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WMRRA – Round 3 – 14/15 June 08
The weekend started off kind of hectic. The pits were already set up from the AF Day prior to the race weekend, so set up was a breeze. I went to tech to pick up my paperwork since I had pre-registered and pre-paid, but they had no record of my registration. I needed to re-register and re-pay, kind of frustrating since the line was fairly long and after paying the printer went down so there was no paperwork to give tech. Frustrating process but luckily I had plenty of time.
Tech went very smooth. I got my gear tech and then went on to get the bike tech. Everything went off with out a hitch. Now it was time to throw the tire warmers on and relax for a bit before the riders meeting. My first practice session wasn’t until 1015, which gave me plenty of time and hopefully some time to warm up. It was very overcast and in the mid to high 50’s at this point…no rain though!!!
First session came and went very routinely. Bike felt good from the final setting from the day before. I was very disappointed about lap times, but it was only the first practice session and things would get better.
Second session came right before lunch, and felt much better. I went out with a few of the faster guys and was able to pace them for a few laps. Still need to work on a bit of rider technique, but overall was feeling very confident for the races for today.
I was gridded in row 3 for 600 Super Sport due to the previous race weekend results in the rain. Hell yeah, first wave! Race time came, bit nervous being in wave one, but that all went away after the citing lap. On the drop of the green flag I launched the bike and immediately the bike stood up (first time doing a race launch with the new Barnett clutch). I had a terrible start but got a good drive on the outside of turn 2 and passed a few more bikes on the brakes into turn 3. By turn 5, 6 and 7 I had settled into about 16th place. I was feeling very good on the bike and was making up some time on the guys in front of me. There was a crash in turn 4, seemed someone low sided in the back of the back. Coming into the “Bus Stop” I was hard on the brakes and bottoming out the front forks, note to self…setup changes needed. On the very next lap going down the hill into turn 3 there was 2 bikes off in the dirt. As I worked my way around the rest of the track I noticed there must have been about 4 or 5 bikes down. By the time I got to turn one I noticed the red flag stopping the race. Comes to find out one of the riders from the turn 3 crash needed to be transported to the hospital. The red flag come on lap 5 which made it an official race. I had finished in 20th place.
750 Supersport was my next race, again gridded in row 3, sweet! I got a lot better start to this race then the previous race and found myself in the top 15 on lap one. The race was going very good, with passes back and forth from a few different riders. I was having a blast, the setup changes to the front forks were working as I was not bottoming out anymore in the bustop. Seemed to be a few more crashes in this race as well, as it seemed every turn had someone down. I was battling with a pack of about 4 or 5 riders for 15th-20th place as I ran over the curve exiting the bus stop. It killed my drive up the straight away and I immediately lost 3 positions. I was able to regain one of the positions with an aggressive pass on the inside going into the bus stop. The other rider and I were able to maintain our lines and I made the pass stick going onto the straight away for lap 9. Coming into turn 2 the red flap was displayed again. We came to rest in turn 3, to find out there had been a 2 bike crash in turn 9, with one of the riders needing to be transported to the hospital. The race was called final and I finished in 18th place.
My races were done for the day, as well as my Pirelli tires. I decided to make a tire change to the new Dunlop D211 TECH. I had been hearing great reviews of the new Dunlop tires so I decided to try them out for Sunday’s races. I got with Dave Alexander to have him check my suspension setups for the new tires and we made a few tweaks to ride height and compression and we were going to see how they worked in the morning for practice.
Sunday morning (Fathers Day) came around with sunshine and calling for 75 degrees. Should be a great day for racing. I went out in the morning warm-up session to get used to the new tires. It took a few laps to get comfortable with the Dunlop’s but by lap 5 or 6 I was able to push it a little bit. The tires feel great, with the front end giving excellent feedback.
600 Super Bike was my first race of the day. I was gridded in row 8, second wave start. I got a good start from the second wave and seemed to catch the back of the front wave by turn 2. I got held up on the inside of turn 2, and tucked behind a few other riders. I was able to get past a few on the brakes into turn 3 and by one more rider on the entrance into turn 6. I had settled into a comfortable pace by lap 3 and was comfortably in 20th spot. These guys in Super Bike have a leg up on me in the motor department and it was very evident on the straight away. The bike seemed to be a bit harder to transition from side to side in the back sections of the track and I felt like I was muscling the bike around. The race actually went full distance this time and I finished in 22nd place.
750 Super Bike was my last and final race of the weekend. Thank god. I was pretty tired from 3 days of riding. I was again gridded in row 8 of a second wave start. I was terrible off of the start, which put me even deeper in the field of 52+ bikes. I was able to out break a few guys into turn 3 and was starting to pick guys off one at time. Around lap 4 or 5 I got a false neutral going into turn 4, which sent me a bit wide and allowed 2 guys to get past. Damn it, time to put me head down and go to work. I was able to get one position back on the entrance into 6 and one more back going into the bus stop on the next lap. The next group ahead of me was probably 1 second ahead and we were on lap
7 or 8 of a 10 lap race. I settled down a bit and ran at a comfortable pace. I finished in 26th place.
Overall I had a great weekend and would like to say that I hope all of the riders who went down over the weekend, which seemed high, a speedy recover. I would also like to thank the WMRRA Race staff for putting on a great time.
I would like to thank my family Jennifer and Brenden, with out your support I wouldn’t be able to participate in this great sport. I would also like to thank all of my sponsors (Adrenaline Freaks Track Day, Dependable Wheel Repair, Sharkskinz, AZ-Synthetic Lubes – AMSOIL, Vortex, Elka, Suomy, Utopia Optics, Powerstands, Braking USA, Leo Vince, Terra Powersports, and Pit Posse) as well as my Zero Profile Teammates (Troy, Josh, Jamie and Andrew).
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Adrenaline Freaks Track Day – 13 June 08
Friday finally came with a weather forecast calling for the Pacific North West normal of partly cloudy with some sun breaks and a high of 66. Not bad, right??? The day started off normal with a early show of 630 in the morning to set up the Zero Profile Team pits with Troy, Andrew, Josh, Jamie and Myself. The team got everything set up pretty early and all of us went over to attend the normal Adrenaline Freak Staff meeting. With the Staff Meeting done it was time to open registration and tech. a few other staff members and myself begin teching bikes, seems like we were going to have a good turn out with the weather cooperating nicely.
First session call came at 9am and luckily I was working pit gate as it was still a bit chilly. I went out on the track as an instructor at 940 so I suited up and got with a few of the folks in the beginner group to see if there was anything in particular they had questions about. Tons of questions came from everyone, so I answered what I could and we went out on the track to show some of the guys some of the lines. I really enjoy working with other riders to show them what has taken me years to learn, mainly the hard way.
I got a bit of free time and decided it was time to test the bike for this upcoming weekends race. I slowly started picking up the pace, feeling more and more comfortable. Dave Alexander of Fluid Suspension had made a bit of geometry changes to the front end of the motorcycle which was giving me more and more confidence on front end feel. The bike was feeling great and hopefully I would do pretty good for the 3rd round of WMRRA.
About 11am rolled around and so did the mist and sprinkles. Normal PACNW day! It was pretty cloudy so you didn’t know if the weather was going to stay or not. The pits were a bit slippery so the AF Staff warned everyone going out to be careful. The mist and sprinkles lasted for about an hour and we only had 2 crashes, which isn’t bad. The wet weather stopped around lunchtime, so after firing up the grill and having lunch it was time to go back on the track.
The day was staying on schedule very nicely thanks to Mario, Melissa, Litlle Mario and all of the AF Staff, you guys rock! It was time to work on a bit of fine tuning for this weekend. Click here, click there and I was feeling very comfortable for the upcoming weekend. My Pirelli tires were holding up great, but they had a few laps on them from Miller Motorsports Park so I decided it was time to go out and do a few more session control riding. We at AF have some of the BEST customers you could ask for. Everyone was very polite and so enthusiastic and open to constructive criticism. I saw a vast improvement on all of the riders out there! Keep up the GREAT work!
I would like to thank my family Jennifer and Brenden, with out your support I wouldn’t be able to participate in this great sport. I would also like to thank all of my sponsors (Adrenaline Freaks Track Day, Dependable Wheel Repair, Sharkskinz, AZ-Synthetic Lubes – AMSOIL, Vortex, Elka, Suomy, Utopia Optics, Powerstands, Braking USA, Leo Vince, Terra Powersports, and Pit Posse) as well as my Zero Profile Teamates (Troy, Josh, Jamie and Andrew).
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Adrenaline Freaks Track day – 22 May 2008
The weather forecast called for a typical North West Washington day, partly cloudy with a 25% chance of showers. Not bad, considering the weather we have been getting. The drive to the track showed a bit of sprinkles, but noting to worry about. Hopefully the weather god will be nice to us and hold off the rain until after we are done today. I proceed to register and start to help Mario and other Adrenaline Freaks Track day staff and instructors to tech bikes and gear. After getting most of tech done, it was time fro the riders meeting.
Mario gave his normal riders meeting and answered a few questions from a couple of new track riders. As soon as we were done with the riders meeting I pulled my rear tire to have Mike with Pirelli Tires swap the direction of the rear. I had some suspension set up problems I was working thru at Miller, so I figured this was a perfect time to swap them and try the new setting. No sooner did I get the rear installed, did the mist and drizzle start.
The latest weather report said it should clear up by 11am. I decided to go ahead and get my rains mounted on my spare rims. After Barry and Butters was done mounting them up, I threw the rains on. By this time we had a decent mist and the track was totally wet. Never hurts to have rain practice here in the NW.
I went out for about 3 rain sessions getting more and more acquainted with the rains and how far I could push them. I was feeling fairly comfortable out there in the rain. Session after session I tried a little bit of suspension changes to get the bike to work better in the rain and give me the confidence I needed. I think I have a fairly good starting point for rain races now, which I am quite sure we will have more of this year.
Around noon the track started to dry enough that you had a clean dry line all the way around the track and the rain tires were getting eaten up. Time to come in and swap back to the DOTs. It was lunch time anyways, so perfect time for a rest and swap of tires.
After grabbing some lunch and swapping tires it was time to go back out on the track for some course marshall/instructor time. The track was pretty dry for almost the whole track, with some puddles in non key areas. After instructing a couple of guys in the intermediate group, I came in for a bit of rest. I was having stomach cramps from about 11am on, not bad enough to not ride, but enough to really bother me while I was off the track. I decide to go out with a pit mate of mine, Daryl, to just “play” around. I lead him for a few laps and then backed off and followed him a bit. We came into the pits and talked about how the session went and where he could make some improvements and different lines and gearing around the track. We were having a great time and then went back out for one more session.
My stomach was still bothering me, pretty good at this point, but it was close to the end of the day and I wanted to get a few more kinks ironed out while there was still the track time. I went out for another session, feeling pretty good for what I had accomplished in the day. Few much needed rain session, followed by about 4 dry sessions. A successful day, which is definitely not how the day started out. Time to prep the bike to go to Dave Lanigan for some dyno tuning after the track day.
My teammate, Troy Harrell, and myself were going to be taking our bikes up to Seattle to Dave Lanigan of Speed Dealer Motors to dyno tune our bikes for race gas. We finished tearing down the pits and also drained the bikes of pump gas and added “Outlaw” for the dyno tune. My stomach was really cramping by this point and I wasn’t sure of the cause. I had drunk plenty of water, ate breakfast, had a couple of bananas and had a burger at the track.
By the time I got to Lanigans shop, I was really hurting. I barely made it there before I had to stop and throw up. Man, what is going on??? I dunnuo….unfortunately Dave wasn’t even there. Me and Troy decided to go to his place to drop the bikes off and he would take them to Lanigan the following day. By the time I made it back to Sumner from Seattle I was really in a lot of pain with stomach cramps and upset stomach. By 9pm I had thrown up 3 more times and could barely stand I was so dehydrated. The cramps in my stomach were so bad it was time for me to go to the doctor. My wife took me to the ER in Puyallup, where immediately I started throwing up. The doctor came in pretty quick and gave me the IV and some med to make the stomach cramps and nausea go away as well as some GOOD pain med. I went in for a CT scan and the results looked like a partially blocked bowel. How the hell does that happen? Anyway, after 2 bags of IV and 6hrs later I was released.
Thank GOD the next day was better with just one episode of getting sick and stomach cramps a lot less severe. This was the 2nd worst pain I have ever felt in my life, second only to Kidney Stones. Today has been a lot better as well, feeling about 80%.
I would like to take this time to thank everyone who helps support me; with out you guys this would be impossible. I would like to thank my wife, Jennifer and son Brenden, with out your help and understanding; racing would be just a dream. I would like to thank all of my friends and family and last but not least, all of my sponsors:
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Adrenaline Freaks Track Day - Miller Motorsports Park, May 10th and 11th
We loaded up the bikes the night prior to leaving. We had worked out a sweet deal with Corey to use friends Motor home to pull a 26ft trailer. We were able to fit 9 bikes in the trailer and we had filled 8 of the spots. Six of us were going down in the RV with the other 2 flying in. The night prior, one of our guys was unable to attend, so we were going down with a total of 7 bikes.
We were scheduled to leave Thursday, 8 May, around 6pm. We all load into the RV and about an hour out, we noticed smoke coming from under the RV. We pulled over and saw transmission fluid leaking. Doug knew of a service center about 20 minutes up the road, so we headed there. They noticed a line leaking that what went to the tranny brake (at least they thought). We decided to try to make the trip with no tranny break. All seemed well for about 30 minutes until all the temps started rising. We decided to turn around and go back to the house. Luckily Corey was able to get his Dads 2500 truck to pull to trailer. We finally got on the road around 1am, 7 hrs behind schedule. The trip was very uneventful, and we made it into Miller around 7pm, a full 25 hr day…but we made it.
The facilities at Miller are AMAZING, nothing any of us in the Pacific Northwest are used to. The garages were great. We had power available, bathrooms, showers and protection from the wind. We unloaded the bikes and set everything up for the track day.
Saturday morning came and we had a staff meeting for Adrenaline Freaks and then opened registration and tech. Unfortunately, we only had about 45 riders registered. What a shame, as Miller is one of the top rated tracks in the US. We were scheduled to run the full course (AMA Course), 4.48 miles, on Sat and the Outer Course (WSBK), 3.05 miles, on Sunday. Registration and tech went smooth and it was time for the first session to begin.
I went out for the first session at a brand new track. WOW!!!!! Miller is AWSOME!!! The pavement is unlike anything we are used to from the PACNW. There is so much grip that it took awhile to get used to being able to carry that much corner speed. The full course is amazing with 23 turns, full of double apex, hair pins, wide open turns and a .8 mile straight away. There was no traffic to speak of on the track and we had a blast. As the day went on we were able to learn the track and start to turn respectable lap times. What a blast!
Sunday came around and it was time to run the Outer Course. The track was “small” at only 3.05 miles, and a blast as well. The new added section called “Witchcraft” took a bit of getting used to and it was mid day before I started feeling comfortable enough to stay pinned thru the turn. I cant say enough how amazing this place is. The day came off with out a hitch, and only had 1 crash and one crash on Saturday as well.
I cant wait until Adrenaline Freaks comes back to Miller in Aug. If anyone has the chance to make it out for this event, you will not be disappointed. It is well worth the drive! Please come out and help support Adrenaline Freaks in Aug!
Pictures courtesy of Brandon Bones of Studio 819
Sat: http://studio819.smugmug.com/gallery/4926227_KNAEy#294356991_sawda
Sun: http://studio819.smugmug.com/gallery/4933370_48RCF#294977979_F3iYV
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Zero Profile Racing – Jay Buchanan #63 - WMRRA Round 2 Race Report - 5/3-4, 2008
The forecast for the 2nd round of the WMRRA race season looked promising. It was calling for a passing shower in the AM on Saturday and then sunshine.
Saturday morning came and it was dry, what a change from the first WMRRA round that left us with about a ½ inch of snow. I head out in the first morning practice, Group 5 practice. The bike was feeling pretty good with some slight suspension changes needed. Now if only I could feel this good. I could feel the rust from not being on the track but one time since my turn 1 crash late last year. I was able to pull off some respectable lap time, especially with the rusty rider, off a few 33's and consistent low 34’s. I know I could be better in the race with a few minor changes to gearing and suspension changes.
Lunch time came and the sky beings to gray even further then they were. The "passing shower in the AM" has seemed to finally come. I looked around and don’t see anyone changing to rains. I look up at the sky and do not see this “passing shower” passing anytime soon. I decided to swap tires now so I could get one rain practice before the 600 Super sport race.
Second practice, Group 5 came. There were only about 4 or 5 riders that got rains mounted in time. I went out for some much needed rain practice. My teammate, Troy Harrell, had decided not to ride in the rain so I had thrown his rains that were already mounted on. During the first few laps I noticed I needed some much needed help in the suspension settings, as the bike seemed to plow thru the turns like a dump truck. Overall, good practice session and I had a good idea of what I needed to change.
My next race, 600 Super sport, was scheduled for an hour after my final practice. I was trying to warm up by the heater and get as dry as possible during the off time. I noticed I didn’t hear any bikes on the track. Myself and a few other riders where wondering what was going on. We ran to the starter and checked what was going on. Holly Shit!!!! We were up. Sidecars had declined their practice so our race was moved up 30 minutes. Myself and 3 other riders hurried to the grid. We missed the citing lap and went straight to the grid. I gridded dead last, of about 32 riders, as to not upset the other riders and starter since I was so late. The flag dropped and I got a good launch. I worked my way up to the top 15 by turn 1 and passed about 3 more riders on the outside of turn 2. Visibility was TERRIBLE, with the water spray from other bikes. I settled in around 9th place, pacing a few other riders. I was going into turn 3 and accidently took an extra downshift and the bike was all over the place. I gathered it back up, but lost 3 or 4 spots. I was starting to gain confidence in the rain and latched on to John Lippis. We worked our way thru a few other riders and had a great battle. Visibility was terrible down the front straight and I was having to lift going into to turn 1. I was able to out break John on the last lap going into turn 2 and was able to hold him off thru the remainder of the track. I came across the line and finished 9th place, my highest finish in WMRRA Expert race thus far!
Call comes for 750SS, actually heard this call, and I head out. Nico and myself moved up front so we could get a clean warm-up lap in and see what the conditions are like without all the spray from the other bikes. I settle into my grid spot, which was third row of the 2nd wave. With the rain, they did it as a 1 wave start. I took the outside line of turn 2 and passed 3 or 4 guys. Down the hill into turn 3 and I caught a couple more. Around the half way mark or a bit later I came thru turn 7 to see Nico had high sided and was off in the dirt.
The next lap I was making an outside pass on turn 4 and on the exit, one of the lap traffic had high sided as well and his bike was laying right in my exit path. I had to settle back in behind the guy I had just passed. I came across the line in 13th place.
Sunday morning came, finally it was dry. Time to swap out the rains and throw the DOT’s back on. Morning practice was relatively slow, with the track not totally dry yet and track temp being very low. I had forgotten to take the rain suspension changes out of the bike, so I was running wide in a lot of the corner exits.
We get the call for 600 Super Bike race. The board goes up, revs come up, board stays up…and up….and up. Board goes down and the light stays on. What is going on? Board goes up AGAIN, and the light finally goes off. Hope I didn’t fry the clutch. Off we go from my row 8 starting position of the second wave. I got a good jump, and was able to pass a lot of guys on the outside of turn 1 and hold the throttle open and make a few more passes into turn 2. I seem to be in a comfortable pace, nothing special on times and around 15th place. Around lap 3 or 4 I am coming out of turn 7 and get on the gas and the revs just go up. Wheel spin, no…. the back in was planted….looks like I did fry the clutch. Lap after lap it got worse. I had no drive out of 3rd gear. I lost about 5 or 6 places and finished 21st.
750 Super Bike race came and I decided to try and limb the bike thru the race. I didn’t want to damage the bike to much since we were going to Miller Motorsports Park in a week. The race was very uneventful for me. 3rd gear was slipping a lot, so I tried running down a gear in a few turns and then 2nd gear was gone as well. I limbed the bike back to a 31st place finish out of 52.
Overall was a great weekend, and I was able to talk to Rick Salmon at SB Motorsports to drop ship me a new clutch before we depart for Miller Motorsports Park. I would like to thank all of my teammates at Zero Profile Racing (Troy Harrell, Josh Ngyen, Jamie Gaiser and Andrew Nelson) as well as all of my Sponsors (Adrenaline Freaks Track Days, Suomy, Terra Powersports, Braking, Vortex, Elka Suspension, Dependable Wheel Repair, AZ-Synthetic Lubes – AMSOIL, Powerstands, Utopia Optics, LP, Regina Chains and Leo Vince Exhaust)!
Pictures courtesy of Brandon Bones of Studio 819
Sat: http://studio819.smugmug.com/gallery/4884505_qabaa#291358115_svXBp
Sun: http://studio819.smugmug.com/gallery/4889418_h3cWd#291736556_3xGxn
See everyone for the Adrenaline Freaks Track Day in Miller on 10 and 11 May!
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I would like to send out a big thank you to everyone who supported my fund raising efforts for the 2007 Seattle 100. The event was a huge success.
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Friday, 25 May 07
I attended the Mike Sullivan Trackday (http://www.sullivanraceschool.com/class.htm) at Spokane Raceway. I had never been to Spokane before, but the 5hr drive was WELL worth it. I started the day in the "Slow" group since I had never been there before - Mike Sullivan was only running Slow and Advanced sessions - and after the first session I got off with a big smile and was actually laughing with enjoyment in my helmet. The track is very fast and the back stretch has a section where you are wheeling over 3 dips. It was a blast. After the first session, Mike Sullivan came to me and basically kicked me out of the slow session. I had past too many guys on the brakes and was being forced to bump up, which I was going to do after one more session anyways. The rest of the day I spent working with a few of the other racers, learning the correct lines, brake markers, and gearing for the track. I finally started to see some big improvements by the end of the day running in the 1:41's.
Please visit Brandon Bones of Studio 819 for some pictures http://studio819.smugmug.com/gallery/2967592#P-1-9
Saturday, 26 May 07
WMRRA Round 3 and my first expert race on a new track. Should be interesting. Saturday was just a practice day as I was not going to be running in the 750 classes this weekend and all of my 600 class races were on Sunday. I spent most of the practice sessions again working on brake markers and getting more comfortable with the new track. Everything was going pretty good and there was only a few minor accidents on Saturday.
Please visit Brandon Bones of Studio 819 for some pictures http://studio819.smugmug.com/gallery/2978536#161664563
Sunday, 27 May 07
Today was my first schedule "Expert" race. The morning started off VERY wendy and looking like it would rain at any minute. I had decided early if it rained I was sitting the day out, as I didnt want to ride a brand new track in the rain. The weather Gods were kind, and it dint rain. It held off until 6pm and then started to rain. The first and only practice session of the day didnt fair the best. No get offs or close calls, but something on the bike didnt feel right. Comes to find out it was all rider and for the rest of the day I just felt "OFF". No matter what I didnt I felt uncomfortable on the bike.
Anyways...the first race was the 600 SBK race. The grid was 41 bikes. I was very nervous on the grid. This was the first race where WMRRA was trying a wave start due to the high number of entries in this class (normally over 60+) and the probability of a crash going into turn 1. The wave start went off with a hitch. I got a decent start and noticed VERY quickly that this wasnt Novice anymore. I was used to running in the front of the pack, not anymore. I was very happy to have a few guys to fight it out in the back of the pack. I ended up finishing 30th out 41 entries. Succesfull day and I WASNT lapped. Very happy for the first race, but still didnt feel the most comfortable on the bike.
My second and last race of the weekend was 600 SS. The grid was a bit smaller, 28 bikes. No wave start in this class, for now anyways, I got a great start and was mid pack until in the middle of turn 2 there was a 3 or 4 bike crash. This pushed a few of us way out and almost to a dead stop. Me and 2 other riders were all fighting for the end now. It was a good race until the race was red flagged for one of the riders in the first lap crash being seriously injured. I ended up 23rd out of 28. Again, satisfied - but not riding good.
Please visit Brandon Bones of Studio 819 for some pictures http://studio819.smugmug.com/gallery/3001097#163012326
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On Saturday, May 5th, I got my first experience to actually help the WMRRA staff. I helped Chris Denzler and about 5 or 6 other racers set up the air fence the morning of the race. Man, what a PITA, but a necessary evil to help save lives and prevent injuries. I also got my first experience at what it actually takes to put on a race weekend. I assisted in corner working and set up and tear down of the track on Sat and Sunday. I would like to take this time to give a big THANK YOU to all of the WMRRA race staff and more importantly the volunteers who give up there time to come out and make every race weekend a success.
On to Sunday, May 6th. This should be my final race for Novice so I can graduate and start running in the expert class. Since I cornerworked all day Saturday, I missed all but one practice session. Of course Novice goes out for the first practice session of the day, at 9am and the Drag races from the night before had left the track a mess. We were delayed over an hour to get on the track due to the fact a drap car had engine problems and they let it sit in the middle of turn 2 for a few hours before they decided to drag it the ENTIRE way around the road course. THANKS!
Anyways...after the track was cleaned up, we were allowed out. There was the remainder of speedy dry thru a good portion of the track. I did a few warm up laps and then called it quits. During the day it did the normal Pacific NW thing, lloked to rain all day. It held off all day. Time to RACE the final Novice race for me. We got called onto the track and after our warm up lap, well wouldnt you know it...RAIN. WTF...no one was on rains, so DOT's it is. The start of the race had some heavy rain. I got a great launch and was in 3rd place. Turn 3 saw 1st place guy low side, hmmm slick track. By lap 3 of 8 the rain had stopped, only problem being with a smoke visor I couldnt see the dry lines that were appearing. I started pushing harder and harder until I started to tuck the front in a bit of wet patch in turn 5...2 laps in a row. Time for me to back off and finish this race on 2 wheels. I ended up finishing 4th, having a good battle between 3rd and 4th the final few laps.
Overall, it was a great weekend - and better yet I GRADUATED!!! What else can you ask for!
I would like to take a minute to thank all of my sponsors.
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Well the start of the actual 2007 race season is here. It officially kicked of on the 31st of March and the 1st of April at Pacific Raceways for the WMRRA event.
Saturdays WMRRA event started by leaving the house at 545 am to make the drive and get there early to set up the pits, and get the bike and gear thru tech inspection. Everything went off with out a hitch. The weather report was calling for rain until noon and then a dry day. Good thing I still have those rain tires mounted from yesterday. I had two practice session before lunch, both in the rain/wet. I am working on gaining much needed confidence in the wet with rain tires. I need to learn to trust the tires a bit more and continue to be smooth with all inputs. The first 2 sessions went off very well. A lot of crashes, with guys going to hard to start with, or on DOT's, etc.. I was concentrating on just being smooth and trying to show a fellow racer, John Recinos #912, some of the faster lines around Pacific Raceways. Lunch cam and the sun came out and started drying the track immediately. You could look around the pits and see everyone scrambling to change back to DOT tires. Luckily for me I had an hour before my race, so no need to rush. I got the DOT's on and put on the tire warmers. Next up...RACE time. I was grided in row 5 out of 7 rows, maybe about 20th place. Not the best, but oh well. At the drop on the flag and light going off, most of the guys in front of me sat there. This caused a big gaggle, but I was able to hug the concrete retaining wall and move up to about 7th place. By the end of the first lap I was in about 5th place. Time to settle in and get down to business. I moved all the way up to 3rd place and got in a little battle, but then decided to wisely back off and settle for 4th place. I only needed to finish this race and my race on Sunday to graduate out of Novice and race expert the following weekend. "Big Picture" racing took over and I finished 4th. Today was a great day, and I continued my string of all top 5 finishes in EVERY novice race I have entered. You can view Saturdays WMRRA sessions/race at: http://studio819.smugmug.com/gallery/2668314#141226804
Sundays morning started off pretty much the same way. Calling for dry skies until around noon again. Luckily I left the DOT's on so I wont have to change them for the morning practice. Today is only one practice session and one race. I go out early in the session, again trying to show a few of the new Novice racers some of the lines that have been taught to me from the extremely fast guys. I ran about 5-6 good laps and pulled in to the pits to have Barry of GP Suspension make a few tweaks. He gets me back out on the track with about 3 laps left in the session. Bike is working great, especially in the rough payment we have at Pacific Raceways. Time to pull it in and set the bike up for the race. Wouldn't you know it, the drizzle doesn't start to about 1215, and my race is at 115. Just drizzle, do I swap for rains or not? I decide to go ahead and swap, good thing I did because as soon as I got the front tire changed the skies opened up. Thank god we started when we did. As we are sitting on the grid for what hopes to be my final Novice race, it starts to hail. OH GREAT! For this race I am gridded on the front row, which is a good thing because there was aprox 54 raced field. I get a good start, probably 3rd place going into turn 1. By the entrance to turn 4 I had out braked the top 2 guys and end up in 1st place. I held the early lead for the first 3 or 4 laps. By the end of the 4th or 5th lap we were starting to lap the field. This is when things got a little scary with the new novices (1st race and definitely 1st race in the rain) were all over the place. Not holding the same lines mid corner is scary enough, but in the rain. I backed it down a bit and actually in the midst of all of the lap traffic got pushed back to 2nd. No big deal right? Well it bunched the front 4 of us up. As the laps started to count down I found myself in a 3 way battle for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. Again, I wised up and said to myself "This is a rain race and your LAST novice race, JUST FINISH"! I ended up finishing a close 4th. Not a bad weekend. Gained confidence in the wet and hopefully will be graduated out of Novice and running the expert class the next weekend of WMRRA racing. You can view Sundays WMRRA sessions/race at: http://studio819.smugmug.com/gallery/2673216#141520784
I would like to take this time to thank everyone involved that allows me to race. My wife, Jennifer; my son, Brenden; family and friends; and all of my 2007 Sponsors! I couldn't do any of this with out the support and help from each and every one of you. Thanks!
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Well the start of the actual 2007 race season is here. It officially kicked of on the 31st of March and the 1st of April at Pacific Raceways for the WMRRA event.
My weekend actually started on Fri, with a practice track day with Adrenaline Freaks (www.adrenalinefreaks.com) track day company run by Mario Alverez. I would like to start of giving a big thanks to Mario and all of his staff on an excellent day. The weather forecast was calling for partly cloudy with rain moving into the area around noon. Typical Seattle day, right? Since we were only going to get limited dry track time this weekend it was time to put it to good use. In the previous week I had Barry of GP Suspension North ( http://gpsuspension.com/) re valve my front forks. Time to test them out. The bikes front end gave me immediate feedback that had been lacking in the past. Still a few adjustments needed to be made and with the help of Barry, I was getting very comfortable. The rain held of, until about the noon session. Drizzle started half way thru the session and to my surprise out of turn 5, it was become very slick. I saved a near high side in turn 5 and then almost did the same thing in turn 7. Time to come in and call it quits for a bit and change to my rain tires. Since the weekend was calling for rain as well, it was a perfect time to swap tires and try and get as comfortable as possible in the wet. The day ended very well. No major crashes and most of us walked away with no injuries. Please take the time to visit our on track Photographer, Brandon Bones of Studio 819. You can view Fridays practice session at: http://studio819.smugmug.com/gallery/2662931#140910044 |
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