This was Miles’s first race weekend at Sonoma Raceway (or Infineon, or Sears Point, or Golden State, or whatever you want to call it). He was a little concerned since he had very little experience there, especially compared to Thunderhill. But nonetheless, it was a great weekend.
Miles was gridded on the third row for the Clubman Lightweight race. He got a pretty good start, but was too tentative in traffic through the first few turns and lost a few places. He slowly clawed his way from 10th on the first lap to 6th by lap 4. And then he had a battle on his hands. Nick (#733), wasn’t giving up 5th place without a fight. On the last lap, Miles passed him on the brakes into turn 9 only to be passed back immediately in turn 10. But then Nick went a little wide in 11, and Miles was able to make the pass on the inside and take the checker in 5th. Awesome race—some of the best dicing Miles has ever been a part of!
Novice 650 Twins was the first race of the day on Sunday. Miles didn’t get a great start, but ran some of his fastest laps of the weekend to put him in 4th place. Then right after he got the checkered flag, Miles saw the yellow flag come up in turn 1 and had to ride around fellow Novice 650 Production racer, Tim (#832), as he layed on the ground. Then the red flag came out—dang. Hope you heal up quick, Tim! Even though there ended up being a bit of chaos during that red flag, big thanks go out to the corner workers for all their efforts at keeping us safe.
Novice 650 Production was the next race. Miles got a decent start and didn’t get balked in traffic this time. He stayed with the expert wave as long as he could, but they slowly pulled away. On the third lap, Miles saw someone off track at the entrance to the carousel, and the red flag came out just as he was turning into 7. Everyone went back to the pits and gridded up after they had a chance to care for the downed rider. Miles got another decent start, but again, the experts slowly walked away. In the end, Miles was the first Novice to cross the finish line. That got him some good points, and put him back in the lead for the Novice 650 Production championship.