warmseth
Tue 1/17/06, 11:40PM
Race #4
originally posted 01/16/06
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recently my bike was running like crap and i brought it to crago racing (thanks for them shandra). they sorted some crapped carbs and later dyno'ed and i was found to have 63hp...a good 40ish less than the majority of the novice middle weights i've been racing with. i went to pick up the bike on friday and asked "so what did i have before you cleaned the carbs"? he said i was basically only running on 1 of 2 cylinders and was pulling something like 39hp. that made me feel pretty good actually. 39hp and i finished 10th (out of 16 if i remember correctly) last month. anyway, i was quite anxious to see what 20hp more felt like. i drove out late morning on saturday and got one session of practice in before spending the rest of the day doing corner work (man that is a job i do not envy..cold/hot). it was COLD out there but i feel like a learned some good stuff by watching the pros go through some corners that have been troubling me. sunday (race day) 1st practice session felt pretty good. the bike didn't feel AMAZNGLY more powerful but it felt 100x more smooth on the power. 2nd practice session felt great. i had a great opportunity to be next to a couple of fast guys (coyner and beck) as they went around the first couple turns. and i actually managed to hang with them (sort of) for a few turns as they were being held back by slower packs in front of them. unfortunately a guy red flaggged us and i was only able to get a few laps out before going back in to pit. my race was going to be middle weight novice again and i currently had 7 points (out of ten needed to get out of novice). so i just had to finish 10th or better to get out. there were 19 guys gridded and i felt confident that i coult get at least tenth.
i gridded 6 which is second row but on the good side of the track to set me up for T1. the wind was howling with such force that as i was in first gear, clutch in, and as the guy's holding the board about to turn it sideways, i'm being blown backwards a few inches! I got a bloody great start and was out in front with one other guy for a couple hundred yards but a pack of 3 other guys snuck in on the inside and we went into T1 five abreast. i'm not keen on trusting 4 other novice racers to hold their lines so i backed off a bit an took the outside line. now i'm back in 5th with a short straight before going into T2. i'm about 25 feet from reaching the inside candy stripe of T2 when a guy zips around the outside and then dives inside and slows way the heck down. i've been holding my line and i'm a bit pissed about him potentially slowing my corner speed so i continue to hold my line. and he tightens his. and we collide. for those that don't know, T2 at willow springs is a big fast sweeper and it goes on and on and on. and for the first 1/4 of it i i was tangled with this guy. i pushed him off me with my outside knee and then leaned a little farther into the turn as it was tightening. the push off him sent him wide and put me into a bit of a tank slapper. one of my feet came off the peg and i got nervice and shit slowed down in my head (as it does right before you wreck) enough for me to think "aint this a bitch. i've been out here all weekend and i'm going to wreck in the 2nd turn of my 1st lap??" but somehow i was able to stay on the throttle and everything mellowed out by the time i got to the apex...if you can call the apex of T2 an apex. i felt good the rest of that lap. into the 2nd lap i got passed out of T6 by a guy and then it was just me on my lonesome battling my own fatigue and more daunting, the wind. my god, that wind was a tough mofo. according to announcer dave, it was blowing 35mph. at one point down the front straight i was in full tuck headed into the headwind. i figure i was doing 110-120 maybe. so combined, wind resistance of like 150ish mph. i go to bang down gears for T1 and i can't move my leg! every time i went to turn the bike in it was twice as hard as usuall to lean the thing over. really made me respect what those guys on 'busas must have to deal with . end result is i finished 6th place out of 19 guys which i feel pretty darn good about considering my hp defecit. means ultimately i held my grid position. so i have graduated to probationary expert. and i now have a chance to battle better riders on machines more closely matched in hp to my own. i am really excited to join y'all out there in 550sb and the other classes...which reminds me; what else can i run in? bott middleweight? something else too, right? thanks all.
originally posted 01/16/06
---------------------------------
recently my bike was running like crap and i brought it to crago racing (thanks for them shandra). they sorted some crapped carbs and later dyno'ed and i was found to have 63hp...a good 40ish less than the majority of the novice middle weights i've been racing with. i went to pick up the bike on friday and asked "so what did i have before you cleaned the carbs"? he said i was basically only running on 1 of 2 cylinders and was pulling something like 39hp. that made me feel pretty good actually. 39hp and i finished 10th (out of 16 if i remember correctly) last month. anyway, i was quite anxious to see what 20hp more felt like. i drove out late morning on saturday and got one session of practice in before spending the rest of the day doing corner work (man that is a job i do not envy..cold/hot). it was COLD out there but i feel like a learned some good stuff by watching the pros go through some corners that have been troubling me. sunday (race day) 1st practice session felt pretty good. the bike didn't feel AMAZNGLY more powerful but it felt 100x more smooth on the power. 2nd practice session felt great. i had a great opportunity to be next to a couple of fast guys (coyner and beck) as they went around the first couple turns. and i actually managed to hang with them (sort of) for a few turns as they were being held back by slower packs in front of them. unfortunately a guy red flaggged us and i was only able to get a few laps out before going back in to pit. my race was going to be middle weight novice again and i currently had 7 points (out of ten needed to get out of novice). so i just had to finish 10th or better to get out. there were 19 guys gridded and i felt confident that i coult get at least tenth.
i gridded 6 which is second row but on the good side of the track to set me up for T1. the wind was howling with such force that as i was in first gear, clutch in, and as the guy's holding the board about to turn it sideways, i'm being blown backwards a few inches! I got a bloody great start and was out in front with one other guy for a couple hundred yards but a pack of 3 other guys snuck in on the inside and we went into T1 five abreast. i'm not keen on trusting 4 other novice racers to hold their lines so i backed off a bit an took the outside line. now i'm back in 5th with a short straight before going into T2. i'm about 25 feet from reaching the inside candy stripe of T2 when a guy zips around the outside and then dives inside and slows way the heck down. i've been holding my line and i'm a bit pissed about him potentially slowing my corner speed so i continue to hold my line. and he tightens his. and we collide. for those that don't know, T2 at willow springs is a big fast sweeper and it goes on and on and on. and for the first 1/4 of it i i was tangled with this guy. i pushed him off me with my outside knee and then leaned a little farther into the turn as it was tightening. the push off him sent him wide and put me into a bit of a tank slapper. one of my feet came off the peg and i got nervice and shit slowed down in my head (as it does right before you wreck) enough for me to think "aint this a bitch. i've been out here all weekend and i'm going to wreck in the 2nd turn of my 1st lap??" but somehow i was able to stay on the throttle and everything mellowed out by the time i got to the apex...if you can call the apex of T2 an apex. i felt good the rest of that lap. into the 2nd lap i got passed out of T6 by a guy and then it was just me on my lonesome battling my own fatigue and more daunting, the wind. my god, that wind was a tough mofo. according to announcer dave, it was blowing 35mph. at one point down the front straight i was in full tuck headed into the headwind. i figure i was doing 110-120 maybe. so combined, wind resistance of like 150ish mph. i go to bang down gears for T1 and i can't move my leg! every time i went to turn the bike in it was twice as hard as usuall to lean the thing over. really made me respect what those guys on 'busas must have to deal with . end result is i finished 6th place out of 19 guys which i feel pretty darn good about considering my hp defecit. means ultimately i held my grid position. so i have graduated to probationary expert. and i now have a chance to battle better riders on machines more closely matched in hp to my own. i am really excited to join y'all out there in 550sb and the other classes...which reminds me; what else can i run in? bott middleweight? something else too, right? thanks all.