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Info to be posted soon.
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Info to be posted soon.
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Info to be posted soon.
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What a perfect day to ride on the track! Nice weather, cool breeze, and warm pavement.
If only my bike felt the same way. After two sessions I felt like my brakes weren't biting as hard as they usually do. My pitmate, Kevin, noticed some fluid on the brakes and on the forks. Upon further inspection it turns out that my left fork seal blew and the fluid made its way onto the brakes and made them slicker than normal...and normally they're not slick at all. My suspension guy at GP Suspension North said he could replace it, but not until after the trackday was over since he was up to his ears in tire changes (he's the Dunlop rep too). I decided to put the bike up for the day since it would be dangerous to take it onto the track (especially since it is a left hand track).
Kevin let me try out his 2006 Suzuki GSX-R600. What a fun bike! Very nimble, and very quick; although I think he could shorten the gearing in the bike. Other than that it was great. He was riding in group 2 so I took it out in group 3 and did some one-on-one instruction with some of the new riders. It's great to see the newest riders to the track understand the instruction and then apply it.
By noon, my teammate for the WMRRA endurance race showed up with his Honda CBR-600RR. He fueled it up and then I took it out for some hot laps trying to figure out what I was capable of on his bike. The Honda disappears from your vision when you ride it. It really makes you feel like you and the bike are one. After a few sessions I was comfortable enough to get within a few seconds of my normal lap times.
The trackday went very well for everyone. No major incidents, a few crashes (which is normal), and lots of smiles by all the riders. Adrenaline Freaks Trackdays has yet again taken more street riders and introduced them to the track. They'll be back for sure.
We packed up our gear and bikes at the end of the day and then hung out at the Dunlop KFG hospitality area for some beverages and snacks.
Tomorrow is the 6 hour endurance race. This will be a new experience for me. We'll see how it goes.
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What a weekend! Saturday is only a practice day now that I race the expert class. I made some progress with my lap times and set a new personal best at Pacific Raceways…1:39.65. After getting in some practice with my friend and pitmate, Steve Saarinen I felt really comfortable with the track. Being able to see Steve’s lines through the course helped me to refine mine as well as see where I am strong and where I need to get better.
At the end of the day our good friend Nick was racing in his second novice race and had a pretty bad crash that left him unconscious for a few moments. He ended up with just a few bruises and was released later that evening.
Sunday arrived quickly. After one practice in the morning my times dropped into the 1:38s. I was really excited about getting into this pace.
My first expert class that I raced in was the 600 Superbike race. Being a new entrant into this class (ie. no points) I was gridded on the 11th row. If anything I would have lots of passing practice if my pace was on par. The light went out and I was accelerating quickly. The RPMs hit the rev limiter and suddenly the bike dropped into neutral. Everyone else continued into second gear and pulled away. I got the bike into second and continued after the pack. The bad start left me at the back of the entire group of 45 riders. I had 10 laps to get some positions back.
Midway through the race one racer low sided in T3. I kept trying to reel in the next racer in front of me. In one of the following laps I was braking into T4 and the guy in front of me did an endo (rolled up onto the front wheel), but luckily did not go over the bars. On the 8th lap I had the humbling realization of the pace the top riders were running as I was passed by the riders racing for the podium. Jeff Seehorn (#364) made a risky pass coming out of the bus stop and through the chute that left me centimeters of space from the edge of the track. I’m not sure if our bikes touched, but he must’ve been concerned because after the pass he looked over his shoulder to make sure I was still on the track.
During the first 10 lap race I managed to see and learn a lot. The mental part of racing is a lot different in the expert class. Areas where I was faster I now had to modify my racing line for the immense amount of traffic in the corners. In novice I was one of the fastest riders, in the expert class I am now relegated to the bottom of the pack. There’s nowhere to go, but up.
I was scheduled to race the 750 Superbike race, but I decided to not bite off more than I could chew in one weekend. I figured that I would better spend my time resting up for the 600 Supersport race at the end of the day.
The time finally came and I was doing a hot lap and lining up for the 600 Supersport race. I lined up on the starting grid; now on the 9th row with 40-something riders. I was determined to get a better start than I did on the Superbike race. The light went out and we were off. My start was a lot better. I was passed by a two racers going down the front stretch. And then it happened! In the blink of an eye I found myself saying a prayer. “Keep me safe!” Right before my eyes (and my on-bike camera) one rider impacted the rear end another who apparently stalled his motorcycle on the start. Two riders and their bikes were in the air…directly in front of me. I made a desperate attempt to lean and with the Grace of God I didn’t get tangled up in the crash. I missed the crash by mere inches. I knew that something had just flown over me, but wasn’t sure what.
By T4 the race was red flagged and all the riders came to a stop. One rider had the windscreen of one of the crashed bikes with him. It must’ve smacked him in the chest and stayed there with the pressure from the “wind” at race pace. No one was sure what had happened at this point. They released us from the track and back to the pits where I promptly unhooked the camera to see the footage. It was amazing. I narrowly missed the front bike and rider and the rear bike and rider were in the air and I went directly below them.
I was pretty shaken up at this point and decided not to compete in this race because my head was out of sorts. The race was chopped down to 4 laps due to the track schedule. Both riders were ok. A few broken bones, but ok. The bikes on the other hand were pretty messed up. One of them had a frame that was snapped in two.
I packed up my bike and gear and headed home.
A big thanks goes out to my sponsors. The Powerstands Tire Warmers worked great, the Braking brake pads did their job, and the Sidi boots were comfortable as always.
Definitely a great weekend! Lots learned and still more to learn.
Look for my on-track footage in the near future.
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This last weekend was the opening round for the WMRRA circuit here in WA. Last year was my novice year and I only was able to do 3 weekends (i.e. 6 races) and then I was deployed to Iraq for the last half of the season. To graduate novice in WMRRA you need to complete 6 races without crashing, corner work a full day of races, and help setup or teardown the air fence.
I had 2 practices in the rain and then the sky cleared up so I switched to my Dunlop DOT Race tires for my race. There were 15-20 returning novices for this race. Novices can run any class bike (liter, 600, SS, SBK, whatever) so the power advantage can be really skewed sometimes.
As we are cleared onto the track access road the guy in front of me low sides even before we got to do our sighting lap. After our sighting lap, everyone lines up at the starting grid. I'm in row 2 spot 1 for the start that takes us to a high-speed right turn. After the grid is set, the light goes out and the race begins. I get an awesome drive and much to my surprise I get the holeshot. I thought for sure a liter bike would grab that bragging "trophy". By turn 2 (a third gear double apex lefty), the liter bikes overtook me and race was on. By the end of Turn 4 I had slipped to 4th place. I stayed there for a few laps as I evaluated strengths and weaknesses of my opponents. By lap 3 I had made my way back to 3rd place and during the next lap I made it back to 2nd place. I had a good run all the way until the second to last straight where a big Ducati 749’s power sent him sailing by me. I chased him down by Turn 2 and with the extra speed I was carrying through Turn 2 I ended up at my rev limiter before making it to my braking point for Turn 3. I just rode it out at the limiter for a few seconds and then battled the Ducati on the brakes into Turn 3. I came up the inside of him and thought I had the spot back, but my entry speed was going to push my line into his so I got on the brakes a bit more (no need to make a dangerous pass and not finish) and with that he won the turn. I still had a few chances left to retake 2nd place, but I didn't know where he was weak so it was a game of chance. It turns out he was strong in all the places I was. I stayed on his tail all the way until the final straight where he bike out powered me and the checkered flag was waving. The race was cut short from 8 laps down to 6 laps. It would have been interesting to see how things worked out after 2 more laps. I thought I had 3rd place, but apparently the guy wasn’t running a transponder or was disqualified for something else because the official results show me with a 2nd place finish. I’ll take it.
It was a great race and I had a blast. Now I'll be racing in the expert classes at the next event. It will be great to race "similar" classed motorcycles and see how it all works out. I'm ready to be humbled again by the guys already racing in these classes. This hopefully won't be the last time I place on the podium, but it might be for quite some time. We'll see though.
I’d like to thank my 2007 sponsors for their help in getting the season off to a great start.
Thank you Adrenaline Freaks, Sidi, Braking, Powerstands, and KFG Dunlop Tires.
Photos of my race can be seen at the Studio 819 website.
Until then,
Jamie
WMRRA #802
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Friday, March 30th, was my first day instructing with one of my local sponsors, Adrenaline Freaks Trackday Excursions. It was a blast. The staff he has this year is primarily made up of WMRRA racers. It gave me the opportunity to knock the rust off my riding skills after a long, wet winter. I ran my Dunlop DOT race tires for the first half of the morning, but by mid afternoon the rain came and the track became pretty damp. I switched to my rain tires and continued to work with some of the riders who needed help negotiating the track and who needed work on their body position. By the end of the day the line had dried up, but I didn't have the time to take off my rain tires. I was turning lap times consistent with my dry lap times from last year and I wasn't even on my race tires.
One of the more memorable things of the day was filming Mario's son on his 125cc racebike. Little Mario is an up and coming "Young Gun" racer. This was the first time he had been on a "big" track and you could see the excitement in his father as he led him around the track for the first time. I was able to film the two riding on track so that they could remember it for later and use it to critique the track.
By mid to late afternoon, some of the track surface in Turn 2 (T2) had come loose and the staff was worried about it causing an accident. After much deliberation and taking all the trackday participants out onto the track the decision was made to continue the trackday now that everyone knew exactly where the problem spots were. It was a tough decision for Mario, but I think he made the right move.
Photos from the event are available on the Studio 819 website.
http://studio819.smugmug.com/gallery/2659633#140672185
Our next trackday is not until June 8th. Check back after then for an update.
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This was the second round of races for my novice season. I showed up at Pacific Raceways at 7am; still groggy from the plane ride back to Seattle from Florida. I unloaded the bike and setup my pit next to my friend Robbie (#926) and his brother Steve (#89).
The practice sessions were mostly uneventful. The track slightly damp for most of the day so rain tires weren't needed. I was doing some faster laps by mid day, but the bike didn't seem to be handling as well as the previous race weekend. I figured I'd been off the bike for a month so that could be part of it. I continued to maintain times around 1:43 for the remainder of the day, but it seemed like I'd hit my limit for the weekend. I was tired the entire day from the jet lag and the 2 hour nap between getting home from the airport and having to wake up and go to the race track. I decided not to push myself since I wasn't at 100å/FONT>
The novice race was shortly after the lunch break and Robbie and I were both gridded on the 3rd row for the start. The starting light went out and we were off. The mad dash to turn 1 didn't feel as hectic as the April races. Robbie had a great drive into the turn and pulled ahead. After two laps the tires felt like they weren't holding as well so I just held my pace. By the end of my race the front brakes didn't have the bite they initially had. The back of the track had some damp spots in a few turns. My memory of the race is pretty foggy (I realize that now that I'm typing it). I ended up in 15th place by the end of the race which is pretty close to my starting position. After the race I put my gear and bike into Robbie and Steve's new trailor (which is very very nice). I drove home and passed out on the couch until late in the night.
The photos from Saturday are at:
http://studio819.smugmug.com/gallery/1453431
Sunday showed up with some restless sleep, a last minute canibalization of my R1's brakes, and a groggy drive to the track. There was only one practice and it was on a wet track. I didn't have my rain tires on and I could tell. The bike was dancing around underneath me at multiple locations through the track. At least the brakes felt better.
I had about 5 hours in between my practice and my race....and I had idle hands. I decided to change out my chain and sprockets. I started this project and it took a long time. First I had to find the chain-breaker tool and it seemed like no one had one. I finally found another racer that had one and after some work I had the chain removed. Now, the rear sprocket is easy to remove; the front one....not so much. I eventually got the front sprocket off and the replacement chain was too small. I was scrambling at this point and we found a longer chain to put on. In the process we broke two bits and the master link didn't look right. I managed to get it put back together (but I didn't completely trust it). I had the rain tires put on and the bike was back together right before our race.
I was in the second wave of the race starting in row 6. Again, with Robbie just to the side of me. The first wave launched off the line and about 10 seconds later they released us. I realized that I didn't put the anti-fog inside my helmet visor the moment we launched and for most of the race my visor was fogged up. I had a decent drive into Turn 1 and held my position through T2. Down the hill into T3 I managed to make up 2 spots and held that all the way through T9. In T9 on my first lap my front tire gave out and the bike began to lowside (washout). I remember thinking, "this sucks! I'm out of the race on my first lap." In the split second that the tire lost traction and the bike began to fall over I slammed my knee into the pavement and that was enough force to get the tire upright onto the contact patch and regain traction. It scared the crap out of me, but I had to try and put it behind me. That was the big challenge. It's no fun going through a race and not completely trusting your tires. Especially when it's already a wet track.
The race continued and I made a few more positions and caught up to the back markers (slower racers in the first wave). One of the guys in front of me lowsided and was out of the race in T3. Another almost lost it exiting T4. Over the course of the race 8 riders crashed out due to the wet pavement. Fortunately no one was hurt and they didn't need to red flag (stop) the race.
After the halfway point in the race I was battling another racer for position. He was on a new Suzuki GSX-R1000, an incredibly fast and powerful bike. I would pass him in the corners and he would out motor me every straight away. It was a lot of fun, but kind of a pain because I could never keep the position because of the 50 horsepower advantage. At least I was given plenty of opportunity to practice passing. ;)
On the second to last lap I came through T6 and T7 and saw a familiar bike in the dirt to the outside of the turn. Robbie had crashed out with only a lap to go. He was pushing hard that race and it sucked to see him not make it through to the end.
By the end of the race I was still maintaing my pace. That's one thing that I'm finding out about my riding style, it's very consistent. On the cool down lap I received a thumbs up from Robbie letting me know he was alright. I finished in the top half of the group, but I'm not exactly sure which place I got because WMRRAs race software (or something else) doesn't seem to ever get a good printout of the Novice Race on the Sunday races. Oh well.
Photos from Sunday's event can be seen here:
http://studio819.smugmug.com/gallery/1467163/1/70031963
Race Results for Round 2 can be seen here:
http://www.wmrra.com/results/2006/2006-05-07_Race-Results.pdf
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My first race was this last weekend at Pacific Raceways in Kent, WA. Saturday was soaked with rain and even some hail!!!! My times were right at 2:00. By luck of the draw I was on the front row and my start was pretty good. I had the holeshot into Turn 1 and then a 1000cc Suzuki out motored me into T2. There was a swarm of bikes all around and I managed to hang on to 4th place by the time I got to T3. No one else passed me for the rest of the race. My times were very consistent at the low 2:00s to 2:03s. I managed to lap a few of the back markers (bikes that are a lap behind you) and by the end the guy right in front of me crashed out in T7 into the airfence. In the end I was able take home 3rd place out of 20 in the Novice heat. Getting 3rd or 20th place doesn't matter at this stage (just bragging rights). Novice class is just designed to get new racers experience on track and in the race environment.
See the results at:
http://www.wmrra.com/results/2006/2006-04-02_Race-Results.pdf
My race number plate is #922.
3rd place for my first race ever! Not bad.
Sunday started damp and I still had the rain tires on. After my one practice session I came in and noticed my rear tire was leaking. It had gotten a hole at some point during practice. Luckily the track was drying up and I needed to switch to race tires anyway. With the dry track I was able to get down to a 1:45. The New Rider's Course (NRC) group was joining the novice heat for the race today. I think there was somewhere around 50 racers on track at one time. VERY CROWDED during the start. They released us in two waves. It wasn't until around T4 that everyone was sorted out. I'm not sure what place I got in this race because the results sheet is messed up and still showing only Heat1 not Heat 2. All I know is that I caught up to the back markers again, was only passed late in the race and I was able to overtake a rider on the new Yamaha R6. His bike pulled harder than mine, but my corner speed and late braking won the battle.
Overall a great weekend for me. Only downer was that my good friend KC Clarke (#183) crashed during practice in T3 leaving him with some healing time that will keep him out for most, if not all, of the season... my bet is that he'll cut the casts early and we'll see him by the end of the season.
Thanks to KC (get well bro) for helping me get everything setup and showing me the fast line on the track, Ryan for taking photos/videos and helping me tear down, Dave Grant (#843) for answering my last minute questions, Barry and Mike from SB Motorsports for the tire changes and suspension help, and most of all to my beloved Jessica for showing up and supporting me with love, patience, and Quiznos.
Hopefully next race weekend is just as fun. We'll see you there.
Here is the link to photos from Saturday:
http://studio819.smugmug.com/gallery/1333951
Here is the link to photos from Sunday:
http://studio819.smugmug.com/gallery/1341498
~Jamie
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