Kurt'sSV
Wed 9/20/06, 10:17AM
Willow Springs Motorcycle Club, Round 9, September 16-17
Firstly I have to thank Tom Shao for me even getting back out to race a month after I crashed. He was able to quickly repair my bodywork, which was in several pieces, and properly clean out my carburetors. Two things I had never done before. But then after a track day at Pahrump, something screwy happened and the bike started running horribly. When I arrived at the track Saturday morning I was in big trouble. Andy Palmer to the rescue. He stuck his big, curly haired head under the gas tank and started inspecting my bike and trouble shooting. After a few minutes he deduced that my plugs had probably gone bad. After pulling them both out, he was 100% right and they were both 100% fucked. This is where Twin Works rider Jay Avansino became Johnny-on-the-spot and hooked me up with two, new spark plugs. Andy re-installed everything and the bike ran like a champ. I am extremely grateful as I was ready to cry after my bike wouldn’t run for no apparent reason.
Formula Twins Lightweight was our first race. After only scoring two points last month due to the crash I now lined up in the number 2 spot on the grid as I am now out of first place by a dozen points. During my crash repair, I made an adjustment to my clutch so that it more suited my liking and it helped my launch. Tim Martinez still got off the line better, but I was looking at second place going into turn one. Jay got a great launch off the second row and pulled along side of me. Neither one of use wanted to give up the spot and from the stands it looked like we touched going into turn one. We stayed separate and Jay led me through the turn.
Chris Rogers was riding well this morning. He passed me on the back straight I believe on the second lap, but I repassed him on the front straight. I think he got me coming out of turn one and after that I didn’t have anything for him as he had his sights set on Jay and a first ever win. My bike popped out of fifth gear as I went down the hill from turn six, killing my drive. Kevin Jump passed me going into eight, but I hung with him through nine and got him going into turn one.A new rider who has quickly figured out the fast way around the track is number 555 Kyle Indermuehle. He got me on the brakes going into turn three.
Normally the wind at Willow blows out of the southwest, but today it was the very opposite, blowing out of the northeast. This made riding the track a little different. You barely had to lean the bike through eight, couldn’t hit the apex in nine, got pushed really hard entering turn two and could run it in pretty deep into turn three. This also changed the drafting. Going into the wind down the back straight, I got a great draft from Kyle and shot by him as we set up for turn eight. With him behind me, I settled my sights on Tim, as he was coming back to me.
Chris and Jay were in front of us a little ways. Not too far, but far enough that the battle for first was just going to be between them. As I followed Tim into turn three on the fifth lap, I saw a big cloud of dust and Chris jumping up and running over to his bike. This automatically moved me up into 3rd place, but it really sucked for Chris as he’s now crashed in that turn three times since May.
For the final lap I was getting pretty close to Tim. I made up all the ground on him in turn two. I was on his rear wheel as we were exiting the turn and wanted to make a pass on the brakes entering turn three, but remembered that there would be a waving yellow flag at that turn, prohibiting any passing. So instead I moved in behind him and was prepared to just follow him into the turn and set up a pass for him later in the lap. I knew I had him. Just after Tim and I started breaking for the turn I got passed by two riders, putting me back into fifth place. This really pissed me off because I held back to follow the rules, but these two guys weren’t and put me back two spots on the last lap. I stayed in fifth place for the rest of the lap. After the race I filed a protest for the passing under the yellow flag. I felt like a jack-ass for being a tattle-tail, but I was in the right. Race direction sided with me and I was moved up to third place in the final, official results for the class.
My tires weren’t holding up as well as I had hoped, though I knew I was better off than Jay was in the tire department for our 550 Superbike race. Jay still got the hole shot, but Tim and I almost rear-ended him in turn two. As we were being held up by Jay, I thought to myself it’s a good thing he’s really good on the brakes so he can gap us going into three, because he wasn’t going to be able to go very fast through the turns. As I foreshadowed, Jay gapped us entering three but we stayed close. Tim was blocking my view of Jay, but as we went up the hill I suddenly saw Jay’s rear tire slide out way to the right and him pop up out of the seat pretty high. This signaled the beginning of the end for poor Jay. Tim and I both got by Jay on the third lap, but there were more people coming from behind us.
About a quarter of the way down the front straight ending the third lap, #31 Jim Dobson went screaming by me on his FZR 550 Superbike. That thing is a missile. I caught up to him entering turn one, but he gapped me coming out and I couldn’t outride his horse power advantage. That damn rookie, Kyle, got by me at one point, too. He was riding really well. He got past Tim and tried his best to hang with Dobson, and it looked like he did for the rest of the race, but could never make a pass on the much faster bike.
Tim and I battled for a bit and I got around him in turn two on the fourth lap. On the fifth lap my bike jumped out of fifth gear again just before I reached the turn seven kink. This really slowed me down a lot because it was very unexpected and it took me a while to react. Tim shot by me on my inside just before turn eight. I started making up ground on Tim right away, and remember up-shifting to sixth while in turn eight, which felt weird because normally you’re in sixth gear way before you enter that turn. I caught up to him in turn two on the last lap, but couldn’t make the pass on the brakes entering turn three. Tim was getting good drives out of turn five today, and with the wind blowing the opposite direction I would have had to have used the draft on the back straight to make a pass as there was no draft on the front straight for me to use. I knew pretty quickly after we exited turn nine that I would have to settle for fourth place. That was okay as I would only lose 2 points to Tim and I’d still hold a 30+ point lead over him. I felt kind of slow in the race, but I did run a ‘31.1. Not as fast as I went last month, but still pretty fast for me.
So on to next month and new tires, and something new to keep my bike from popping out of fifth gear. That cost me third place in 550 Superbike, has caused me problems in previous months. I need it to stop before I blow up my motor.
So thanks again to Tom and Andy for making my bike rideable and to Lloyd McGruder who gave me a nice Shoei helmet to replace my destroyed one from last month. No more flowers. Now I just need to get rid of “go-go boots.”
Thanks to my sponsors SoCalSVRiders.org, Michelin, LP Team Privateer and class sponsors Little Big Racing and VP Fuels.
R.I.P Jesus Amezcua
Firstly I have to thank Tom Shao for me even getting back out to race a month after I crashed. He was able to quickly repair my bodywork, which was in several pieces, and properly clean out my carburetors. Two things I had never done before. But then after a track day at Pahrump, something screwy happened and the bike started running horribly. When I arrived at the track Saturday morning I was in big trouble. Andy Palmer to the rescue. He stuck his big, curly haired head under the gas tank and started inspecting my bike and trouble shooting. After a few minutes he deduced that my plugs had probably gone bad. After pulling them both out, he was 100% right and they were both 100% fucked. This is where Twin Works rider Jay Avansino became Johnny-on-the-spot and hooked me up with two, new spark plugs. Andy re-installed everything and the bike ran like a champ. I am extremely grateful as I was ready to cry after my bike wouldn’t run for no apparent reason.
Formula Twins Lightweight was our first race. After only scoring two points last month due to the crash I now lined up in the number 2 spot on the grid as I am now out of first place by a dozen points. During my crash repair, I made an adjustment to my clutch so that it more suited my liking and it helped my launch. Tim Martinez still got off the line better, but I was looking at second place going into turn one. Jay got a great launch off the second row and pulled along side of me. Neither one of use wanted to give up the spot and from the stands it looked like we touched going into turn one. We stayed separate and Jay led me through the turn.
Chris Rogers was riding well this morning. He passed me on the back straight I believe on the second lap, but I repassed him on the front straight. I think he got me coming out of turn one and after that I didn’t have anything for him as he had his sights set on Jay and a first ever win. My bike popped out of fifth gear as I went down the hill from turn six, killing my drive. Kevin Jump passed me going into eight, but I hung with him through nine and got him going into turn one.A new rider who has quickly figured out the fast way around the track is number 555 Kyle Indermuehle. He got me on the brakes going into turn three.
Normally the wind at Willow blows out of the southwest, but today it was the very opposite, blowing out of the northeast. This made riding the track a little different. You barely had to lean the bike through eight, couldn’t hit the apex in nine, got pushed really hard entering turn two and could run it in pretty deep into turn three. This also changed the drafting. Going into the wind down the back straight, I got a great draft from Kyle and shot by him as we set up for turn eight. With him behind me, I settled my sights on Tim, as he was coming back to me.
Chris and Jay were in front of us a little ways. Not too far, but far enough that the battle for first was just going to be between them. As I followed Tim into turn three on the fifth lap, I saw a big cloud of dust and Chris jumping up and running over to his bike. This automatically moved me up into 3rd place, but it really sucked for Chris as he’s now crashed in that turn three times since May.
For the final lap I was getting pretty close to Tim. I made up all the ground on him in turn two. I was on his rear wheel as we were exiting the turn and wanted to make a pass on the brakes entering turn three, but remembered that there would be a waving yellow flag at that turn, prohibiting any passing. So instead I moved in behind him and was prepared to just follow him into the turn and set up a pass for him later in the lap. I knew I had him. Just after Tim and I started breaking for the turn I got passed by two riders, putting me back into fifth place. This really pissed me off because I held back to follow the rules, but these two guys weren’t and put me back two spots on the last lap. I stayed in fifth place for the rest of the lap. After the race I filed a protest for the passing under the yellow flag. I felt like a jack-ass for being a tattle-tail, but I was in the right. Race direction sided with me and I was moved up to third place in the final, official results for the class.
My tires weren’t holding up as well as I had hoped, though I knew I was better off than Jay was in the tire department for our 550 Superbike race. Jay still got the hole shot, but Tim and I almost rear-ended him in turn two. As we were being held up by Jay, I thought to myself it’s a good thing he’s really good on the brakes so he can gap us going into three, because he wasn’t going to be able to go very fast through the turns. As I foreshadowed, Jay gapped us entering three but we stayed close. Tim was blocking my view of Jay, but as we went up the hill I suddenly saw Jay’s rear tire slide out way to the right and him pop up out of the seat pretty high. This signaled the beginning of the end for poor Jay. Tim and I both got by Jay on the third lap, but there were more people coming from behind us.
About a quarter of the way down the front straight ending the third lap, #31 Jim Dobson went screaming by me on his FZR 550 Superbike. That thing is a missile. I caught up to him entering turn one, but he gapped me coming out and I couldn’t outride his horse power advantage. That damn rookie, Kyle, got by me at one point, too. He was riding really well. He got past Tim and tried his best to hang with Dobson, and it looked like he did for the rest of the race, but could never make a pass on the much faster bike.
Tim and I battled for a bit and I got around him in turn two on the fourth lap. On the fifth lap my bike jumped out of fifth gear again just before I reached the turn seven kink. This really slowed me down a lot because it was very unexpected and it took me a while to react. Tim shot by me on my inside just before turn eight. I started making up ground on Tim right away, and remember up-shifting to sixth while in turn eight, which felt weird because normally you’re in sixth gear way before you enter that turn. I caught up to him in turn two on the last lap, but couldn’t make the pass on the brakes entering turn three. Tim was getting good drives out of turn five today, and with the wind blowing the opposite direction I would have had to have used the draft on the back straight to make a pass as there was no draft on the front straight for me to use. I knew pretty quickly after we exited turn nine that I would have to settle for fourth place. That was okay as I would only lose 2 points to Tim and I’d still hold a 30+ point lead over him. I felt kind of slow in the race, but I did run a ‘31.1. Not as fast as I went last month, but still pretty fast for me.
So on to next month and new tires, and something new to keep my bike from popping out of fifth gear. That cost me third place in 550 Superbike, has caused me problems in previous months. I need it to stop before I blow up my motor.
So thanks again to Tom and Andy for making my bike rideable and to Lloyd McGruder who gave me a nice Shoei helmet to replace my destroyed one from last month. No more flowers. Now I just need to get rid of “go-go boots.”
Thanks to my sponsors SoCalSVRiders.org, Michelin, LP Team Privateer and class sponsors Little Big Racing and VP Fuels.
R.I.P Jesus Amezcua