Getting Ready for Loudon Classic
After a bit of a break and sitting out the May 14-15 event, most everything is ready for the 3rd round of LRRS. I'm pretty happy that I skipped the previous round because, as it turned out, Loudon got over 6 inches of rain and the paddock had to be evacuated early Sunday morning due to flooding.

Due to some confusion with my license, I'm going to be running as a novice. I guess my times consistently good enough to be near the front of the amature field and the results from the previous round didn't make up for my midpack finishes on the EX500 against SV650's and spotty attendence in California. The plan now is to put my head down, hopefully get some steady good results and bump back up to amatures ASAP. This is a bit of a bummer because Loudon Classic is the only round on the LRRS schedule, where amatures and experts get to really "strut their stuff" on Sunday with longer races in place of sprints and even a timed practice used for qualifying for the middleweight supersport race. But that's not going to happen for me this year and I instead I will have to settle for the races on Friday and Saturday as follows (my races marked in red):

Thursday June 15
6:00 to 7:30 PM LRRS Registration and Tech. Inspection open.

Friday June 16
7:00 AM Registration and Tech. Inspection open
8:00 AM Practice
11:00 AM Lunch and riders meeting
12:00 PM Rookie Race (3 laps)
Race #1 Am/Ex GTO, GTU (20 min)
Race #2 Nv HW Supersport
Race #3 Am/Ex GTL (20 min)
Race #4 Nv MW Supersport
Race #5 Am/Ex LW Supersport, Formula 50
Race #6 Am/Ex HW Superbike
Race #7 Nv LW Supersport, LW Sportsman
Race #8 Am/Ex UN Superbike
Race #9 Am/Ex LW Sportsman
Race #10 Nv MW Superbike
Race #11 Am/Ex Supertwins
Race #12 Nv MW Grand Prix, Supertwins
Race #13 Nv Ultralight Superbike, Production Twins, Super Singles
5:00 PM Motard setup and practice

Saturday June 17
7:00 AM Registration and Tech. Inspection open
8:00 AM Sidecar Practice
8:20 AM LRRS Practice
11:15 AM Sidecar qualifying
11:30 AM Lunch and riders meeting
12:30 PM Qualifying, 125GP, UNGP, Thunderbike and MW Supersport (15 min. each)
1:30 PM Race #1 Nv GTO, GTU, GTL (20 min)
Race #2 Am/Ex HW Supersport
Race #3 Am/Ex Ultralight Superbike
Race #4 Am/Ex Formula 40, Formula 40 Lights
Race #5 Nv HW Superbike, LW Grand Prix
Race #6 Am/Ex UN Supersport
Race #7 Am/Ex LW Superbike
Race #8 Am/Ex Production Twins, Super Singles
Race #9 Am/Ex MW Superbike
Race #10 Nv Formula 40, Formula 40 Lights
Thunderbike, LW Superbike
5:00 PM Motard setup and final

Sunday June 18
7:00 AM Registration and Tech. Inspection open
8:00 AM Sidecar Practice
8:20 AM LRRS Practice
12:30 AM Lunch and riders meeting
1:30 PM Race #1 Sidecars (6 laps)
Race #2 Nv/Am/Ex Motard (8 laps, road course)
Race #3 Am/Ex MW Grand Prix (12 laps)
Race #4 Nv/Am/Ex 125 Grand Prix (12 laps)
Race #5 Am/Ex UN Grand Prix (15 laps)
Race #6 Am/Ex LW Grand Prix (12 laps)
Race #7 Am/Ex Thunderbike (15 laps)
Race #8 Am/Ex 82nd Annual Loudon Classic (MW Supersport, 25 laps)

The weather forecast doesn't look too promising with showers on Thursday and scattered showers on Friday, but Saturday looks clear for now. It might work out if I can get some dry and wet track time during Thursday practice and develop at least a ballpark wet setup. Who woulda thunk I'd ever be hoping for wet practice?

My friend Aron (the vintage Duc guy) is planning on racing this very weekend, including the Monday road race (closed public roads). Wish I could make it, as it's guaranteed to be an awesome show, but it doesn't look like I'll be able to. Aron, good luck, bud!  ¶ 10:44 AM