Wow. Guess I fell down on the updates. No worries, all good news.
Raced at BHF in July; it was a twin sprint weekend, so I had 1 GTL race and 2 GP races. In the GTL, I saved a near highside in turn 5 only to run off the edge and fall in the very wet grass. This was highly discouraging as all I had to do was finish second behind Ed Key, the rider I was following, for the rest of the season to win this championship. Such is racing. The good news was that it was a very easy get-off, with nary so much as a bump. Additionally, I scored a 2nd and 3rd in my GP races, narrowing the margin between myself and the leader.
Back again to BHF in August, I placed a 2nd in GTL to tie up in points with the leader, Ray Hofman, (the same individual I was competing with in GP), and took a fourth in GP. Ray finished behind me in this race, so I took the lead in GP by 2 points. Additionally, set a new personal best lightweight time, a 1:16.0. Unfortunately, the bike started burning excessive amounts of oil and losing considerable power, so I pulled the motor the Monday following the weekend and dropped it off at MCC, hoping fervently that we'd be able to finish it in time for the Sept. event. Normally, this would be no problem, but they had a great year and were really swamped, so I crossed my fingers and tried to help however I could...
Just returned tonight from BHF for the final race of the season. MCC finished the motor last Tuesday; we ended up replating the cylinders and replacing the rings. I would have liked to do more, but we just couldn't source pistons and a few other items in time, and besides, this was more than enough to restore power for 1 weekend. I'm sure when things slow down over the winter we'll do more, but regardless, I am totally appreciative of everything Greg and the guys did to get my A-bike back in fighting form. I was able to practice on Friday, and Boy-Howdy! FrankenDuc again was running like a raped ape.
As for the races, we had twin sprints again this weekend. I again placed 2nd in the GTL to Ed, thereby placing second overall in the MidWest championship. Ed didn't go to Topeka, but he has 30 or so years of racing experience and knows BHF like the back of his hand. His 4 1st place finishes gave him 140 points while my 4 2nds and DNF gave me 139. Had I not crashed in July, I would have won this one. No worries at all. I never expected to even be near a podium this year, so a 2nd was both totally unexpected and supremely satisfying. Besides, I still had excellent prospects in GP...
In the first race (shortened to 5 laps from 8 due to time constraints), I was able to beat Ray on the last lap for 4th place, which gave me 2 more points on him, while Ed took an extremely rare-for-him 2nd place, which gave me a bit more breathing room (by this race Ed was a threat in the points as, like GTL, he had won every GP at BHF). My race with Ray was the best I've ever had, both because of what was at stake and also because he ran his personal best lightweight time, a 1:16.0, and I ran a new personal best BHF time, a 1:15.8.
Honestly, FrankenDuc is capable of much better times, but I'm still learning, every time I go out, by leaps and bounds. No matter, it was an excellent day.
My final GP of the season was today. It wasn't until race 14, so I had all day to try and keep myself occupied. Rain loomed large for most of the day, so I mounted intermediates on one set of wheels for my B-bike, with rains on another set, and FrankenDuc was all ready with slicks. All the races today were shortened to 7 laps as there were (I think) 18 or so to run total. Luckily, it never did rain. Both Ray and I had crunched the numbers and knew exactly what the score was. Essentially, I would win the championship as long as Ray scored no higher than 3rd and I was right behind him, which is exactly how it went down. I was fairly cautious on the start, so there was one other rider in the mix for a couple of laps, but after I passed him I followed Ray around to win the GP championship by 1 point! I caught up to Ray at the end; I could have passed him on the exit of the 2nd to last corner but backed off as I felt it was not only pointless, but would have been akin to rubbing salt in the wound...
So, a 42 year old guy, a near 20 year old bike, a 1st and a 2nd in the 2 classes I ran for my first full expert season. Really, I learned so much and had so much fun this year, the results are just icing on the cake. I'm looking forward to improving with FrankenDuc in the future; I still feel I'm still traveling up the learning side of the curve, so I feel good about the prospects. As always, I'll do my best, and FrankenDuc has indeed turned out to be even more awesome than I had hoped for. I'm elated, exhausted, and extremely enthusiastic about the future...
