We were only allotted one 30 minute practice on Friday and one 30 minute qualifying on Saturday, and then a 20 minute warm up first thing Sunday morning. I had never been to VIR and was surprised by the technical back section full of blind hills and a little overwhelmed after Friday's practice. Sitting in the sweltering south eastern humidity for six hours straight was something I've not spent much time doing and it's not pleasant. Luckily I was pitted right next to Electric Race Bikes, the only pit in the paddock with a pool (hopefully someone's got some photos). After our 5pm practice, where drops of sweat were obscuring my vision, I jumped straight into the pool which had been only ice a few hours before and felt my body start to go numb. A lovely feeling.
I was qiute nervous on Saturday because I still felt like I didn't know the track at all and only had qualifying to learn it so I stressed for most of the day, but finally talked to Chris Ulrich and CA Superbike School instructor James Toohey and came out with some good advice, a couple key RPs and a bit of relaxation.
Qualifying was much better than practice. I dropped 5 seconds and qualified 2nd with only 0.4 seconds between me and Thad Woolf in third. I was excited for a proper race with Thad's and my lap times so close.
We put a smaller sprocket on (from 72 to 63!) to see if more speed on the front straight would help overall lap times. We only had 8am morning practice to figure this out, but it was an easy decision. I had absolutely no drive compared to the 72 which just forced me to get off the brakes sooner and on the gas, I mean throttle, sooner. It made the bike feel quite pathetic, but with an increased top speed of 9 mph, my lap times dropped 3 seconds! So keeping the smaller sprocket was a no-brainer.
We didn't get a warm up lap and gridding up straight from the hot pit is a bit unnerving for me. Not having been on the track in 8 hours makes it hard for me to go full pace at the drop of the flag, but of course, I tried. And I kept close behind Barney for the whole first lap. I was so stoked I couldn't believe it. But of course, as we rolled onto the front straight he took off on his Lightning Motorcycle and was out of turn 2 before I was into 1. And as I saw him exit turn 2, I saw Thad Woolf pass me into 1. I knew it was probable and I was prepared.
Thad threw it hard into 5, but promptly ran off the track and I got back in front of him, but he wasn't far behind. Into turn 1, he passed me again. And this time, as he made 5/5a a bit slower to stay on the pavement, I shot up under him and made the pass. As soon as I came out there was a lapper in the esses though, and I figured he'd go straight like one does in the esses, and I'd just ride up on the curbing and go by him. But he hugged the curb a little closer than I expected and we had the first electric love tap in the history of the sport. He's got some rubber on his fairing to prove it. Luckily no real damage was done and we both continued, with Thad still right behind me.
Thad and I continued trading positions for the whole race and then finally, on the second to last lap, I got into 1 before him and had a clear track and a flying lap, 3 seconds faster than my morning practice lap and 6 seconds faster than my qualifying time. I wish I had pulled that off on the first lap; I might've been able to put a little pressure on Barney.
With that I put some distance between Thad and me which ended up being quite lucky for me. As I passed the waving white flag and headed into turn 1 on the last lap, I felt a studder in the motor. Into turn 3 it cut out and came back on. Between 3 and 4 it cut out again and when it came back on it felt like one of my two motors had died. I put my head down and tried to carry as much momentum as possible for the last lap. I peeled through the downhill section faster than I had all weekend and as I came onto the front straight I thought there was no possible way that Thad wouldn't pass me and feared that Hannas would too. But my solid previous lap put a big enough gap between Thad and me and I hung on and crossed the line in 2nd.
It was a great weekend, tons of fun, and I have Team Agni, Arvind, and my crew chief Jon to thank. And, of course, Super Plush Suspension for the constant phone consultations. The World's are in Spain in October and hopefully I'll be able to be there too.
