Kurt'sSV
Tue 3/21/06, 8:19AM
Willow Springs Motorcycle Club, Round 3, March 2006
I wasn’t as excited to see Zoran and Jay Avasino of Twin Works Factory come down and race again since they had been down the month before and I had actually seen both of them at a track day a few weeks ago. Better riders on better bikes are tough to beat.
For our first race, Formula Twins Light Weight, I was gridded in third. To my left was Jeff Rheaume, and to my right was Andy Palmer and Jay. Jeff decided to take off before the flag was thrown, but apparently it wasn’t enough of a jump start for him to get penalized. It didn’t bother me as he’s on an old EX 500, so we were going to blow past him anyway. I got an okay launch. The front end came up too much, but I was parallel with Jay as we were pulling second gear, so I was still looking good. Andy started motoring by me on my right and Zoran went by me on my left from two rows back. He almost beat Jay into turn one, but let him have it. Andy let off the gas really early, so I slipped under him and entered the turn in third place.
It was fun watching Jay and Zoran race each other. I was doing my best to hang on, but with their extra power, they were going to have to slow down for me to catch up. Once Zoran got by Jay, he threw down a real fast lap and gapped all of this. With Zoran way off in the distance, Jay eased up a bit which allowed me to catch up. I was kind of surprised to see myself closing in on him in turn two on the fourth lap. I followed him pretty close over the omega and tried to hang with him down the back straight. I reeled him in real good in turn nine and got on the gas sooner than he did at the exit. It surprised me to see that I was pulling up on him after we exited the corner and I kept expecting him to pull away as his bike has about ten more horse power than mine does. Because I was so close to him coming out of the turn, his draft pulled me all the way down the front straight. In fact, I was actually inching up on him because I wasn’t pushing any air. Unfortunately any thought of making a pass in turn one went out the window as we caught three riders from the 500 singles class all in that turn. We went around the outside of all three of them and it didn’t really slow either of us down, but I had to stop racing Jay to make those passes.
Coming around turn four I was right up on Jay again and was looking forward to being right on him as we went into turn nine, but little did I know who was close behind me. Just before I got to turn eight, Andy snuck up on my right and beat me to the apex of the turn. This forced me to take a wider line through the turn and due to the increased radius of my line, Andy pulled in front of me. In nine Andy was right behind Jay and I was right behind Andy. Andy’s bike is fast enough that down the front straight, he started pulling up along side of Jay. Jay had no idea anyone was behind him and this kind of caught him off guard.
On the exit of turn two I started coming around Andy and stayed to the left going into the braking zone for three. I went by Andy and got in behind Jay again to follow him over the omega. I really tried to get on the gas good in turn five to get a good drive down the back straight. I was looking good, but again, right before turn eight, Andy came up on my right and beat me to the apex of the turn. I hung onto the gas and carried as much speed as I could through the turn. Going into nine we caught another rider from the 500 singles class. Andy went to the riders outside and I went to his inside. I was almost able to get underneath Andy this way, but he was able to keep his speed up around the turn. Coming onto the front straight I new I didn’t have a chance and would have to settle for fourth place. It was a good race, though. I road well and had fun. Maybe next month I can get on the podium in that class.
The wind really picked up after our first race. When it gets windy out there, you have to change how you ride. Some people ride well in the wind and some don’t. I’m one of those who don’t. Jay was gridded on the inside of row one and I was on the outside of row two. To my left was Andy. Zoran was way at the back, several rows back, so there wouldn’t be any chance of him steeling the hole shot. I got a great launch and Jay and I were side by side heading for turn one. Jay had position on me to take the hole shot, but for some reason he let off the gas a bit early so I swung around him to take the lead in turn one. As I was up-shifting into fifth on my way to turn two, I started wondering how hard we could get away with turning into that turn. The wind was blowing pretty good straight out of the West, meaning as we are heading South for two, the wind was blowing across us – and more specifically, our front tire. I didn’t want to turn the bike in too hard and get the front taken out from under me by the wind.
I still went deep enough into the turn for Jay not to pass me, but in another few seconds, I realized another problem the wind was giving me. With the less horse power you have, the more important momentum is. With the wind blowing that hard, it was really hurting my momentum and slowing me down, so much so that a little after half way through the turn, I found that I was at full lock on the throttle. I kind of wondered if something was wrong because I shouldn’t be wide open there, but everything felt fine and the bike was still running strong at the exit, so I figured it was due to the wind. With my low speed through and out of two, Jay was close enough to easily pass me on the brakes going into three. I stayed close behind him and felt okay until we entered eight. The wind pushed us both to the left pretty good. We were leaning the bikes pretty hard and I don’t think I’ve ever drug my knee that much through that turn. Nine was really tough because we were turning back into the wind. My drive out of nine was horrible and Jay was too far away for me to catch his draft.
Around start/finish my bike got tugged to the right for a second and then Andy shot by me. With the strong head wind down the front straight, the draft was quite effective. What caused the tug to my right was me picking up Andy’s drag just before he passed me. It’s kind of a neat little thing of physics. Going into one I forgot about how the head wind slows you down and let off and sat up early, letting Andy get away from me pretty good, then going into turn two, Zoran went underneath me. I was keeping them all in sight and doing my best to hang in there. The wind was making it tough, but it wasn’t like January where I was out there riding scared.
My third lap was kind of slow and I got passed down the back straight by number 993, Rich Gann. Rich Gann? Who the hell is Rich Gann? I had never been behind him before, so didn’t know how he road. I wanted to watch him enter nine to see how he took it and maybe I could pass him. In doing so I forgot to make my down shift for the turn and had to wait until after I exited to put the bike down into fifth. Now I was really having trouble picking up speed down the front straight and Ryan Sturz passed me, too, I believe. Also coming down the front straight to start the fourth lap, Cody Johnson started pulling up along side of me. We stayed that way for a bit, but I pulled ahead of him as we closed in on turn one. Going into turn three I made a big mistake by accidentally grabbing my brake lever too close to it’s inside. I wasn’t able to get much leverage on the lever and wasn’t slowing down very much. I just got the bike stopped before I road off into the dirt, but turned in time to see Cody zip around the turn. Going up the hill, Cody stuffed Sturz real good in 4A and made the FZR 400 rider check up. It’s always fun to watch one of your buddies put a good move on someone else.
Starting the last lap, I finally had something go my way. Sturz and Cody created a huge draft that sucked me up to them and I went by them both entering turn one. Gann still had some distance on me, but I was hoping I could catch him somehow. Unfortunately the wind and the draft works both ways. Heading over six, Cody got a great push from the wind and shot by me down the back straight. I stuck with him and got this weird draft off of him through turn eight, but I didn’t want to try to go around him because with the wind pushing us so hard, I could run out of asphalt real quick. But while I was drafting Cody, Sturz was drafting me and got me on my inside entering turn nine. The wind pushed me real wide mid turn and I lost too much ground on Sturz for it to get made up in the draft as we charged for the line. So even though I raced hard, I finished back in 7th.
Here’s to next month and no wind or Twin Works Factory bikes on the grid.
Thanks to my sponsors: SoCalSVRiders.org, Michelin and LP Team Privateer.
I wasn’t as excited to see Zoran and Jay Avasino of Twin Works Factory come down and race again since they had been down the month before and I had actually seen both of them at a track day a few weeks ago. Better riders on better bikes are tough to beat.
For our first race, Formula Twins Light Weight, I was gridded in third. To my left was Jeff Rheaume, and to my right was Andy Palmer and Jay. Jeff decided to take off before the flag was thrown, but apparently it wasn’t enough of a jump start for him to get penalized. It didn’t bother me as he’s on an old EX 500, so we were going to blow past him anyway. I got an okay launch. The front end came up too much, but I was parallel with Jay as we were pulling second gear, so I was still looking good. Andy started motoring by me on my right and Zoran went by me on my left from two rows back. He almost beat Jay into turn one, but let him have it. Andy let off the gas really early, so I slipped under him and entered the turn in third place.
It was fun watching Jay and Zoran race each other. I was doing my best to hang on, but with their extra power, they were going to have to slow down for me to catch up. Once Zoran got by Jay, he threw down a real fast lap and gapped all of this. With Zoran way off in the distance, Jay eased up a bit which allowed me to catch up. I was kind of surprised to see myself closing in on him in turn two on the fourth lap. I followed him pretty close over the omega and tried to hang with him down the back straight. I reeled him in real good in turn nine and got on the gas sooner than he did at the exit. It surprised me to see that I was pulling up on him after we exited the corner and I kept expecting him to pull away as his bike has about ten more horse power than mine does. Because I was so close to him coming out of the turn, his draft pulled me all the way down the front straight. In fact, I was actually inching up on him because I wasn’t pushing any air. Unfortunately any thought of making a pass in turn one went out the window as we caught three riders from the 500 singles class all in that turn. We went around the outside of all three of them and it didn’t really slow either of us down, but I had to stop racing Jay to make those passes.
Coming around turn four I was right up on Jay again and was looking forward to being right on him as we went into turn nine, but little did I know who was close behind me. Just before I got to turn eight, Andy snuck up on my right and beat me to the apex of the turn. This forced me to take a wider line through the turn and due to the increased radius of my line, Andy pulled in front of me. In nine Andy was right behind Jay and I was right behind Andy. Andy’s bike is fast enough that down the front straight, he started pulling up along side of Jay. Jay had no idea anyone was behind him and this kind of caught him off guard.
On the exit of turn two I started coming around Andy and stayed to the left going into the braking zone for three. I went by Andy and got in behind Jay again to follow him over the omega. I really tried to get on the gas good in turn five to get a good drive down the back straight. I was looking good, but again, right before turn eight, Andy came up on my right and beat me to the apex of the turn. I hung onto the gas and carried as much speed as I could through the turn. Going into nine we caught another rider from the 500 singles class. Andy went to the riders outside and I went to his inside. I was almost able to get underneath Andy this way, but he was able to keep his speed up around the turn. Coming onto the front straight I new I didn’t have a chance and would have to settle for fourth place. It was a good race, though. I road well and had fun. Maybe next month I can get on the podium in that class.
The wind really picked up after our first race. When it gets windy out there, you have to change how you ride. Some people ride well in the wind and some don’t. I’m one of those who don’t. Jay was gridded on the inside of row one and I was on the outside of row two. To my left was Andy. Zoran was way at the back, several rows back, so there wouldn’t be any chance of him steeling the hole shot. I got a great launch and Jay and I were side by side heading for turn one. Jay had position on me to take the hole shot, but for some reason he let off the gas a bit early so I swung around him to take the lead in turn one. As I was up-shifting into fifth on my way to turn two, I started wondering how hard we could get away with turning into that turn. The wind was blowing pretty good straight out of the West, meaning as we are heading South for two, the wind was blowing across us – and more specifically, our front tire. I didn’t want to turn the bike in too hard and get the front taken out from under me by the wind.
I still went deep enough into the turn for Jay not to pass me, but in another few seconds, I realized another problem the wind was giving me. With the less horse power you have, the more important momentum is. With the wind blowing that hard, it was really hurting my momentum and slowing me down, so much so that a little after half way through the turn, I found that I was at full lock on the throttle. I kind of wondered if something was wrong because I shouldn’t be wide open there, but everything felt fine and the bike was still running strong at the exit, so I figured it was due to the wind. With my low speed through and out of two, Jay was close enough to easily pass me on the brakes going into three. I stayed close behind him and felt okay until we entered eight. The wind pushed us both to the left pretty good. We were leaning the bikes pretty hard and I don’t think I’ve ever drug my knee that much through that turn. Nine was really tough because we were turning back into the wind. My drive out of nine was horrible and Jay was too far away for me to catch his draft.
Around start/finish my bike got tugged to the right for a second and then Andy shot by me. With the strong head wind down the front straight, the draft was quite effective. What caused the tug to my right was me picking up Andy’s drag just before he passed me. It’s kind of a neat little thing of physics. Going into one I forgot about how the head wind slows you down and let off and sat up early, letting Andy get away from me pretty good, then going into turn two, Zoran went underneath me. I was keeping them all in sight and doing my best to hang in there. The wind was making it tough, but it wasn’t like January where I was out there riding scared.
My third lap was kind of slow and I got passed down the back straight by number 993, Rich Gann. Rich Gann? Who the hell is Rich Gann? I had never been behind him before, so didn’t know how he road. I wanted to watch him enter nine to see how he took it and maybe I could pass him. In doing so I forgot to make my down shift for the turn and had to wait until after I exited to put the bike down into fifth. Now I was really having trouble picking up speed down the front straight and Ryan Sturz passed me, too, I believe. Also coming down the front straight to start the fourth lap, Cody Johnson started pulling up along side of me. We stayed that way for a bit, but I pulled ahead of him as we closed in on turn one. Going into turn three I made a big mistake by accidentally grabbing my brake lever too close to it’s inside. I wasn’t able to get much leverage on the lever and wasn’t slowing down very much. I just got the bike stopped before I road off into the dirt, but turned in time to see Cody zip around the turn. Going up the hill, Cody stuffed Sturz real good in 4A and made the FZR 400 rider check up. It’s always fun to watch one of your buddies put a good move on someone else.
Starting the last lap, I finally had something go my way. Sturz and Cody created a huge draft that sucked me up to them and I went by them both entering turn one. Gann still had some distance on me, but I was hoping I could catch him somehow. Unfortunately the wind and the draft works both ways. Heading over six, Cody got a great push from the wind and shot by me down the back straight. I stuck with him and got this weird draft off of him through turn eight, but I didn’t want to try to go around him because with the wind pushing us so hard, I could run out of asphalt real quick. But while I was drafting Cody, Sturz was drafting me and got me on my inside entering turn nine. The wind pushed me real wide mid turn and I lost too much ground on Sturz for it to get made up in the draft as we charged for the line. So even though I raced hard, I finished back in 7th.
Here’s to next month and no wind or Twin Works Factory bikes on the grid.
Thanks to my sponsors: SoCalSVRiders.org, Michelin and LP Team Privateer.