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10/16/09 - 10/18/09 ESC Rnd#5 @ Mugello Friday October 10th After a good night’s rest I awoke to a beautifully brisk morning at the Mugello Circuit. The blue skies were sprinkled with a few fluffy white clouds and the horizon was lined with green rolling hills and trees. All the while knowing that all of the MotoGP greats have had their moments here at this very track! Not much else a racer could ask for in a day… well besides some actual tracktime. And plenty of track time is what we got. There seemed to be a large number of locals or at least Italian sounding last names blazing some serious quick laptimes during the first day of qualifying and practice! I tried my best to learn the circuit quickly and catch a fast tow when I could. Laptimes were improving all day, but it was difficult to see where I was compared to the rest of the ESC600 guys. I shared the pits with some very knowledgeable “old timers” as they called themselves, who gave me some great pointers to end the day running times ahead a few of my ESC600 rivals! Even better was having these guys show me the best restaurants in town!!! So I was properly fueled with Italian delicacies for my race on Saturday! Rich’s comments for the day:
Saturday October 11th OK, just a few more hours to put in a good qualifying time! Using the advice gained from the “Old Timers” and even grabbing a tow from some of the faster 750s I was able to put down even faster times than on Friday. I suppose one of the frustrating things about the GP2 race is that it mixes
1000cc twins and 750s with the 600s. So I tried to mix it up a pit in qualifying
just to see what I’d be up against in the race. Qualifying would be even
more important this round as they were implementing a rolling start. Which on
the long front straight of Mugello meant those in front would be half a circuit
ahead of those in the back. Even the chutes between the corners were sometimes a bit lengthy and you could see my 600 really had the midrange to pull (even on some of the 750s) out of the corner, but as soon as we got straight up and down with power to the ground, most of the bikes (to include some of the 600s) were eating me up in the straightaways! It may be time to visit an engine tuner. My final qualifying time was enough to get me onto the back of the grid. Not a small feat in itself considering there were at least 20 guys who couldn’t even make the qualifying cutoff. 2 of which included my ESC rivals which meant some free points bumps for me in the championship!!! So mid-day is here and its race time. We head out for our rolling start and away we go. I was able to stay pretty close to the pack in front thanks to the “slinky effect”. It seemed that one of the 600s who had qualified in front of me was having a bit of trouble getting up to pace quickly and we everyone behind him was loosing ground with the escaping pack in front of him. So I decided to put take an outside pass on the brakes heading into T5. I think it worked out well as it was too late for any of the pursing back behind to follow with me and the guy I just passed created a bit of a bumper between me and the rest. I used the rest of the opening lap to close up on the pack trying to get away. Once on the back, I encountered some difficulties with a 750 that I couldn’t manage to stay in front of. I tried a few quick passes, but his motor and my loss of drive allowed him back around everytime. This battle allowed the pack behind to make their way back to me lead by a very strong motored R6. Being a GP2 race we had 14 laps to play with, but I still wanted by as soon as possible. I had to wait a few laps in order to stay close enough to the 750 into the first section of the track which was the tightest part. I passed as soon as I could and tried to keep momentum through the tight portion gaining some ground on the 750. Next up was a Ducati. I couldn’t tell if it was a 1098 or smaller displacement. Eitherway we were able to dispatch him fairly easily as he missed a gear or something else to cause him to loose drive. By this time I had made it to the front of the back pack and was looking for the mid-pack. I had nothing but open track in front of me and I was finally able to put down decent lap times. All of this happening in opening 5 laps, so I figured I could catch up to the mid pack. Then all of a sudden… (you know something bad happens when a sentence starts like that) my front tire decides it doesn’t want to grip the tarmac anymore and I get to sample some of the finest gravel traps in the world. Racing on a budget, is tough. Especially when your trying to conserve tires. That front had a few practice laps from Hockenheim as well as being used all day Friday during qualifying practice at Mugello. I was hoping it would last the GP2 race based on how it looked. Unfortunately I mis-read the tire and it obviously didn’t make it. So back in the pits we assess the damage but unfortunately I was unable to source the parts needed to continue. So I broke even as I didn’t finish and my rivals didn’t qualify for the race. Unfortunately that was not the case in the 600 race. So we fell in the standing s and have to pay for repairs. Even with that said it was a fun weekend at another world-class circuit! Rich’s comments for the day:
Sunday October 12th A very nice drive back home through the Tuscany hills of Italy. Thanks to everyone who participated and/or helped during this weekend. A special
thanks goes out to all my sponsors for helping to keep us competitive: Word... |
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