A crisp fall day in Lawrence, KS

I drove over to Lawrence Sunday to race day #2 of the 360 Cup at Centennial Park.  The 360 Racing guys put together a pretty cool course, with enough variation to appeal to everyone.

The course was pretty well worn in by the time I toed the line for the SS race at 2:00pm - Saturday's race used the same course in reverse.  The dry dusty conditions, and what looked like some fresh sand or top soil made for a few sketchy corners - there was a really sketchy off-camber 180 left hander that was really loose that I had better, and faster, luck running - I could carry a lot more speed into the corner, and my shoes really gripped well in the loose dirt:

There was a set of uphill 1-plank barriers a short way after this, followed by a really tight turny section, then lots of longish power sections with some flowing turns, a sketchy down hill, a set of full barriers and run-up, and a long section of flowing turns thru some small trees before a long run on a bike path back to the finish line.  I felt great, and finished with a top-5.  I still need to work on the back-to-back tight turns, but I did feel a little smoother.

Since it has been really dry here over the past month, I decided to try out my new Clement LAS file tread tires.  I ran them with latex tubes at 32 to 33 psi, and maybe could have run them a pound or two lower pressure.  I was really happy with the cornering - the big side knobs really dug into the harder and grassier corners, and did really well in the loose dirt too.  I think the way the diamonds get a little bigger and taller from the center of the tire to the edge, and puts a big, tall diamond in between the side knobs, really help with the dry cornering.  I think the LAS' are a great dry condition tire, and I'll keep running them if it stays as dry here as it's supposed to.

Thanks again to Roger Harrison for the pictures.