Garage162- Midseason Update

Mason Leuck - Jul 22, 2026

In my last post, I made a comment that I felt I would have more time to ride since I had graduated college. This is not the case. Regardless of the hurdles I am going to push through. I continued training heavily on the bicycle, and I am the fittest I have ever been. This season, I am focusing on being more personal with the brands I represent - I have noticed that it has been driving more conversions and feedback has been better as well. With this being my first expert season, it has been a tough fight adjusting to the increased pace and heightened competition but I am super happy with my results. Heres a quick recap

CMP was a blast, I had a great time opening up the season with my friend Alexandros. We ran the two hour ASRA relay together and snagged a 2nd place overall finish. I struggled to work with my tires all weekend, as I am now running the Dunlop R4 rears - they felt greasy and my pace was down a bit from where I wanted it. My GTL race later in the day was cut short when I was rear ended by another rider. This pinched my exhaust to the point the bike could not run - ending my weekend.

Summit Point was a wet weekend - the trackday had weird mixed weather that would’ve been too abrasive for rain tires. I got out in a single session and put in all the work I could to dial in my line.
It was a freezing day for the 2hr endurance race, and unfortunately my partner could not join since the vendors had sold out of rain tires before the trackday had ended. The parts vendor was out of rain suits - so my leathers were soaking through. To avoid being uncomfortable, or even getting hypothermia, I donned a 3mm wetsuit under the leathers and liner gloves. I was warm for the whole two hour race!
I felt good on the tires, and I got into a solid groove - managing to pilot my bike through the entire two hours and securing a first place finish in the GTL class for the two hour. There was a fifteen minute break between the end of the endurance race and the Lightweight GP race I was supposed to enter next. I drank as much water as I could, went back out and had an awesome battle for a 2nd place finish.

VIR is probably my new favorite track to ride on - I had a great weekend racing there and had a blast talking with everyone. The paddock is laid out well, so I spent plenty of time chatting with friends - and even made new ones. This was the first weekend I was able to bust out my new Bison Track suit after a working hard to break it in. I am super impressed with the new fit and finish
I worked hard during the trackday to learn the passing zones and figure out bike setup - I spent a few sessions working on gearing and front preload+compression so I would feel more comfortable into turns 1, 7, 10. I think the setup changes helped a ton and what I learned from it is exceedingly valuable.
for the first day of racing, the rain followed us from Summit - it came during the out lap of the GTL race, forcing us to come in and hold for a timing issue due to a request from track management. It was up in the air as to when we would be back on track. A first call was made with no warning during the rain - we sprung into action, throwing rain tires on the bike in 7 minutes flat. Unfortunately, the rear rim had a damaged tone ring, shutting the bike down - I got a DNS for the session,
Day two started wet, and ended dry. I had some fun tearing up rain tires in mixed weather, with a 4th place finish in the lightweight Superbike class. I played around with dangling my leg off to help support the bike - it felt really wiggly as the tires began to flex and overheat.

We followed up with lightweight supersport - and as the wet cleared away the energy in the paddock returned. Racing really picked up and the pace came back - Lightweight supersport was a great race, I had a great battle with Mark Thompson for the first few laps, I was followed the rest of the race by somebody - I had no idea they were even there! I guess I need to work on my racecraft, they showed me a wheel and I just let up since it was such a dangerous passing zone. I ended in second place.
Lightweight GP was uneventful, but I worked with some advice given to me by the McKellar family and I was able to get down into a 1:39.

Following the experience of VIR - I have really dialed in the tech for the R4 rear tire, and it has been a massive help to have the precise control of the Chicken Hawk Racing digital tire warmers. Another huge benefit is the setup on my rear shock from BobbleHeadMoto, which I have not had to touch once throughout the season.

Next weekend, I will be attending the ASRA races at Summit Point, and the weekend afterwards I will be competing in the N2RA 6 hours of VIR with Alex and Coleman Powersports.

See you guys out there!