Kurt'sSV
Wed 4/21/04, 1:15PM
Willow Springs Motorcycle Club, Round 2, February 15th, 2004
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. After my attempt at gaining a novice racing license ended in a cloud of dust last month on the exit of turn one, I was back to retake the riding portion of the New Racer’s School, determined this time not to fail. I was a little nervous out on the track because I learned how easy it is to make a mistake that can cause you to crash. I was just holding my breath out there until I got my license. I road much more cautiously this time and the day was pretty uneventful, which was good. Once I received my license I relaxed considerably, but the day was not over yet.
In the last session, we were allowed three practice starts as a group. This was actually a lot of fun. The SV is a very easy bike to launch because it has a good amount of torque, but not a ton of horsepower to make the front end shoot straight up into air. WSMC grids the racers on the starting line in staggered rows, meaning that there is no one directly in front of you, but two rows up, there is. On our very first practice start I found out why WSMC lines us up like this, and am thankful for their consideration to safety. When the starter dropped the green flag I was holding my RPM’s steady at 6 grand, and fed the clutch lever out evenly. I was leaning over the tank and could tell that the front end was very light and barely on the ground. The next thing that caught my attention was that the guy in front of me was not moving. The guy killed his bike when he tried to launch it and was sitting dead on the track. He did not throw his hand up into the air immediately to signal that he was not moving, like you are supposed to, so I had to figure out on my own that he was not going anywhere. I chopped the throttle and swerved my bike around him, missing him by inches. Another half a second and I would have plowed into him. Having a poor starter in front of you really messes you up.
Fast forward 24 hours and I am on the starting grid for the middleweight novice race. I’m gridded next to one of my friend, Stevan, who is also riding a Suzuki SV650. We are two rows up from another friend, Charlie, also on an SV650. The green flag dropped, I got a good launch out of my bike and what happens? The guy two rows up, directly in front of me, was asleep and launched his bike like my grandma. In about one second I’m on him, but swerved left to avoid a collision. I do not know if I cut my buddy, Stevan, off when I swerved, but I do not think he got that good of a start so it probably did not affect him. But, it sure screwed me up. While swerving around this guy I forgot to shift and was reminded when my revlimiter kicked in and my bike stopped accelerating. I quickly kicked it down into second and got back on the gas, but again I was not paying attention to my tachometer and did not shift until the revlimiter kicked in. I kicked it down into third, but this had slowed me enough that Stevan passed me on my left and Charlie went by on my right. All before we reached turn one. Oh man, starts are exciting!
Turn one was taken very slow as we were all going through there in a huge group. Because my SV lacks power compared to the four cylinder 600’s I was racing against, I could not accelerate off that corner as hard as my competitors, as they have a 40 plus horsepower advantage. I saw lot of the group pull away, and more people got by me on the outside. Turn two was also taken slowly as we were still sorting out our positions, and I was again shuffled back in the pack coming out of the turn. Eventually people stopped passing me and I realized I must be in the very back (after the race I learned that there was a guy on a single piston bike who was behind all of us by quite a bit). I was disappointed at how quickly the 600cc bikes pulled away on the back straight - the big track at Willow is a high-speed track designed for high horse power bikes. Once the 600’s were gone, it was just Charlie, Stevan and I going around the track like we were on another group ride.
For the next couple of laps I cruised around, matching the speeds of my two friends, and keeping an even distance. I saw that Charlie was faster in some parts of the track, Stevan was faster in others, and that their lines were a little different than mine. After the halfway mark it finally dawned on me: Hey, I’m in a race, not a ride through the canyons. I need to try to pass someone. So instead of just following Charlie and Stevan, I tried catching them. I saw that I would lose some ground to Stevan on the back straight, but I could make it up coming out of turn nine with a better drive. Stevan and his naked SV are about as aerodynamic as a brick and they punched a big hole in the air for me to draft off of. My best bet to make a pass would be after turn nine, but before turn four.
I got on the gas a little harder coming out of turn nine at the end of the fourth lap determined to catch Stevan on the front straight. I pulled up behind him right as we were entering the braking zone for turn one, but being that I crashed last month in turn one, I wasn’t ready to do anything aggressive in that turn. I stayed behind him through turn one and down the short straight for turn two. Here I could have gone underneath him for a pass entering turn two because I knew he was much slower than me at that part of the track. But I had yet to pass anyone on the inside and did not want to make my first attempt on a friend just to go from 26th to 25th place. Now I could have gone around the outside of him as we entered the turn, but do to my indecision I did not set myself up right for that and could not attempt a pass. Instead I was forced to tap my brakes to slow and match Stevan’s speed entering turn two. I was very mad at myself for not being set up to make the pass.
I stayed behind Stevan the rest of the way around the track, and was on his tail as we exited turn nine headed down the front straight for the last lap. I was getting a good draft and was pulling up on him. Around the start/finish line I pulled out of the draft thinking I would be able to motor around him. I was wrong. Turns out our bikes have pretty much the same power and I stayed just behind him on his left side. If I was a little more experienced, the position I was in would have made for an easy pass under braking for turn one. But, once again I reminded myself that is where I crashed the month before, so I should not try anything too aggressive there. I rode behind him again through turn one and made the decision to finally pass him entering turn two. It was actually pretty easy once I set myself up. I just stayed a little wider and kept the speed I wanted around the long turn and put him behind me. As we were braking for turn three I saw his shadow on my outside, but I knew I had the inside line and he could not make a pass there. However, I was worried about holding him off on the back straight. To combat this I concentrated on taking a good line through turn five and getting a good drive, which I did. I pulled the throttle all the way back, tucked in and held on all the way down the back straight, through turn seven and around turn eight. I did not slow down for turn nine as much as I had the previous five laps for fear of Stevan catching me. I took a good line through the turn and got a strong drive off nine to stay ahead of him to the finish line.
Man, that was the most fun I have ever had on a bike. I wish I didn’t have to wait a month before I do it again. The whole weekend was great. I pitted with Charlie and benefited from the use of his enclosed trailer. My parents came up from San Diego to watch me race on Sunday. Shandra was there playing crew chief for me all weekend long. She also took my lap times during the race. I knocked off five seconds in my last lap. Next month I expect my times to drop even more.
I’d like to thank my sponsors for their support: SoCalSVRiders.org, Jadeblue Creative, Tustin Martial Arts, Cybertrackgps.com, and Galfer.
Special thanks to Charlie Curry for letting me use his trailer to store my bike and gear. Shandra Crawford for being a great crew chief. Zoran Vujasinovic for making the much-needed adjustments to my Ohlins shock. And, of course, Steven Slaughter for being Steve Slaughter.
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. After my attempt at gaining a novice racing license ended in a cloud of dust last month on the exit of turn one, I was back to retake the riding portion of the New Racer’s School, determined this time not to fail. I was a little nervous out on the track because I learned how easy it is to make a mistake that can cause you to crash. I was just holding my breath out there until I got my license. I road much more cautiously this time and the day was pretty uneventful, which was good. Once I received my license I relaxed considerably, but the day was not over yet.
In the last session, we were allowed three practice starts as a group. This was actually a lot of fun. The SV is a very easy bike to launch because it has a good amount of torque, but not a ton of horsepower to make the front end shoot straight up into air. WSMC grids the racers on the starting line in staggered rows, meaning that there is no one directly in front of you, but two rows up, there is. On our very first practice start I found out why WSMC lines us up like this, and am thankful for their consideration to safety. When the starter dropped the green flag I was holding my RPM’s steady at 6 grand, and fed the clutch lever out evenly. I was leaning over the tank and could tell that the front end was very light and barely on the ground. The next thing that caught my attention was that the guy in front of me was not moving. The guy killed his bike when he tried to launch it and was sitting dead on the track. He did not throw his hand up into the air immediately to signal that he was not moving, like you are supposed to, so I had to figure out on my own that he was not going anywhere. I chopped the throttle and swerved my bike around him, missing him by inches. Another half a second and I would have plowed into him. Having a poor starter in front of you really messes you up.
Fast forward 24 hours and I am on the starting grid for the middleweight novice race. I’m gridded next to one of my friend, Stevan, who is also riding a Suzuki SV650. We are two rows up from another friend, Charlie, also on an SV650. The green flag dropped, I got a good launch out of my bike and what happens? The guy two rows up, directly in front of me, was asleep and launched his bike like my grandma. In about one second I’m on him, but swerved left to avoid a collision. I do not know if I cut my buddy, Stevan, off when I swerved, but I do not think he got that good of a start so it probably did not affect him. But, it sure screwed me up. While swerving around this guy I forgot to shift and was reminded when my revlimiter kicked in and my bike stopped accelerating. I quickly kicked it down into second and got back on the gas, but again I was not paying attention to my tachometer and did not shift until the revlimiter kicked in. I kicked it down into third, but this had slowed me enough that Stevan passed me on my left and Charlie went by on my right. All before we reached turn one. Oh man, starts are exciting!
Turn one was taken very slow as we were all going through there in a huge group. Because my SV lacks power compared to the four cylinder 600’s I was racing against, I could not accelerate off that corner as hard as my competitors, as they have a 40 plus horsepower advantage. I saw lot of the group pull away, and more people got by me on the outside. Turn two was also taken slowly as we were still sorting out our positions, and I was again shuffled back in the pack coming out of the turn. Eventually people stopped passing me and I realized I must be in the very back (after the race I learned that there was a guy on a single piston bike who was behind all of us by quite a bit). I was disappointed at how quickly the 600cc bikes pulled away on the back straight - the big track at Willow is a high-speed track designed for high horse power bikes. Once the 600’s were gone, it was just Charlie, Stevan and I going around the track like we were on another group ride.
For the next couple of laps I cruised around, matching the speeds of my two friends, and keeping an even distance. I saw that Charlie was faster in some parts of the track, Stevan was faster in others, and that their lines were a little different than mine. After the halfway mark it finally dawned on me: Hey, I’m in a race, not a ride through the canyons. I need to try to pass someone. So instead of just following Charlie and Stevan, I tried catching them. I saw that I would lose some ground to Stevan on the back straight, but I could make it up coming out of turn nine with a better drive. Stevan and his naked SV are about as aerodynamic as a brick and they punched a big hole in the air for me to draft off of. My best bet to make a pass would be after turn nine, but before turn four.
I got on the gas a little harder coming out of turn nine at the end of the fourth lap determined to catch Stevan on the front straight. I pulled up behind him right as we were entering the braking zone for turn one, but being that I crashed last month in turn one, I wasn’t ready to do anything aggressive in that turn. I stayed behind him through turn one and down the short straight for turn two. Here I could have gone underneath him for a pass entering turn two because I knew he was much slower than me at that part of the track. But I had yet to pass anyone on the inside and did not want to make my first attempt on a friend just to go from 26th to 25th place. Now I could have gone around the outside of him as we entered the turn, but do to my indecision I did not set myself up right for that and could not attempt a pass. Instead I was forced to tap my brakes to slow and match Stevan’s speed entering turn two. I was very mad at myself for not being set up to make the pass.
I stayed behind Stevan the rest of the way around the track, and was on his tail as we exited turn nine headed down the front straight for the last lap. I was getting a good draft and was pulling up on him. Around the start/finish line I pulled out of the draft thinking I would be able to motor around him. I was wrong. Turns out our bikes have pretty much the same power and I stayed just behind him on his left side. If I was a little more experienced, the position I was in would have made for an easy pass under braking for turn one. But, once again I reminded myself that is where I crashed the month before, so I should not try anything too aggressive there. I rode behind him again through turn one and made the decision to finally pass him entering turn two. It was actually pretty easy once I set myself up. I just stayed a little wider and kept the speed I wanted around the long turn and put him behind me. As we were braking for turn three I saw his shadow on my outside, but I knew I had the inside line and he could not make a pass there. However, I was worried about holding him off on the back straight. To combat this I concentrated on taking a good line through turn five and getting a good drive, which I did. I pulled the throttle all the way back, tucked in and held on all the way down the back straight, through turn seven and around turn eight. I did not slow down for turn nine as much as I had the previous five laps for fear of Stevan catching me. I took a good line through the turn and got a strong drive off nine to stay ahead of him to the finish line.
Man, that was the most fun I have ever had on a bike. I wish I didn’t have to wait a month before I do it again. The whole weekend was great. I pitted with Charlie and benefited from the use of his enclosed trailer. My parents came up from San Diego to watch me race on Sunday. Shandra was there playing crew chief for me all weekend long. She also took my lap times during the race. I knocked off five seconds in my last lap. Next month I expect my times to drop even more.
I’d like to thank my sponsors for their support: SoCalSVRiders.org, Jadeblue Creative, Tustin Martial Arts, Cybertrackgps.com, and Galfer.
Special thanks to Charlie Curry for letting me use his trailer to store my bike and gear. Shandra Crawford for being a great crew chief. Zoran Vujasinovic for making the much-needed adjustments to my Ohlins shock. And, of course, Steven Slaughter for being Steve Slaughter.