Pictures
Man, what a great weekend. I haven't had a weekend like this in
about
one year. The weather forecast was looking awesome and my
competition
was looking fierce. I was coming off of 2 2nd place finishes
against
Arnie Hastings at VIR and I didn't want to make it a season of
2nds.
I knew I had to step up.
Saturday is pretty much a practice day for me with the GSXR 600 so
I
went out for practice on old tires and somehow went faster than I
had
ever gone around that track on that bike. I did a 1:19.8. I
couldn't
believe it. This set the tone for the weekend. I put some fresh
tires
on the 600 and awaited the medium and heavyweight races which I
just
use for practice.
In the mediumweight solo I started on the last row(24th). I got a
good start and begin picking them off right away. Slowly I got up
to faster and faster guys and it became harder and harder to pass.
I had a great battle with Gian Bojanovich. I finally outbroke him
into T1 after some serious side by side action. I had never passed
him before so I was surpised that I could go a little faster than
he
could. I put my head down and put in some great laps in order to
not
get re-passed. At the end of the race I looked back and didn't see
him. I was surprised. When I came off, my dad informed me that I
had done consistent 1:19's with a low of 1:19.08. I was stoked. I
finished in 8th place. Unfortunately, I didn't press the record
button on my camera to film this awesome race.
Next was the Heavyweight solo against the big liter bikes. I knew
I was out machined but I just use it for practice anyways. I again
started in 24th. I started picking them off pretty quickly. It
took me quite a while to get some clear track in front of me
because
of the horse power disparity. I finally came up to just one more
guy
to pass before getting some clear track and I could not get around
him. Todd Stoner on a ZX10R was a nightmare to get by. After 4
frustrating laps, I lost my knee puck in Turn 1. Now I wasn't
going
to improve my times or be able to pass him. Plus I was pretty
frustrated so I pulled off. I did manage to record the race and it
was pretty exciting since I went from 24th to 10th before having
to
pull off. To see the video, please visit the gallery section of
www.dpracing.us.
Sunday was to be a promising day but I had no idea it was going to
be
as good as it turned out. I'm usually 1 second per lap faster on
the
Ducati 998 than I am on my 600. I was really curious as to whether
or not I was going to do 1:18's. I didn't want to jinx myself by
assuming it. I went out for practice on some old tires and I did
a couple of low 1:19's. I couldn't believe how easy it was. I
didn't
feel like I was really pushing it. I noticed that my rival Arnie
had also done a few low 1:19's. I braced myself for a battle.
Race 1 was Heavyweight Twins Superbike. I was gridded right in the
middle of the front row with Arnie. As the flag dropped I could
see
out of the corner of my eye that Arnie had trouble launching the
bike.
I had no idea if he was right behind me and I didn't want to know.
I rode like he was on my ass the whole time. I put in some really
good laps. I never heard or saw anybody. Apparently, Arnie had
stalled the bike at the start and pulled off. I ended up winning
the race by 28 seconds over 2nd place. I went to post-tech to
see my dad's glowing face saying I did several low 1:18's. I
couldn't
believe it. It's the goal I never thought I would reach. I video
taped the race but there's not much except open track to see. To
see
the video, please visit www.dpracing.us.
My battle wasn't quite over yet. I had to face Arnie one more time
for the Heavyweight Twins SuperStock race. We gridded in the same
positions and it was almost a replay of the first race. Arnie
balked
at the start and I didn't look back. This time he continued after
getting his bike going again. He went from 15th to 2nd place
putting
down some 1:18's as well. I ended up winning by 12 seconds which
is
probably the amount of time it took him to get his bike restarted.
To see the video, please visit www.dpracing.us.
All in all it was a perfect weekend. I will have many battles like
this all year round so stay tuned for the reports. Next will be
CCS at Summit Point against Brian bemisderfer on the Buell, Nate
Kern on the BMW and Arnie on the 999R. This will be an interesting
race.
Again I want to thank my sponsors BR-111 Exotic Hardwood
Flooring, Maximum Hardwood floors, Genesis Accounting, Pirelli,
Ducshop Racing, EBC, Sobre Rodas Magazine, Achieve Fitness, Design
by
Duno, Engead, Motorcycle Leather Exchange and Sienna Motors.
See you in 2 weeks
Dennys Passeto
