It's been a while since I have been able to sit down and talk about that last Willow weekend. Its getting hot, and it's not even summer yet. Ambient temps hit 102 on Sunday, and throwing a CBR1000RR around the track for 36 laps of racing left me depleted for a couple of days after.
The day started off smooth, a last lap pass in Open Superbike brought my 13 win in a row. It was a nervous start to the weekend. Lowry is starting to get the new R1 figured out, and Jeremy had also entered this race. It was not an easy race at all, Toye is strong, doesn't make mistakes, and he won't give you anything so you have to take it. We swapped the lead multiple times and this was only a sign of what the F1 race would hold.
I got off the line good in F1, tucked in behind Karl and was very patient as I watched Jeremy open up a few second gap. I made my way up to second and I could see I was taking a tenth off Toye with the next couple of laps. I made my way into turn six on a chase, when my left clipon rotated in half way to the gas tank. This scenario is a scary one and the first time I had to solve it during a race. I had to let Karl by and focus on pushing the bar out slowly which took a couple of laps. I was surprised I got it straight enough to work my way back up to Lowry with 8 laps to go. I knew if I tried to charge by him he would be able to counter my lap times and risk moving the bar again so I sat and waited. I don't like having to sit on the rear wheel for lap after lap, but considering the circumstance. I made my move starting the white flag lap and set an easy pace to take second place, only half second in front of Karl.
The good news is I am still leading the points, in fact I didn't even lose a single point. Bad thing my win streak is over. No big deal though losing my first race, I have been around long enough to know be happy with what you have, because you never know when it is going to change. And it will change, but I am looking forward to June's race and the chance to win that purse money again.
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