warmseth
Tue 6/20/06, 1:34PM
Well this weekends racing took place on the surface of the SUN!!! At least that's what it felt like to me. I woke up on Saturday morning with a pretty nasty case of stomach flu. Severl trips to the toilet later, I decided I would skip Saturday practice and do my best to prepare for Sunday's racing. I got out to the track at a leisurely pace, pulling up around 2pm on Saturday. Farted around all day preparing and got to bed early. Sunday morning, more pissing out my ass and drinking of pink spearmint tasting nastiness, followed by two practice sessions.
I wanted to send Larry Cochran (the race director) a gift basket when the races were all moved from 8 laps to 6 due to crashes in the early part of the day and a crowded schedule, with sidecars (wild) being added to the days races.
My SV650 as been sold and I am awaiting delivery of a "new" SV by Kelly Baker. So once again, I relied on the RD400 as my primary (and this month, my ONLY) race bike. You may recall after last month's racing I complained of it feeling VERY stiff/chattering front end. And of having NO brakes whatsoever and of the jetting being VERY narrow and not pulling hard/smooth enough.
Well I'm here to report that with Steve Fuentes' jetting advise, most of the power issue was resolved. Great pull in 1st. OK pull in 2nd, great pull in 3rd. Then diminishing pull in 4, 5, and 6. This has got to be mostly due to my not shifting properly I suppose. but it did seem that even when I allowed the bike to get to 9k-ish before shifting to those "OK" pulling gears, they were still just OK..so I'm not sure what was going on there. But I'm not ready to excuse the destinct possiblity that it was my flawed riding and not the bike. Also, I have an EGT (exhaust gas temp) guage that is quite the fummoxing peice of equipment. According to the guage, left cylinder still reports going dead cold while the right is just pinned as hot as it'll go. I spoke to veteran RD racer Clinton Whitehouse who said he never did like EGT guages and that he'd ust read the plugs. So I decided just to ride the damn thing.
The suspension felt GREAT. Well maybe not GREAT, but MUCH better. We took out a bit of preload from the rear. That made the rear far more compliant and the front chatter that was so disconcerting through T3 last month was a much much reduced issue now that the rear wasn't sluffing all it's job of on the poor OLD front end.
The brakes which were completely non-existent during last month's racing were much better too in that they worked like shit for for two laps before fading away into nothingness I have resolved to throw the daytona front rotor and caliper of a peir somewhere and find a replacement (rd, fzr, r6?...anything)
I was very enthused with my practice sessions and wanted to see my times for session #1 in particular. I don't run a lap timer, as it distracts me and i figured I'd just check the lap timeson the window of registration after the 2nd session. Imagine my dissapointment when I realized I had not put my transponder on the bike and so I had NO idea what times I'd been doing during these 2 practice sessions. Oh well! At least I got it put on before the race.
Race #10 (vintage lightweight) doesn't start until late in the afternoon and it is as usual, a two wave start, with "battle of the twins middleweight" (Ducati 749s, Sv650's) running the first wave. By this time it is just fricken scorching hot! HOT HOT HOT! I've been drinking so much water I pee every twenty five minutes. First wave starts. the rest of us (6 guys) assume the position, putting our hands on the bars, rev rev rev, card turns, green flag waves, AND AWAY WE GO!!!!! Well away everybody ELSE goes, anyway. I am usually a pretty decent starter, but this is by far the worst start I have ever done. I mean pathetic. I am three bikes behind the LAST guy going into T1. Warren Spradlin on a hoppped up RZ350 has taken a 40 yard jump on the whole pack meanwhile and is already half way down the short stretch to T2 before I've even gotten half way around T1. As I motor out of T1 I pass a guy on the outside edge (thank you sir for holding your line). And I set my sights on the next bike. I catch him at the tip in of T2 and get past him before the apex. I am unable to catch the next guy before exiting T2 and tuck in behind him for the short straight before T3. I motor up the inside and outbrake him into the entrance of T3. Notice I said "outbraked". Yes I had enough brakes to brake for the first TWO laps. I knew this and I also knew I'd have half as much brake in Lap 2 and NONE by lap 3 so I planned on blowing my aggressive riding load in the first couple laps. Also, and I hadn't quite counted on this, I was totally exhausted from the heat and my flu by lap 3 and I was lucky to have gone as fast in the first two laps as I had to gain a litle ground.
From 6th place to 3rd in a couple corners felt not too shabby. And I was gaining on the 2nd place rider (Pierre something or other). I knew that so long as I could remain concious, I could catch him.
I was right on his ass out of T9 of the 2nd lap and drafted him down the straight. My dad (who hates/fears motorcycles) had put aside his disdain to come watch me race. He was watching from the T1 bleachers. Stuffing Pierre on the inside of T1 for the pass for 2nd place felt exceptionally good, knowing that my nervous nelly dad was watching me do something he'd have never had the balls (or stupidity?) to try. And all this on fathers' day...it was a pretty special feeling for me.
Going through the omega of T3-5 my exhaustion really started to dig into my confidence. I began to fear that I was not going to be able to hold the guys off for the entire race behind me. Warren Spradlin was a good 5 seconds ahead of me and I knew that shit wasn't gonna happen on this day. I set my goals to defend my 2nd place and not crash.
Around T8, of lap 4 I got lapped by the leader of the BOTT midleweight race. This was GREAT! It meant my race went from a 6 lap race to a 5 lap race and that I would not have to die of heat stroke out around T7 in lap 6
For that lap 5 I was contantly aware of the rumble of Pierre's bike and he showed me a front wheel a couple times; once coming out of T2 and again, in T5. I heard him again in T8 and knew that if there ever was a time to defend the position it was now! And I really stepped it up and gave it my all through T9. I know I went faster and when I came down the straight and got waved the checkered and there was no Pierre on the side of me, I was a happy guy. My first 2nd place!!
I waved to my pop going around T1 and lazily rounded T2 on my cooldown. I went to squeeze the brake for tip into T3 and the rear started fishtailing. ??? Why is the rear fishtailing? I'm squeezing the FRONT brake....AHHHH YES, the "Yamaha itch" i'd been told about crossed my mind and I squeezed the clutch knowing i'd just seized the motor! couldn't have been more glad to have seized it while the bike was UPRIGHT. I was squeezing a whole lot of nonexistent front brake at this point and NOT slowing down at all. Then I was in the dirt, and i was milking the front gingerly while slamming the rear brake. There is a fence and signifigant ditch out there when you run wide in T3 and it was FAST approaching. Mercifully, I got it stopped before running into either. That would have screwed up a perfectly nice race to drop the bike...bad enough to have seized. Anyway, crash truck arrived and I got towed back to the garage. My dad said he thought i'd pulled off the track because I was tired :lol: My dad said,his nevousness about my racing was really calmed him down about it to actually go and watch the racing. He was comforted by the multiple ambulances, the cornerworkers (he didn't notice their missing teeth :p) and the comraderie of my fellow racers. also my skillz :lol
I certainly hope the sezure was a "mild" one.
My jetting specs are as follws for you gurus who care to comment:
TM34's
310 Main
45 Pilot
P8 Needle
http://pic10.picturetrail.com/VOL339/908817/1662442/158363832.jpg
I wanted to send Larry Cochran (the race director) a gift basket when the races were all moved from 8 laps to 6 due to crashes in the early part of the day and a crowded schedule, with sidecars (wild) being added to the days races.
My SV650 as been sold and I am awaiting delivery of a "new" SV by Kelly Baker. So once again, I relied on the RD400 as my primary (and this month, my ONLY) race bike. You may recall after last month's racing I complained of it feeling VERY stiff/chattering front end. And of having NO brakes whatsoever and of the jetting being VERY narrow and not pulling hard/smooth enough.
Well I'm here to report that with Steve Fuentes' jetting advise, most of the power issue was resolved. Great pull in 1st. OK pull in 2nd, great pull in 3rd. Then diminishing pull in 4, 5, and 6. This has got to be mostly due to my not shifting properly I suppose. but it did seem that even when I allowed the bike to get to 9k-ish before shifting to those "OK" pulling gears, they were still just OK..so I'm not sure what was going on there. But I'm not ready to excuse the destinct possiblity that it was my flawed riding and not the bike. Also, I have an EGT (exhaust gas temp) guage that is quite the fummoxing peice of equipment. According to the guage, left cylinder still reports going dead cold while the right is just pinned as hot as it'll go. I spoke to veteran RD racer Clinton Whitehouse who said he never did like EGT guages and that he'd ust read the plugs. So I decided just to ride the damn thing.
The suspension felt GREAT. Well maybe not GREAT, but MUCH better. We took out a bit of preload from the rear. That made the rear far more compliant and the front chatter that was so disconcerting through T3 last month was a much much reduced issue now that the rear wasn't sluffing all it's job of on the poor OLD front end.
The brakes which were completely non-existent during last month's racing were much better too in that they worked like shit for for two laps before fading away into nothingness I have resolved to throw the daytona front rotor and caliper of a peir somewhere and find a replacement (rd, fzr, r6?...anything)
I was very enthused with my practice sessions and wanted to see my times for session #1 in particular. I don't run a lap timer, as it distracts me and i figured I'd just check the lap timeson the window of registration after the 2nd session. Imagine my dissapointment when I realized I had not put my transponder on the bike and so I had NO idea what times I'd been doing during these 2 practice sessions. Oh well! At least I got it put on before the race.
Race #10 (vintage lightweight) doesn't start until late in the afternoon and it is as usual, a two wave start, with "battle of the twins middleweight" (Ducati 749s, Sv650's) running the first wave. By this time it is just fricken scorching hot! HOT HOT HOT! I've been drinking so much water I pee every twenty five minutes. First wave starts. the rest of us (6 guys) assume the position, putting our hands on the bars, rev rev rev, card turns, green flag waves, AND AWAY WE GO!!!!! Well away everybody ELSE goes, anyway. I am usually a pretty decent starter, but this is by far the worst start I have ever done. I mean pathetic. I am three bikes behind the LAST guy going into T1. Warren Spradlin on a hoppped up RZ350 has taken a 40 yard jump on the whole pack meanwhile and is already half way down the short stretch to T2 before I've even gotten half way around T1. As I motor out of T1 I pass a guy on the outside edge (thank you sir for holding your line). And I set my sights on the next bike. I catch him at the tip in of T2 and get past him before the apex. I am unable to catch the next guy before exiting T2 and tuck in behind him for the short straight before T3. I motor up the inside and outbrake him into the entrance of T3. Notice I said "outbraked". Yes I had enough brakes to brake for the first TWO laps. I knew this and I also knew I'd have half as much brake in Lap 2 and NONE by lap 3 so I planned on blowing my aggressive riding load in the first couple laps. Also, and I hadn't quite counted on this, I was totally exhausted from the heat and my flu by lap 3 and I was lucky to have gone as fast in the first two laps as I had to gain a litle ground.
From 6th place to 3rd in a couple corners felt not too shabby. And I was gaining on the 2nd place rider (Pierre something or other). I knew that so long as I could remain concious, I could catch him.
I was right on his ass out of T9 of the 2nd lap and drafted him down the straight. My dad (who hates/fears motorcycles) had put aside his disdain to come watch me race. He was watching from the T1 bleachers. Stuffing Pierre on the inside of T1 for the pass for 2nd place felt exceptionally good, knowing that my nervous nelly dad was watching me do something he'd have never had the balls (or stupidity?) to try. And all this on fathers' day...it was a pretty special feeling for me.
Going through the omega of T3-5 my exhaustion really started to dig into my confidence. I began to fear that I was not going to be able to hold the guys off for the entire race behind me. Warren Spradlin was a good 5 seconds ahead of me and I knew that shit wasn't gonna happen on this day. I set my goals to defend my 2nd place and not crash.
Around T8, of lap 4 I got lapped by the leader of the BOTT midleweight race. This was GREAT! It meant my race went from a 6 lap race to a 5 lap race and that I would not have to die of heat stroke out around T7 in lap 6
For that lap 5 I was contantly aware of the rumble of Pierre's bike and he showed me a front wheel a couple times; once coming out of T2 and again, in T5. I heard him again in T8 and knew that if there ever was a time to defend the position it was now! And I really stepped it up and gave it my all through T9. I know I went faster and when I came down the straight and got waved the checkered and there was no Pierre on the side of me, I was a happy guy. My first 2nd place!!
I waved to my pop going around T1 and lazily rounded T2 on my cooldown. I went to squeeze the brake for tip into T3 and the rear started fishtailing. ??? Why is the rear fishtailing? I'm squeezing the FRONT brake....AHHHH YES, the "Yamaha itch" i'd been told about crossed my mind and I squeezed the clutch knowing i'd just seized the motor! couldn't have been more glad to have seized it while the bike was UPRIGHT. I was squeezing a whole lot of nonexistent front brake at this point and NOT slowing down at all. Then I was in the dirt, and i was milking the front gingerly while slamming the rear brake. There is a fence and signifigant ditch out there when you run wide in T3 and it was FAST approaching. Mercifully, I got it stopped before running into either. That would have screwed up a perfectly nice race to drop the bike...bad enough to have seized. Anyway, crash truck arrived and I got towed back to the garage. My dad said he thought i'd pulled off the track because I was tired :lol: My dad said,his nevousness about my racing was really calmed him down about it to actually go and watch the racing. He was comforted by the multiple ambulances, the cornerworkers (he didn't notice their missing teeth :p) and the comraderie of my fellow racers. also my skillz :lol
I certainly hope the sezure was a "mild" one.
My jetting specs are as follws for you gurus who care to comment:
TM34's
310 Main
45 Pilot
P8 Needle
http://pic10.picturetrail.com/VOL339/908817/1662442/158363832.jpg