Sorry for the double post..

Wow, thats the most words I have ever seen Brad post on a forum! Did
ya have a good time Brad? LOL!!

We had a blast as well, the Road Course people are awesome and
Thunderhill Raceway is really a spectacular place. Right in our
"backyard" too! Im sure we will be making more trips Road Racing now
after this weekend..
















--- In NorcalF200@yahoogroups.com, "Brad" <virtualwun@...> wrote:
>
> Got home Saturday night and Cathy asked how was it? After thinking
> about it a second I said that was the most fun I've ever had in a kart
> my entire karting career. Granted, that is only a couple of years but
> I'm telling you, that was some SERIOUS racing at SERIOUS speeds. Our
> AVERAGE speed was over 70. Not a bad for a little industrial engine,
> eh?
>
> First off the track is AWESOME. When we dropped off the hauler on
> Friday night the first thing we noticed was "The Eagles Nest", an
> imposing ribbon of asphalt coming down this big ass hill. Coming out
> of the left hander that is turn 4 you start going up a hill (30-50
> elevation change) to "the nest". At the top of the hill you have to
> make a left turn (which you can't see). As soon as you apex that turn
> you had better start turning right (not that you can see the track goes
> that way of course) or you WILL be off the track. The Eagles Nest
> claimed a bunch of victims throughout the day including yours truly who
> was leading on the white flag lap.
>
> What is really cool about road racing is all the drafting. I wish I
> would have remembered Billy telling me earlier in the week that we
> needed to hookup and work together. After the morning practice I was
> WAY off his pace, something like 19 seconds a LAP. So when the race
> started I figured that would be the last I'd see of Billy. I didn't
> anticipate that Billy would lose a couple of seconds and I'd be able to
> lop off 16 seconds from my practice times. The result being that after
> a lap or so I realized, holy crap, I can run with these guys.
> WooooHOOO! From then on the lead pack consisted of Billy and I along
> with a few of the WF guys.
>
> Now, had I been smart I would have, like I said earlier, remembered
> that I needed to work with Billy. However, on the second lap or so I
> saw an opportunity to pass Billy. WHAT? Pass Billy??! WOOOOOHOOOO!
> Wondered if I'd ever even keep up with him let alone pass him but there
> it was. Plus, you have to understand that earlier in the day Billy was
> giving me crap about something or another and I popped off "yeah well,
> I'm going to give you the Banty wave (think of making a shark fin with
> your hand on top of your helmet and then wiggling your fingers
> quickly) as I pass yer ass today. He gives me that yeah right,
> surrrrrrre you'll be passing me, keep dreaming kindda look.
>
> But there it was, coming out of turn 2 going into 3….wooooohooooo, I
> can make it!. If you look closely you can see me take my right hand
> off the wheel give him a quick Banty wave as we go into 3 while I
> desperately try and make the turn with my left hand(pretty stupid
> considering we had been flat out since coming onto the front straight
> and were probably doing 75+). Billy ends up passing me back a couple
> turns later (having screwed up the Eagles Nest yet again). The passing
> was fantastic. There were probably 15-20 lead changes during the
> race. At one point I went from 1st to 5th and back to 1st again all in
> one lap.
>
> I've uploaded the video of the first half of the race. Unfortunately,
> the best part of the race is the second half which I didn't capture. :
> ( I hope the weather cooperates in November for the Infineon race.
> For those of you that couldn't make this race you have GOT to check out
> a road race. Personally, if I have as much fun at Infineon as I did at
> TH I may have to become a road racer.
>
> Congrats to Derick on his second place finish in the F200 Cup group.
> So who won? Billy, of course. Being the old cagey vet he is he
knew
> the race was going to be won in a the last couple corners. I, on the
> other hand, was having such a blast running up front (having never done
> that before) that I took the lead at every opportunity. Steve and I
> were talking about the race on the way home and I was kind of kicking
> myself for not working with Billy better. But Steve knew what the deal
> was, probably better than I did. The Banty has led a lot of laps and
> won a bunch of races. I haven't even lead a lap (let alone win a race)
> with Billy in it. At least for that day, if I could lead laps I was
> going to. Now that I've got that out of my system, the next time I'll
> try and run smarter and not take myself out on the last lap running in
> the lead, where you DON'T want to be on a drafting track.
>