Tom Davis Report

[rramseyr]

Our very own Treasurer Tom Davis competed this weekend at Road America. Tom I won't spoil your report and just ask that you tell us all about it! :stickpoke

[TDESMO]

Here is my Report. Let me know if you guys enjoy it and I will keep writing race reports as the season goes on:

Road America July 3-4

First of all I would like to thank the guys at Indy Ducati for dong a great job on building my Ducati 1098 for the race. We were on a very short timeframe and everyone worked really hard, including coming into the shop on their days off to get the bike ready on time and performing flawlessly. I really appreciated Matt and Will coming up for the race to help me out. Having a veteran racer like Matt to give me advice at my first race did a lot to calm my nerves.

Background: For those of you who have never been to Road America, it is an incredible 4 mile long road course with 14 turns. It has 3 very fast sections including a 3,000+ foot front straight where I was seeing 172 mph on my speedometer. Despite the fast sections many of the turn are technical with heavy braking zones leading to tight turns. I had not ridden on the track for almost 3 months so I did the NESBA trackday as well as the mandatory Learning Curves Race License School. I slowly learned the track and even won my practice race in race school which seemed to be a good sign.

Saturday Race #1-Supertwins:

After a few rounds of practice and what seemed like an endless wait my race was finally called up. I asked for some last minute advice from Matt who told me "go fast, but not too fast" which seemed like solid advice given I did not want to crash out on my first race.

After a warm up lap I took my position at the very back of the amateur grid. Before I knew it the #1 board went sideway then the green flag dropped an we were off. I got a decent start and managed to pick my way through most of the grid. After the first two laps I was able to get through some slower experts and found myself right behind #222, a fast amateur named Tim Ivanoff who would prove to be my main competition for the week. I was pretty wound up and went to deep into 5 briefly passing Tim to take first place on the brakes. Unfortunately I ran it way wide and got a poor drive resulting in getting passed by Tim and Rick Breur who was an expert and my instructor from Race School. I was able to get by Rick Breur on the next lap but by that time Tim Ivanoff was 2 seconds up on me, which was too much for me to close down. I ended up second in Amateurs, which was not bad for my debut, but still a little frustrating given I had gotten too amped up going into turn five and made a stupid mistake.

Saturday Race #2 Heavyweight Superbike

Race #2 was heavyweight superbikes, which was a mix of bikes from the supertwins group as well as some Gixxer 750's. Again I was gridded in the back. This time I wheelied on the start which resulted in me having a lot of slower riders to pick off. By the time I picked off most of the amatuer field my rival from race #1 Tim Ivanoff was about 2-3 seconds up on me right behind another amateur on a black Gixxer 750. I put my head down for a lap but could not close. After that I just focused on being smooth and came in 3rd place behind the Gixxer and Tim. A second podium was nice but I knew I would have too do better on Sunday if I was going to pick up a win.

Sunday Race #1 Heavy Weight Superbikes

Sunday dawned with me feeling tired an a little lacking in motivation. A good practice session cured that and I lined up for the grid relaxed and ready to race. Matt told me to pick up the throttle just a bit earlier in this race to try and get better drive. I gridded up in row #13 and got a pretty good start. I really go my head down as I picked my way through the slower experts in turns one through 3. To my amazement I was able to latch onto the back of a group of 3-4 experts as well as my rival from Day 1 Tim Ivanoff, and the guy on the black 750. To make a long story short I got by Tim on Lap #2 going into the brakes on turn 1. I mad a slight mistake and he got me back the next lap but I passed him again in turn 1 and made it stick on lap #3. I then focused on reeling in the black Gixxer 750. I had a ton of fun dicing it up with the experts for the next few laps but unfortunately couldn't quite get past the Gixxer 750. Second place was a little dissapointing given I was so close to the win, but once I saw my lap times I knew I could win the next race. I had gotten down to the 2:33's which was the fastest amateur lap an more importantly over a second faster than my rival in the upcoming supertwins race Tim Ivanoff.

Sunday Race #2 Supertwins

This was it, my final race and my last chance at the win. As I rolled out of the pits Matt Carr held up the #1 sign with his finger and said "Win or Die" with a smile on his face. Again i was gridded at the back on row #7, but got a decent start and reeled in most of the amateurs and a slower expert or two by turn 3. By turn 4 I had disposed of all the amateurs except for Tim Ivanoff, who was up front by about a second. I rode hard but in control and finally started sniffing Tim's tailpipes by the end of lap 3. I focused on getting good drive and slowly closed the half a second on him by the start/finish line going into the fourth lap. I took the inside position going into turn 1 on the brakes and proceeded to terrifying process of slowing down from 170mph. I ran it tight into turn 1 past Tim and made the pass stick. Now that I was in first, I focused on riding smoothly and defending my lead. I didn't make any mistakes and got to the last turn with minimal drama. Coming on to the front straight I got right on the tail of an expert on an Aprilia 1000 twin and sling shotted past him heading up the hill. I kept my head down and finally hit the finish line taking my first win. It felt great to finally take the win especially against Tim, who was a really smooth rider and good clean competitor.
I will post some pictures tomorrow.

My next race is July 24-25th at Blackhawk farms.

Thanks for Reading,

Tom Davis
CCS #247

[Inglese]

Tom

Congrats - sounds like a very impressive weekend.

[rramseyr]

Congrats Tom!!!!

Can you post your complete schedule for all you upcoming races?

[firemedic]

Love to hear all your results. You have to feel great after a weekend like you had. Congratulations.

[TDESMO]

Thanks guys! Here are some pictures from the weekend I posted in the gallery: http://www.idesmo.org/forums/album.php?albumid=130

Also, below is my race schedule for the rest of the CCS rounds in the Midwest. I will only go to Heartland if I am in contention to win the points in Supertwins:

July 24-25 Blackhawk Farms Raceway Illinois
August 21-22 Blackhawk Farms Raceway Illinois
September 4-5 Heartland Park - Topeka Kansas
September 25-26 Blackhawk Farms Raceway Illinois

[indyducati]

You did awesome man. I don't know what more you could have expected from a first weekend. I should tell everyone that you beat last years winning lap time by about 8 seconds! That is kicking some butt!!