Kurt'sSV
Wed 8/18/04, 12:37PM
Willow Springs Motorcycle Club, August 14-15, Round 8
My second month as an expert licensed racer was a double points round at WSMC which meant that usually more people showed up. They did, but not in either of the races I ran, unfortunately.
Saturday we showed up early so I would not feel rushed putting new tires on the bike. I was going to run Pirelli slicks and was excited about that. I had never run slicks before, but all the fast guys do so they must be great. The tire vendor was actually able to get my tires done really quick this month, so I had plenty of time to relax and stretch before my race.
I remembered to look up my grid position before the start of the endurance race this time and saw that I would be gridded on the front row of my class. When we went to line up it turned out that two of the other people gridded on the front row did not show, so it was just me and veteran Ritchie Thorup who rides a bored out FZR 400. I looked over at him to see if I could give him a friendly nod, but he didn’t seem to notice me. Anyway, they let the GP class go and they took off in a cloud of smoke (literally). When our green flag dropped I got a good launch and was looking at turn one with no one in front of me. About half way to the turn, Thorup pulled up even with me on the outside and began to creep past. We were still pretty even going in to the turn, but since he was about a wheels length in front of me and because he was swooping down like there was no one there, I let off so he could go in front. No need to make a hair brained move on the first turn of a 20 lap race. Beginning with the middle of turn two, Thorup started to disappear. I knew I’d be seeing him again in about a dozen laps or so.
From then on it was just me and the track for the most part. I did my best to relax and breathe calmly on the straights. I did not want to get as fatigued as I did last time. I started hitting the apex of turn nine really hard after the first lap. I noticed this caused my bike to slide as I exited the turn and it made it a little hard to control coming on to the front straight. This dampened my confidence in the tires. I know Pirelli’s are known to be a loose tire, but I wasn’t even going very fast. After a couple of laps I backed off a bit when hitting the apex there to keep the tires from sliding. I could lean the bike over really far, though. I noticed when diving for the apex in turn two that the inside of my knee would touch the frame slider on my bike, but my puck was still on the ground.
Around lap eight I got passed by the leader in the GP class. He was hauling balls on his 250.Thorup didn't catch me until the end of lap twelve. I expected to see him earlier. He came up beside me entering nine, and then backed off because he knew he could get me on the front straight. I didn’t want to fight the inevitable or push myself super hard to try to keep him from lapping me and then crash, so I tip-toed out of nine so he could role past me on the straight. He didn’t go flying by, though, and I was able to follow him into turn one. I noticed that the brake marker he used was the second to last set of cones where mine is the first set of cones. He entered turn one pretty fast. His exit was slow, though. Thorup gradually pulled away and I was again by myself.
You ever get that internal monologue and then a different voice butts in and tells you something different? Well while I was cruising around I started noticing some big, white, cumulonimbus clouds beginning to peak over the hill behind the track. So as I’m barreling down the front straight I start looking at these fluffy clouds and start thinking how pretty they look and what a contrast their white is to the tan hill side. Then this other voice jumps in and says “stop looking at the clouds you idiot and look for your brake marker!” “Oh yeah” the first voice says and I sit up, let off, brake, down shift, the whole bit, and take the turn. I didn’t look at the clouds the rest of the race.
As the laps wound down I caught a guy who was in my race riding on an FZR 400 and put him a lap down. It was the only person I caught during the race. However, I was caught again by the lead bike in the GP class. Number 88 was flying around that track. He had to have lapped Richie Thorup as well. With two laps to go I notice that I was catching an Aprilia RS 250. I started running him down hard and if I would have started this charge with three laps to go, I would have caught him. It didn’t really matter, though, because we weren’t racing against each other.
One thing that I did keep thinking throughout the race was that I was in second place! When I crossed the finish line I was pretty sure that I was still in second place. When I got back to the pits, Shandra confirmed it. After we packed up the truck we went to the office and picked up my first ever trophy from a motorcycle road race. I plan on there being many more to go along with this first one, but I wouldn’t be adding to my collecting on Sunday.
The 550 Superbike grid the next day was disappointingly smaller than it was last month. There were only eight of us. One of the guys in the race was the guy I lapped the day before, so I knew I could lap faster than at least one other person in the race. When the green flag dropped I blew by JC Gibbs who was on the front row and followed Thorup, Bradley Adams and Brienne Thomson, both on SV’s, into turn one. We stayed this way through turn two and while I up shifted to fourth coming out of the turn I thought to myself, hey I’m still in fourth place. That didn’t last any longer, though. Gibbs passed me under braking going in three.
I followed him over the Omega and watched him put some distance me going out of turn five. I still was not doing something right in that turn. Down the back straight I caught back up to him. I got on his tail in seven and it looked like he was having a problem with his bike, maybe a shifting problem. I backed off a bit on the throttle. Looking back I don’t know why. I guess I was afraid to try to make a pass in turn eight on a person I considered a better rider. That was stupid. I stayed on his tail coming out of nine and passed him on the front straight. Gibbs and a 250 rider went by me on the back straight, but I was able to repass the 250 on the front straight. I got passed exiting turn one, but this time it was by Horace Knight on his Honda 400. After that he set sail and went by his teammate, Gibbs, exiting two.
I kept in touch with Gibbs and the 250 for the next couple of laps, but had some problems with my tires. I would slide out of nine, had a big rear slide in four and lost the front really, really bad going in to one on the start of the fourth lap. This kind of scared me, but I kept the bike up and tried to get back in touch with the two riders in front of me. I closed in on them some, but made a mistake in two on the next lap. At the start of lap six I knew I was not going to be able to catch either of these two guys so I relaxed my pace a bit.
As slow as my last lap felt, it was still a 1.37.6. My fastest lap was only a 1.36.09, a couple of tenths faster than my fastest lap last month, but I was hoping I could get under 1.35. My over all time for the race was faster with laps two, three, four and five being in the .36’s. Maybe with some adjustments to my shock I’ll have less sliding with the rear tire. Looks like I’ll need to start e-mailing Zoran, again. Mr. Wizard should be able to help.
Thanks to Harry for giving me those home made pucks made out of cutting board. They slid and wore far better then the ceramic pucks I was using. Thanks to Greg Benner for giving me that Dunlop slick take-off. Big thanks to Shandra for helping both days and getting a bed liner put in her truck so my stuff won’t beat the crap out of it.
I’d also like to thank my sponsors: Jadeblue Creative, Tustin Martial Arts, Galfer, LP Team Privateer and SoCalSVRiders.org.
My second month as an expert licensed racer was a double points round at WSMC which meant that usually more people showed up. They did, but not in either of the races I ran, unfortunately.
Saturday we showed up early so I would not feel rushed putting new tires on the bike. I was going to run Pirelli slicks and was excited about that. I had never run slicks before, but all the fast guys do so they must be great. The tire vendor was actually able to get my tires done really quick this month, so I had plenty of time to relax and stretch before my race.
I remembered to look up my grid position before the start of the endurance race this time and saw that I would be gridded on the front row of my class. When we went to line up it turned out that two of the other people gridded on the front row did not show, so it was just me and veteran Ritchie Thorup who rides a bored out FZR 400. I looked over at him to see if I could give him a friendly nod, but he didn’t seem to notice me. Anyway, they let the GP class go and they took off in a cloud of smoke (literally). When our green flag dropped I got a good launch and was looking at turn one with no one in front of me. About half way to the turn, Thorup pulled up even with me on the outside and began to creep past. We were still pretty even going in to the turn, but since he was about a wheels length in front of me and because he was swooping down like there was no one there, I let off so he could go in front. No need to make a hair brained move on the first turn of a 20 lap race. Beginning with the middle of turn two, Thorup started to disappear. I knew I’d be seeing him again in about a dozen laps or so.
From then on it was just me and the track for the most part. I did my best to relax and breathe calmly on the straights. I did not want to get as fatigued as I did last time. I started hitting the apex of turn nine really hard after the first lap. I noticed this caused my bike to slide as I exited the turn and it made it a little hard to control coming on to the front straight. This dampened my confidence in the tires. I know Pirelli’s are known to be a loose tire, but I wasn’t even going very fast. After a couple of laps I backed off a bit when hitting the apex there to keep the tires from sliding. I could lean the bike over really far, though. I noticed when diving for the apex in turn two that the inside of my knee would touch the frame slider on my bike, but my puck was still on the ground.
Around lap eight I got passed by the leader in the GP class. He was hauling balls on his 250.Thorup didn't catch me until the end of lap twelve. I expected to see him earlier. He came up beside me entering nine, and then backed off because he knew he could get me on the front straight. I didn’t want to fight the inevitable or push myself super hard to try to keep him from lapping me and then crash, so I tip-toed out of nine so he could role past me on the straight. He didn’t go flying by, though, and I was able to follow him into turn one. I noticed that the brake marker he used was the second to last set of cones where mine is the first set of cones. He entered turn one pretty fast. His exit was slow, though. Thorup gradually pulled away and I was again by myself.
You ever get that internal monologue and then a different voice butts in and tells you something different? Well while I was cruising around I started noticing some big, white, cumulonimbus clouds beginning to peak over the hill behind the track. So as I’m barreling down the front straight I start looking at these fluffy clouds and start thinking how pretty they look and what a contrast their white is to the tan hill side. Then this other voice jumps in and says “stop looking at the clouds you idiot and look for your brake marker!” “Oh yeah” the first voice says and I sit up, let off, brake, down shift, the whole bit, and take the turn. I didn’t look at the clouds the rest of the race.
As the laps wound down I caught a guy who was in my race riding on an FZR 400 and put him a lap down. It was the only person I caught during the race. However, I was caught again by the lead bike in the GP class. Number 88 was flying around that track. He had to have lapped Richie Thorup as well. With two laps to go I notice that I was catching an Aprilia RS 250. I started running him down hard and if I would have started this charge with three laps to go, I would have caught him. It didn’t really matter, though, because we weren’t racing against each other.
One thing that I did keep thinking throughout the race was that I was in second place! When I crossed the finish line I was pretty sure that I was still in second place. When I got back to the pits, Shandra confirmed it. After we packed up the truck we went to the office and picked up my first ever trophy from a motorcycle road race. I plan on there being many more to go along with this first one, but I wouldn’t be adding to my collecting on Sunday.
The 550 Superbike grid the next day was disappointingly smaller than it was last month. There were only eight of us. One of the guys in the race was the guy I lapped the day before, so I knew I could lap faster than at least one other person in the race. When the green flag dropped I blew by JC Gibbs who was on the front row and followed Thorup, Bradley Adams and Brienne Thomson, both on SV’s, into turn one. We stayed this way through turn two and while I up shifted to fourth coming out of the turn I thought to myself, hey I’m still in fourth place. That didn’t last any longer, though. Gibbs passed me under braking going in three.
I followed him over the Omega and watched him put some distance me going out of turn five. I still was not doing something right in that turn. Down the back straight I caught back up to him. I got on his tail in seven and it looked like he was having a problem with his bike, maybe a shifting problem. I backed off a bit on the throttle. Looking back I don’t know why. I guess I was afraid to try to make a pass in turn eight on a person I considered a better rider. That was stupid. I stayed on his tail coming out of nine and passed him on the front straight. Gibbs and a 250 rider went by me on the back straight, but I was able to repass the 250 on the front straight. I got passed exiting turn one, but this time it was by Horace Knight on his Honda 400. After that he set sail and went by his teammate, Gibbs, exiting two.
I kept in touch with Gibbs and the 250 for the next couple of laps, but had some problems with my tires. I would slide out of nine, had a big rear slide in four and lost the front really, really bad going in to one on the start of the fourth lap. This kind of scared me, but I kept the bike up and tried to get back in touch with the two riders in front of me. I closed in on them some, but made a mistake in two on the next lap. At the start of lap six I knew I was not going to be able to catch either of these two guys so I relaxed my pace a bit.
As slow as my last lap felt, it was still a 1.37.6. My fastest lap was only a 1.36.09, a couple of tenths faster than my fastest lap last month, but I was hoping I could get under 1.35. My over all time for the race was faster with laps two, three, four and five being in the .36’s. Maybe with some adjustments to my shock I’ll have less sliding with the rear tire. Looks like I’ll need to start e-mailing Zoran, again. Mr. Wizard should be able to help.
Thanks to Harry for giving me those home made pucks made out of cutting board. They slid and wore far better then the ceramic pucks I was using. Thanks to Greg Benner for giving me that Dunlop slick take-off. Big thanks to Shandra for helping both days and getting a bed liner put in her truck so my stuff won’t beat the crap out of it.
I’d also like to thank my sponsors: Jadeblue Creative, Tustin Martial Arts, Galfer, LP Team Privateer and SoCalSVRiders.org.