Read on for her awesome battle with Dawn Holgate in Women’s Superstock! In her own words:
This weekend I learned two very important things; the first is that there is no replacement for time on the bike. The second, never underestimate your competition! Please allow me to explain:
The forecasted weather for Friday and Saturday at the track was horrible, violent thunderstorms, hail and massive amounts of rain! Now, I am rather “tech savvyâ€; so I decide that I will skip the Friday and Saturday practices; get some work done and learn the track via YouTube. Honestly, what do you really accomplish on the track, when it is hailing? Saturday night I arrive just in time for dinner, a little unloading and Tornado Sirens! Nothing like sleeping in a race trailer with immanent F2 tornado heading your way, fun stuff! This may have been the first day I missed California.
Sunday morning practice was cold, 42 degrees; this may have been the second day I missed California. As it turns out, my “Tech Savvy†skills didn’t really help me much on the track, I was slower than slow for my first session out there; so there you have it… That is the first lesson I learned: There is no replacement for time on a bike. My second practice session was a little better, however I felt as though I was still several seconds off of where I should be running. I was hoping to get another practice, to shave a little more time and string a few of the corners together. Unfortunately, on Sundays you only get two practices; it was time to race.
600 Superstock:
I got a fairly good start in this race; however it became painfully obvious that I was much slower in Turn 1 than everyone else! I was set up nicely to be in 4th but on got on the brakes way to early and I ended up some where around 6th. Reassuring myself that this was only the third time I have ever been on this track, I decided to just take the time to “chase the rabbit†and learn some lines. I was running behind someone for about 5 laps, until he pulled off the track. I am not sure what happened to him but I’d like to thank him for showing me around! My lap times dropped 7 seconds and I pulled off a 7th place; small victories in life, right?
Women’s Superstock:
This was an epic battle or it least from where I was watching it! I got a pretty crummy start but still ended up going through Turn 1 in the lead. I looked at lap times prior to this race and I was fairly confident that as long as I maintained a good pace I would stay up front – Insert the second lesson I learned this weekend here – Never underestimate your competition.
Just after the crossed flags I took a look over my shoulder and I didn’t see anyone, I was good! Not even half a lap later, while tipping in to Turn 1, Dawn passed me on the inside. Holy cow, where did she come from? It took me until the back straight to catch her again, she pulled me on the straight-aways, but I would get her on the brakes. I knew I had to get in front of her before the front straight, her bike was way faster and apparently she has much bigger balls than me going into T1 and I didn’t want to chance losing any more ground.
At Talladega there is a small, off-camber kink right before the front straight; this was my chance to get her. I didn’t let off the throttle until I saw her front end dip, out of the corner of my eye. I went into that turn really hot, but I just turned my head and looked down the front straight and the Michelins stuck. With four laps left I had to work my butt off, Dawn was just behind me the entire time and there was no room for errors. At the end of the race, we crossed the checkered and she was just 0.157 behind me! What a blast!
