Chris' Racing Adventures

Racing in April 2008

2008-04-23T15:42:00.000-07:00

So 30 mph winds helped to make it a challenging race weekend. The wind definitely stole a second or two from the bikes under 100HP and made a few corners quite interesting but I was able to pull out a couple of decent races to nab two 2nd places.

In Formula Twins lightweight, I got the hole shot from the 2nd row, but then Palmer powered by me to the inside at corner 1 (does that mean he got the hole shot?). I stayed right with him almost leaning my body onto his rear tire and then he pulled a small gap to turn 2. I closed the gap through turn 2 and proceeded to keep him in sight for a couple of laps. I would check behind me and saw someone a little ways back and assumed it was the kid Drew. On lap 4 I made a few errors and started thinking that I suck with a gap behind me and that he would probably catch me. Unfortunately for him, Marcus got an oil shower in turn 2 and they threw the red flag on lap 5 giving me 2nd place a few seconds behind Andy.

In 550SBK, I was on the 3rd row and had to navigate through the crowd on the start and was able to tuck in behind Andy again going into turn 3. I figured there were some folks behind me so I tried to keep my pace up as much as I could and turned a few 33's (big breeze remember). Around lap 4, dobson on an FZRxxx came flying by with clearly a bit more motor than me. I then proceeded to outbrake him into turn 1. This kept up for a few laps making for some good racing. I noticed he was leaking water out of the tail and tried to stay clear but my faceshield caught some of the spray in turn 2. I figured it wouldn't be enough to cause any traction issues, but it is still a little disconcerting when your opponent is playing spyhunter and you're just racing.

Around lap 6, he had a little larger gap and led through turn 1 and I tried to pass on the outside but I couldn't hold the line and drifted wide a little. Coming back to the racing line on the left side of the track I felt someone tugging at my left boot and looked down to see a front wheel and fork nudging it. I stayed where I was leaving some room on the left and thought it was probably Drew but wasn't sure.

I stayed close to Dobson for the whole lap and stayed really wide into 9, turned the bike and got on the gas super early so that I could try and draft him a little on the front straight. This kept me close and I was able to outbrake and pass him through turn 1. We were approaching a lapper through turn 2 and right at the entrance to turn 3, I was able to slot just inside of the lapper leaving no real room for Dobson to pass me and hopefully slowing him up a little. I then put my head down the rest of the lap (did a 31.something), and beat him by 0.16 seconds for another 2nd place. It was a great race with some good back and forth riding.

Turns out it was Drew's tire I felt on the exit of 1 and it turns out his front brake lever didn't survive our on track meeting. He was railing through 2 (you don't brake going into 2) and charging into 3 when he said he discovered his loss of front brakes. That is not a feeling you ever want to have, but he said he grabbed a boot full of rear brake and went off roading keeping the bike up and in one piece. Good job on that one and way to keep it up!

Thanks to Dunlop for making a tire that will do 31's in the wind, after flipping, and at the end of their 2nd race weekend (2 practice sessions and the last lap of the 4th race). Thanks to Andy and West Coast GP Cycles for supporting Formula Twins LW and most of the racers and to Little Big Racing for supporting 550 SBK.

May 2007 - Streets of Willow

2007-05-07T13:19:00.000-07:00

Cut to the chase, good weekend, went 3 seconds faster than last month, got the hole shot in all 3 races, got two 3rd's and a 2nd place. One of the 3rd places was in a cash paying class so I got a $40 bonus for my efforts, and the track photographers got some good pictures so all in all it was a pretty good weekend.

http://picasaweb.google.com/chris.speights/0705MayStreets

The longer story is as follows:

Roll up the track late Saturday morning figuring I'll miss one or two sessions but still get planty of track time. Wrong, I got there at 9:30 and wasn't able to get on the track until 1:30 because about 1/3 of the track had oil on it. A dude's drain plug came out and after the belly pan was full and oil was spilling out the sides before he finally realized it. Most people would have crashed with an oily rear wheel, but he was on his first lap going at a red flag pace on the sighting lap..... that was a bummer for everyone at the track, but crap happens....

Got in two sessions, felt okay, but not great, and had some Mexican dinner with Michael and some others to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. Camped in the tent which was alright this time since the wind was pretty low, Kurt wakes me up at 7AM when he gets to the track and I get in the 1st practice session. My front tire is chattering / sliding through turn 1, a 5th gear, knee dragging high speed corner and I decide new tires would be better than another practice session.
Fresh Dunlop slicks with a new 125/80-17 see me into the BOTT MW race to start the day. I get the hole shot, but am taking it easy because I didn't think I scrubbed in and warmed up the tires in a single lap, so I waited until the 2nd lap to really get after it at which point I was already in 3rd and not going to gain on the 2 guys in front of me. Stevan gave me a good battle for a little bit, but I was able to put a little space between us for a solid 3rd.

550 SBK saw me get another hole shot, and I got demoted to 2nd going into turn 4 but was able to hang on to Raff's tail for a little bit. JT Wood got by me pretty early but I was able to repass him going through the chicane on the back straight, it was a pretty fun pass, but I couldn't hold him off since he had me through the esses and the bowl every time. I would pull him through turns 1-4 and 10-13, but that wasn't enough so I took 3rd a second or so behind him. I ended up with a best lap of 1:23.7 compared to his 23 flat. Raff ran a 22 flat so I was within 2 seconds of a KFG and took 2 seconds off my best time from a month ago.

Wood wasn't racing in F-Twins Lw so I figured I would bug Raff as long as I could and then settle down and bring it home in one piece. I got the hole shot again, and thought I had a bigger gap and left a big opening on the inside going into 3 and Raff comes right through surprising me. I lost a little time through the esses and then through and out of the bowl and that was about all she wrote. I worked on lines, body position in left hand corners, and brought her home in a solid 2nd place.

By the way, did I mention I really like that new Dunlop front slick I was running?... I mean it was crap and you shouldn't waste your time running it.... It gave a lot of corner entry feel and let me trail brake when needed with a lot more confidence in the tire. I think the extra sidewall really suits the slight stiffness in the GSXR 1000 forks I have so I was pretty pleased with those.

So a pretty good weekend, and focusing on the SV seems to be paying off. Hopefully some more laps and some new tracks will help me even more this year....

April Racing at Willow Springs

2007-04-17T09:28:00.000-07:00

Well, there was 2 races at Willow this month, one at the 1.8 Streets course and then one at the 2.5 mile classic course. In a nutshell, I did 7 races, got 3 podiums and had one crash... It was a decent month.

I had an okay race at the Streets to start the month. I got the hole shot in Formula Twins LW and in 550SBK and though I couldn't keep the lead, it's always fun to head into the 1st turn with open track in front of you.In the 550 SBK, I blew turn 4 on the 1st lap pretty good, almost went dirt farming but kept it on the track and dropped to 3rd. JT Wood was able to get by me but not get away, but I couldn't get back by him and finished in 4th.

In Formula Twin LW, I got the hole shot again, messed up my entry to the bowl, and Dave Raff got by me (he would have got by me soon enough though). I was able to hang onto a solid 2nd place for my 2nd trophy ever on the SV. Kurt didn't race this one and would have taken 2nd if he had, but oh well for him.

On the EX500, I had a forgettable race in 500MP.... oh wait, except for the fact I backed it into turn 2 on the opening lap trying to pass someone on the inside. This RS250 had passed me on the outside of the gentle turn 1 and then started braking a little early so I gave an inside pass a go. I didn't have the pass made when he started towards the apex and I had to squeeze the brakes that much harder and start leaning the bike in to avoid hitting him and viola, the bike angled slightly and the rear wheel slid out a bit just like the pros, I thought to myself "wow, I'm backing it in...crap think about the race stupid...." Other than that, I got beat by a bunch of faster bikes...

And then in BOTT LW, I was able to hang onto Kenny Kopecky for the 1st lap and thought I had something for him... until I lost rear in the sweeping left turn 3. I had zero warning from the tires and just chalk it up to the poor tire selection that I moaned about last month. The bridgestone DOT's don't fit my rim right and don't give me the grip when leaned over and that's that. Plus, I think my mind was used to the corner speed from the SV and wasn't recalibrated for the EX. Oh well...

So at the big track this month, the EX stayed at home all broken and I focused on the SV650 for once. Long story short, it paid off with two 2nd places and a couple of contigency checks. It was hella windy (for all those of Nor-Cal persuasion) and times seemed to be 1-3 seconds slower than normal. That made my 1:33 in BOTT MW look pretty good and could be my best lap time after adjusting for the breeze factor.

I got 6th out of 13 in BOTT MW and had some really good racing with a Harley 883.... yes that's right a Harley. The thing looked like a wet noodle coming out of every corner with the rear tire protesting being mounted on such an obsolete frame, but the engine would say shut up and let's go and go he did beating me to the line by 1 second.

In formula Twin LW, the race was red-flagged twice. Once for a smoking motor from a guy who would have beat me, and the 2nd time when Andy went flying up into turn 3..... I mean literally flying. I was close behind and had a direct view of his high-siding bike, the sparks, and crazy crash dance moves and am just happy to not hit him and add injury to injury. With two fast dudes on the sidelines, I just had to beat Johnny Rocket and Chris A. which I was able to do so yay for me....

Here is a pic of me chasing the eventual winner, Kevin Jump into turn 1.

The big news of the day was the clever racecraft that left Kurt languishing back in 3rd place in 550 SBK. My extra 2 races in the wind seemed to help me find speed a little better than him in his one race only mode. He had a chance at beating me for sure and got in front on lap 4 but after I repassed him to start lap 5, he probably did us both a favor by not pushing a pass in a tough place with all the wind. My crazy wind pushing me wide entry to turn 9 gave me the drive to hold him off at the line for 2nd place.....

So I gotta throw a shout out to Andy at West Coast GP cycles again because ever since he tweaked my damping settings last month, I've picked up some speed and got some podiums on the SV. Sorry about your crash(es), hope you heal up fast, and thanks for helping make me a little faster. And West Cost GP Cycles sponsor the Formula Twins LW class so a double thanks to them. And thanks to Dunlop and Golden Cantina in Rosamond.

March 2007 Racing

2007-03-19T11:56:00.000-07:00

Here's what I learned this weekend, you need to practice in between races. I practiced on Friday for the first time in probably 6 months or more and instead of racing hard, protecting my line, and trying to score points, I just went out and worked on body position, turn in points, and throttle control. It paid off with a 1:35.5 in practice on old tires that had 8+ races on them.

On race day, I tried out the Bridgestone DOT's on the EX500 and they just didn't work for me. The bike was sliding around a lot (somewhat) controllably though, but it was a bit disconcerting so I didn't have much fun in the 1st two races. The highlight was in BOTT LW racing for 3rd with Ed on his older Duc 650. It wasn't easy to pass him but, I could get by him in turn 8 or out of 9 mostly at will so I figured I would just chill out and set up a last lap pass for 3rd.

Well, he got by two lappers a lot cleaner than I did on the last lap and I wasn't able to drive past him out of 9 so I had to settle for 4th. I think I can beat him more often than not, so maybe next time.

On the SV I had two awesome races. I felt good on fresh Dunlop slicks and Andy from West Coast GP Cycles had helped adjust my suspension a bit on Friday and I was able to race with the front half of the pack in 550 SBK. I followed Kurt hom in 4th, ran laps in the 33's and one in the 32's and beat JC so I was pretty stoked.Kurt skipped Formula Twin LW and I was able to take 3rd running solid 33's and feeling pretty good out there. I got a contingency check from West coast GP Cycles so I gotta thank Andy again for him helping adjust my bike so that I could win his money. I also got into the money for the Dunlop contingency so all in all it was a good race weekend.

It was actually my 1st trophy on the SV so I was pretty stoked. Now Kurt was spectating, Chris Rogers had crashed out of 550 SBK, the 07 SV650 superbike from up North didn't run, and Cody's bike stopped shifting so I kinda lucked into the podium this month, but I feel like I was running respectable times so I'm still pretty darn satisfied....

Here's some awesome photos my buddy Gary took of the 550 SBK race.
http://picasaweb.google.com/chris.speights/March2007WSMC550SBK

September Racing - Recap

2006-11-23T11:26:00.000-08:00

I missed a couple of race reports, so here's a quick recap...

I had a USC game right after the race on Saturday, so I borrowed a truck and just took the EX500 to race.

Jane's motor blew on Friday so my predicted 4th and 5th in 500SS and 500MP turned into 3rd and 4th.

I got the tires flipped, made two practice sessions and did have some traction problems in all the corners due to having 6 races plus about 4 or 5 practice sessions on them. I was having a hard time getting into 39's Zoran and Jim Rau were there, and Michael was into the 38's in practice so I knew I had a tough race day to go.

In the race that matteres, BOTT LW, I got a good jump on the start but was swallowed up by 4 or 5 riders. I was in the middle going into turn 1 and found a little gap to get into 4th or so. Passed someone through turn 2 and then passed Jim and Michael on the brakes going into 3 for the lead.The lead was short lived as Zoran sqeezed by on the inside going into 5. I adjusted my line a little but held the throttle wide open and was staying close at the start of the back stretch and then he just pulled away through 7 and 8. Jim Rau came flying by with some power from his MZ and I'm back to 3rd, but still ahead of Michael....

I keep my head down and want to stay in front of him as long as I can and work on going deeper into turn 1 since I figure he is likely to pass me on the front straight with his SV500 power.At the start of the 4th lap, he shows me a wheel going into 1 but I brake later and hold onto 3rd. I keep my head down and at the start of the 5th lap, he shows me 2 wheels on the inside going into 1. I go as deep as I can and am able to get back in front before the apex. The braking and jockeying apparently ruins his drive and I gap him a bit.

I take the white flag and am catching Jim Rau for 2nd, which probably helps a lot since it's easier to go fast with a carrot dangling out in front. I reel him in bit by bit and think I might actually pass him. He comes up on some lappers in 9 and I see a possible pass on the inside of him and the lappers, but I see a lapper hug the inside a bit and decide that an outside pass on the lappers is safer and maybe I can get a drive on him anyway.

Well, I am completely focused on racing for 2nd and am not even sure where Michael is, but am right behind Jim coming out of 9 but once in his draft, my little ninja 500 can't pull any more and the gap is steady to the finish... 0.14 seconds. Michael finishes another .3 or .4 seconds behind me for a very close 2-3-4. One more lap and Michael might have had 2nd instead of 4th... Another day another race perhaps.

Awesome race for sure, I'm sure the rest will be as exciting. If you want to see some good club racing, come on out and watch us battle for the class championship over the next 3 months.. it promises to be good racing or your money back.....

November Racing - Photo Finish Provides Some Big Excitement

2006-11-23T10:34:00.000-08:00

I did two races on my SV650 and two on my EX500 this weekend. Went to the USC - Cal game the night before so no practicing, just show up early Sunday and start racing.

I holeshotted the 550SBK race and led all the way to turn 3 when Kurt Whittington and Brant Wiwi (the new #1 rider in the club) came by on the brakes. I chased as well as I could, but on the 2nd lap, I had Wiwi speed through turn 1 and apparently I am not Wiwi because I took a good 4th gear trip through the dirt. The front end started chattering and sliding and I had to pick the bike up and head off the track. I kept it up (thank you Supercamp), got back out there and passed a few people to end up 12th out of 21 or so. Nice salvage....

Here's my holeshot on the 1st lap, there are 20 people chasing me from behind at this point and I'm leading the race! (for a little while at least:) )

500MP was pretty uneventful on the Ninja 500, I just wanted to get a feel for the bike and the Michelins I just started running last month. 6th out of 9 with a KTM from a different class costing me 5th by stuffing me into turn 1 every time and allowing 6th place to catch and pass me on the last lap....

Here I am on the grid waiting for the start. #676 (middle of photo) in case you forgot.

Here is the start for 500MP, I bogged the EX500 a litle but still got a decent start. The other three guys are on faster bikes nd always beat me anyway so it's good when I can hang with them for a lap or so.

Formula Twins LW on the SV650 was pretty uneventful for me too, 8th out of 13. I just wantd to go a comfortable speed and stay in one piece before my last and most important race. Consistent 37's with an odd 36 thrown in and I just wanted to keep it together before I had the big race...BOTT LW where I have a 5 point lead.

Last month, I passed Michael on the last lap and he was able to repass me easily out of turn to the finish with his xtra horsepower. So for this month, I did a little work to the EX500, dropped a little weight and added a horsepower or two. I threw in some high octane race gas just before he race, but this made the EX500 sputter on the starting grid (shouldn't have used the 3 month old racegas). The green flag waves and the bike bogs and won't accelerate off the start. I'm watching Michael get another great start and about 6 monkeys in between him and me. I'm disappointed in my start, but focused on catching him.

I was able to pick everyone off one by one and was in 2nd place by the end of the 1st lap... I was on a mission. The KTM showed me a wheel on the outside of turn 3 and I held my line and kept 2nd and then Thomas passed me going into turn 8 (we're going maybe 110 MPH or so there), and then moved over towards me to make some more room for him. The worst case scenario is for someone to finish between me and Michael. I can live with him beating me, but not someone taking more points from me with my miniscule 5 point class lead.

I cut to the inside coming out of turn 8 behind him and I swoop in super deep on the inside of turn 9 while he is setting up from the outside and never look back, only forward to Michael. I spend the next 4 laps racing like I haven't raced in a while and his 40 bike lead becomes 30, then 20, then 10, and then 5 on the last lap. I have a big rear wheel slide coming out of 4 trying to set up a turn 5 pass and couldn't quite get there, but he leaves room on the outside of the exit of 5 and I take it and make a beeline for the turn 6 apex while he sets up wider. I take his line, take the lead, and just need to hold on for a half a lap.

I go deeper than deep into the last turn, turn 9, a little towards the middle to protect the line and then dirt track style, one arm behind the back to the finish. Last month, same scenario and he drafts me easily for a win by 0.15 seconds. This time with a little more horsepower and maybe a little more speed through turn 9, it looks like I might hold on but here comes Michael inches to my right.

I look at our wheels as we cross the line and think I have it by 1/2 wheel. I'm stoked, I extended my lead, I had some smoking laps, and was able to cement the class lead. We exit the track and find out I was 0.003 seconds ahead at the scoring line and Michael is gutted. I feel for Michael, but I felt happier for me....

Think about that; three one thousdanths of a single second. There are 333 of those in every second! At 120 MPH, that is a difference of only 6 inches!

Here I am returning to the pits after this epic battle!

We start packing up and wating for the results to be official and am reminded by the folks in the registration that the timing line is not the finish line, the finish line is 10 feet further. I find this out an hour later when I go to pick up my 1st place trophy and they tell me the manual scorers had Michael ahead at the finish in a 4-0 decision (4 people hand score every race and all 4 said he beat me). The race director thought I might have had it but had to defer to a unanimous decision. My math says he would have had to go 126 MPH to my 120MPH to close up 1/2 foot in the distance of 10 feet. I would love to see a true photo finish and I may always wonder, but rules are rules and I have to go with the scorers and a 4-0 decision is good enough for me..... Congrats Michael, your earned the heck out of this one!

December will be the big showdown, my lead is down to 3 points and I must finish ahead of or immediately behind him for the class championship. Not sure how that impacts race strategy, but we both have to get out there next month and get it done.... If I get 1st or 2nd, I win the class, but no matter what, I can't finish any worse than right behind Michael. Stay tuned...

August Racing - One Pucker Inducing Slide

2006-08-23T10:32:00.000-07:00

Well, I got my SV back this month from Zoran with an engine that doesn't leak water and forks that don't leak oil....yay. I also replaced my 6 piston GSXR 1000 brakes with some 4-piston GSXR 600 brakes to hopefully give me a little more feel on the brakes (since my one crash on it was under the brakes in turn 3).I also did some minor crash repairs to the EX from my dirt tracking experience last month. Realign the handle bars to the wheel, a little fiberglass repair and some touch up paint and she was good to go....

So Friday night, I get the truck and trailer all loaded up and head to the gas station to fill up so I can get a fast departure in the morning. It's 11PM at night, I just finished filling up the truck, and I go to start the truck and with a bright flash of the lights, the truck flat out dies. I turn the key off and the dash lights gradually come back on but when I turn the key, everything goes dark..... the battery had obviously taken its Metamucil because it just took a fast dump.... I had my tools in the truck so I whip out a volt meter and confirm the battery is kaput... 5 volts and change....

So I'm stuck at the gas station with my bikes and gear wondering how much practice time on Saturday this will cost me and then someone offers a jump start. I try it and the truck starts but idles rough. I turn on the lights and the engine starts to die so I turn them off real fast. I get going and then turn on the lights and limp the truck home working purely off of the alternator. As I roll to a stop in front of my house, the engine starts to die and then nothing.....

I can't find a 24 hour store with batteries so I have the idea to put an old (and tiny) Mazda Miata battery in the Landcruiser. I charge it all night and then plop it into the huge battery box under the hood. It looks like you just installed a AAA battery into the space for a D battery but it started! I figure I can buy a full size battery up in Lancaster, but I just want to get up there first…. (note the Miata battery worked all weekend up there and back… amazing!)

Why this huge lead-in? Because this is the life of a lowly club racer, one small challenge after another that the pros never even think about much less have to deal with.... It would be nice to just arrive and ride, but that is not the life of a club racer... we have more drama.

Hey, so on to the racing.

First race is 550 Superbike. I get an okay start but bounce off the rev limiter in 1st and 2nd gear (the bike fools me by pulling hard at redline) and I lose a few positions. I settle into a nice pace and Ryan Sturz passes on the outside into turn 9 but doesn’t get away. I decide to follow him for a while and see where he’s strong and where he’s not. He’s definitely faster through 9, but I might have him a few other places.I can almost pass him, but I decide to hold off until later in the race because I am not going to catch anyone else and my best finish possible would be just in front of him.

At one point I catch a glimpse of Angel getting close to me going into 3 so I take a more defensive line and pick up the pace a little to get even closer to Ryan.With 1 ½ laps left, I decide to make my move through 7 and into 8 where I’ve got a little bit of speed because I keep getting a better drive out of 5 and 6 than he does (and an extra 10-15 HP probably ). I get in front of him and go deeper into 9 and stay farther outside where he passed me last time. That lap turned out to be my personnel best of 1:32.6 and I tried to do the same thing on the final lap.

I’m smoking through all the turns, but have a huge rear wheel slide coming out of turn 4B. The rear steps out, I roll off the throttle and the bike snaps to attention wanting to high side me off to the left. I come off of the pegs and the seat and am doing a gymnastic pose over my left handlebar; the bike wiggles a bit more and stabilizes itself. I fall into the seat dragging my feet behind me, pick them up onto the pegs, and get back onto the throttle hard into turn 5.

I let up a little through 8 and 9 not sure what my rear tire will do, but manage to stay just ahead of Ryan and beat him by a few bike lengths at the finish for 5th place out of 19. When I saw my lap time, I could not believe it, I dropped a full 2 seconds off of my previous best! In fact, the idea of me doing 32’s scared me a little and I decided a slightly slower pace was more appropriate for the next race to make sure I bring the bike home in one piece.

Here is a great video of the race from Eric Angel's bike as he was stalking me for much of the race. The orange 595 bike is Ryan Sturz. http://www.wsmc530.com/vids/550SBK_August_2006.mov

So in Formula Twins Lightweight, even though I got a great start and was in 3rd place going through turn 2, I knew some faster guys were behind me and gave them room to come by on the inside. Too bad Kurt already committed to passing on the outside so I made it a really wide turn 2 for him…. That should have taught him to stay to the inside later in the race but unfortunately he went soil sampling while passing a lapper on the outside in lap 6.

I settled into a nice pace and kept checking behind me to see if anyone was coming. I saw someone (Charles Abdi) maybe 20 bikes back and just kept my steady pace (1:35’s or so). I came up on Tim Martinez who is normally fast, but he seemed to be putting around out there for some reason and I was able to easily pass him through turn 8. I wasn’t going to catch the lead group so I just maintained that pace and was able to finish in front of Tim and Charles with a comfortable pace and a comfortable margin. I was pretty proud of going just as fast as I needed to get the best finish that was possible. Turns out Kurt’s crash caused a red flag on lap 6 and I finished 4th out of 8 (with Kurt getting a DNF even though he didn’t directly cause the accident).

500 Mod Prod on the EX, more racecraft…. I am not as fast as Sturz, Angel, and JC on their FZR’s but I was chilling in 5th. I rode nice and steady and saw Jane catching me and she was able to power by me through turn 8. I decided to just follow her around for a while and make a move later in the race rather than let her follow me around and make me the prey. I was faster than her through 2 and into 3 and I showed her a wheel on the 7th lap around the outside of turn 2. That was probably a mistake because when I was going for the real pass on the final lap, she picked up the pace a bit through there and I could only get next to her. She ran the exit pretty wide towards me but had to set up a little for turn 3 and I went deeper than her on the brakes and got in front. I upped the pace and was just able to stay in front of her by about 0.4 seconds at the line for a 5th place finish. Again, I went just as fast as I needed to get the best position possible. No way I could get 4th, but I felt like I earned my 5th.

And finally, the race of races, Battle of the Twins LW. I have a 1 point lead over Michael and he brings out his secret and brand new class killer SV500. I’m on pole position and he is right next to me and we’re off. Larry Cochran got his usual hole shot on his 600cc single (light weight equals fast acceleration off the line). I tuck in behind him through turn 1 and was able to pass him going into turn 2 and try to check out a bit. I start to check out but also start to feel my tires squirming around. Ghosts of the rear wheel slide form earlier or something real? I try to keep a constant gap and seem to extend it a little up to lap 3. I run into some lappers on laps 4 and 5 and get held up a little and WHAMMO, Michael comes flying by to take the white flag leaving us with one lap to go.

I know I used to have turn 1 corner speed over him but don’t catch up much at all. Ditto through turn 2, but he drifted a little wide on the exit of 2 and I got a good drive out of it. I reel him in a bit and decide to go for it under braking into turn 3. He goes a bit wider than I was expecting on the entrance to 3 so I go up the inside for the lead. I’m going a little slow for the 4th gear I am in and the bikes bogs a little, I grab 3rd and take off. I guess I got a good drive out of 5 (again) and although he reels me back in through turn 9 as we are both avoiding oil dry on the track, I beat him by 0.14 seconds at the finish to take my 4th victory in the class this year. Turns out I lowered my lap time by about 3 seconds on that last lap so it definitely takes a little head to head competition to get my best.

So some drama to get to the track, a new best time of 1:32.6, 1st-4th-5th-5th, I keep a small BOTT LW point lead, extend my rookie expert point lead, and I got to practice some true racecraft. Not a bad weekend….

July Racing - Podiums and Snot Bombs

2006-07-17T15:58:00.000-07:00

Warning: Parts of this post are not for the weak of stomach....

So here's the drill on race day: Wake up at 5AM, hop in the truck at 5:15 and start driving the 100 miles to Willow. Get to Willow Springs at 7AM and immediately pull the wheels off the EX because the rubber is shagged. Take tires to Michelin tent for their extra contingency and find out there are no tires in the right size for me so I take them to Dunlop and find out they don't have DOT's either. Get slicks instead, take tires back to pit and realize I'm missing a wheel spacer. Spend 20 minutes scouring the pits, the Michelin tent and the Dunlop tent and on a 2nd pass, find it buried in the dirt where I had unloaded the wheels from my truck. Get the wheels on, check pressures, add transponder and get to tech. I missed the first practice session but did the 2nd one and did a 1:38 so things were starting to look up.

There was a small grid in 500ss and I started from spot 25 (the back row) instead of the front row (18) by mistake. Turns out 25 was my starting spot for the 500MP race not the 500SS race, doh.Still, I get a good start and am neck and neck with JC until he pulls me with that fizzer power. Ryan gets by me too before turn 1 and I spend 6 laps chasing them around in 3rd grabbing my 1st podium in 500ss (Angel was MIA or else I would have gotten 4th like last month)

For 500MP I gridded on the front row like I was supposed to and got a good start but again JC powers ahead into turn 1, but wait Sturz is still behind me, I better stick to the inside (since I started at the leftmost of the track). Well Ryan passes me like I just shot his dog and left me a choice to either hit him or run up on the curb on the inside. The bike goes crazy as I run over the inside curb at something like 70 mph (maybe faster I don't know), my feet are kicked off the pegs, I'm dabbing / dragging my left foot going towards the desert but was able to make an awesome turn at the exit to stay within spitting distance.... and I am pissed off.... I start riding like a mad man and do a 1:37.8 in the hopes I can return the favor and then whammo, JC gets run off the track coming out of 4. He kept the bike and his speed up and was able to rejoin just a little ways behind me so I knew he would catch me.

Did I mention I have a knarly flu / cold thing going on right now? Well one thing about the 104F heat and a cold is that it is hard to stay congested as crap just continually drains from your sinuses. Well I take a peak behind me to my left on the front straight, the negative pressure flips up my visor and literally sucks a ton of snot straight out of my nose and onto my glasses and face shield. When I look forward again, I can't see out of the left side of my visor or see through my glasses. Great, I just got hit by my own snot bomb.

JC gets by me, I grab 3rd, my first podium in 500MP and I clean off my glasses and visor for the one I really care about, BOTT LW.

I'm gridded on pole and take my rightful position, get an okay start but Larry got a better one and got the hole shot into 1. I got a drive out of 1 and crept next to him into 2 and made the pass on the inside for the lead. Meanwhile the Vintage Heavyweights are zipping past us and then going slower in turn 2 and I pass one of them. I close up on another one going into 3 and settle a few feet behind him for the turn. Going up the hill out of 3, I see his rear tire just come around with a power on low side. I stay in the corner as much I can and almost missed him but the spinning bike was staying on the exit line and I couldn't turn anymore and I ran over the rear tire, the bike and maybe part of the rider. Right when I hit the bike I picked mine up straight, kept it upright and ran into the dirt. I really tried to ride it up the dirt hill and hopefully back onto the track, but my line put me on a sideways slope and the front just washed down the hill side and I was dumped off on the right.

I was in the class points lead, I had the lead of the race and I was impacted by another race class going off as the same time as us, that stinks! I was a little upset while I was standing waiting for the crash truck, but luckily I wasn't really hurt and the bike wasn't really that bad. I know I could have kept racing it and maybe salvaged a decent finish, but they don't let us do that sort of thing and usually I like that rule (when it's the other guy's crashed bike), but this time I thought it stunk.

So two trophies, decent rookie points with my 500MP finish, a snot bomb, and a mild crash. Every weekend is something new!

June Racing - Boy it was hot out there

2006-06-19T11:29:00.000-07:00

It was a pretty warm race day and I could not drink enough water to keep hydrated. The winds were calm for the first few races and started to pick up later making turn 8 pretty interesting at times.

So I didn't race the SV since it is waiting on some gaskets to get replaced so I rode the EX in 500ss, 500mp, and BOTT LW....

The 500 races against the Fizzers were fun, I finished 4th in both of them and kept the lead pack within sight for a first lap or two and had some good racing with Amy #72. In 500MP, I experienced my biggest slide ever going through turn 3 with the front just pushing / chatterring and carrying me out the edge of the track. I was at full lean with my knee on the ground and I had to let off or else the slide was going to take me into the dirt, but the more I let off the gas and picked it up, the more the front kept sliding. The tire must have slid for 20 feet or more with a stick-slip and then about 2 feet from the edge of the track it finally grabbed hold for good and I could finish the turn.I slowed down a bit but was able to keep Amy a little behind me at the finish... but she was coming to get me for sure....

In 500SS, same deal, I was in front of Amy and she was coming for me again, this time she was able to get right next to me going into turn 1 and all the way through turn 2 with 2 laps to go. We were probably within a foot of each other on the exit of turn 2 with her on the outside of me and me really hoping I didn't slide out wide and wreck us both.... I was able to just stay in front and hold her off by 0.4 seconds at the line... woo hoo good racing.

Finally, I raced in BOTT LW which is a DIFFERENT class from Formula Twins LW. Too bad John Wood didn't realize that as he entered his SV650 in this 500cc class. I got the hole shot, diced with the heavyweight vintage doods a little and then was passed like I was on a tea break by this green bike that looked like an SV. I thought maybe he was in a different class maybe gridded wrong or maybe it was an SV500 but either way I needed to keep up my pace. I ran all my laps really consistent, got through the traffic really well and was able to cross the line 12 seconds ahead of the next racer, Larry. Originally it was posted as 2nd place, but after asking Kurt who was here on an SV500 and realizing that John was actually on an SV650, I had to file a protest and John withdrew (was he going to withdraw anyway or try to take his cheater bike trophy ) making me 1st place.

So 4th-4th-1st is good points for the club, for BOTT LW and for the rookie points so it was a great weekend of racing. Now to replace those sliding tires.....

May Racing - The SV's Back

2006-05-22T19:04:00.000-07:00

Well, I got everything sorted on the SV and was ready to get back out there this month. First thing Saturday at the track, I put some new tires on the SV because I had no faith in the ones I crashed on. While the tires were getting mounted I took the EX out for the first practice session and just wanted to get back into a groove. Everything felt pretty good and I decided to work on my corner speed through turn 9 and turn 1 more than anything. I didn't worry about braking very deep for the corners, I just worried about carrying a bit more speed. I did the same on the SV using only 1 finger for all my braking. Working on corner speed let me start getting my knee down in turn 9, 1, and the entrance to turn 4. Unfortunately, this would mean I would wear out a knee puck this weekend leaning on my knee a little too much in the corners. Just working corner speed and not trying too hard, I managed a 1:37 on Saturday on the SV so things were looking pretty good post-crash.

On race day, I was in 4 races and took just one practice session on each bike. I started off in 500 Mod Prod and got a mediocre start but was able to pass a few folks in the first lap and was cruising in 5th at the time. I wasn't going to catch anyone in front of me and would check over my shoulder once in a while. Someone was slowly catching me and I tried to just put in consistent laps. Well JC had a mechanical from a battle for the lead putting me into 4th, but then Amy passed me pushing me back to 5th. She passed me on the 2nd to last lap or so and although I was able to stay with her I didn't quite have the speed anywhere to get by her. I might have had a chance on the last lap, but we got lapped by a couple of heavy weight bikes and I figured I should settle for my position rather than risk anything in my warm-up race.

Next I took the SV out for Formula Twins Lightweight, I got a decent start and was in 8th out of 17 off the start but caught a false neutral going through turn 2 with my foot accidentally touching the shifter. Catching neutral in the middle of a corner really messes up your line and the balance of the throttle and the leaning and I pulled in the clutch, ran wide, and collected myself. I clicked it back into gear, eased the clutch out and got back on the throttle. Cory Mann passed me on the inside and I spent the next couple of laps trying to catch back up to him. We ended up dicing back and forth for the rest of the race with a few guys chasing us 5 and 10 seconds back. It was great racing and we were each fast in different areas on the track so it made for a lot of fun. I was able to get a drive on him going through turn 5 and pass him up and over turn 6 and held him off for a small gap at the finish. Racing with Cory helped me do my new personnel best time of 1:35.5 seconds, a full second faster than last month.

Next was the Lightweight Twins race on my EX where I am in 2nd in points to Michael. The wave in front of gets the green flag and Michael takes off with them. Everyone is confused and can't figure out why he went, but he obviously didn't see the guy standing in front of us with the red flag since he was way over on the right side of the track on pole. I put that out of my head and focused on getting a good start. The green flag waves and I'm off. I hear and see Larry Cochran to my left and we are neck and neck going into turn 1. Last month he flew up the inside of me off the start and I decided I needed to be a little more aggressive and went a little deeper and crept inwards to make his line even tighter. It worked and I had the lead going through turn 1. I knew there were some fast EX's behind Larry so I wanted to just check out and hope they had a hard time getting by him.

I ran a semi-lonely race in the lead and never really saw anyone behind me except for people in the 1st wave (other class) lapping me. I kept thinking I need to keep up speed so no one catches me, but don't crash from the lead. I ended up passing Dan DeBry through turn 2 and he was off the pace. Turns out he had a mechanical so that was one of the fast EX's I could stop worrying about. I ended up catching and lapping Michael as he was coming to terms with a new size and brand of tires.

In the end, I was the only one in the class to not get lapped which means I pretty much did the last lap by myself and could only have lost if I crashed. I slowed down by about 1 second, but it would have been nice to have a pit board to tell me to cruise that last lap.... My second win and this should put me into the points lead for the class. There are plenty of bikes and riders who can circulate 4 or 5 seconds faster than me, but until they start showing up, I'll keep trying for the wins.

There was a little break for me to soak in my win and then late in the day I had my last race, 550 Superbike. I got a really good start and was a close 6th going through turn 1 and into 2. Ryan Sturz came flying by me in turn 2 on his FZR 400 and put me into 7th but I was still within spitting distance of the fast lead pack. I was really surprised I was able to stay so close all the way up to turn 9 but they all got through 9 a bit quicker than me and started to put the distance on me bit by bit. I knew someone was kinda close behind and pretty soon, Cory comes by me on the brakes going into turn 1. I was purposely not going so deep on the brakes but I was much faster through and out of turn 1 and passed him back almost every time. This went on for many laps in either turn 1 or 3 and then I got smart. If I was in front, I started my turn from closer to the middle of the track to really take away real estate on the inside. I then tried to gap him with my corner speed and I was able to pull a couple of second gap on him with a lap to go.

On the last lap I messed up turn 5 pretty good and lost my drive on the back straight and apparently he really closed the gap through turn 8 but I did pretty well through turn, dragging my knee and powered to the finish line through some oil dry powder on the left side of the track to try and throw up a smoke screen :) I took 7th out of 17 by 0.8 seconds over Cory and was super stoked. When I check the results, I saw I had a new personnel best of 1:34.8! I literally jumped up in the air when I saw that because it was way faster than I expected this weekend. I'm only 2-3 seconds off of an occasional podium and 3-5 seconds off the very fastest dudes (and girls!).

So I had a 5th, 8th, 1st, and 7th, a new personnel record to be proud of and a nice big trophy for the mantle. If they let me compete for the top rookie award, I should be in the lead with my 2 race wins. And I should be in the top 30 in club points so all in all it was a great weekend. One last note is my engine is weeping a bit of water out a gasket and needs a minor refresh to replace the base gaskets. Looks like I am going to give the bike to Zoran next week to redo the top end and also repair a leaky fork seal. As much as I like to work on vehicles, I just have too much going on to take a couple of weeks to work on it in my garage. Plus Zoran's the best with these SV650 engines so I think I actually trust him more than me on this one.....

Well, this has been a long race report, there was a lot to report so there ya go. Thanks to Gary for being my crew chief on Sunday and helping me out and thanks to my Dunlop tires for sticking real nice like and thanks to Eric (Clif Bar) for hooking me up with the Clif Blocks because they are really critical to give me the energy to get out there and race when I have the nauseous nervous feeling. And thanks for nothing to the Twin Works guys for putting me 3 positions lower racing the SV... :)

New Paint on SV

2006-05-14T22:39:00.000-07:00

Well, I've pretty much finished with the repairwork to the body. I could definitely do a better job if I did it again, but I'm pretty pleased overall. It at least nice to look at from a few feet away or going 100 MPH.

Fixing the SV

2006-05-12T13:30:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm about a week away from the May race and I'm almost ready to go. I've got the rearset fixed, a new CRG clutch lever with an adjustable leverage ratio to hopefully make the starts easier. I went ahead and replaced the frame sliders since they were warped a bit, and I had to realign the triple clamps.

The most work was on the body. With a few pieces of missing fiberglass and some cracked / stressed fiberglass in a few places, I had to put a little elbow grease into the body work. I repaired and patch and reinforced all of the fiberglass and sanded it all down to smooth it out. I was able to pick up an extra tank from a coworker and although it had a few small dents, it was nothing close to the big dent in my tank from the crash.

I was able to smooth the small tank dents in the new one and after much prep work, had all the bodywork ready to paint. After investing in a nice gravity feed HVLP spray gun, I got to work in my makeshift paint booth in my back yard.

You can see the yellow tank with the dents repaired and primed and the other bodywork with a guide coat of primer. I sprayed everything with sealer first, then the tail and upper fairing got sprayed white. I taped off the number plate areas and then used a pearl silver from AutoAir Colors on everything. Finally, I taped off some flames on the front fender and the tank and did my best impersonation of American Chopper. Here are the results sans clearcoat.

I've still got to clear coat them this weekend, but it's almost ready. Put on the clear, put on my numbers and a few other stickers and I am almost ready to go. Hopefully this new paint job will help motivate me to keep the rubber side down.....

April - 1st Crash, 1st Win

2006-04-17T15:53:00.000-07:00

What a great weekend for racing! I had a blast. Ups and downs, but not in that order...

The weekend started out with my first ever crash...ever... street or track... I was going into turn 3 on Saturday. I was 4 laps into my first session, running about 90% trying to get the feel for the weekend and suddenly I realize I am way too fast going into turn 3. I wasn't sure why at the time (I think the breeze at my back was helping), but I had to squeeze the brakes that little extra to get to "my" speed through 3 and boom, the front tucks and there I am sliding and thinking crap, I'm crashing. I just got my SV last month and here I am tearing it up. I felt like I was within the limits of the bike, the rear was a little light and loose, but before I knew it I was testing my leathers. The damage is a little bodywork, a dented tank, and broken rearset, not too bad but I wasn't going to duct tape it together for the race.

So I turned my attention to my little EX. Practice was okay but I was slow. Part breeze, part old tires, and mostly post crash jitters. I put a new rear tire on and felt much better out there and was excited for Sunday. My 500MP and 500SS were okay, I get decent starts, get passed by FZR's before turn 1 and had a few battles on my way to two 7th places.

For BOTT LW, I was gridded 3rd with Larry the Birthday Boy Cochran to my right and Michael Gougis on pole. I got a decent start, but Larry absolutely throws that single cylinder into turn one and passes me on the inside and just amazes me. Unfortunately his single cylinder doesn't poke through the breeze as well as me EX so I get by him. I'm chasing down Michael thinking I can catch him and just trying to go as fast I can. I'm getting through turn 9 way better and on the third or fourth lap, I'm zipping through 9 in 5th gear at 9000 rpm or so and right at the apex, Kenny K. comes flying by me on the outside with about 15 mph more speed (maybe more!) and seems to be at the start finish line before I even reach the pit entrance. I was laughing my ass off the whole front straight thinking about how awesome that just was to get passed by Kenny right when my mind is telling my cojones that this is as fast as turn 9 can be taken.... I hope I didn't impede him and I hope I was riding a good consistent line, but that was the 2nd best moment of the race.

The best moment was getting by Michael and holding off him and Dan in order to take my first ever 1st place. Me and Michael had some good racing back and forth and it was a blast, but unfortunately his bike had some issues on the last lap and he dropped 5 seconds or so to third. Even so, it was tough to pass some lappers and to get passed by the big twins and catch him at the same time so it was a very gratifying victory for me. I even posed on the podium with my trophy. And a huge thanks to Hope (Larry's mother in law) for sponsoring the class this weekend as that was a pleasant surprise when I picked up the trophy and thanks to Larry for having a birthday so that Hope would sponsor the class. Happy birthday Larry! Now to use that money to help repair the SV and to donate to the corner workers bonus. Great weekend!

New Bike for March

2006-03-28T12:05:00.000-08:00

Well, since I had run a 1:37 on my EX, I decided I wanted to get a more competitive machine where the machinery would not make the difference in where I finished. I am sure there are a few more seconds left in the EX, but I was convinced a nice SV650 could get me to the low 1:30's if my talent will let me. So I looked around and found a race prepped SV650 up in San Francisco. Got a decent deal on it considering the engine work, the suspension work and the spares that I got.

On Saturday, I rode the new bike for the first time. It was strange! It felt like I was riding on top of the bike compared to the EX. In fact, when I adopted my normal riding position on the SV, I almost fell off! I had to stop hanging off so far and let the bike do more work. It had a gob of power available although it has some teething issues with air being sucked into the intake boots under the carbs. I finally figured out that chopping the throttle all the way closed would suck the carbs back down and would seal them up. Mental note, fix that prior to next race.

After thinking about why I was almost falling off, I came to the track on Sunday ready to race. With a few adjustments to my riding position, I felt much more stable and in control of the bike in the morning practice so I was looking forward to a nice easy race.

Well, I hadn't practiced starting the new bike and was worried about making a clean one at a minimum. As the flag dropped, I eased off the line and then started to open her up. The front wheel started coming right up and I chopped a little too much but was right back on the gas. I was mid pack going into turn 1 and was just trying to ride a nice consistent line. I passed one or two people through turn 2 and was following a small group of bikes coming out of 2. They all slowed a bit more than I would have and I felt like I could go up the inside into turn 3. So I passed three bikes under braking and then figured out I was still too hot into 3 to make the corner so I had to hold the bike up a bit longer instead of turning in. This effectively turned into a block pass and I paid for it when Cody was on a normal racing line and we collided a bit. Both of us stayed up so all is good after the fact, but his left side (radiator) collided with my muffler leaving a little dent and my rear wheel skipped inwards a bit. I was able to get into the turn and get into 4a but I was a little shaken and let up between 4 and 5 to regain my composure (and because I felt bad that I might have blocked someone off of the track since I didn't know at the time that Cody kept it up). So the three bikes I passed went by and then I tagged onto the tail of them to try to chase them back down after settling down a bit.

I don't recall anything else real significant except the rider with the pony tail (girl) was gradually creeping away and I didn't feel like I could safely close up the gap at all. On the last lap there was a yellow flag on the back straight and I let up so as not to pass a single I was lapping. Boom, JC and Clinton come flying by me on their FZR400's and passed me under yellow, and then I realized it was only a standing yellow and I could have passed the single. Once I realized that, there was a waving yellow and I definitely couldn't' pass then. So I set up real wide going into 9 so that I could get an early drive and pass the single coming out of 9 and to make sure I didn't get passed myself.

After all of that I finished in 10th out of 16 in the SV's inaugural race and I kept the rubber side down... Barely.

I did the BOTT LW race on the EX next. I got a decent start and slotted into 4th right behind Larry Cochran on the first lap. Chris Shadoan had taken off and Michael Gougis was in 2nd. Larry is the Race director so I wanted to make the cleanest of clean passes and waited until the front straight on the 2nd lap to motor by him on my EX. Michael was a fair distance up ahead, but I just wanted to put my head down and try to catch him. For the record, I had no idea that I was in 3rd. I had no idea if I was 3rd or 7th, it all just seems to be a blur to me. It's like my memory and place position goes out the window when the green flag waves and my only mission to pass whoever is in front of me. It is a weird state of mind, but kinda neat in retrospect.

So I'm chasing down Michael and chipping away at his lead over me and on lap 3 I am right on his tail. I pass him into turn 3 (or was it 5?) and led him through the back section. He came flying by on the front straight to lead starting lap 4. I passed him again somewhere (2, 3, or 5 I presume) and was able to hold the lead all the way across the finish line as the white flag waved. I thought I would have a chance to hold him off and just kept my head down. I was cranking through 1 and 2 and went so deep into 3 that I couldn't make the turn where I was supposed to. After blowing 3 and squaring it off, I just tried to keep whatever lead I had. Cranked through 8 and tried to go deep into 9, but Michael came flying by me near the pit entrance. I tried to redraft him, but his bike engine or setup seemed to have just that little something extra over mine and I was only able to hold the gap, not close it. So I finished a valiant 3rd and was pretty excited. I'm sure we had the best race of the day up to that point but unfortunately, the announcer didn't give us any air time. Oh well, maybe next time.

So for the 3rd race, I felt like I do typing this, very tired and just want it to be over. I'm excited to race the SV again, but wanted to back off a notch to ensure I keep everything the right side up. I get a decent start and am mid-pack for the 550 SBK race, I rode a conservative race and don't recall anything specific except that I ran my personal best time of 1:36.7 so I was finally faster on the SV than I had been on the EX. I brought it home in 10th out of 22 so that wasn't too bad for the second outing.

I pulled out of the 4th race (500 Mod Prod on the EX) because the wind was picking up and I was a bit tired from all the riding I had already done. There ended up being a knarly crash out in turn 8 and there were enough other crashes in other races that I am glad I pulled out although I might have given up a few rookie points since I probably could have pulled 5 or 6 points instead of the 2 points I got for my 10th places on the SV. All in all, it was a great weekend and I'm really happy I have the EX to fine tune my cornering and the SV to really compete on. Until next month....

2nd Race

2005-09-20T23:29:00.000-07:00

Well, I got through one more race. Only 4 of us started the race so I had a much better chance at a podium! Well, it was me and Jane on the front row and a couple of 250 2-strokes on the next row. Jane and I got decent starts and she pulled a small gap on me to turn 1 which I closed up under braking. It was a little too close to stuff it on the inside so I backed off a moment, and tucked in behind her with a an exit a little wider than hers. I was able to get side by side going into turn two and went deeper on the brakes and took the lead going into turn 2. I kept my head down for the whole lap, thinking she would get by me on the front straight like she did my first race, but nada. I held the lead for the 2nd lap, but then one of the 250's came flying by me on the front straight into turn 1. I mean flying! I closed the gap a little under braking, but there was no way I could keep up. I kept going as well as I could hoping that Jane wouldn't get by me, and I tried to peak behind me once or twice. I couldn't find her, but I also was only peeking for an instant so I couldn't be sure. Keeping concentration without someone just in front of you or right behind you is actually kinda tough and I kept making little mistakes like poor turn-in points, wrong corner speed and what not. In the end, I crossed the line in 2nd place about 12 seconds in front of 3rd, Marlena. I guess Jane had pulled off with a bike issue so I was guaranteed a podium just for finishing. At least I didn't finish in last... (3rd).

Leading the race on the first lap!!!

Almost a neat photo, but I was too fast to catch on film.....

More pictures of my first race

2005-08-30T19:05:00.000-07:00

My wonderful pit babes keeping the ride polished :)

More pit babe action.

Gary and I getting the bike ready.

Gary and I repairing the bellypan after my off-track excursion.

Chasing Jane in the early laps (I'm the middle of the three).

Catching Jane on the 2nd or 3rd lap (Still in the middle).

Passing Jane coming through turn 1 with Elaine right there too! (Now I'm in the front.)

Everyone was happy after the race!!! This was right after we were all congratulating each other and when I realized #678 was a woman, Jane....

Here I am going back through the race with local pro Thad Wolff. He agreed it was a great race for 3rd and we probably had the most bang for the buck in the lightweight class.

My first race day

2005-08-23T21:03:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning brought 2 practice sessions and a riders meeting. I was feeling pretty good in practice running consistent lines and consistent laps around 1:43 with one at 1:42.3 but the tires were looking pretty ragged at the end of practice. The Pirelli guy noted the rear tire was made in 2001 and asked me if I had seen old rubber bands breakdown.... I was really hoping he wasn't going to say that Pirelli used old rubber bands in their tires, but I didn't think it was a great idea to change tires and start messing with the bike right before the race. For all I know the axles won't even go back in if I take them out, so I thought it best to leave the same tires on that I have been practicing on. Maybe less traction, but surely fewer things to go wrong in changing them the first time.

Watched a few other races, tried to stay in the shade and tried to get some food in my belly. I never seem to be hungry on race days (downhill race days or today) and I always have a sorta nauseous, sorta full, sorta hungry feeling that ends up giving me low blood sugar and making me weak. I was able to eat a few things and drink some gatorade so I ended up feeling okay for the race.

Not sure how many people actually watched the lightweight novice race, but it had to be one of the best races of the day and I had a TON of fun! I got an awesome start and led for the first 40 feet.

Here's the grid prior to the start (I'm 6th from the left, 2nd from the right)...

And here it is right after the flag is waved. Notice me (676) from the second row about to shoot right between the front row riders and into the lead (for a short distance at least)....

I got passed by about 4 bikes before going into turn 1 and then outbraked all but two of them. The 1st place guy checked out (although a WSMC novice, he has raced other places) and the 2nd place guy was a little too fast to hang with. I ended up racing two girls the whole race for 3rd place (only knew one of them was a girl at the time though) and we must of passed each other about 2 or 3 times every single lap. I kept outbraking them into 1 and 3, Jane on #678 would get great drives off of turn 9 and Elaine on the little 125 (#940) would just ride around us both through turn 2. Elaine and I actually bumped once coming out of turn one but it was a clean bump with both of going for the same piece of track. One lap I was in 4th coming out of turn 2, got passed by Elaine putting me into 5th on the short chute, but then I passed them both under braking into 3. Too much fun! Is anyone watching this race???!!! I also remember stuffing Jane (passing on the inside) through turn 4 one lap and forcing her to run a wider line around the corner. I clearly got to the apex first in front of her, but I ruined her line and was about as aggressive as I felt comfortable. No hard feelings I hope.

So..... I was in 3rd place ( out of 8 riders) on the last lap starting in turn one and just knew they were right behind me. I put together as good of a lap as I could and really felt the rear tire moving around through the long turn 2. I just kept dialing in as much throttle as I felt I could give and was just feeling for traction. I went into turn 8 with the throttle pinned and drifted a little wide (accidentally making myself a little wider), and I just started thinking to myself that if I nail turn 9 I have a chance of hanging onto 3rd. I went in as deep as I ever had and at a higher speed than I had, but couldn't get on the gas quite as soon as I would have liked and when I came out of turn 9 in 3rd place, I was just hoping it was enough, BUT Jane came out of 9 and got by me on the front straight giving her 3rd by about 5 bike lengths. Meanwhile, Elaine was only 0.2 seconds behind me at the finish giving me a 4th place finish! Not a podium, but that should teach me to get get through turn 9 better next time.

For the record, we were all running right around 1:42 - 1:43 and the reality is that I was probably holding them back from their real potential just because I would run it in deeper in turns 1 and 3 to get in front. If I had my choice, I would love racing with those two for the rest of the year but I think Elaine has to move to expert and Jane has only one more novice race before she has to move up. I'll probably get to race Jane again since she is on an FZR400 but I'm not sure if I'll square off against Elaine's 125 anytime soon.

So overall, I am thrilled with the first weekend. The EX500 I picked up worked out pretty well with no mechanical problems. I did run off track in the practice starts on Saturday but I kept it up. I learned the track a little bit (turns 4 and 9 are really tricky for sure) and went from 1:55's on Friday to 1:45 on Saturday to 1:42's on Sunday (looks like the improvement is decreasing); and I had an awesome race. So my advice to new racers is to go get a nice cheap bike that has 40-60 hp, get out there cheap, learn the track, and have some fun racing...

Now if I get new tires, I shouldn't have the rear wheel sliding through turn 2 and if I can work on turn 9 maybe I can get down to 1:40's next race....

Here's a link to the Road Race World article with the finishes for the races (I'm in there!):
www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=23753

And here's a link to my lap times for the weekend (I was in race 10):
http://www.mylaps.com/results/showevent.jsp?id=92997

New racers school

2005-08-23T20:33:00.000-07:00

I went up Friday morning and did the Friday practice in the sport riders group and had the local pro, Thad, as the instructor and that was great! There was only 3 of us in the class and we got great individual instruction and really got to watch Thad's lines a lot and also got a lot of feedback. My first session was pretty shaky not knowing the track or the bike but I improved pretty quickly and by the third session was feeling much more comfortable. I didn't get any timing on Friday, but based on some other riders with timing gear, I think I was in the 1:50 - 1:55 range, good enough for the 2:00 cutoff to get a race license. In the 4th session, I even started to get my knee down in turn 4 so I felt good going into NRS on Saturday.

Saturday was a fairly busy day with the class sessions and the track time. I had some extra pit crew help today with my wife Rachel, my buddy Gary, and his girl April all coming out. April made her and Rachel tank tops with my number on them so I had two pit babes to help wipe down the bike, clean the helmet, nd help me get the bike on and off the stand. They seemed to be best at posing for a few pictures though ;) Gary took some times so I could see where I was at and helped me do some bike prep work the day of so it was nice to get some help in the pits for sure.

The new racers school (NRS) itself was great, but with 14 people or so, there was not as much of a chance to see the good lines so I am really glad I went on Friday. In NRS, only 2 of us were on lightweight bikes and everyone else could take crappy lines and still run decent lap times by motoring around their mistakes, so I am really glad I am starting on the EX500 because it seems like it will force me to work on good lines in order to get my lap times down. Me and this other racer Eric (on a GS500) were doing 1:45 - 1:46's pretty consistently so we were feeling good and I was looking forward to a good race with him on Sunday.

At the end of Saturday, we did some practice gridding and practice starts. On the first practice start, I got a good jump on everyone but quickly got left behind by all the 100+ HP bikes. Made it through turn 1 okay, leaned it into turn two and came up on some early brakers for turn three. I saw a nice hole on the right of one rider and went to pass while he was braking. Well, he moved right to set up better for the left handed turn three and a collision was imminent and this was just practice starts! I went as far to the right as I could (leaning to the left to stay on track) and I either had to just collide with the guy or take it off the track so I straightened the bike up at the last moment and went off-roading. I ran over one of the braking marker cones and was just fishtailing through the dirt and rocks at around 40 mph (seemed like 60 but we'll just call it 40 for now). I was just modulating the front brake to avoid lock-up but also trying to rein in the speed and I started wondering if I should be using the rear brake at all in the dirt. I though the better of it and stuck with the front and all my downhill racing paid off as I kept the bike upright. The corner workers were there in a flash and I just yelled over to them that I got run off the track; they said they heard over the radio and asked if I wanted back on.... Heck yeah!

I finished the lap and came back to the grid for the next practice start, this time on the front row. Again I got a good start and again got passed by the bigger bikes before turn 1. Backed off on a couple of passing opportunities and cruised around for the 3rd and final restart. Came up to the grid and an official came over, pointed to my home made bellypan and pointed me off the track. Seems my off-roading created a zip-tie failure on my bellypan causing it to drag around on my previous lap. Oh well, done for the day, but I got my license, kept the bike up, and got my lap times down to the 1:45 range. I should have predicted that novices are unpredictable and I should have avoided a situation causing me to go off-track, but I learned a lesson the easier way (no crashing) so all in all, it was a decent day....

Prepping for the first race

2005-08-14T20:47:00.000-07:00

Well, I've got a bike and I know how to ride a motorcycle so I'm ready to race right? Well I figured I should go through the bike and make sure it is safe and will meet the requirements for racing at Willow Springs. For the bike I re-did some of the safety wire that was a bit dodgy and had to add safety wire to several places that were required but not previously done (like fuel and water lines under the tank and some brake banjo bolts). I even added safety wire to the exhaust springs and a few other places that might prevent bits from falling off the bike and becoming a danger to others.

Mechanically, I fixed the following things on the bike:
> The triple clamps were not aligned to each other
> The fork brace was tightened too much, pinching the fork bushings, and stopping all fork movement (was 0mm of sag, went to 30mm of sag)
> The rear shock was preloaded to 0 mm of sag (put it to 20mm)
> The rear brake wasn't working (needed flushing and bleeding)
> Both handlebars were bent (replaced them and put on some nice new grips)
> The right cylinder was low on compression (adjusted the valves and got it in spec)
> Changed the oil and flushed the radiator water
> Lubed the chain

So although the bike was "race-ready" I still had to put some elbow grease into it to get it up to my high standards. I was feeling pretty good about my prep skills and told Mikey B. that maybe I could get a job safety wiring bikes my work was so pretty and he asked me if that was better or worse than my career at Honeywell..... I guess I'll stick to Aerospace Equipment for the time being....

So with the bike good to go, I needed to finish off my protective gear. I got a Dainese back protector from Bert's and ordered some velcro and sliders to add onto my 2-piece Joe Rocket leathers. My wonderful wife dutifully sewed the velcro on so that I can get those knee pucks on and look proper going round the corners.

Last thing was to find a trailer to get the bike up to Willow. I found a little single rail trailer down in San Clemente for $200 so I booked it down there and paid cash. Of course the wiring didn't match my truck so I went to Kragen and got some splices just to get home. Unfortunately the color coding was backwards on the trailer (white and black were reversed, no biggie right....) and it blew my fuses so I just left the wire dangling and figured I would plead ignorance to any law enforcement officers that cared to stop me (none did).

Alright, I've got a bike, gear, a trailer, and I sent in all my membership forms to WSMC and got my racing number..... #676. All ready to go........

Picking a racing adventure....

2005-08-04T20:20:00.000-07:00

After going to Laguna Seca to watch the MotoGP boys, I finally decided that I had to fulfill my desire to go race something with a motor. I raced downhill mountain bikes for a while and may yet continue that endeavor, but what I really needed was some old liquefied remnants of dinosaurs to power me around a track. I looked at karts or bikes for their speed and the economy, and after seeing some low priced race bikes for sale, I decided that was the ticket for me. I was looking around for a good first race bike that won't force me to change my britches after every race, and found a couple of Kawasaki EX500's for sale. Gary and I went to check one out in Lancaster (old #154) and although it was a bit rough around the edges, it seemed like a good deal for $900 so I bought it. I got the bike, a spare engine, a spare block / crank, and a whole box of spare bits.

There was another EX500 down in San Diego that had even faster lap times (rider or bike?) for $1300 and I briefly had delusions of being a team owner or at least getting that bike too and selling the slower of the two, but luckily it was sold before I could get down there. So there it is, I picked me up a nice old race bike on the cheap and just needed to get prepared for my first race.