Brian's Race Report from Rosamond

4/11/04 Streets of Willow

Hi all,

Last weekend was the 2nd race weekend of the season for CCS Southwest. It was a combined event with CCS Pacific at Streets of Willow. Coming in to the event I was excited to get on the track with a full grid after dealing with small grids at Firebird last month. I was also excited to get back to Streets of Willow after the drama of my last and first visit (long story short, got 2 sessions in before bike fell apart).

I entered 4 races including GTO, Speedscreen Unlimited GP, Supertwins, and Heavyweight Supersport. The GTO race is a timed 25 minute race while the others are 10 lap sprints.

I registered for the GTO race that day, so I started near the back of the grid around 12th of 19 (forgot where exactly). In the race I got a HORRIBLE start and lost about 6 spots going into turn 1. It was only my 3rd ever start, but I seriously need to work on them. I quickly made up some ground and re-passed some of the people who got by me on the start before the race was red flagged. On the restart, I once again lost a bunch of positions. I finished 10th out of 19. All in all I had a good time and felt good afterwards. My fast time of the race was 1:28.7, 4 seconds faster than my fastest practice time!

In the money race (Speedscreen Unlimited GP) I once again got a terrible start but this time I was pissed so I moved to the inside before turn one and got on the brakes like a mad man getting back about 4-5 spots entering the turn. I got back about 3 spots going into turn 2. After the first couple laps this race turned into a battle with a R1 who I could not keep up with in the straights but caught in the turns. In the end I beat him to the line so I was happy. I got 16th out of 25 with a best lap of 1:27.8.

The third race was Supertwins. This is basically the race I focus most on because it's the best for my RC. I pre-registered for this race so I started on the first row of the amateurs (row 4). Going into turn 1 I was in 3rd place overall, 1st place in amateurs. I took over 2nd place overall going into turn 2 and tried to hang on to the back of Brian Long (last year's CCS Pacific and Southwest #1) and his new SV1000. I was only loosing a couple bike lengths per lap, but I could not keep tow. About half way through I started seeing a bike showing a wheel on every corner. It was the expert I passed in turn 2 back on lap 1. We had a GREAT time passing back and forth for a couple laps before I eventually took the lead and got REAL wide on the track. He finally gave up and I finished about 5 bike lengths in front of him. That was by far the most fun race yet and my first amateur win!!! 1st place amateur, 2nd place overall behind last years points leader. I guess that the expert was on my tail the entire race although I didn't know it until half way through. It's hard to hear other bikes because my RC is so loud. My fast lap of this race was 1:26.9!

My last race was Heavyweight Supersport. By this time my tires were shot and I was sliding the rear every lap coming on to the straights and out of the bowl. In fact, my tires spun on the start (maybe too slow releasing the front brake when the flag waved). This was the least entertaining race of the day as I ended up being well behind the fast experts and well in front of most of the amateurs. I was basically riding alone the whole time. I brought it home in 4th place out of 12. My fast lap was 1:28.5. Time for new tires.

I had a good time racing, had a good time with friends, and came away without damage to myself or my bike. I was pretty happy to see my times drop in the races too. Not bad for my 2nd ever race weekend!!!

I'm not sure if I can make it to the next event in Las Vegas. I am completely broke after this weekend and Las Vegas is only a couple weeks away.

Cya,

Brian Kirkland CCS Southwest #34

Thanks to Amy for being supportive of my wild side. Thanks to everyone who helped out, including Pat, Mike, Matt, and Gary. Also, thank you VaporBlue.com, Lockhart Phillips and Dunlop.