Had another decent weekend this past two days at Round 4. A bit of a mixed bag of a weekend, with fewer practice sessions, but I joined an endurance team in the late afternoon on Saturday to compete. The overview:
My main goal this weekend was to try to lap the track within the 1:05 bracket. I had been somewhat close last round, with a 1:06:3 -- but as we know from racing, those fractional seconds are hard to find, and then the trick is to do them consistently so you get consistently faster. I had switched a few things for the first part of Saturday's practices. With my 42 tooth rear sprocket, I had some great drive coming out of corners, but there were 2 places on the track where I was tapped in 5th gear, bouncing off the limiter -- it made no sense to upshift or short-shift, and the thought of doing that lap after lap on the during my endurance stint had me concerned. I had ordered a 41 rear awhile ago, but its been back-ordered. A rare size that no one stocks, so I put the 40 on the rear for the first practice. As expected, it didn't hit the limiter, but there were trade-offs everywhere else. I decided to go back to the 42 after the first practice. I did do a high 1:06 with the taller gearing, but I didn't like how the bike ran elsewhere on the track. Practice 2 was better, but again the lap times weren't where I wanted them to be. A pity, as for once the wind wasn't blowing very hard which would be a help for a bike with no fairing. Race 1 was a bit of a disappointment. Didn't get a great start and diced with Wilson's Ducati for a few laps. When I got by, Jason was gone, having put in a few 1:05s himself. I crossed the line in 2nd, but a distance behind the leader. The grid was a bit fuller this weekend as well, and a few of us came around on some novice riders, so the issue of lapped traffic might play in my favour (or not) in the future.
The endurance race was neat. I was teamed up with a few other guys from my end of the province; one on a zx10, and the other on a zx6. It was a short 90 minute endurance race just to test the concept with some new facility rules (regarding track ingress and egress), and the plans worked out well. There was a handicap system based on bike displacement, so having a wee 690 on the team wasn't going to be a huge liability. In the end, we placed 4th. My 30 minute stint was the last one, and I got off the bike not too tired. So no money, but we won some beer (!) for our troubles. Good fun all around!
Sunday was going to be our typical schedule with 2 practice sessions and 3 sprint races. Frustratingly, my lap timer seemed to give out on me. Its a cheap Chinese GPS system (go figure) but has been working fairly well up to now. So I had no feedback on my lap times during practice, and I must admit I peek on occasion during races as well. A check of the lap times after the session revealed no elusive 1:05s.
Races 2, 3, and 4 all ended up with similar results. I placed 2nd in each. I did get agonizingly close to my lap time goal -- a 1:06:193 in race 2, but at least a consistent string of 1:06 lap times. The winner did do a few 1:05s. They were all very close races -- the winning margin in race 2 was 4.5 seconds; race 3 was 0.233 seconds, and race 4 -- 0.132 seconds! I actually turned the fastest lap of the race in races 3 and 4... but like they say on MotoGP on TV, its one thing to catch someone, its another to pass. I'm going to post some videos, and if they turn out I think you will see how defensive a line the Jason takes into turn 3 -- that's just smart racing -- that's my favorite (only?) place to pass on a less powerful bike, so he's going to take that option away. I tried some moves on the outside, but the track is bumpy out there, and while you can keep it upright, I don't have the cojones to get on the throttle soon enough to beat him to turn 4.
Anyway, some fun, close racing! Unfortunately it might be my last weekend out this year and work responsibilities might get in the way of me attending the final round. Championship-wise, I am realistically out of the running for the overall -- not surprising, as while I've gotten faster, I've been beaten into 2nd or lower far more times than I've won. It has been a real blast on the 690, however! Even in standard spec suspension-wise, once you get your head around the handling, they make great race bikes, which can really embarrass bigger machines.