For the round at Nelson Ledges, the Eric Telger Racing crew wasn’t able to take the time off of work to get to the track for the practice day. Luckily, this wasn’t a double header event and I was able to take some time on Saturday to learn the track by racing a solo 20, my first of the year.

 

We rolled up to the gate at around 11:05 pm, and must have JUST missed the guy working the gate, because one of my buddies had gotten into the track just minutes before we showed up. So, like normal, we parked the truck outside the gate and crawled into bed.

 

We were up pretty early on Saturday to get a spot in the paddock and to get set up, and since Ernie wasn’t able to make it to this round, most of that work fell on me. I did my best to get set up, talked to a few people about the track, and before I knew it, it was time for my first practice.

 

After hearing the stories about this track, I was optimistically hoping for better conditions than its reputation, but quickly found out that the track’s reputation is, in my opinion, a flattering one considering the condition of the track. After my first practice session, I spoke with Dave Grey in pretty good detail as to how to get around this track quickly (and safely). His advice proved to help me along later in the day, but I still wasn’t happy about the track.

 

After 4 practice sessions, I had a nice long break until my only race of the day, the heavyweight solo 20. I got to speak to a few other riders about how they were getting around the track, and where the “line” was, but none of this really helped me feel any better.

 

It was finally time for me to grid up for my only race of the day, which I viewed as a long practice session. I got an ok start, and found myself in 2nd going into turn one. Before the end of the first lap, I was able to pass the leading rider, and led the race for more than half of the race. I knew that I was being stalked, so I just did my best to get around the track cleanly and to work on my lines. At this point in my experience with this track, I wasn’t able to put myself into “race mode,” simply because I just wasn’t comfortable with it yet. At this point, I was in “survival mode,” and was just trying to finish the race. After leading the race for quite some time, and fighting off a few attempts at a pass, I was finally passed coming onto the back straight, and wasn’t able to fight back for the position. I ended up taking second place for the race.

 

After the races, Denise and I took some time to walk the track with Rick Lind and Manda McFarland, which was great because it gave me a chance to pick Rick’s brain on how he gets around the track. This later proved to pay off. After the track walk, we went over to the 419 Racing pits and hung out with some friends for awhile. If nothing else, this weekend was a fun weekend hanging out with friends.

 

Sunday was back to the normal schedule, 4 sprint races in the afternoon. After some practice time in the morning, and a quick bite to eat, my first race of the day came quickly.

 

The first race of the day was CSS. I started 5th, and after a bit of a dicey start of the race, things settled down a little and I was able to circulate. All along during this race, I know that I’m towards the pointy end, but I had lost track of what position I was running. After coming into the pits, I was happy to find out that I had held onto a solid third place.

 

My second and third races for the day were back to back: BSS and CSB. The start of BSS was a little less eventful, and I was able to hang onto the front 3 riders for the entire race. I just didn’t have the pace to make any passes, and was forced to settle for 4th. I came into the pits after the second race and met Denise on hot pit lane, she handed me a Gatorade and a towel, and off I went to grid up for my 3rd race, CSB. Again, I got a decent start and slotted into 4th again. I held this position for a few laps, but then unexpectedly tucked the front coming into turn one. I haven’t been able to figure out what I did wrong, as there wasn’t any warning or pushing. I’m not sure if I hit a bump differently than other laps, or if the tire was just ready to give in, but this crash wasn’t so easy on the trusty steed. After the race was over, I was able to walk over to the bike and assess the damage. It will require a new exhaust system, some brake work, and more than likely a new set of bodywork.

 

After the crash truck returned me to my pit area, I quickly got the backup bike up on the stands and put the tire warmers on. As I let the warmers heat up the tires, I went over the bike and made sure everything was ok on it, as this was the first time I’ve had to ride it this year (or pay any attention to it, for that matter). At this point, I just wanted to finish my last race of the day and accumulate some points.

 

After taking a warm up lap and figuring out my new shift points and turn in points for this bike, I found myself gridded up for the BSK race. I got an amazing initial jump at the start of the race, but the bigger, newer bikes quickly motored by me. This was probably my best initial jump all year, but it just wasn’t enough to keep me up there. I wasn’t able to challenge for a decent position this race, my lack of seat time on this bike, and due to set-up being all wrong for this track, I found myself 2 seconds a lap slower. However, I was able to finish 6th, and accumulated those points that I had come to claim.

 

Overall, it was a pretty successful weekend. The R6 will take some work to get back in working order, but I was able to learn a new track and gained some ground on my competitors.

 

I want to thank Dave Grey for, again giving me some good pointers at this track. I also want to thank Rick Lind for the same. Without the knowledge from these fast guys, I wouldn’t have found myself doing as well as I did. I want to thank all of my sponsors for all of their contributions to my season. Your support goes a long way and is greatly appreciated. Thank you to WERA for putting on the event, and the corner workers and EMS crew for being there when we needed you. Lastly, thank you to my wife. This trip was just the 2 of us, and she really stepped up and helped me out a lot this weekend.

 

Points Standings after Nelson Ledges:

 

Class                                                            Points                           Place

B Superbike:                                                  66                               2nd

B Superstock:                                               84                               3rd

C Superbike:                                                  54                               3rd

C Superstock:                                               64                               4th