WMRRA round 5, and the last round for most of us formula 750 folks as we head for Utah for the AHRMA round. We go into this round with me in first, Chris in 2nd just 5 points behind, and John in 3rd just 6 points behind. I have to finish ahead of John in one of the two races or it's over.
Saturday practices go well. I spend most of the first practice following Chris to catch some footage and just trying to hit my lines. 2nd practice I follow Chris for awhile, until John surprises me at the end of the straight and then I follow, ahem, try to catch him the rest of the practice. He's so smooth and fast and makes it look effortless. There's a few corners I go deeper and reel him in a bit, but he gaps me easily on any straight. It's a ton of work trying to stay with him, catch him, pass him.
Saturday afternoon in my SV race we have a couple restarts due to crashes and a long delay because there's a deer near the track. Evidently on the first restart they knew the deer was there, but headed away from the track. They told the racers on the front row to watch out for a deer!! During the race the deer did a 180 and headed right back for the track about the same time we had a 2nd crash. Crazy.
Sunday race 1 I decide feathering the clutch on the start just isn't working for me. I'm spending too much time slipping and need to get the power down quicker. I tried it on the SV and got a less bad start, ha ha. Start is better and I'm right on John leading into turn 2. I keep him insight the entire race. I'm working really hard to catch him, but he pulls about a second per lap away from me and finishes about 4 seconds in front of me. I put down my fastest lap ever, and of course so does John!!! Feels really good to almost be running his pace, and I'm glad he's got a reason to push the pace. I'd like to give him more of a battle, but it's not without trying.
Race 2 I get a decent start, but so does Gary Ryder, a returning fast guy on a wicked fast Norton. We drag race to turn 1 and I'm gaining on Gary, but I pop out of 4th and have to single file leading up into 2. Gary has really good low power coming out of corners and runs a tight line. I almost pass him in a couple corners, but decide it's a bit too risky. I get him in a drag race into turn 1 on the 2nd lap, having the inside line, and brake a bit later. I focus on catching John, and I do for a lap or two, but I start having more transmission problems, mostly popping out of 5th. I'm probably tired and being lazy with my shifts, but it could be time for some transmission maintenance before Utah. Needless to say, I never catch John and he picks up the remaining points to secure the championship.
Another awesome season in the Pacific Northwest, racing with the best people. Next year looks to be a return to some big grids for Formula 750. We should have me, Chris, John and Joseph returning on our CB/CR 750's, Gary on his Norton, Duncan on his Seely-Westlake, possibly Paul on a new CB750, and hopefully Paul Brodie on his hand built Excelsior will be returning. Rumors of other people wanting to jump in, and I'll always be recruiting.
Alan
