2012 race season report

[DougS.]

Did a running thread of my 2011 season so figured might as well start up the 2012 season. Ill keep updating this thread as the season progresses, will include pics and videos of course. Here we go
Week 1 Carolina Motorsports Park. Twin sprint weekend and running just one bike in 3 classes. Same old 08 848 with just a new body and paint for upgrades.
Friday practice didnt go so well. New soft rear tire on a grippy track. Was feeling comfortable on the bike after not riding it for 6 months and dragging a knee by half way lap 1. Noticed the rpm's climbing the upper range a little quick. Couple laps later whacked it open onto the front straight and rpm's bounced off the rev limiter. Uh oh clutch slipping, stock with 6500mi including 4200 track miles. Ran one more session to get comfortable and rolling on the gas to keep it from slipping. Start calling around and luckily find a dealer with one in stock but 150mi away. So 6 hours and 300mi later get back to the track at 9pm and done by 930 heading to hotel.
Saturday get a medium rear and new front run practice and bike feels great, me too.
Race 1 Supertwins. Decent start and settled into 4th behind Barret Long a 1098 and buell 1125 with no one around, good start to the season.
Race 2 Middleweight F40 2nd into T1 but passed by 3 riders by half lap then again settled into 4th after the leader crashed and finished there. Was sliding a bit and with this the first of back to back races knew i was in trouble
Race 3 Open F40. This class is more of a get points and survive for me. Rear tire was shot. Only bike not a 1000 so i knew i was going to get beat. Decent start but as soon as we hit a straight it was all over. Finished 5th (last) but still decent points. Lots of sliding the rear and back in the pits the DOT rear looked like half DOT and half slick. Time for another rear tire.
Sunday. Slept in and skipped morning practice since first race wasnt till after lunch. Due to crashes they shortened the races to just 5 laps. So take it easy in the first race then let it rip in the last 2 back to back.
Race 1 Open F40. Here we go again little bike in big bike class. Actually got a really good start and was in the lead until 2nd gear. Finished 7th running all alone.
Race 2 MW F40. Hole shot and put my head down and pushed hard lap 1. Pulled a gap on 2nd and kept it around 30ft the entire race. First non rain win as an expert. Extremely excited and knew i was going faster and ready to go in supertwins. Rolled into pit lane got a drink and checked the rear tire, was all good. Game on
Race 3 Supertwins. Decent start and passed for 3rd into T4. Had an AMA pro and 1098 in front and buell 1125 behind me. Kept my head down and pushed hardright till i made a slight mistake in the last turn then false neutral on the front straight. Buell got by but stayed right on his ass almost hitting him a couple times in the corners. Tried hard but couldnt get around finished 4th again. Good thing was i managed to lower my lap times by over 4 seconds during the weekend and ran fastest lap of the weekend last lap.
NJMP in 2 more weeks and will be breaking out my little project lightweight bike to play with. will be doing LW, MW, Open F40, Supertwins and thunderbike. have 2 twin sprint weekends this season that should be very busy and cant wait

[DougS.]

Finally came time to break out my new project. 05 749 dark for lightweight classes. Friday practice used the 848 to familiarize myself with the track again. Got in a couple sessions then broke out the 749 that i had only ridden 1 mile around the block. Luckily felt comfortable and finished the day.
Sat. Thunderbike on 749. too much rpm's on the start and wheelied myself to last place in turn 1. Put my head down and went to work picking thru the field. Caught the leader with 2 laps to go and gave him hell for a couple laps. Came up short by .117 but turned the fastest lap of the race last lap.
F40 open. again up against a mix of 600,750 and 1000's. ok start and stuck in a group of bikes. finished an ok 9th, wasnt happy but was mid pack with decent lap times.
Sunday middleweight F40 decent start and within a couple laps moved into 3rd to run an uneventful race but lowered my lap times another second.
Supertwins pretty much a repeat of last race. good start, moved into 3rd in to t1. 2nd place was slowing with a couple laps left and was hoping to sneak up on him. Did and was on his tail till last lap where he looked back onto the front straight. He got on the gas and started to pull a little gap. KTM RC8 vs my 848 didnt have a shot. Had to hustle the cool down lap because was also in the LW 40 up next. Came into pit lane quickly where the 749 was waiting on the stands with tire warmers on.
LW F40 Switched bikes as the rest of the field was sent on warm up lap. hauled ass down pit road with the 4 board showing and on to the track. took it a little easy for a couple turns to adjust to the different bike then picked up the pace to almost full speed to make the grid. Got to the front straight as the last guy was pulling to his spot. Pulled into my grid spot flipped the visor up took a couple breaths, flipped it down and they threw the flag. coming off a race was already at full speed at the start and was the last to let off the gas into T1. Had a big smile on my face and said attack. pushed hard first to last lap winning flag to flag.

[G8RDuc]

Love the updates. Great reading!

[DougS.]

knew ahead of time this would be a rough weekend that would test my endurance. 2 bikes, saturday practice, asra qualifying and back to back races sunday. 4 races, 2 on each bike monday and a 5 hour drive home. oh and it was around 90 all weekend just to top it off.
sunday morning after practice had asra thunderbike qualifying. just did 3 laps and was enough to get 4th. had to get the bike back onto pit lane on the warmers for the upcoming ccs thunderbike race.
f40 against the big bikes on the 848 did ok but just cant keep up on the long straight. had a good battle but finished 9th and should still be top 3 overall in points. made a quick cool down lap to get the 749 waiting on pit lane.
ccs thunderbike got a good start but hung up behind a couple guys that parked it in turn 1 for some reason and lost contact with the front couple guys. got by them and charged up to a hell of a battle for 3rd place. another 749 we passed each other several times before the last lap i pulled off an outside pass into the turns that held him off by about a foot at the finish. finished 3rd and should be 2nd overall.
will update later, at work now