There were two qualifying races and the first leg of the Superbike race scheduled for this day.  However, it rained all day.  I got out in the morning to do a few practice sessions in the wet.  Traction was very limited due to the cold and wet temperatures.  A big sign that this afternoon’s qualifying races would be difficult.  I was scheduled to start from the front row for both the 600 and Superbike qualifying races as I had some good points from last season.

My first qualifier started mid/late afternoon.  The rain was still coming down.  I lined up on the front row.  I wasn’t very confident as I suffered a very big and fast high-side in turn one, one year ago at this exact round in similar conditions.  I got an acceptable start and somewhat kept my position.  I got passed by a bike or two but I didn’t really care.  I knew I just wanted to repeat my practice performance and simply qualify.  Within a couple of laps, the bikes started to crash.  A couple of bikes started to go down in turn 5 which is a scary corner in the wet.  However, those bikes slid across the width of the corner dropping gasoline and oil all over the corner.  Next lap around, I see another rider go down in that corner, than another, etc… Many more leaving more oil and gas on that corner.  We could barely go thru that corner without sliding even when the bikes were straight up.  Scary stuff!!!  I managed to survive this crash fest and finished 10^th for my split qualifier which put me 20^th for my two Superbike starts.  What a crappy qualifier!

Because of this mess, all remaining events of the day were cancelled at an early 3:30pm I think.

We woke up to a beautiful sun shining on us.  What a nice day.  Based on the revised scheduled, all morning practice sessions were cancelled and replaced with qualifying and final races for the entire day.  They allowed qualified Superbike riders a 12min practice session first thing in the morning.  We rushed to get my brand new tires dry tires on the bike so I could go scrub them and make sure we had properly set the suspension for dry conditions.  That went well and the dry track was very nice.  RACE organizers had done a great job at cleaning corner 5.

My 600 qualifier was first up.  Again, I was starting from the front row in 4^th position.  There was actually a rider missing so we were only 3 on the front row.  I got a good launch and maintained my position for the first lap.  We knew I could do good lap times in the dry.  So I pushed on and kept a steady pace.  I lost two positions finishing 6^th in this uneventful 4 lap race.  Again this was a split qualifier so that grids me 12^th for the final 600 race.

The first leg of my double header Superbike final was just before lunch.  Since I qualified crappy in the rain, I was starting from row 6.  We knew many people would push hard during this race to try and make up for the previous day’s poor performances in the wet.  I got a good start but got stuck behind riders in turn one costing me many positions.  I struggled to then pick up the pace and start on a charge towards the front.  Unfortunately, I had forgotten how to pass people!  I just couldn’t seem to setup my passes and find my way around riders.  I got a few people but by lap 4 or 5, half the track had waving yellows which means you cannot pass at those corners due to crashes.  That didn’t help my situation.  I got badly stuck behind a rider and finished an awful 17^th place.

Next came my 600 final.  I was excited about this one cause I would start from the 4^th row with many of my fast friends.  This would allow me to go very fast through corner one and detach myself from the slower riders.  Light goes green and I got a good launch.  I start looking for a way through the riders in front of me.  And then bang!  A friend of mine in front of me gets tangled with another rider just before corner one.  He goes down hard and now I have him and his bike sliding in front of me.  I throw my hand up and brake hard.  I managed to avoid and miraculously, the remaining field of bikes managed to avoid hitting him too.  I got passed by many bikes and I was sure RACE would stop the race.  But no red flag and the race was on.  But it took too long for me to gather myself and make up those lost spots.  So another mediocre finish for me with a 14^th place.My last race was the 2^nd leg of my Superbike race at 4:30pm.  Just to annoy me further, it started to rain just before the race.  Lucky for us, we had brought Michelle’s R6 so we setup her bike for rain.  I had tested on it on Friday and it performed rather well.  No one knew what tires to choose.  The ground was wet and the sun was trying to come through but there were still some menacing clouds in the sky.  Dry setup is what we chose.  I get to my crappy 20^th place starting point and notice most of us are on dries but some on wets.  I get another acceptable launch but I get stuck again in traffic going into corner one losing more positions.  I wasn’t sure about my traction on lap 1 and 2 as the track was wet.  I kept pushing hard.  By lap 3, the track was dry.  Then I started to apply the pressure.  And I also remembered how to pass people!!!  So I went onto the attack passing as many riders as I could as quickly as I could.  Michelle noticed that after passing a rider, I would open up a massive gap very quickly.  My pace was fast and I was solid on the bike.  Unfortunately, there is not much you can do in 8 laps when you have a bad start.  So 13^th place was the best I could deliver.  I would have probably been in the top 10 if the race would have been 12 laps as originally scheduled.

Oh well, we’ll fight a better battle next time!