CCS 7/14-17/07, Loudon Classic
The "Classic" weekend of NHIS is the oldest motorcycle race in the USA. This year was the 83rd year of the event. NHIS makes Sunday special by lengthening some of the premiere races and providing a larger purse for these events. Our weekend schedule was as follows:

Friday was GT Lights and Light Weight Grand Prix
Saturday was Supertwins and Light Weight Superbike
Sunday was the Thunderbike Loudon Classic Event (15 laps)

Friday Practice
I practiced on last weekend's race tires in both Friday practice sessions. The tires felt great even though they had 4 races on them. I was able to run competitive practice times even though there was heavy traffic in both sessions.
GTL
I decided to leave the tires I ran in practice on the bike for the GTL race (bad call on my part). I got an okay start and was in the process of chasing down the front pack (I was probably in 8th or 10th) when I tucked the front and crashed in the bowl (turn 6). The damage to the bike was minimal. I had a bent handlebar and foot peg and the body work was scratched. The aluminum handlebars we manufacture are excellent. The bar was bent, but there was no damage at all to the triple tree.

LWGP
With repairs made to the bike and a fresh set of tires I went out for the Light Weight Grand Prix race which had a field of about 29 starters (41 entered). USGPRU was holding an event this weekend so the field was full of 250 GP bikes, which make 90 HP and weigh about 250 pounds I think. The race was a tough one. I had to get back in the groove after crashing out of the last race while dealing with bikes that were lighter and faster. Needless to say the result was not one of the year's best.

Saturday Practice:
We determined the tires we used in LWGP were very greasy so Saturday practice was devoted to scuffing in a new set for the Thunderbike Classic event on Sunday.
Supertwins
Due to unforseen complications with the Evolution clutch unit, I had to use the stock clutch this weekend. The stock clutch is basically a piece of junk. If you decide to practice a start in your siting lap the plates get way too hot and slip on the actual race start. Unfortunately I didn't realize this until after the Supertwins race so I got a bad start. It didn't end there when a guy on a Ducati nearly ran me off the track in turn 1A making my first lap even worse. I think I was about last or 2nd to last at this point within a field of 27. I proceeded to work my way up 11 spots through the field for a 16th place finish. 

Light Weight Superbike
Because of the unreliability of the stock clutch I decided not to do a practice start as I always do with the Evolution clutch unit. As a result, I got a great start and worked my way up to 5th or 6th into the first turn when the race was red flagged after not even a full lap and restarted. Of course the plates were too hot and I got a terrible start off the restart leaving me in about 15th or 16th in turn 2.  Thanks to the Johnson Engine Technology powered Buell, I was able to pick off a lot of guys on the straights. I ended up finishing 6th, for the best finish of the weekend.

We are currently third in the EX-LWSB Championship points at NHIS (pg12)

Sunday: Thunderbike Qualifying:
This was the first time I ever qualified for a race. Usually at Loudon they grid you on a first come first serve type basis. Each class was given a 15 minute session to get their best lap time in. For the purposes of not wanting to burn up too much of my tires, I went on the track about 5 minutes into the session.  I had it all planned out. I was going to see about jumping on the back of one of the faster guys and working on my lap times.  Once I ran a decent time, I would then be given the pit in signal from my crew. My plan didn't really come to pass as I spent a majority of the Qualifying session working traffic rather then putting in a good lap time. One lap I went through pit lane in an attempt to catch Guyer, but he pulled in the same lap I caught him. I qualified in with a 1:19 and change; a second off my previous practice session time of 1:18 flat.

Sunday Thunderbike:
I was grided 11th for the race. I got a good start and was in 4th after the 3rd turn. After that point I just went backwards. My corner speed was too slow in several critical places and the competition was able to pick up a solid second while I was still running the same lap times. This resulted in finishing 11th in my first Expert Loudon Classic.

Goals for Next Race Weekend:
For the next race weekend I need to work on carrying more corner entry speed and mid-corner speed. If I am successful in making this adjustment, I should be able to run faster lap times.