Work was really busy the day before Greg and I headed off the track and unfortunately had too much of that on my mind right before I left for the track. Fortunately, once we hit the road I was able to turn my mind off and leave the real world behind. I was ready to continue my quest to podium, as well as record a new personal best (PB) at Thunderhill Raceway.
Saturday - Practice and Formula 3 Race
Practice started off a bit frustrating and continued up until the end. I wanted to be only a second or two off my PB. Unfortunately I was closer to three to four seconds off the entire time. Again, as frustrating as this was I still had a bit of hope that I would be able to get down to my previous PB, but I didn't think I was able to beat it. I just wasn't doing the things I needed to do in practice to really be as competitive as I wanted to be. But as always, I was going to try.
I gridded up for Formula 3 alongside the usual group of guys (and gal) I race with. Once Phil dropped the green flag, I got an okay start, but I have the habit of backing off just hair going into turn one. I guess I'm not as aggressive as I need to be, which is shame because if I were, I would definitely be alongside or ahead of my competitors from the get-go.
I stuck with fellow racer Pao, who is also on a Ninja 250. I got a fire lit under my ass and was determined to pass him. I was getting closer to him in certain corners; however, he'd still pull away in the back section of the track. I still was close to him for the first three laps, so I wasn't losing hope that I wasn't able to pass him--I just had to wait for the right opportunity.
As Pao and I were battling it out, fellow gal racer Ashlee passed my ass going into turn 10. At first, I was trying to figure out who I was, but as soon as I got behind her I figured it was indeed her. So now I had to figure how to get by Ashlee and Pao. As we continued our battle, she eventually got past Pao and I could see he was desperately trying to pass her back.
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| She's coming for us! |
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| She eventually got both Pao and I. Great job Ashlee! |
At this point, I tried desperately to get a great drive coming out of turn 15 (the last turn before the straight), but of course that didn't work. I ended up finishing 6th, which isn't horrible, but I didn't podium. I always and will always work to get a podium spot.
Good news is that I officially beat my previous PB at Thunderhill by a full second! I was super stoked about this, and really looking forward to the Sunday races since historically I do way better for my Sunday races than the Saturday ones.
Sunday - History Didn't Feel Like Repeating Itself
As the title of this section mentions, history did not repeat itself. I guess the good out of how I performed during my Novice Lightweight Twins and 250 Production race was that I didn't crash. I was also very consistent. Unfortunately, however, I didn't drop any more time and actually did worse--I was off by two seconds from my PB.
There wasn't really much of reason as to why I performed the way I did. I guess I just couldn't get my mind to focus as well as it did for my Saturday races. Either way, there really was no excuse for my less than stellar performance: I ended up placing 6th in Lightweight Twins and 4th in 250 Prod. Oh well, there's more racing this year and I'm looking forward to the next round at Sonoma!
Again, thanks to my amazing sponsors: Suomy helmets, Spy Optics, RACER gloves, and Moto Guild. I also want to thank the AFM staff and turnworkers for doing such a great job in such wicked heat! Additionally, these bad ass pictures would not exist without Max and Koi over at Oxymoron Photography. Finally, my small progress is always due to the coaching and cheerleading from my fiance, Greg. Thanks hun! <3
