jadeblue1
Mon 6/18/07, 10:42AM
Long one-have a seat & a cup of coffee..
Preface: I have raced the SV650 for 1 year now. Exactly 11 mos ago, I had my first crash in a race in turn 4b at Willow Springs. My riding plateau’d for about 4 months after that before I started bringing my times down at other tracks again. But I couldn’t budge my lap times at willow. In fact, I went backwards at willow (12 sec backwards to be exact). In February, I realized I was stuck @ 1:44- I could ride that lap time in my sleep. I was getting really frustrated watching everyone else improve & go faster, & here I am stuck in a rut @ 1:44. So I spent March April and May just trying to break down where I could gain some time back. May race weekend I finally got down to a 1:41…
I was very interested to see what I was going to do this weekend for times. Last year, I ran the AFM round @ Thunderhill, came back to Willow, and dropped 4 sec off my lap times. It was the best break-through for times I ever had at the big track. I went to Thunderhill last Saturday because there is something about Thunderhill that makes me faster, and I wanted the kind of break-through I had last year. So when I showed up on Friday, I was ready to throw down some serious laps and just have fun with it. By 10 am I was banging off redline in 6th gear on the front & back straights, so aftera quick consultation with zoran, I put a 46 tooth sprocket on ( I was running a 47) and headed back out. There wasn’t a lot of people in licensed racer practice, but I was easily hanging with a couple of 600’s that I recognized & I was passing other people with ease..hrmm…
The wind was picking up pretty good, so I skipped the last session on Friday & headed out.
Saturday at Willow for me is almost a throw away day. I am an assistant for the New Racers school and I work all day, so I get 2 (or 3 if I’m lucky) regular practice sessions in to ride for myself, so any major work I need to get done on my own riding, I need to cement it on Friday. I went out first session, it felt great. But I would come out of T2, and the bikes I was staying ahead of would pass me under brakes going into T3. So another quick call to Zoran for a little shifting advice. 2nd session out, instead of slowing to get that 2nd downshift in before I turned into T3, I just carried my speed from T2, went down 1, and drove harder into T4. I only got 4 laps to practice it, as somebody fell down in T8 & my session was red flagged. I got out for 4 laps in lightweight practice 1 more time around 2 o’clock, and that was it.
SOLO GT-LIGHT RACE
So the wind was steady & constant & about 25-30 when we gridded up for the race Saturday evening. My plan was to hang with Michael Gougis and just pass him as many times as I could during the race. I was hoping to beat him, but he usually runs about 2 sec faster than me. We start, Stuart & Cody take off like they’ve been shot out of a gun, Michael slides by me on the way to T2, so I settle in behind him & just stay on his butt. As we come out of T9, I figure I’ll go for a drive & pass him before T1, I manage to get beside him as we approach the cones, but with the direction the wind is blowing, I did not want to get blown into him & have us both go down, so I slide back behind him. One more time around, I set up to pass him coming off the apex of T9, and get in front of him long before T1 this time. As we go through the rest of the track, I see a bike chain laying in the race line for T3, so I now have to run the mid line, which I’m not real fond of, because you have to slow down a little more to make the turn. On the next lap, Michael slides by me on the regular line to T3- I have no idea how he didn’t run over the chain, but now I’ve got to pass him again. The wind is really bad in T8 & T9, & I’m watching Michael’s bike shake & dance all over the place, so as he comes off the apex of T9, I get a way better drive & bury it into T1.
I am now determined to not get passed again, as it is too much work in the wind to keep playing pass & pass back. So I drive harder into T3, T8, & T9, because those were the only corners I seemed to get a better drive off than Michael did. I know he’s right on my tail, so my new plan is be smooth, consistent, run a little faster in T8 every lap and as soon as I see the white flag, it’s a sprint race. I saw Stuart & Cody go by around lap 16?, but I didn’t see Michael. However, I knew he was still right behind me. So I stuck to my plan, saw the white flag, ran the last lap “balls out” and took home 3rd. Didn’t know until after I get back into the pit that Michael had pulled off before the end of the race because of a bike problem. DOH!
Sunday morning, I missed first practice because I had to flip my tires- the wind was so bad in T8 I almost shelved my front tire. So 2nd practice I went out, got some laps in & tried to relax & get ready for Race 1. 550 Superike was 2nd wave behind Heavyweight Twins.
550 SUPERBIKE
I saw Bryan Galvan pull up on his red sv of doom & I was very happy to see him. He runs 2 sec faster than me, but a red bike is a lot easier to see than some of the other bikes on the grid. So we grid up, start, and I am actually hanging onto the back of the pack this time. Bryan is right in front of me, and he ate his Wheaties that morning, because he was throwin’ down some fast laps already. (Note-Bryan was not there for Friday or Saturday practice) so I put my head & just tried to stay within a bike length of him. It was going great, and then about lap 5, I saw a yellow bike pull up beside me in T8…#31 on some 500 contraption, but this guy is good & he’ll steal your apex in T9 if he has a wheel on you-which he was getting on me. So I made the mistake of backing off just a little bit & he did it-went from the outside to the inside & got around me neatly-kind of killed my drive of T9 too. I made a note to not do that again & drove harder into T1 to catch him & Bryan. I got back on their tails, but I couldn’t make up the second I lost by letting #31 have that pass. I finished 11th, but I ran a 1:37.
BOTT Middleweight
I learned my lesson about sitting around all day waiting to race last month. I signed up for this race simply because it was in the middle of the day (race 9) and would be a practice race for me so I could bring it in race 16. From the times they were running, and since the faster sv guys also ran this race, I knew I was bringing a knife to a gun fight. But that was ok-I wasn’t going to push it, this was just for practice. And the wind was picking up a little bit, so I was happy that I was getting my “wind legs” back. We gridded up, I’m all by myself dead last on the grid, but I have a nice juicy orange & white Buell right in front of me that I can chase around-one of them is about a sec faster than time I had done in race 1. We start, and again, I hanging with the pack, and I fell in behind the Buell. We go up into T3, and I see Chris #517 go real low on the inside to pass. I go around the outside & plan to drive up the inside of T4 & pass him, but I wasn’t sure if I could do it cleanly. So instead I hung with him & the Buell set up for a pass going downhill into T5, but just as I’m lining up, I see the corner worker @ T4B pull a yellow flag, and a waving yellow in T5, so I have to cut throttle so I don’t get into the passing line, as there is a bike down in T5 just pass the apex. I drive up over T6 & into T8 and I feel the red mist start coming in.
This is only a practice race for me, and I don’t want to give everything here & not have game left for race 16, because that’s the more important of the 2. However, the red mist is making me want to catch them…the conflict-the bikes I am chasing are 4 sec faster than me. They are going to start pulling on the next lap. Do I chase them down, ride to the edge, and wear myself out, or do I chill & hunt down the Buell I can catch and still ride a good ride the next race? Going against what I really want to do, because speed is fun, I settle down a little, spot the other Buell as the 2 bikes in front of me go around him in T8, and put my eye on him & just start reeling him in. On the white flag lap, he was still far enough ahead of me that I wouldn’t be able to pass him, but I now have a good read on him & know where I can gain ground on him. So I paced him the checkered flag cool down lap…hehe-I’m going to do this one again next month because I figured out who I can race.
FORMULA TWINS LIGHTWEIGHT
We are gridded as 2nd wave behind Formula 2-a 600 class, so this race is always fun, even though it’s so late in the day most people are already leaving. The wind has now picked up & is steady, but is as strong as it was for the solo race the night before. An added bonus, on our warm up lap, an 80 foot dust devil comes onto the track in T2. We all went low to avoid it, but it’s still riding through a mini-tornado. And it puts dust all over the track surface, making it less grippy. I‘ve decided the last strategy worked & I’m going to go for Bryan Galvan.
The race starts, I get by him & Trey Richardson going into T1. The wind is horrible and T2 is a little slidy. As we go to T3, Trey passes me under brakes, but he doesn’t get a real good drive up into T4. I almost rear end him, and decide I’ll take him underneath on T6. But I can tell he’s having trouble with something, so I give him a little extra room in T5 & setup for a real low pass over T6, as I’m going under underneath him, I see a hand go up and he pulls to the side for an exit. I drive into T8, the wind is definitely a factor here, and I’ve still got Bryan Galvan & Reese Timonen behind me. I just try to keep it pinned with out falling off the bike and drive good into T1. The wind is also pushing off the apex here, so I run a little wide and try to drive a little lower into T2 to offset the push from the wind.
I manage to throw down 4 laps before Bryan goes underneath me in T8 ( thanks goodness, now he can block the wind for a little while-I’m getting tired) I am on his butt coming off T9, but I’m conserving a little energy, so I stay right behind him & use him as a shield. I could pass him going into T3, but he’s got a better drive in T8. However, I may be able to get him coming off T9. So I decide I’m going to try it on the white flag lap. I keep driving good off T9, and I see the flag in my periphereal as we exit T9, so I get on the line I want to use, and see if I can get him. Almost, but I don’t pull even until the cones for T1, so I need to back shift a little sooner, and drive harder off the apex. I get right behind him & attempt the draft on the last lap, as we head into T8, it’s working. I back shift sooner before T9, feel the bike pull harder as we come off the apex, and I pull out to make the pass. I should’ve stayed in the draft jut a little longer, because the minute I broke it, he jumped ahead farther than I was anticipating. I was drag racing him to the finish line, but I didn’t get a wheel past him until 10-15 feet past it (the only reason I know that was because 2 people came up to me after the race & told me I broke the draft too soon, otherwise I would’ve had it.) But it was still a whole lot of fun.
Really BIG thanks to Zoran, & Tom Dorsey from Twin Works, my other sponsors-Crago Racing, Graffiti Palace, Racer’s Edge Performance/Michelin. Also to my peeps-Full Moon Racing for giving support to women racers in the sport. I can’t do this without you guys.
Also to the friends that come out & hang out & cheer us on. It was nice to see Michelle there this weekend. ( Too bad there are no pics of the soup flinging incident). However, I hope somebody posts the video of Reese running around in his underwear with his helmet ,gloves, & boots on, a la Ricky Bobby style. Also congrats to Chris Sp8s and Michael Gougis for their laps times. ( Sp8s gets a belated Happy Father's Day! too)
Preface: I have raced the SV650 for 1 year now. Exactly 11 mos ago, I had my first crash in a race in turn 4b at Willow Springs. My riding plateau’d for about 4 months after that before I started bringing my times down at other tracks again. But I couldn’t budge my lap times at willow. In fact, I went backwards at willow (12 sec backwards to be exact). In February, I realized I was stuck @ 1:44- I could ride that lap time in my sleep. I was getting really frustrated watching everyone else improve & go faster, & here I am stuck in a rut @ 1:44. So I spent March April and May just trying to break down where I could gain some time back. May race weekend I finally got down to a 1:41…
I was very interested to see what I was going to do this weekend for times. Last year, I ran the AFM round @ Thunderhill, came back to Willow, and dropped 4 sec off my lap times. It was the best break-through for times I ever had at the big track. I went to Thunderhill last Saturday because there is something about Thunderhill that makes me faster, and I wanted the kind of break-through I had last year. So when I showed up on Friday, I was ready to throw down some serious laps and just have fun with it. By 10 am I was banging off redline in 6th gear on the front & back straights, so aftera quick consultation with zoran, I put a 46 tooth sprocket on ( I was running a 47) and headed back out. There wasn’t a lot of people in licensed racer practice, but I was easily hanging with a couple of 600’s that I recognized & I was passing other people with ease..hrmm…
The wind was picking up pretty good, so I skipped the last session on Friday & headed out.
Saturday at Willow for me is almost a throw away day. I am an assistant for the New Racers school and I work all day, so I get 2 (or 3 if I’m lucky) regular practice sessions in to ride for myself, so any major work I need to get done on my own riding, I need to cement it on Friday. I went out first session, it felt great. But I would come out of T2, and the bikes I was staying ahead of would pass me under brakes going into T3. So another quick call to Zoran for a little shifting advice. 2nd session out, instead of slowing to get that 2nd downshift in before I turned into T3, I just carried my speed from T2, went down 1, and drove harder into T4. I only got 4 laps to practice it, as somebody fell down in T8 & my session was red flagged. I got out for 4 laps in lightweight practice 1 more time around 2 o’clock, and that was it.
SOLO GT-LIGHT RACE
So the wind was steady & constant & about 25-30 when we gridded up for the race Saturday evening. My plan was to hang with Michael Gougis and just pass him as many times as I could during the race. I was hoping to beat him, but he usually runs about 2 sec faster than me. We start, Stuart & Cody take off like they’ve been shot out of a gun, Michael slides by me on the way to T2, so I settle in behind him & just stay on his butt. As we come out of T9, I figure I’ll go for a drive & pass him before T1, I manage to get beside him as we approach the cones, but with the direction the wind is blowing, I did not want to get blown into him & have us both go down, so I slide back behind him. One more time around, I set up to pass him coming off the apex of T9, and get in front of him long before T1 this time. As we go through the rest of the track, I see a bike chain laying in the race line for T3, so I now have to run the mid line, which I’m not real fond of, because you have to slow down a little more to make the turn. On the next lap, Michael slides by me on the regular line to T3- I have no idea how he didn’t run over the chain, but now I’ve got to pass him again. The wind is really bad in T8 & T9, & I’m watching Michael’s bike shake & dance all over the place, so as he comes off the apex of T9, I get a way better drive & bury it into T1.
I am now determined to not get passed again, as it is too much work in the wind to keep playing pass & pass back. So I drive harder into T3, T8, & T9, because those were the only corners I seemed to get a better drive off than Michael did. I know he’s right on my tail, so my new plan is be smooth, consistent, run a little faster in T8 every lap and as soon as I see the white flag, it’s a sprint race. I saw Stuart & Cody go by around lap 16?, but I didn’t see Michael. However, I knew he was still right behind me. So I stuck to my plan, saw the white flag, ran the last lap “balls out” and took home 3rd. Didn’t know until after I get back into the pit that Michael had pulled off before the end of the race because of a bike problem. DOH!
Sunday morning, I missed first practice because I had to flip my tires- the wind was so bad in T8 I almost shelved my front tire. So 2nd practice I went out, got some laps in & tried to relax & get ready for Race 1. 550 Superike was 2nd wave behind Heavyweight Twins.
550 SUPERBIKE
I saw Bryan Galvan pull up on his red sv of doom & I was very happy to see him. He runs 2 sec faster than me, but a red bike is a lot easier to see than some of the other bikes on the grid. So we grid up, start, and I am actually hanging onto the back of the pack this time. Bryan is right in front of me, and he ate his Wheaties that morning, because he was throwin’ down some fast laps already. (Note-Bryan was not there for Friday or Saturday practice) so I put my head & just tried to stay within a bike length of him. It was going great, and then about lap 5, I saw a yellow bike pull up beside me in T8…#31 on some 500 contraption, but this guy is good & he’ll steal your apex in T9 if he has a wheel on you-which he was getting on me. So I made the mistake of backing off just a little bit & he did it-went from the outside to the inside & got around me neatly-kind of killed my drive of T9 too. I made a note to not do that again & drove harder into T1 to catch him & Bryan. I got back on their tails, but I couldn’t make up the second I lost by letting #31 have that pass. I finished 11th, but I ran a 1:37.
BOTT Middleweight
I learned my lesson about sitting around all day waiting to race last month. I signed up for this race simply because it was in the middle of the day (race 9) and would be a practice race for me so I could bring it in race 16. From the times they were running, and since the faster sv guys also ran this race, I knew I was bringing a knife to a gun fight. But that was ok-I wasn’t going to push it, this was just for practice. And the wind was picking up a little bit, so I was happy that I was getting my “wind legs” back. We gridded up, I’m all by myself dead last on the grid, but I have a nice juicy orange & white Buell right in front of me that I can chase around-one of them is about a sec faster than time I had done in race 1. We start, and again, I hanging with the pack, and I fell in behind the Buell. We go up into T3, and I see Chris #517 go real low on the inside to pass. I go around the outside & plan to drive up the inside of T4 & pass him, but I wasn’t sure if I could do it cleanly. So instead I hung with him & the Buell set up for a pass going downhill into T5, but just as I’m lining up, I see the corner worker @ T4B pull a yellow flag, and a waving yellow in T5, so I have to cut throttle so I don’t get into the passing line, as there is a bike down in T5 just pass the apex. I drive up over T6 & into T8 and I feel the red mist start coming in.
This is only a practice race for me, and I don’t want to give everything here & not have game left for race 16, because that’s the more important of the 2. However, the red mist is making me want to catch them…the conflict-the bikes I am chasing are 4 sec faster than me. They are going to start pulling on the next lap. Do I chase them down, ride to the edge, and wear myself out, or do I chill & hunt down the Buell I can catch and still ride a good ride the next race? Going against what I really want to do, because speed is fun, I settle down a little, spot the other Buell as the 2 bikes in front of me go around him in T8, and put my eye on him & just start reeling him in. On the white flag lap, he was still far enough ahead of me that I wouldn’t be able to pass him, but I now have a good read on him & know where I can gain ground on him. So I paced him the checkered flag cool down lap…hehe-I’m going to do this one again next month because I figured out who I can race.
FORMULA TWINS LIGHTWEIGHT
We are gridded as 2nd wave behind Formula 2-a 600 class, so this race is always fun, even though it’s so late in the day most people are already leaving. The wind has now picked up & is steady, but is as strong as it was for the solo race the night before. An added bonus, on our warm up lap, an 80 foot dust devil comes onto the track in T2. We all went low to avoid it, but it’s still riding through a mini-tornado. And it puts dust all over the track surface, making it less grippy. I‘ve decided the last strategy worked & I’m going to go for Bryan Galvan.
The race starts, I get by him & Trey Richardson going into T1. The wind is horrible and T2 is a little slidy. As we go to T3, Trey passes me under brakes, but he doesn’t get a real good drive up into T4. I almost rear end him, and decide I’ll take him underneath on T6. But I can tell he’s having trouble with something, so I give him a little extra room in T5 & setup for a real low pass over T6, as I’m going under underneath him, I see a hand go up and he pulls to the side for an exit. I drive into T8, the wind is definitely a factor here, and I’ve still got Bryan Galvan & Reese Timonen behind me. I just try to keep it pinned with out falling off the bike and drive good into T1. The wind is also pushing off the apex here, so I run a little wide and try to drive a little lower into T2 to offset the push from the wind.
I manage to throw down 4 laps before Bryan goes underneath me in T8 ( thanks goodness, now he can block the wind for a little while-I’m getting tired) I am on his butt coming off T9, but I’m conserving a little energy, so I stay right behind him & use him as a shield. I could pass him going into T3, but he’s got a better drive in T8. However, I may be able to get him coming off T9. So I decide I’m going to try it on the white flag lap. I keep driving good off T9, and I see the flag in my periphereal as we exit T9, so I get on the line I want to use, and see if I can get him. Almost, but I don’t pull even until the cones for T1, so I need to back shift a little sooner, and drive harder off the apex. I get right behind him & attempt the draft on the last lap, as we head into T8, it’s working. I back shift sooner before T9, feel the bike pull harder as we come off the apex, and I pull out to make the pass. I should’ve stayed in the draft jut a little longer, because the minute I broke it, he jumped ahead farther than I was anticipating. I was drag racing him to the finish line, but I didn’t get a wheel past him until 10-15 feet past it (the only reason I know that was because 2 people came up to me after the race & told me I broke the draft too soon, otherwise I would’ve had it.) But it was still a whole lot of fun.
Really BIG thanks to Zoran, & Tom Dorsey from Twin Works, my other sponsors-Crago Racing, Graffiti Palace, Racer’s Edge Performance/Michelin. Also to my peeps-Full Moon Racing for giving support to women racers in the sport. I can’t do this without you guys.
Also to the friends that come out & hang out & cheer us on. It was nice to see Michelle there this weekend. ( Too bad there are no pics of the soup flinging incident). However, I hope somebody posts the video of Reese running around in his underwear with his helmet ,gloves, & boots on, a la Ricky Bobby style. Also congrats to Chris Sp8s and Michael Gougis for their laps times. ( Sp8s gets a belated Happy Father's Day! too)