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May 12-13 Loudon Results:
GTL 6th
LW Grand Prix 7th
Ultra Lite Superbike 7th

We race in the rain at Loudon. The weather looked like rain from the Thursday practice to the end of the Sunday races. Less than half the racers were left by Sunday. My races were full however, and they were some of the best racing of the year.

I still am having terrible starts that put me back in the pack into the first turn, finding myself having 8 laps to get to the front. And that is not an easy task at Loudon where its bumpy, gnarly and just plain dangerous. Very little run-off in case of a mishap. But in all fairness, the accidents that three of the Team InkjetMall racers had - were "caught" in run-off areas.

Shane took a nasty spill in Saturday morning's race resulting in a cracked forearm but an unbelievable comeback to win the $1,500 Dash for Cash race at the end of the day. He plowed through the grass of the infield. Saturday was sweltering hot and humid beyond belief. My 20 minute GTL race took everything out of me to the point I felt I was going to throw up. Running off the track into the rocky shoulder at full acceleration did not help. I did not slow down as braking would have toppled me and an ambulance ride would have been the reward for such a stupid attempt. I rode it out to rejoin the track without missing more than 2 seconds off my time, quickly catching up and passing the racer who had pushed me off the track.

Cold towels on the head cooled me so I could race the afternoon race. It got red-flagged and we were staged for a restart. But the ambulance was on the track for so long and we were sitting on our bikes in full leather and gear for 20 minutes. Precious little water came out. John O'Donnell gridded next to me gave me the last of his bottle which someone was kind enough to give him. I was seriously over-heating and after 20 minutes they canceled our race. A good thing because of the heat and the condition of the racers.

Sunday morning was the exact opposite. A cold and muggy track. No sun. Temperature in the 50s. I practiced starts in my 20 minute practice session. Finally nailed two starts like a slingshot. No wheelies. No having to back off the gas. But coming out of pit lane and 1/2 lap later absolutely flying into the Bowl we call Turn 6, I lost the rear end while fully leaned over into the apex. My knee was already dragging so I simply slid off the bike and up and out of the bowl into the rocky run-off. A bit of an ouch to the body. And the seat and both forearms and shoulders totally torn out of my leathers. The bike will need its usual repairs to left side crashes.

This crash was the first that felt like it might be the last to be counted. It was #7. Or was it #6? Now with three in turn 6, or is it two - it seems as I begin to double and triple locations, it might be best to stop counting them. I can either begin to stop crashing or just stop counting them.

Club racing is friends. You find each other because as you begin racing each other you notice you have the same bike models, or you have the same lap times and you're in each other's way to get to the front. So exciting duels happen. On Sunday, Ofir Abergnal from Team InkjetMall made his best lap time of 1:24. Bettering his previous by 1.5 seconds. That's pretty amazing. He was like a rocket. We had a great tangle coming through turn 12. But he stayed right in my draft and passed me into turn 1. And then he was gone. I had tried everything I could to catch him on that lap. I fell even further back, finishing 7th including nearly repassing right at the checkered flag after being passed in the chicanes by Tony. He races a Honda RC30. Ultralight Superbikes is our class.

Michael got punched in the side by another bike in Turn 1. Michael is second fastest on the team running in the 1:20s. He comes into turn 1 at over 100mph and I've experienced a turn 1 crash before. You go down hard and you slide off the track into the grass, and then you tumble. His bike looks terrible. He is fine.

Kevin's bike finally had some stink this weekend. He races a Yamaha 250TRZ. Its very much the racer that Ofir and my Aprilia RS250s are. We can't wait for Kevin to get some finishes and get his index up so he can turn Amateur.