Podium Finish!

Great Sunday racing last weekend. Firebird Main track adds a whole new element of excitement. The track is fast down the straight and fast in the turns!

We entered two races, Middleweight Superbike and Middleweight GP. Morning practice went off well and Skyler was feeling the best he has ever felt on the bike. He was pumped to race. Jim Cox Racing (Dunlop) set us up with a new compound tire that Skyler said gripped better than any before.

We had a long wait through the late morning up to mid afternoon, when our race, Superbike came up. Skyler was set along the back of the grid. The race flag dropped and he had an amazing start slipping through everyone up to the front of the amateur class riders. For nearly two laps he held the amateur class lead and then was over taken in the back turns as he entered a turn too fast and had to check up. He held his position however and maintained third through out the remainder of the race. Skyler finished third in amateur and it was his first podium finish for a CCS race!

As he came off the track, I could see the mixed emotion in his face. He thought he had done well, but was concerned over a new problem. In the last part of the race, his brakes started to fade bad. We had about 40 minutes to the GP race and worked feverishly to resolve the issue. We bled the brakes looking for a line with air, and checked all the fittings... no leaks. We pumped and pumped the brakes and the lever just continued to compress to the throttle grip. We were baffled and up against the clock. In the last minutes, as we watched the other racers get on their helmets and mount the bikes, we knew we were missing the race.

A tough decision but a safe one. There was no way the brakes would hold for an extended 12 lap race like GP. It would have been foolish to try and risk injury to Skyler, the bike and the other riders. We called it a day and headed home for a cold one.

All in all, a long day for one race, but a great finish to be celebrated.