My last race of 2007 was this past weekend at Barber. Going in I was 4th in the points in Senior Superbike MW for the mid-central region. All I needed to earn my expert plates was to finish in the top five for the region. I thought I had it made because I was expecting a light turnout.
WRONG, WRONG, WRONG, WRONG, WRONG
Eight novices showed up on the grid so worst cast senario was finishing last and scoring eight points, enough to keep me in the top five I was thinking.
My grid spot was inside second row behind "sandbagging" Suzy Moody. I got a good start and was about 4th going into one. I guess I braked earlier than I had to cause just as I entered one two bikes went by leaving me in sixth or seventh (not sure now).
Anyway, going into five the new guy in the shirt outbraked me. I was hanging on to his tail pretty easily so I just figured I'd wait for a good time and pass him so I knew I wouldn't finish last. I got really close coming through two and just as we crested the hill at turn four I moved to his outside and easily was leading going into the turn five hairpin. So far so good.
The next lap he braked really late going down into five and ran wide. I took the tight line and was leading as we exited five. Unfortunately, he was able to outrun me up the hill to the coaster so I was back in follow the leader mode.
All of a sudden it started to rain. Light rain, at first, but after another lap it was getting hard enough that a rider went down ahead of us. When I saw that first yellow flag I knew I had to slow and give up on passing the new guy again.
So I finished the race in eighth with a really good feeling about the race. I got a good start, ran well and made some passes. It was time to wait for the points to be updated and see where I stood.
Sixth place.......38 points total, one point behind a tie for fifth and an expert letter.
If only I had gone to Nashville the week before. Another hard lesson learned about racing.
Actually, I would have asked to remain novice anyway. The only reason I came close to qualifying to expert was that WERA split the HW and MW races this year and awarded points separately. Guess I'm gonna have to turn it up a notch next year if I want to advance. Here are the race results.
Class: Senior Superbike MW Novice
1 360 Bob Young 6 10:37.522 1:41.491 2 70.942 -
2 761 Suzy Moody 6 10:48.413 10.891 1:42.365 4 70.337 -
3 324 Francis Duarte 6 10:56.838 19.316 1:44.862 3 68.662 -
4 907 Robert McKay 6 11:02.328 24.806 1:44.927 3 68.619 -
5 62 Bob Brooks 6 11:04.642 27.120 1:43.317 3 69.688 -
6 588 Jeffrey S. Gilbert 6 11:04.783 27.261 1:45.957 4 67.952 -
7 613 Adam Schmitt 5 10:04.732 1 Lap 1:54.801 5 62.717 -
8 154 Jimmy Ray McDowell 5 10:11.441 6.709 1:55.981 4 62.079 -
Here are my mid-central, end of the year points totals:
Points in Senior Superbike MW Novice Round
PPIC Talladega 2/11 Talladega 4/8 Nashville 4/29 Talladega 6/17 Cycle Jam 2007 - Nashville 9/16 Barber Motorsports Park 9/23 Total
1 Brian Sizemore 20 0 0 20 17 0 0 57
2 Suzy Moody 0 0 0 17 0 20 17 54
3 Carlston C. McKoy 0 20 20 0 11 0 0 51
4 Bob Young 0 0 0 0 20 0 20 40
5 Bob Brooks 0 0 13 15 0 0 11 39
6 Jimmy Ray McDowell 15 15 0 0 0 0 8 38
