April Race Report
The first race weekend in Portland Oregon was cold. In the morning I had ice in the back of my truck, but at least it was dry. The day before brought rain and everyone was happy that it had stopped for the races on Sunday.
This year I am competing in four classes. 750 Supersport, 750 Superbike, Open Twin Supersport, and Open Twin Superbike. Last year I only competed in two classes and in hindsight, I wished I competed in more. One thing that makes you faster on the track is track time and this year I am determined to get as much as possible.
Morning Qualifiers:
OMRRA runs qualifying races in the morning that are only used to determine grid position for the afternoon races. You can’t win the main race by finishing first in the qualifier, but you can lose the main race if you crash in the morning and take yourself out of racing for the rest of the day.
With that in mind I was in no hurry in the morning qualifiers. The track temperature was below 50 degrees and I was using a set of used tires from the previous year. With the cold track and my shagged tires, I was spinning up the rear every time I got on the throttle, so during the qualifiers I just watched people as they passed me. But I wasn’t concerned, I only need to get into the first 2, 3 or 4th rows for the afternoon mains which I was able to do.
Afternoon Races:
Open Twin Superbike – 3rd
Rumor all winter was about the Ducati 1098. There were several of them on the grid and my old 2003 Honda RC51 wasn’t supposed to be a match against them. But after the first lap though it looked like the same people would be leading the race. I was in 3rd place after the first lap but wasn’t able to keep up with the first and second place bikes. After about half way through the race, I assumed that I was all by myself. Then on the last lap I was passed by one of the new Ducati 1098’s. With only one lap remaining I wasn’t able to make a pass. I still ended up in 3rd place because the first place racer ran out of fuel on the last lap, but that didn’t make my 3rd place any more satisfying. Lesson learned, push hard all the way to the end.
750 Supersport – 11th
I had no idea what to expect in this race. This year the 750 class has all the fastest racers and they are all on new faster lighter bikes. I was also new to this class so didn’t have any idea of what to expect from the other racers. In the end I finished in 11th place and actually had a lot of fun. On the first lap, I got pushed around a bit and was passed by a few people, but after that I put my head down and was able to make up ground on every lap. Passing 1 or 2 racers every lap until about mid way through the race when I found myself with no one in front of me. The top 10 had pulled a big gap and I only had to hold off the racers behind me.
Open Twin Supersport – 2nd
This was much like the Open Twin Superbike race. Not much to talk about. I was in second place after the first lap and held that spot until the end.
750 Superbike – 17th
The last race of the day and I was exhausted before it started. This was my worst race of the day and all the people I beat in the 750 Supersport race took advantage of me in this race. I lost positions every lap and just could not muster any energy to fight back.