Kurt'sSV
Thu 7/22/04, 8:55AM
Willow Springs Motorcycle Club, July 17-18, Round 7
Good tires make all the difference in the world. I made the biggest improvement in terms of lap times over this weekend since I first started racing. If you’re going to be confident in anything when racing, it had better be your tires.
Having a new transport vehicle also made the weekend much more pleasant. We pulled up to the hot pit wall in style and set up our pit next to Shandra’s shiny, new, red truck. It took the tire guys way, way too long to put the new tires on my rims and I was stressing pretty good because we were going to be cutting it close on time. Fortunately when Shandra went to go pick up the rear while I safety wired the front, they made up for being slow.
I was nervous about doing this solo endurance race because I knew that it was going to be physically taxing and I was finally going to be going up against the real fast people that I have been watching race for months. I knew I had no chance to podium, but I didn’t want Ritchie Thorup, Breanne Thomson and any other fast people to lap me before half way. When the green flag was waved I got a good launch, but my front wheel came off the ground a little and when it came down it threw the handle bars into a tank slapper and I let off the gas to get the bike under control. This killed my drive, but I still went into turn one in good position. I went by an Aprilia 250 on the brakes going into three and did my best to keep Thorup and Thomson in sight. My drive out of five and line through six needs a lot of improvement because any hope of hanging with those two for the first few laps disappeared quickly as they sped away from me down the back straight. Going down the front straight I passed another Aprilia 250 (they run a two stroke endurance race at the same time they run the light weight four stroke endurance race). Down the back straight a different 250 went by me, but I hung with him through eight and nine and repassed him on the front straight. I was too quick with my foot going into one and I was not sure if I actually made the down shift from sixth to fifth or not (there’s very little engine braking when downshifting between those two gears). The bike seemed to have a decent amount of pull coming out of the turn so I thought that maybe I was in fifth. I did not want to risk three down shifts going into turn three because if I was in fifth, putting the bike into second could make me lock up the rear and crash. Turns out I was still in sixth because when I down shifted twice, the engine braking I was given with fourth gear did not slow me down as much as I was used to and I went into turn three very hot. This is where I was very glad to be running real race compound tires because I put a lot of stress on that front tire. I stayed off the gas and just kept looking up the hill as far as I could while I went through the turn. When I felt my stubby peg slide on the ground I started thinking hooooollllllyyyyyy sheeeeeiiiiiit, but the bike held a good line and I made it through the turn like nothing was wrong. I didn’t want to do that again, though.
The silver 250 rider and I continued to pass each other on the front and back straights for another couple of laps when I realized that I was just too tired to keep going at this pace. My body was not warmed up yet and I didn’t know if I was going to have the strength to keep hanging onto the bike. I eased off of my pace and began relaxing my body a lot on the straights to try and rest. The 250 rider pulled away from me a bit, but then stayed at an equal distance for a lap or two. At the crossed flags I noticed that I was reeling him in again. I pushed harder through eight and nine and caught back up to him on the front straight. I wasn’t in a position to make a pass on him, plus I knew that going in front of him would not do me any good as the rider in front of us was nowhere to be seen. Coming out of turn two, Thorup went by me and I thought, oh thank God because now I had to do one less lap. Coming out of four B the first place GT-GP 250 passed me and about took my front wheel off. I didn’t appreciate that much, but a pass without contact is a clean pass. I continued to cruise behind the silver 250 and rest. Thompson passed us exiting turn one on the next lap and I wondered who else would be lapping us, but no one ever did.
I got comfortable riding behind this 250. I never tried to pass him even though I easily could have on several parts of the track because I didn’t want him to know I was there. A couple of times down the front and back straight I let off the gas a little to keep from rolling by him. Eventually I knew that the race was winding down and that I needed to make a move. Being that his pace was so much slower I figured he had gotten pretty tired and if I pushed it, I could hold him off because I felt great since I had rested and was now warmed up. Going down the back straight I went by him and didn’t let off the gas through eight. On the front straight I was greeted with the white flag so I knew that I only had to put together one good lap to hold this guy off. I ended doing my fastest lap of the race and Shandra said the race commentator announced me as finishing in fourth place in the GT-lights class and was the fifth bike to cross the finish line.
The good finish gave me confidence that I could do well in the 550 Superbike race the following day. I was to learn that the competition for that race was much stiffer.
For the 550SB race I was gridded last, but was expecting to be there since I had zero points in that class. The two guys gridded in front of me were on Aprilia 250s and I knew on the start that I could split those guys before they even picked their foot up off the ground. This time I didn’t just lean over my tank, but I laid on it to keep the front down. It worked. When the starter jerked his arm I dumped the clutch and grabbed a hand full of throttle. I instantly went by the two riders on the Aprilias and got up with the bikes in the first and second rows. I rolled by most of them and could see Thorup and Thomson out in the lead. The TZ250 I was next to hit its power band and pulled away from me and right before we got to turn one a Z powered SV rolled up on my outside. He swung down as we entered the turn and forced me to back off a little on the throttle so I wouldn’t clip his rear tire. But I was still exiting the first turn in fifth place! This did not last long and I was put back into seventh on the exit of turn three. On the back straight a black SV passed me and I followed him around turn eight and caught back up to him in turn nine. He made a mistake entering that turn, took a poor line and I think even down shifted right before we dove for the apex. I easily passed him on the front straight and put some distance on him. I stayed in front of him until the back straight where he passed me again. He took nine much better this time and while I rolled up behind him on the front straight, I was not able to pass him. My poor drive out of turn five allowed him to out distance me in the next two laps and that made it very evident that I needed to practice that turn before next months races.
On the fifth lap my front tire slid in four B and then my rear tire took a big step out. That caught my attention and made me wonder how much tread I had left on the right side of these tires. On the back straight I got passed by two Aprilia 250s. As usual I made up the distance in nine and easily caught one of them on the front straight. It looked like I was going to go past the other one and I wanted to be set up well for turn one. I was on his inside and wanted to move to his outside. I started easing over behind him, but didn’t move too quickly in case that other Aprilia was right behind me. I didn’t want to clip anyone’s front tire. When I got around to his outside I rolled up next to him, but could not get all the way by him before the braking zone for one. Looking back my strategy here was retarded. I should have just stayed on his inside. If I did not go all the way past him (like I didn’t) I could have tried to force a block pass going into one. Instead I had to let him go by me into one, causing me to slow down more than usual which also allowed the other Aprilia to go by me on the outside at the exit.
Okay, I thought. I just need to hang with these guys and I can get them on the exit of turn nine. Entering two I lost the front and that slowed me up. Throughout the rest of the turn my rear tire didn’t seem like it was gripping very well because the bike kept pushing out so wide. I slowed down way too much for five and the two Aprilias pulled away significantly. Something I had noticed about turn nine in this race was that it is much more difficult to take that turn when you are going much faster. I was having trouble holding my line through there and setting the bike up to hit the apex. I wasn’t used to entering and going through that turn that fast.
I didn’t make up much on them in nine and when we exited onto the front straight I knew I had blew it and was not going to catch them. I did roll up on both of them on our way to the finish line. On the clock the first Aprilia probably beat me by less than two tenths of a second and the other Aprilia beat me by the length of his bike. Being uncomfortable with my tires and sheer laziness on the last lap handed me a DFL. My fourth and fifth lap times were a second faster than the PR I set the day before on my last lap in the endurance race, but my time for the sixth lap in this sprint race was three seconds slower. Still faster than I had ever gone in a novice race, my last lap wasn’t fast enough to keep me out of last place. Seeing your name at the bottom of the results list gives your pride quite a shot, but I’ll just have to chalk it up as a learning experience. Hopefully the other slow guys who run 550SB will be back in August after taking this month off.
Special thanks as always to Shandra for helping me race. To Harry for coming out to watch and helping me load my bike back up and to Stevan for feeding Shandra and I some good Mexican food after my race.
Thanks goes out to my sponsors: Jadeblue Creative, Tustin Martial Arts, Galfer, SoCalSVRiders and to my newest sponsor, Lockhart Phillips USA.
Photo by Huevos
Good tires make all the difference in the world. I made the biggest improvement in terms of lap times over this weekend since I first started racing. If you’re going to be confident in anything when racing, it had better be your tires.
Having a new transport vehicle also made the weekend much more pleasant. We pulled up to the hot pit wall in style and set up our pit next to Shandra’s shiny, new, red truck. It took the tire guys way, way too long to put the new tires on my rims and I was stressing pretty good because we were going to be cutting it close on time. Fortunately when Shandra went to go pick up the rear while I safety wired the front, they made up for being slow.
I was nervous about doing this solo endurance race because I knew that it was going to be physically taxing and I was finally going to be going up against the real fast people that I have been watching race for months. I knew I had no chance to podium, but I didn’t want Ritchie Thorup, Breanne Thomson and any other fast people to lap me before half way. When the green flag was waved I got a good launch, but my front wheel came off the ground a little and when it came down it threw the handle bars into a tank slapper and I let off the gas to get the bike under control. This killed my drive, but I still went into turn one in good position. I went by an Aprilia 250 on the brakes going into three and did my best to keep Thorup and Thomson in sight. My drive out of five and line through six needs a lot of improvement because any hope of hanging with those two for the first few laps disappeared quickly as they sped away from me down the back straight. Going down the front straight I passed another Aprilia 250 (they run a two stroke endurance race at the same time they run the light weight four stroke endurance race). Down the back straight a different 250 went by me, but I hung with him through eight and nine and repassed him on the front straight. I was too quick with my foot going into one and I was not sure if I actually made the down shift from sixth to fifth or not (there’s very little engine braking when downshifting between those two gears). The bike seemed to have a decent amount of pull coming out of the turn so I thought that maybe I was in fifth. I did not want to risk three down shifts going into turn three because if I was in fifth, putting the bike into second could make me lock up the rear and crash. Turns out I was still in sixth because when I down shifted twice, the engine braking I was given with fourth gear did not slow me down as much as I was used to and I went into turn three very hot. This is where I was very glad to be running real race compound tires because I put a lot of stress on that front tire. I stayed off the gas and just kept looking up the hill as far as I could while I went through the turn. When I felt my stubby peg slide on the ground I started thinking hooooollllllyyyyyy sheeeeeiiiiiit, but the bike held a good line and I made it through the turn like nothing was wrong. I didn’t want to do that again, though.
The silver 250 rider and I continued to pass each other on the front and back straights for another couple of laps when I realized that I was just too tired to keep going at this pace. My body was not warmed up yet and I didn’t know if I was going to have the strength to keep hanging onto the bike. I eased off of my pace and began relaxing my body a lot on the straights to try and rest. The 250 rider pulled away from me a bit, but then stayed at an equal distance for a lap or two. At the crossed flags I noticed that I was reeling him in again. I pushed harder through eight and nine and caught back up to him on the front straight. I wasn’t in a position to make a pass on him, plus I knew that going in front of him would not do me any good as the rider in front of us was nowhere to be seen. Coming out of turn two, Thorup went by me and I thought, oh thank God because now I had to do one less lap. Coming out of four B the first place GT-GP 250 passed me and about took my front wheel off. I didn’t appreciate that much, but a pass without contact is a clean pass. I continued to cruise behind the silver 250 and rest. Thompson passed us exiting turn one on the next lap and I wondered who else would be lapping us, but no one ever did.
I got comfortable riding behind this 250. I never tried to pass him even though I easily could have on several parts of the track because I didn’t want him to know I was there. A couple of times down the front and back straight I let off the gas a little to keep from rolling by him. Eventually I knew that the race was winding down and that I needed to make a move. Being that his pace was so much slower I figured he had gotten pretty tired and if I pushed it, I could hold him off because I felt great since I had rested and was now warmed up. Going down the back straight I went by him and didn’t let off the gas through eight. On the front straight I was greeted with the white flag so I knew that I only had to put together one good lap to hold this guy off. I ended doing my fastest lap of the race and Shandra said the race commentator announced me as finishing in fourth place in the GT-lights class and was the fifth bike to cross the finish line.
The good finish gave me confidence that I could do well in the 550 Superbike race the following day. I was to learn that the competition for that race was much stiffer.
For the 550SB race I was gridded last, but was expecting to be there since I had zero points in that class. The two guys gridded in front of me were on Aprilia 250s and I knew on the start that I could split those guys before they even picked their foot up off the ground. This time I didn’t just lean over my tank, but I laid on it to keep the front down. It worked. When the starter jerked his arm I dumped the clutch and grabbed a hand full of throttle. I instantly went by the two riders on the Aprilias and got up with the bikes in the first and second rows. I rolled by most of them and could see Thorup and Thomson out in the lead. The TZ250 I was next to hit its power band and pulled away from me and right before we got to turn one a Z powered SV rolled up on my outside. He swung down as we entered the turn and forced me to back off a little on the throttle so I wouldn’t clip his rear tire. But I was still exiting the first turn in fifth place! This did not last long and I was put back into seventh on the exit of turn three. On the back straight a black SV passed me and I followed him around turn eight and caught back up to him in turn nine. He made a mistake entering that turn, took a poor line and I think even down shifted right before we dove for the apex. I easily passed him on the front straight and put some distance on him. I stayed in front of him until the back straight where he passed me again. He took nine much better this time and while I rolled up behind him on the front straight, I was not able to pass him. My poor drive out of turn five allowed him to out distance me in the next two laps and that made it very evident that I needed to practice that turn before next months races.
On the fifth lap my front tire slid in four B and then my rear tire took a big step out. That caught my attention and made me wonder how much tread I had left on the right side of these tires. On the back straight I got passed by two Aprilia 250s. As usual I made up the distance in nine and easily caught one of them on the front straight. It looked like I was going to go past the other one and I wanted to be set up well for turn one. I was on his inside and wanted to move to his outside. I started easing over behind him, but didn’t move too quickly in case that other Aprilia was right behind me. I didn’t want to clip anyone’s front tire. When I got around to his outside I rolled up next to him, but could not get all the way by him before the braking zone for one. Looking back my strategy here was retarded. I should have just stayed on his inside. If I did not go all the way past him (like I didn’t) I could have tried to force a block pass going into one. Instead I had to let him go by me into one, causing me to slow down more than usual which also allowed the other Aprilia to go by me on the outside at the exit.
Okay, I thought. I just need to hang with these guys and I can get them on the exit of turn nine. Entering two I lost the front and that slowed me up. Throughout the rest of the turn my rear tire didn’t seem like it was gripping very well because the bike kept pushing out so wide. I slowed down way too much for five and the two Aprilias pulled away significantly. Something I had noticed about turn nine in this race was that it is much more difficult to take that turn when you are going much faster. I was having trouble holding my line through there and setting the bike up to hit the apex. I wasn’t used to entering and going through that turn that fast.
I didn’t make up much on them in nine and when we exited onto the front straight I knew I had blew it and was not going to catch them. I did roll up on both of them on our way to the finish line. On the clock the first Aprilia probably beat me by less than two tenths of a second and the other Aprilia beat me by the length of his bike. Being uncomfortable with my tires and sheer laziness on the last lap handed me a DFL. My fourth and fifth lap times were a second faster than the PR I set the day before on my last lap in the endurance race, but my time for the sixth lap in this sprint race was three seconds slower. Still faster than I had ever gone in a novice race, my last lap wasn’t fast enough to keep me out of last place. Seeing your name at the bottom of the results list gives your pride quite a shot, but I’ll just have to chalk it up as a learning experience. Hopefully the other slow guys who run 550SB will be back in August after taking this month off.
Special thanks as always to Shandra for helping me race. To Harry for coming out to watch and helping me load my bike back up and to Stevan for feeding Shandra and I some good Mexican food after my race.
Thanks goes out to my sponsors: Jadeblue Creative, Tustin Martial Arts, Galfer, SoCalSVRiders and to my newest sponsor, Lockhart Phillips USA.
Photo by Huevos