09/21/08 Art-Motor SuperSport B race weekend report:

This was the final round of the Art-Motor DMSB series and there were a number of racers hoping to secure their place in the championship rankings. Unfortunately I had missed enough races that it wasn't a concern of mine. Some of our Team America members were in-fact viaing for a top 5 finish in the Championship!!! Go Team USA!

My goals for Friday were pretty meager. I just wanted to capture some video action of the rear brake and try to go as fast as I did last time. I was really only successful on the second goal.

I managed to take some rear video, but I never was able to really get the back end to loosen up enough to make it an "exciting" video. But on the other hand, I was able to set a personal best laptime of 1'39" on Friday so one goal out of the way!
: )

I had a bit of a difficult time in Tech. It seems that the German tech inspectors really don't like to see damaged bodywork. I would have considered it only cosmetic damange (hence why I never fixed it) but they found it to be a safety hazard. Well, that and the fact that my WoodCraft clipons were kinda close to the frame at full lock.

A bit of discussing and 35EUR later, I had a steering block in place and passed tech.

Next step was to BBQ and go relax at the trackside Hotel! All in all a goo day.

Saturday morning, I decided that the 15min warmup session wasn't worth missing an extra hour of sleep and the breakfast buffet at the hotel, so I skipped.
: )

When qualifying finally came around I really only found one or two laps to actually put my head down and try to make something of it. So I was really surprised to find out I had managed another personal best of a 1'38". I think with some real suspension work and an actual crash or win attitude, I might actually be able to go kinda fast around the track. Until then I'll stick with my "take it as it comes" attitude
; P

Even though I was happy with my time, it was only good enough to be me in 24th on a combined grid of SuperSport Open and SuperSport Bridgestone bikes. Oh well, we'll see what happens.
: )

Up first for Team USA was Sean in the Sound of Thunder class. This race seemed to draw a huge crowd of spectators. It was a great race to watch and the crowd seemed to really enjoy it. It's nice to see an actual audience at club level races!

Sean was forced to fight the entire race to earn his finish! It was an entertaining dog-fight, well worth the price of admission!

So come race time, everything is in order the weather is looking good and I've got some pretty new rubber under me. I take up my grid and watch the lights. It was as if Moses had parted the sea for me as almost every bike on the front 4 rows made way for me!!! I managed a jump from 24th to 10th place overall!!! Schaweet!!!

Unfortunately for me it's a short lived victory as the red flags were flying by T4. There were 3 riders down in a big pile up in T1 (behind me) and another rider down in T3 (caught by my onboard camera).

So we re-group back in the pit lane and get ready to give it another go. Unfortunately for me I used up all my good-start mo-jo and I get a bit of a wheelie and then pinched off in T1 so my run to the front tactic is no longer valid and I'll have to scrap with everyone else now.

On about the second lap I have a total brain fade moment and go off into the run-off in T1. I watch as 12 bikes fly past!
: (

I think I manage to get back on track in last place or quite close to it. I manage to sneak by 5 of the bikes that passed me but didn't have enough time to catch anymore. I only managed 11th place just missing out on my goal of a top 10 finish for both races. Bummer...
: (

Thankfully Jason represented Team USA by rubbing paint with some pretty seriuos contenders! Jason prevailed and scored an 8th place finish! The awards ceremony was a good time with plenty of beer and entertainment!

Sunday started out a bit "iffy". The weather for the morning warmup session was pretty wet so I chose to sleep in and eat at the hotel buffet again.
: )

After that the weather kept changing its mind. It was dry then would rain, dry up and rain again. As luck would have it, the rain started again before our second warm up and I decided to skip it again.

First race of the day for Team USA was the Sound of Thunder for Sean. We watched the skies deligently and it looked like his race was actually going to stay dry. Unfortunately by the time everyone made it to the pre-grid the clouds changed direction and dumped the rain.

Between the wet Sound of Thunder race and the start of our SuperSport race the weather looked to be clearing up and the track drying, but the skies looked like they could go either way still.

Many SuperSport riders were walking through the pits staring at the sky looking for an answer... rain tires or dry tires? About an hour before the scheduled start the skies gave their answer... it would be a wet race
Now I'm wishing I wouldn't have skipped all those wet sessions.
: (

I just try to watch some of the guys in front of me for the warm up laps to see how fast they take the corners so I have some kind of reference. The speeds sure were different between the race and the warm up laps!
: )

The plan was to just launch like usual and see where I fall in and try to match speeds with whoever is in front. I manage to get a good jump off the line but find myself at the tail end of a very fast group of wet riders and I was not comfortable yet at their pace. So I gradually fall back and have to figure things out for myself. At least I could actually see the track after the fast pack checked out and their spray had dissapated.
: )

Later in the race I must have been getting lazy as a fellow Bridgestone rider comes past me for a wake-up call. I follow Jorge for a few laps and take some pointers on how fast some of the corners can be taken. After that he gives me an opportunity to slip back by and managed to put in some of my faster laps as the race came to a close

When I get back to the pits Yasuyo is telling me how the anouncer was saying my name allot over the speakers. So I decided to go check the results and whaddya know... I managed a 4th place in the Bridgestone class!

I was really hoping for two top 10 finishes for the weekend, but a near podium in the wet sorta makes up for it! All in all a great weekend to end a great season.

A huge thank you to my wife and son who made the 6hr treck out to watch and support the race! I know its no picnic! Congrats to all of the Team USA members there this weekend! Best of luck to everyone next season! It looks like there will be a number of "contenders" in all classes next year!!!

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