redbean
Wed 4/19/06, 2:16PM
Full version with pics:
CCS MA CMP April Race Report (http://www.bigheadzracing.com/pages/CMP%20Race%20Report.doc)
Without pics
John Reynolds EX# 66
CCS Mid Atlantis
Carolina Motorsports Park
Kershaw South Carolina
April 15-16, 2006
Bike: 2000 SV 650
Best Lap: 1:52
Results:
Practice – Did not crash J
LW SuperSport 4th
LW GP 5th
LW SuperBike –6th
Thunderbike – 4th
Carolina Motorsporsts Park was a nice change from the West Coast tracks I raced in 2005. The gate and registration opened at 5pm on Friday. It was only 2.5 to 3 hours from my Moms house. No waiting at the gate all night hoping for a good spot on the paddock the in the morning. Camping in grass was nice and there were lots of electrical connections even if you couldn’t use them to power your AC without blowing their breaker. They would still run the lights and accessories. Yeah, a nice change.
After setting up camp I walked the track. It’s a 2.2 miles with 14 turns. Half are sweeping and half are tight technical. Lots of passing opportunities. The surface was really ruff and I was sure I’d have to work to conserve tires. Cant afford to buy another set. I only made it half way around before it got dark. I also talked to some of the CCS reps about the track and everyone warned me about turn 10. It’s a right hand kink on the back straight where a cross section joins. If you stay inside near the rumble there is a huge bump that will throw you if you’re not set up right. Everyone said stay outside as you come through there and I’d be fine. It was good advice.
Saturday Practice:
CCS Mid Atlantic changed its format similar to CCS SW. Practice till two, follows by the GT races. With four groups you get at least four practices in. As luck would have it groups 3 and 4 were a no shows so I got 6 + sessions in for only $75. Sweet. Spent the first couple sessions learning the layout of the track. Sessions times started in the 2’s but by the end of the day I was down to 1:54. The fastest guys on SV’s were running 52’s. Cool. First day on the track and I was not doing to bad compared to my peers. After practice I went over to visit with Pat and Cathy. A couple I had met the night before, to see how his day was going. Seems he got a little squirrelly in 2 and highsided. He tried to fix the bike but even with a donated sub, two new rims, exhaust can, and new plastics he could get it back out. He broke the internals on one of his front shocks and there was no way to fix it and no one had a spare. Sad. He and his family stayed the night and left the next day. Very nice family. We had a few beers, nice conversation and a good brownie. Hope to see them again at the next event.
Race Day: There were 3 practice sessions Sunday morning. I only ran one of them. “Gots to conserve them tires..” Still ran in the mid to low 1:50’s. Good enough. My goal to finish with a respectable time and if I had an opportunity to podium I would go for it. After practice I found lots of time to get wound up and nervous. My first race wasn’t until the afternoon. Lucky for me, my family came up to watch. LOL, nothing like having family around to calm you down before a race. We had lunch and as my race time approached I got geared up and started getting focused. Kristi calls it “work mode”. It was a little difficult to focus on the race ahead with tons of questions from everyone but I didn’t mind. I wanted them to have fun too.
Race 1 - Light Weight SuperSport: I was a little nervous on the warm-up lap. My grid spot was 2E, a really good spot. Cards counted down as we approached the start signal. Right before the flag I had a suddenly rush of anxiety. As the flag went up, I took off scared out of my mind. I don’t recall ever being so scared. Didn’t stop my throttle hand from working but everything else was kind of blurry. By the time we all rolled into turn one I was mid pack. Then it happened, I was in the corner getting bumped on both sides by other racers wanting my spot. Rubbing is racing is a term I have heard but never experience until that very moment. A sobering sensation. It helped me to regained my focus. Sometime after the race I was told by a rider who was behind me that it looked as if we all were going down. Good thing we didn’t. As we approached turn two I was in fifth. Spent most of the race trying to get around racer # 87, Daniel Riter. His bike was stronger and pulled away from me on the straights but he was giving up a lot on turn entry so a well placed late brake entering 11 and I was passed him. This was a scene that was going to play out again and again. I finished 4th of 7.
Race2 - Light Weight Grand Prix: I gridded 3A. Not bad, still inside but was having trouble seeing the Starter. Flag went up and so did my front tire. Crap! I was running a 47 tooth rear sprocket. A whole lot more torque than the 45 I was used to. I was last into turn one. That means 7th. RRRRRR! Head down and away I went. Get by the one guy in the first lap. Look up and I see, you guessed it, number 87 in the distance. I was going to catch him. By mid race I was on his rear wheel waiting for a chance. I tried a couple different places but couldn’t get by. Finally I got under him in 11 and flew on passed just to get passed again on the straight under the white flag. He found himself going too fast and blew his entry into turn 1 letting me get by. All I had to do was stay in front and I had another forth. VVRRROOOOOM. I was flying through turns 2, 3, 4 then off the track…. Damnit. I was in too hot, hit the rumble strip in the lean, stood it up and rolled off. #87 went right on by. I made it through the sand and the corner worker gave me the thumbs up and I was back on the track. No way I was going to catch him. I could see him looking back though. To make sure I was ok more than worrying about me passing him I think.. Finished 5th of 7.
Race 3 - Light weight Superbike: Gridded 3C. The worst grid position of the day. Another bad start. LOL, at least the wheelie didn’t last quite as long. Ended up being 4th out of turn 1. I got passed by #442 Eric Wilson a couple laps in. that pass was quickly followed by # 87. Just like that I went from 4th to 6th. I stayed on 87’s rear wheel. I remember him going wide in 3 and I got under him. Just to be passed again out of 9 to pass him again into 11. I think we passed each other a few more time with me in front of him on the last lap. I had the checker in my sights. I drove hard out of 14 down the straight. As I approached the finish Daniel went flying by me to take 5th leaving me with my worst placing of the day 6th of 7.
Race 4 - ThunderBike: Last race of the day. Gridded 2E. Same players. I had my work cut out for me. Daniel # 87 was getting better entering turns, which was making it harder and harder to get by and with his extra umph I had to be farther ahead at turns 9 and 14 to keep him from passing me on the straights. Lots of strategizing to do. Flag went and we were off for the best race off the weekend. All of us were together for most of the race with lots of passing. The sight of 5 bikes going into a fast sweeper together is awesome. By the end of the race I was again behind #87. I followed him for a few laps trying to see how he was getting so much on me exiting some of the turns. With my homework done and the last lap approaching, I made my move and got passed him. Had to step it up or he was going to pass me in the straight. I entered 14 in a lower gear hoping to get a little extra on the drive. Exited hard anjd ran as defensive a line as I could hoping to slow him as he tried the pass that never came. Come to find out he went wide in 14 trying to set me up and never had a chance. YES!!! I took 4th of 6.
After each race Daniel and I would stop, high five and chat a little about the race. It was awesome having someone running about your speeds to make the race interesting. At the end of the day I asked him to come over for a few pics and to exchange information. Its racing like I had this weekend that keeps me coming back. It’s not the winning, even though we were not that far from the leaders, it was the challenge of facing other competitors near your level of riding and giving it your all to over come the challenges that each presents to you.
I LOVE THIS SPORT!!!!!!!
CCS MA CMP April Race Report (http://www.bigheadzracing.com/pages/CMP%20Race%20Report.doc)
Without pics
John Reynolds EX# 66
CCS Mid Atlantis
Carolina Motorsports Park
Kershaw South Carolina
April 15-16, 2006
Bike: 2000 SV 650
Best Lap: 1:52
Results:
Practice – Did not crash J
LW SuperSport 4th
LW GP 5th
LW SuperBike –6th
Thunderbike – 4th
Carolina Motorsporsts Park was a nice change from the West Coast tracks I raced in 2005. The gate and registration opened at 5pm on Friday. It was only 2.5 to 3 hours from my Moms house. No waiting at the gate all night hoping for a good spot on the paddock the in the morning. Camping in grass was nice and there were lots of electrical connections even if you couldn’t use them to power your AC without blowing their breaker. They would still run the lights and accessories. Yeah, a nice change.
After setting up camp I walked the track. It’s a 2.2 miles with 14 turns. Half are sweeping and half are tight technical. Lots of passing opportunities. The surface was really ruff and I was sure I’d have to work to conserve tires. Cant afford to buy another set. I only made it half way around before it got dark. I also talked to some of the CCS reps about the track and everyone warned me about turn 10. It’s a right hand kink on the back straight where a cross section joins. If you stay inside near the rumble there is a huge bump that will throw you if you’re not set up right. Everyone said stay outside as you come through there and I’d be fine. It was good advice.
Saturday Practice:
CCS Mid Atlantic changed its format similar to CCS SW. Practice till two, follows by the GT races. With four groups you get at least four practices in. As luck would have it groups 3 and 4 were a no shows so I got 6 + sessions in for only $75. Sweet. Spent the first couple sessions learning the layout of the track. Sessions times started in the 2’s but by the end of the day I was down to 1:54. The fastest guys on SV’s were running 52’s. Cool. First day on the track and I was not doing to bad compared to my peers. After practice I went over to visit with Pat and Cathy. A couple I had met the night before, to see how his day was going. Seems he got a little squirrelly in 2 and highsided. He tried to fix the bike but even with a donated sub, two new rims, exhaust can, and new plastics he could get it back out. He broke the internals on one of his front shocks and there was no way to fix it and no one had a spare. Sad. He and his family stayed the night and left the next day. Very nice family. We had a few beers, nice conversation and a good brownie. Hope to see them again at the next event.
Race Day: There were 3 practice sessions Sunday morning. I only ran one of them. “Gots to conserve them tires..” Still ran in the mid to low 1:50’s. Good enough. My goal to finish with a respectable time and if I had an opportunity to podium I would go for it. After practice I found lots of time to get wound up and nervous. My first race wasn’t until the afternoon. Lucky for me, my family came up to watch. LOL, nothing like having family around to calm you down before a race. We had lunch and as my race time approached I got geared up and started getting focused. Kristi calls it “work mode”. It was a little difficult to focus on the race ahead with tons of questions from everyone but I didn’t mind. I wanted them to have fun too.
Race 1 - Light Weight SuperSport: I was a little nervous on the warm-up lap. My grid spot was 2E, a really good spot. Cards counted down as we approached the start signal. Right before the flag I had a suddenly rush of anxiety. As the flag went up, I took off scared out of my mind. I don’t recall ever being so scared. Didn’t stop my throttle hand from working but everything else was kind of blurry. By the time we all rolled into turn one I was mid pack. Then it happened, I was in the corner getting bumped on both sides by other racers wanting my spot. Rubbing is racing is a term I have heard but never experience until that very moment. A sobering sensation. It helped me to regained my focus. Sometime after the race I was told by a rider who was behind me that it looked as if we all were going down. Good thing we didn’t. As we approached turn two I was in fifth. Spent most of the race trying to get around racer # 87, Daniel Riter. His bike was stronger and pulled away from me on the straights but he was giving up a lot on turn entry so a well placed late brake entering 11 and I was passed him. This was a scene that was going to play out again and again. I finished 4th of 7.
Race2 - Light Weight Grand Prix: I gridded 3A. Not bad, still inside but was having trouble seeing the Starter. Flag went up and so did my front tire. Crap! I was running a 47 tooth rear sprocket. A whole lot more torque than the 45 I was used to. I was last into turn one. That means 7th. RRRRRR! Head down and away I went. Get by the one guy in the first lap. Look up and I see, you guessed it, number 87 in the distance. I was going to catch him. By mid race I was on his rear wheel waiting for a chance. I tried a couple different places but couldn’t get by. Finally I got under him in 11 and flew on passed just to get passed again on the straight under the white flag. He found himself going too fast and blew his entry into turn 1 letting me get by. All I had to do was stay in front and I had another forth. VVRRROOOOOM. I was flying through turns 2, 3, 4 then off the track…. Damnit. I was in too hot, hit the rumble strip in the lean, stood it up and rolled off. #87 went right on by. I made it through the sand and the corner worker gave me the thumbs up and I was back on the track. No way I was going to catch him. I could see him looking back though. To make sure I was ok more than worrying about me passing him I think.. Finished 5th of 7.
Race 3 - Light weight Superbike: Gridded 3C. The worst grid position of the day. Another bad start. LOL, at least the wheelie didn’t last quite as long. Ended up being 4th out of turn 1. I got passed by #442 Eric Wilson a couple laps in. that pass was quickly followed by # 87. Just like that I went from 4th to 6th. I stayed on 87’s rear wheel. I remember him going wide in 3 and I got under him. Just to be passed again out of 9 to pass him again into 11. I think we passed each other a few more time with me in front of him on the last lap. I had the checker in my sights. I drove hard out of 14 down the straight. As I approached the finish Daniel went flying by me to take 5th leaving me with my worst placing of the day 6th of 7.
Race 4 - ThunderBike: Last race of the day. Gridded 2E. Same players. I had my work cut out for me. Daniel # 87 was getting better entering turns, which was making it harder and harder to get by and with his extra umph I had to be farther ahead at turns 9 and 14 to keep him from passing me on the straights. Lots of strategizing to do. Flag went and we were off for the best race off the weekend. All of us were together for most of the race with lots of passing. The sight of 5 bikes going into a fast sweeper together is awesome. By the end of the race I was again behind #87. I followed him for a few laps trying to see how he was getting so much on me exiting some of the turns. With my homework done and the last lap approaching, I made my move and got passed him. Had to step it up or he was going to pass me in the straight. I entered 14 in a lower gear hoping to get a little extra on the drive. Exited hard anjd ran as defensive a line as I could hoping to slow him as he tried the pass that never came. Come to find out he went wide in 14 trying to set me up and never had a chance. YES!!! I took 4th of 6.
After each race Daniel and I would stop, high five and chat a little about the race. It was awesome having someone running about your speeds to make the race interesting. At the end of the day I asked him to come over for a few pics and to exchange information. Its racing like I had this weekend that keeps me coming back. It’s not the winning, even though we were not that far from the leaders, it was the challenge of facing other competitors near your level of riding and giving it your all to over come the challenges that each presents to you.
I LOVE THIS SPORT!!!!!!!