codzilla70
Mon 12/18/06, 10:03AM
Long weekend, LONG report.
Finally!
After a long hiatus from the track I got to get back out there and mix it up a little.
I had made a few mods to the bike since my last race/crash in May and had to spend most of the weekend sorting out the little details that only seem to present themselves on the track.
Friday was a little boring, I had to break in the engine and that meant putting around the track at some pretty darn slow speeds. At one point a guy on a Motard passed me on the front straight! Toward the end of the day I could finally start to open her up and see how the new engine felt and then start concentrating on dialing in the new front end. Once I started getting up to speed I was leaning the bike over further in the turns and on one lap right at the apex of T9 the engine just died. My first thought was, Oh great here comes an ass packing! I just started waving my arm in the air like a swarm of bees was attacking me and slowly drifted off the racing line to the side of the track and waited for the crash truck. Once back in the pit I turned the bike on and it fired right up?
After a little head scratching I figured out I put the tip over sensor on 90deg from what it should be and it was killing the engine when it was leaned over too long. After that I was in a bit of a hurry not to miss the next session and miss communicated with my super duper pit crew and dropped the bike on the right side! Yeah that’s right dropped it.
After a quick assessment the damage was minimal, bent bar and some scratches was all. So back out to work on the front end. The last session I was following Morbidelli around and he was going well.
Saturday things were a little more fun; I just did more laps to get a feel for the bike. It started raining around 2PMish so we wrapped it up and went to dinner.
Race Day
It was freezing balls but at least the skies were clear. There were ice patches all around in the pits! When we got to the track I put a new rear slick on and actually made the first practice, I just cruised around trying to scuff up the tire as much as possible. Kurt even showed up to lend a hand.
My first race was 550SBK. At the start Andy Palmer to my right does this huge wheelie and spooked the s**t outta me. I got a crappy start (nothing to do with Andy’s awesome wheelie) and got stuck behind JC Gibbs and Monsterdood for a couple laps. I think, I past them on the back straight and then JC fought back and re passed me in T2. He was taking some weird really tight line through T9 so I kept getting by on the exit then it was a braking duel into T1. I took a defensive line through T1 and he tried to come up on the outside so I just out broke him and took the position and never saw him again. All this let the lead pack get away and I finished the race by myself. Close to the end of the race I saw Tim Martinez on the outside of T3 so I moved up a position to 4th.
Next was FTLW.
I had a good grid pos and got a decent start but Charlie Inman got a great start and came up on the inside of me going into T1, I just kept on the gas and followed him around on the outside then motored away between T1 and T2. After a couple more laps there was a bike down in T3 and the race was red flagged. Afterwards we where re gridded for a 4 lap race. I got another average start and Charlie got another great one. He shot passed me going into T1 but ran just a bit wide on the exit and I aimed to pass him on the left but he started to drift back left as I passed and we came really close to making contact. After getting passed Charlie, going into T2 I could see I was in 4th and about 3-5 bike lengths behind George Beavers. I made up the gap on George in the turns and got in his draft on the back straight and used it to slingshot myself around the outside on the exit of T8. I just continued to try and keep a good pace and waited for George to fight back but it never happened and I ended up 3rd. 1st and 2nd were the Kawis and they were gone by the second lap! And I mean GONE!
Overall it was a decent weekend I got to shake down the bike, took a 3rd and 4th on my first weekend back and had fun. (boy did I miss it!)
Thanks to VP Fuels and Little Big Racing for sponsoring the classes and to Kurt for his help in the pits.
Thanks to Zoran! It was nice to not lose time in the straights for once. I’ll do my best to showcase your work and I will step up my riding to meet it.
Thanks to Tom for all the help puting my bike back together.
Thanks To my buddy at Ohlins for the “spench” work and to Dave Moss for helping me sort it.
The biggest THANK YOU goes to my amazing pit crew/wife.
Milacku I couldn’t have done it without you! I know I have the envy of everyone when they see how great you are.
Finally!
After a long hiatus from the track I got to get back out there and mix it up a little.
I had made a few mods to the bike since my last race/crash in May and had to spend most of the weekend sorting out the little details that only seem to present themselves on the track.
Friday was a little boring, I had to break in the engine and that meant putting around the track at some pretty darn slow speeds. At one point a guy on a Motard passed me on the front straight! Toward the end of the day I could finally start to open her up and see how the new engine felt and then start concentrating on dialing in the new front end. Once I started getting up to speed I was leaning the bike over further in the turns and on one lap right at the apex of T9 the engine just died. My first thought was, Oh great here comes an ass packing! I just started waving my arm in the air like a swarm of bees was attacking me and slowly drifted off the racing line to the side of the track and waited for the crash truck. Once back in the pit I turned the bike on and it fired right up?
After a little head scratching I figured out I put the tip over sensor on 90deg from what it should be and it was killing the engine when it was leaned over too long. After that I was in a bit of a hurry not to miss the next session and miss communicated with my super duper pit crew and dropped the bike on the right side! Yeah that’s right dropped it.
After a quick assessment the damage was minimal, bent bar and some scratches was all. So back out to work on the front end. The last session I was following Morbidelli around and he was going well.
Saturday things were a little more fun; I just did more laps to get a feel for the bike. It started raining around 2PMish so we wrapped it up and went to dinner.
Race Day
It was freezing balls but at least the skies were clear. There were ice patches all around in the pits! When we got to the track I put a new rear slick on and actually made the first practice, I just cruised around trying to scuff up the tire as much as possible. Kurt even showed up to lend a hand.
My first race was 550SBK. At the start Andy Palmer to my right does this huge wheelie and spooked the s**t outta me. I got a crappy start (nothing to do with Andy’s awesome wheelie) and got stuck behind JC Gibbs and Monsterdood for a couple laps. I think, I past them on the back straight and then JC fought back and re passed me in T2. He was taking some weird really tight line through T9 so I kept getting by on the exit then it was a braking duel into T1. I took a defensive line through T1 and he tried to come up on the outside so I just out broke him and took the position and never saw him again. All this let the lead pack get away and I finished the race by myself. Close to the end of the race I saw Tim Martinez on the outside of T3 so I moved up a position to 4th.
Next was FTLW.
I had a good grid pos and got a decent start but Charlie Inman got a great start and came up on the inside of me going into T1, I just kept on the gas and followed him around on the outside then motored away between T1 and T2. After a couple more laps there was a bike down in T3 and the race was red flagged. Afterwards we where re gridded for a 4 lap race. I got another average start and Charlie got another great one. He shot passed me going into T1 but ran just a bit wide on the exit and I aimed to pass him on the left but he started to drift back left as I passed and we came really close to making contact. After getting passed Charlie, going into T2 I could see I was in 4th and about 3-5 bike lengths behind George Beavers. I made up the gap on George in the turns and got in his draft on the back straight and used it to slingshot myself around the outside on the exit of T8. I just continued to try and keep a good pace and waited for George to fight back but it never happened and I ended up 3rd. 1st and 2nd were the Kawis and they were gone by the second lap! And I mean GONE!
Overall it was a decent weekend I got to shake down the bike, took a 3rd and 4th on my first weekend back and had fun. (boy did I miss it!)
Thanks to VP Fuels and Little Big Racing for sponsoring the classes and to Kurt for his help in the pits.
Thanks to Zoran! It was nice to not lose time in the straights for once. I’ll do my best to showcase your work and I will step up my riding to meet it.
Thanks to Tom for all the help puting my bike back together.
Thanks To my buddy at Ohlins for the “spench” work and to Dave Moss for helping me sort it.
The biggest THANK YOU goes to my amazing pit crew/wife.
Milacku I couldn’t have done it without you! I know I have the envy of everyone when they see how great you are.