We backed up our Formula 5 endurance championship win last year with a win and a top ten overall finish right out of the box this year. As such, we stand as the reigning and current CMRA Formula 5 Endurance champions.
I would like to thank my team-mates Roger Albert and Andrew Sukach. Despite a crash and constantly changing conditions, Andrew managed to set the fast lap time for the team at around 1'51. I would also like to thank Shoei helmets, Bridgestone tires, and EBC brakes for keeping me safe and stuck to the pavement and not out in the weeds throughout my stints.
The race started with a downpour during the sprints, which left the track wet and getting colder as the front moved through. Heavy rains during the break lead to us hand-cutting our slicks, with the hope that it might blow through and start drying out, which it did, but only in the last two hours of the five hour race.
I got to take advantage of my supermoto training in the rain, sliding into corners and bypassing a lot of the EX250's that were literally putting their feet out in certain corners to make it around the turn. During the second stint, dry lines were forming and I got to switch back to the much faster road-race style of riding, but with bent bars and control levers from an earlier crash. As a result, it wore out my shoulders and hands very quickly, getting to the point where I almost couldn't operate the clutch smoothly enough to keep from skittering the bike into corners.
We placed sixth overall, falling down from as high as fifth place as the faster and heavier 250's in Formula 4 could start screaming past me on the power in the last hour, which was mostly dry.
Congratulations also to everyone in the mini endurance, as we went 5 hours with NO red flags. Lots of yellow flags, but no reds, which amazed me.
Thanks also to the Stewarts for their regular and constant help and support. Hopefully the guy that can't figure out how to get around a bike making 20hp with a 180hp R1 will start leaving you alone.