat to get into group 3. I pointed out that literally only 3 riders out of the entire group 3 field did a sub-2 minute lap. "We'll, it's early, people are still warming up. Come back when you get to a 2:00 and we'll bump you up." Arg.
The next two sessions were similarly frustrating. I got down a 2:01, but kept getting hampered by traffic, some running over 20 seconds slower, and I was making risky passes into fast corners chasing this arbitrary lap target... Finally I pulled aside a rider rep and told him I felt it was a safety issue, and he managed to get me into group 3. Whew! The final two sessions were much more comfortable, with barely any passing at all, so I was able to focus more on my riding, instead of other traffic. Really wish I could have just been in the correct group from the start.
Finally!
The 400 Superstock Novice race was my first of five on the weekend. I was gridded last in the field, but managed to get by expert #217 Carl Andersen on the first lap, and was keeping touch with my FLAP teammate expert #981 Xiao Xiao. I didn't quite have enough to go for a pass, but it was really fun chasing him down, and trying stick with the faster 350 riders as they caught and passed us. A Turn 1 crash for #755 Aden Thao allowed me to slide into 3rd in the novice field, finishing just a second behind Xiao and nabbing my first podium of the weekend. Not a bad start!
Getting stalked by the 350 field through the bus stop: #17 Eric Kondo, #667 Steve Driscoll, and #64 (?) hiding behind Eric.
On Sunday, I got to the track excited and ready to go. Morning warm-up again felt great, and my 2:03 put my dead in the middle of group 3. See? Told you that's where I should be.
Screaming past the Banana Slug curb inside Turn 5
My first race of that day was 400 Superbike, starting from an outside grid position. I got a pretty good start sweeping around the outside of turn 1, but promptly blew the braking zone into 4 and got passed back. I spent the next few laps trying to chase down Xiao again, and got some help as the faster 350 riders started passing me, giving me a bit of a tow and some extra draft through the high speed bits. A bit too much speed, perhaps, as I again blew it on the brakes into 7. That was enough to lose touch and allow another bunch of 350s past. I finished 9 seconds back from Xiao, 4th in the 400 novice field. This awesome video from 350SBK rider #327 Ramkumar Subramanian features me getting swallowed up by the 350s from about 8:00-10:00.
youtu.be/OUfbJqAOYC4
Trying (and failing) to keep touch with #667 Steve Driscoll as he swept past me in the esses.
Next up was Lightweight Twins, which is usually a pretty big field with a lot of action. Sure enough, 14 experts and 10 novices were lined up on the grid, with me again on the outside. I got a great launch and was again ready to go for some positions around the outside of turn 1 when bikes started making contact and jostling just ahead. I made a quick decision to alter my line towards the outside to give myself a chance at avoiding any crash, but I went a bit too wide and ended up dirt-tracking it up towards T2, and everybody who was bumping around got it back under control with no further incident.
After I got back on the pavement, I started making up ground that I'd lost through T1. It took a few laps to catch and pass Carl, then #867 Krissie Coseteng for 4th in the novice group. Xiao was next in line. We had some great side-by-side racing through 7 with him managing to hold onto the lead around the outside, before I finally got past him at the entry to T11. The final lap was me taking defensive lines the entire time, just trying to make sure I wasn't going to get passed. I managed to hang onto the position to the checkered, and turned around to flash a thumbs-up to Xiao, and did a double-take as Krissie was right behind me, only 0.4 seconds back at the flag. Whew, good thing I was riding defensively! I managed six 1:59s in a row, which I was really happy with.
Getting racy with Carl Anderson in Turn... 4, maybe?
Having just got past Xiao Xiao, with Krissie Coseteng sneakily stalking us both...
Wifey Victoria and the kids showed up at lunch to hang out and spectate from the grassy hills at the entry to T2. This is the first time they’ve come out to watch me race since Sonoma 2014, when I highsided myself out of the Carousel during the Formula I race. I’m hoping to avoid a repeat performance…
Kids cheering as Daddy comes streaking up the hill into Turn 2.
Formula III was a long, tough race. It was the hottest part of the day (even though it wasn’t THAT hot), I was still full and sluggish from lunch, and I just wasn’t feeling fast. I settled into 5th off the start and stayed there all race, unable to make up any time on Xiao, and keeping comfortably in front of #896 Robert Sissons. Basically rode around by myself for 6 laps which felt like 10. Couldn’t believe how long it took for the white flag to come out.
Bus Stop
My final race of the weekend was the Calishine Racing Ninja Cup. I was feeling pretty good after the nice break during Formula Pacific, and my goal was to see if I could hang with Xiao again. I lost a bit of ground off the start, but was gradually able to start reeling him back in. We started coming across the 450 Superstock backmarkers, and getting caught by the faster 300WSS riders, most of which seemed to work to my advantage. Finally, we caught up to a 450 rider in T1, and Xiao went for an inside pass up the hill, but got the door closed on him. I was set up towards the inside of T2, and managed to shoot past them both on the brakes, right in front my my family! I could hear them cheering in my helmet as I zipped up through T3. I kept pushing hard for the last few laps, made it past a few more 450s, and got passed by way less 300s than usual. Ended up with a 1:58 fast lap, and another 3rd place.
Slowly gaining ground...
Got 'em!
As is becoming tradition, there has to be some mixup with trophies. I promised the kids they’d each get one as we walked down to pick them up, but apparently the box with the Ninja Cup trophies didn’t make it to the track. Oh well guys, you get to just share the one.
Overall, it felt like a really successful weekend, and I had a ton of fun. I managed two third places and a handful of 4ths, set a new PB at a 1:58, and got some really great racing action. Pretty stoked with how everything turned out. Huge thanks for Dave, Pat, and the rest of the Feel Like a Pro crew for all their help. Till next time,
All action photos credit https://www.oxymoronphotography.com
