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New Jersey Motorsports Park
 I decided to race the CCS Race at New Jersey Motorsports Park instead of the WERA round at Nelson Ledges because I had binned it at the Summit Point WERA round a few weeks before.
At Summit Point, somehow while running 4th in the Heavyweight Solo I had locked the front wheel while braking for turn 3 and couldn’t believe it. I was practically straight up and down and don’t know how it happened. I had that “what is happening” thought right before I hit the ground and travelled quite a distance since I was going about 100mph at that point. The bike was stuck in gear after the wreck and I became an instant spectator.
I thought “Why try and claw back a 20 point deficit?” so I decided to race the CCS race and meet, greet and provide some Chicken Hawk Racing support for a new group of racers.
So I went on my own to NJMP after being so accustomed to having either someone to crew for me or other racers in the big trailer. I didn’t mind being on my own even and although it was a lot of work, I was pretty relaxed. My friend Kevin Link came to help in the pits for Saturday & Sunday so that was good.
 I had to learn the track which was a bit challenging since it is so technical, but I got going alright by the end of the first day. This feeling of accomplishment was solely by the seat of the pants and not by lap times. Once Saturday practice went off I saw I was mid-pack of the liter bikes in practice on the time sheets and the Ducati 1198S was a handful in the tight stuff. The Thunderbolt course is more of a 600 track than a 1000 track in my opinion. I saw lots of Ducati race bikes in the paddock and knew that many of them were more nimble 848s. I still felt good about my being able to run up front in the Supertwins Class.
Rich of Innovative Motorcycle Research is the regional Pirelli distributor and he wanted me to try the new 190 slick so I stepped up and tried the Pirellis for the weekend instead of the Michelins. They weren’t bad, just different.
The carcass is softer and feels a bit squirmy, but once you get over that difference you realize that the grip level is quite good, feedback is consistent and the tires really did wear quite well. I have to say after years on the Michelin product, the Pirelli tires were very competitive and I liked them a lot.
For the race I had Kevin working our simple Pit Signal System: Plus 0, Plus 1, Plus 2 and Plus 3 in real time as he looks down the straight to see me coming and who is behind me.
 I waited a bit to take the warm up lap and most guys were lined up when I got there, my grid position was inside Row 1. The other guys were lined up about 6 feet in front of the #1 cone. I looked to see if there were painted boxes or something that had them align there but didn’t see any. I waved to a Race Official and shrugged showing him the cone and the other guys wondering if I was in the wrong place, but he just shrugged back. I was confused but thought I’d just line up at the #1 cone like normal.
My start was okay, but not stellar and I was 3rd into turn 1. The 1st & 2nd place guys were going fast and getting a bit of a gap. I tried to stay close and pushed but was not comfortable enough to take any real chances. Kevin showed me the “Plus 0” sign.
Head down and bum up down the straight I broke really late. The gap to the 1st and 2nd place guys was a bit bigger but not much. Once again past Start/Finish and another Plus 0. Hmm, is someone that close or is he being a bit liberal with the use of that signal? I just kept on pushing and trying not to make any big mistakes.
Next lap around I did make a mistake and it killed my drive onto the short front straight and there along side me pulled up my pursuer on an 848; side by side with him on the inside we ran towards turn 1. I waited to see him disappear before putting on the binders and kept the spot…. for now anyway.
I was about 2.5 seconds faster in the race than I was in morning practice and was now hitting the rev-limiter at two places on the track; this had to be killing my speed a bit. One spot was on the little hill after the chicane and normally I was getting up over the front of the bike and keeping the bars light as I crested the hill and would ride this little wheelie.
 This lap I knew my pursuer was right there and as I headed up the hill I spotted a lapper. I knew I had to get him before the fast right that followed so did a little extra work and grabbed the next gear and shifted into 4th and nailed it.
The hill leveled off but the bike didn’t as I lofted a nice big wheelie (and I mean big) over the top of the hill. I rolled off and as the front tire made came down, threw the bike into the fast right. Later someone told how cool it looked as I passed this guy on one wheel and then put the tire down just to turn it into the turn. Glad it looked cool, but I’ll say for the record it was rather distracting and I didn’t do it again.
I saw the Plus 0 every time around but was able to hold onto 3rd spot. I didn’t make any big mistakes and made decent improvement in my lap times. I was content.
When I checked the results later I was scored in 1st. Did those guys run off or something? No, they were docked a lap for a “starting infraction” when they lined up incorrectly in front of the #1 cone. Wow. I guess when a break comes your way just take it with a smile.
Special thanks this weekend to Rich of Innovative/Pirelli Tires, MarkBilt and Kevin for helping me out!
Team Sponsors: Chicken Hawk Racing, Pirelli, Ducati USA, Catalyst Composites, MarkBilt, Heroic, Sportbike Track Time, Ferodo, Sidi, Seacoast, Ohlins, Speedy Moto
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