Ok, maybe I don’t hate Road America anymore. It’s a fun place to battle. I still don’t love it, though.
But I had a battle!!
Racer #863, Brad Carlisle, was lapping similar times to me in race practice. We were gridded next to each other, and for race day 1, he beat me. By race day 2, I’d learned that he was better on the brakes in some areas of the track, and that I’d need to either brake later or have a more aggressive corner exit. Since I’m still a big baby about T5 after my crash there, Brad would pass me on the brakes into there and hold the lead all the way through turn 14 where I’d pass him on the exit and use my properly-geared bike to motor past him. For a few laps, I could pass him in the carousel, but he wised up and blocked me at every turn after that.
Our last lap was a drag race to the finish line, and I’m pretty sure I only won because the gearing on Gunther was changed to fit a high-speed track. Brad’s wasn’t.
Things that changed since my last visit to Road America:
- new gearing (16/42) just for RA
- unrashed leathers
- unrashed bike/new stars
Things I should do better:
- T1 is very very fast. Don’t brake much for it, there’s lots of runoff.
- Brake later for T5!! Figure out where to look for a proper exit, stop looking at the damn gravel.
- T6 is a blind turn, going uphill. Stop braking as much before the top of the hill, it’s not like the track is suddenly going to change direction.
- Figure out which gears have the most power for the corner- since Road America’s so big, you get less laps per practice session. I need more seat time to get better. :-/
Things I did well:
- no crash!
- I like T13 now, it’s pretty fun. The Carousel is still my favorite, though.
Best Lap
Race Day 1, Sound of Singles 3 : 3:13:395
Race Day 1, Sound of Singles 2: 3:20:132
Race Day 2, Sound of Singles 3: 3:12:728
Race Day 2, Sound of Singles 2: lazy, didn’t race