The Labor Day weekend really snuck up on me. When I saw 9/6-7 on the Mid-O schedule, I discounted it right away. It's a Mon/Tue and now that school's back in, I have to get my boys on the bus in the morning. I got an email reminder about the days last night and realized this is Labor Day weekend and I have Monday off and so do my boys. Pat and I just signed up for this one...

Again...I hate you...

I hate myself too Weather is looking great for Monday.You know guy's there's still room It's not that long of a drive.

Pat and I had another great day at Mid-Ohio. I had looked at the 9/6 and 9/7 days on schedule quite some time ago, but since they were a Monday and Tuesday, I didn't think I'd be able to do either one. Now that my kids are back in school, I get them on the bus in the morning so weekdays are tough. I got an email from Mid-O on Thursday night about spots still being open on 9/6 and 9/7. Wait a second, this is Labor Day weekend, I have Monday off (and so do my kids). I quickly checked the forecast and it looked great. Now I really wanted to go! I fired off an email to my fellow Trackwhores to see if I could get a wingman to go with me. Not surprisingly, Pat was game to do the day so we both signed up on Friday.

Pat and I decided to drive out Sunday night and get a hotel. He was visiting with his parents in Meadville so we decided to drive out separately and meet at the hotel. Milletary let me use his trailer (Thanks Jeff!!!) so I loaded up my gear and hit the road around 7 PM. I followed the GPS on back roads - RT 18, RT 22/30, RT 250 past Tappan Lake, etc. There was very little traffic and I made great time. I've decided that I prefer the route to the OH turnpike, Akron, etc.

It was a super clear night on the drive out and I could see every star in the sky. As a result I watched the temps fall into the low 50's on the display on my wife's SUV. I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt and had left the sweatshirt I planned to grab on the dining room table. I made it to the hotel, Pat jumped in the rig, and we hit Wal-Mart so I could buy a sweatshirt, Poweraid, and some other supplies.

It was 45 degrees Monday morning so the sweatshirt came in handy! We got to the track, unloaded, set up, registered, teched, etc. We were pitted next to a few A riders on Ducati's and GSXRs, one of which I recognized from a day at BeaveRun. He's a German guy (his name escapes me) that rides a pimped out 848. There was also an Asian kid (yeah, can't recall his name either) on a GSXR 600 who got into a screaming match with the others while we were setting up. Pat and I were thinking fists were going to start flying, but they got it worked out and were cool for the rest of the day.

1st Session - It was around 57 degrees and partly cloudy, so as you can imagine the track was a bit slick. My goal for the first session was to take it easy and scrub in my new rear tire. It wasn't terrible, and I was able to get my knee down a few times, but it was slick and I had some rear end slides

2nd Session - It had warmed up a bit and the track was starting to come in. Still had a few little slides, but I felt pretty good and got down into the 1:47's.

3rd Session - Pat followed me out and I got stuck behind 2 riders that were pulling me on the straights. Pat came past me, made short work of the 2 riders and was gone. Even though the track had pretty much come in by this point, I wasn't comfortable enough yet to make an aggressive move and was jammed up behind those 2 bikes for the whole session. I started to drag my toe sliders a bit and got down into the 1:44's, but it was a frustrating session. I decided that I would try to get to pit lane earlier for the rest of the day and go out towards the front of the pack.

4th Session - I was the first bike on the track for this session and Pat was the second. My plan worked well and we got lots of open track. He followed me for a few laps and then pulled his signature pass - got a drive inside me on the front straight and I followed him into turn #1. I believe that both Pat and John are quicker through the last 2 turns (13 and 14?) than I am, which sets this pass up pretty nicely. Pat is riding really well and I believe that I may need to get a faster bike to be able to hang with him. When my wife is angry because I just bought a GSXR 750, I'm blaming it on Pat! This was a really fun session and I was able to get into the 1:42's with Pat dragging me along. I believe this was the session where I got my rear wheel in the air, while hard on the brakes at the end of the back straight (trying to keep up with Pat)...

5th Session - We got to pit lane a bit late and there were already a number of bikes "lined up". I made my way up toward the front and Pat ended up stuck a bit further back. I got out and had lots of open track, but never saw Pat and was pretty much running out on my own. I felt like I was riding really well, but with no one to follow I ran some 1:43's, but didn't get back into the 1:42's. I did seem to be getting through traffic a bit better and made passes in some places I hadn't before. I made a couple into turn #8 and a couple on the outside of #13. I always felt pretty good into #12, but I always had a problem getting pulled out of #11 and I was running into the rev-limiter in 3rd gear before I got to #12. I started shifting to 4th and then back down to 3rd for #12. This allowed me to close the gap going into #12, ride around the outside and make the pass into #13. This became one of my go to places to pass for the rest of the day. I did have a couple of scary fast/deep runs into #13 a couple times though. I'm pretty sure I past the GSXR kid pitted next to us going into #13 this session.

6th Session - This turned into a great session. As usual, I let out and Pat followed me. I believe I might have figured something out going into 13/14 as Pat never came past me on the front straight. He did get me on the back straight, but I don't really think there was much I could do about that. While Pat was still following me I got the GSXR kid in #13 again and I believe Pat got him going into #1. He came over to chat after the session was over and said that my bike was throwing sparks all over the place. I had been dragging my toe sliders like mad, they are magnesium, and apparently throw sparks (I didn't know that). I ran my fastest ever lap at Mid-O this session, a 1:41.61 and I believe Pat made it into the low 1:40's.

7th Session - This turned into a bit of a cluster. Per my plan Pat and I rolled out early and were the first riders to pit lane. Our session was supposed to start at 4:20 and I believe it was 4:18 when we got to pit lane. Apparently there had been a lengthy red flag and they decided to give the Intermediate class some extra time to make up for it. If they made an announcement, I never heard it and neither did a bunch of other riders that rolled up shortly after we did. So much for tire warmers. I believe they threw the checkered flag at around 4:25 and then a rider crashed on the checkered flag lap so we were held up again. After they got that cleaned up I overheard them say that they would have to cut the last 2 sessions to 15 minutes. So after waiting around for quite some time, we were going to spend the first few laps of our shortened session warming our tires back up. I had turned my GoPro off while we were waiting and then screwed around turning it back on and ended up mid-pack heading out on the track. This session was going to be a mess! I went out there and turned a little bit of that frustration into some mildly aggressive riding. I tried to get the GSXR kid going into #13 again, wasn't able to pull it off, and Pat got past me going into turn #1. Pat passed him on the brakes into #7 (after the back straight) and went around him on the outside. Next was the 848 guy, Pat passed him between #11 and #12 and I actually got a run on him down the back straight. As I was passing him on the brakes going into #7, I got passed on the brakes by a GSXR. The guy that passed me proceeded to tow me around for the next couple of laps and I ran a 1:42.95, 1:41.48, and a 1:41.89. I ran my fastest laps of the day in the last session - you gotta love that.

Both the GSXR kid and the 848 guy came over to chat for a bit after that session. It was obvious that everyone had fun out there!

Even with the chilly start the weather turned out to be incredible! It was in the upper 70's / low 80's, sunny, and no humidity. I had my windows down for a lot of the drive home and was still buzzing from such a fun day!

I do have a few ideas where I think I can drop some time, next time I ride Mid-O. I probably need to start shifting into 4th and back down to 3rd before turn #1. I might also need to go down to 2nd gear for #11 and #13. I'm thinking that going down 1 tooth on the front sprocket would result in better Mid-O gearing...

Yep it was a great day as Matt said.I really like how Mid-Ohio flows along.I visited my parents in Harrisville Sunday so I met Matt at the hotel later that night.First trip with the Golf pulling the trailer and it pulled it well and I think I got around 28 mpg which is a lot better than the truck.

Matt and I pitted at the back of the lot and yeah there was some fighting going on.Sounded like some german shouting and possible french also.They were bitching about where the one guy pitted,we had the whole parking lot so not sure what the issue was about but it was funny.

Matt and I took it easy the first couple of sessions in the morning as Mid-O is slippery when cold and it didn't disappoint.lol I felt pretty good riding in the morning but still took it kinda easy till before lunch.I did get to a high 141:99 to my surprise right before lunch.

After lunch the sun came out more and it started to warm up.The second session after lunch I was feeling good and started shifting into 4th in a couple of places to pick up some speed.Took a little time for me to get use to it.Seemed like it slowed down coming out of turn 1 when I went to fourth but not sure,I see on the video where the tach is in the turn and might try a 4th gear turn 1 next time,hmmm decisions decisions..That session I beat my best time and ran a 1:40.18 and ran a couple of low 1:41 also.

3rd session in the afternoon I beat my best again ,felt really good and ran some consistent laps times and finally hit a all time low of 1:39.92. ohmy.gif boy was I happy .

Had a blast riding with Matt at Mid-Ohio.....can't wait for the next track day,hopefully the weather works out for Sunday at

Great write ups

You kids gonna be at Beaver Sunday?

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Ἢ τὰν ἢ ἐπὶ τᾶς

www.WickedRacing.com - Go Fast Parts & Gear for Riders and Their Motorcycles
PM me for "TrackWhore" special discounts

Here is a couple of me following Matt



http://vimeo.com/14777097


http://vimeo.com/14778443

Plan on it as long as the weather works out

Sweet - got a feeling I'll have a hell of a time keeping up with you this time

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www.WickedRacing.com - Go Fast Parts & Gear for Riders and Their Motorcycles
PM me for "TrackWhore" special discounts

Yeah I'd say you guys have made some serious progress here and are FLYING! I'm with Mike, I'll be happy if I can keep you all in sight for a couple corners if you head out to Beav this weekend.

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Ben
#535