Wade's First Race Weekend of The Second Season, April 1999
Ahhhh. The smell of spring. Little buds on the trees. Daffodills in the yard. Birds flying into the window at my office. And I'm racing again. Hmmm. Silly season? Anyway. This year I have basically the same nearly stock EX I ended last year with. I put on a new crashed street fairing, and recovered the seat (yeah that'll really make me faster!). I bolted on a set of aluminum billet risers that came off one of my old donor bikes. Solid bars. Very rigid. Maybe a good thing, maybe not. If the bars don't yield, then the triples will, I've been told. I've got a decent front Dunlop, a medium-good rear metzler that's way wide (150-80 16!). I'm outfitted with 14/42 gearing, stock motor & carbs, stock rear spring, and a mystery front end that came off one of my donor bikes. The tubes are straight. What's in them is unknown, but they visited Peter Kates at GMD Computrac before Landis took them (and his bike) for a pretty good spill in T7 last year, after which he sold me the bike. I also added a Telefix fork brace. The big addition won't help my bike go faster, but might help me go faster: a Drack Data Acquisition Package (DAQ) for the EX. I moved up to junior class this year (the class between novice and expert..Here in the northeast we have so many racers, that they break us up into three groups: I've heard the Junior class explained as "Amateurs allowed to practice with Experts" and also as being a reward for making it through the first 45 points: so you don't have to race with fresh novices anymore.) Regardless, I'm looking forward to smaller grids (how much smaller I didn't know, but it turned out to be waaaay smaller) and not racing with people completely new to the track. Ok, let's get to the meat of the week.
Thursday, April 15
The open practice schedule at NHIS has changed some: Motorcycles get the track in the *afternoon* during the open Thursday practices two days before an LRRS event. We get the track mornings otherwise. I made it there for the 1pm start. It was in the high 40's, partly cloudy. Not bad, all in all. There were three or four Drack/Mychron2 beacons set up around the track. I eventually turned mine off, and scammed signal from someone else. Dave (Expert pitted a couple garages down from me) and Carl McCallister set theirs up inside one of the camera booths on the outside of turn 12, at the beginning of the front straight. When the system is working, it works ok. My exhaust fried through the cable for the wheel speed sensor early, and it takes me a while to figure out that that's why I'm getting wacky dash-readouts.
After the first session out, I check tire pressures, and realize the rear has not been aired up since the winter. I seem to have about 18 psi in it. No wonder it felt kinda shitty. Further proof that I'm as sensitive as a block of wood when it comes to suspension. It feels better with 30psi in it during the next session.
After I moved my magnet to the wheel hub, and remounted the sensor to read it, I got a few laps in, but then the magnet fell out, so I didn't get any laptimes that were meaningful, really. The Drack is configured to display data when the speed rises above 10mph and stays there. SO when the magnet's gone, the sensor thinks I'm stopped. I called it quits after a few hours (probably less than 40 mintues on track), and figure it was a success. The bike is generally functional, and I think I'm about ready to race Saturday, regardless of what goes on with the DAQ stuff.
Saturday, April 17
Driving to the track at 7:30, the temperatures are low 40's, it's cloudy, but not precipitating. There's new snow on the ground and cars. None on paved surfaces, but still, looking at the white blanket is discouraging.
I sit out the first practice. Just after it starts (8am) the announcer comes on the PA system, and reports that "The first rider out of the pits in the first practice of the first race weekend of the year has just fallen in turn 3. Please remember the track is cold!" I look up to T3, and he's getting up, the second and third riders in the practice make it through that turn ok, but this is an foreshadowing of the rest of practice. Lots of scraped bikes today.
During the second practice, I get some seat-time, and am beginning to loosen up a bit. Near the end of the practice, #436 passes me in turn 9, looks back, and waves to me. Weenie (hehe). I can keep up with him, but there's no passing him. I eventually figure out that it was Matt Lai (whose number I'd forgotten). I turned a 1:34 lap. I'm pretty happy, still a few seconds off my best time, but I can live with that. I continue to be unable to keep a magnet stuck to my wheel hub with duct tape. The danged things get ripped off, so the Drack system isn't doing much for me yet.
FIRST RACE: #4, LW Sportsman. There's 7 entries listed on the gridsheet. We have four ex's, an FZR400, a Honda Ascot, and a 1200 Sportster on the grid. What a mixed bag! Even though I preregistered, I'm in the second row. We are gridded as the FOURTH wave. How odd, I think. I've never seen more than three waves before. Oh well. Whatever. The first three waves leave, each in their turn, then the woman holding our wave board (who has been in front of us all this time) walks off down pit lane. We wind up the engines, and look to the starter's podium, but Nick has stepped down off the podium, and their is no one-minute board. The seven of us look at each other for a bit, and let off the gas, then someone taps Nick on the shoulder and points us out. He leans over the concrete barrier, and (while still clasping the flag in his hand around the pole) waves it at us. We all get going sort of ragged like. I think I was about 6th into turn one. Matt passes me under a waving yellow into turn 3, later says he never saw the flag...On sunday, there are discussions about changing that flag station, because lots of people apparently can't see the danged thing. Oh well. He's faster than me anyway, and would have gotten by eventually. I get caught behind Alan Quinn, my nemesis on the track. All last year I consistently turned slightly better "best lap" times than he did, but he had a better grid, made decent starts, and I got behind him and wasn't fast enough to pass him. I think I finished right behind him 6 or more times last year. Anyway, he's in front of me again. I followed him for a couple laps, and decide I can outbrake him into three. I try it, but have some sort of wacky neutral thing happen, and watch as he pulls away from me up the hill. Dang. A couple other people go by me while I get back up to speed. I pass them again and get behind Alan to take the checkered flag inches behind him, getting fifth place (of 6, since Ted Temple on the FZR crashed out), and 8 points toward that expert plate. The HD wi
ns the race, turning a best lap of 1:30.06. He's doing 1:28's by the end of sunday. Dang! The Ascot is doing 1:29's and is REALLY loud. I think this is the first time I've raced an Ascot, though I've heard about them on various race lists. Looks like a fun bike: very sparse (skeleton like, actually), cool thumper sound with dual exhausts.
SECOND RACE, #6, GT3 (lightweight endurance: 30 minutes) There's eight people listed on the results sheet for this race, but there were only 7 on the original grid sheet. #8 must have been registered, but failed to make the first sheet, then checked it while they were still open, and corrected the ommision. This is why you should check the grid sheets as soon as they are posted!. We line up as wave two, behind the expert GT3 race. The Ascot, Ted Temple on his Fizzer, four EX's, a Hawk, and an MZ Scorpion. Having not yet seen the results from Race 1, I'm not exactly sure how fast anyone is, but I know I passed the MZ last race, FZRs are faster than me, and I'm middle/slow among the EX crowd.
I get an ok start, through turn 1 things are cool, into 1A I'm behind BJ Worsham, and we're already strung out in a line so it's easy to assess my position: fifth. I'm psyched. This is like on TV: And we made it through the dreaded turn 1. Then BJ's rear tire slides out. He pushes off a little from the bike, and is on the racing line in front of me, right where I want to turn right to get through 1A. His bike is ahead of me. That split second decision: try to make the line, and risk hitting him, or blow into the grass of 1a, and try to miss him & his bike. I choose the latter, but clip the bars of his bike as it spins in front of me. I'm down, and slide to a stop in the grass. We both get up-inquire as to physical condition and get to our respective bikes. He starts, and is gone. My brake lever is broken, and the throttle grip is torn and pulled over the bar end, poking out at a 90degree angle. The start-button got smashed pretty badly on the tank. Dang. Gotta do something about that next time I fix it. The throttle won't snap back. The corner worker waves me out. I push the bike through the gate. It takes a few tries, but I get it bump-started, and ride back to the garage. I'm dejected. A half-hour, $80 race, and I don't even get one lap in. Chris is real upbeat: "What'll it take to get going? Do it!" With his encouragement, and a brake lever from this week's other garage-mate Mike Isabelle, I get it back together, and get to tech. It takes a bit to explain that I want to reenter a race I crashed out of. Bob checks me through, tells me to get the exhaust pulled off the swingarm when I get back in. Cool, I head to Pit-out. Again I have to explain that this *is* my race, and I want back in. They let me go after a moment's deliberations. It is clear that this doesn't happen often. (NOTE: Monday the 19th, I was advised by Tony, and I also read in the rulebook, that once you leave pit road, you're not supposed to reenter a race, so I *shouldn't* have been allowed out again. Sometimes the toast has to land butter
ed side up, I guess.)
The lap-sheets show my first lap as about 14 minutes. (haha) After that, times were slow, but I tried to get something out of it. A new development in the front suspension: serious chatter through turn 9 (the left off-camber downhill leading to the sharp right T10) and in the left of T11 into the chicane. This is new for me, and I don't like it. I keep speeds up, but don't dare try to push harder. I get 12 laps officially, with lap 10 being the best at 1:32.43. My last place finish nets me five points. Go figure. I'm happy. Crashing sucked, but getting back into the race really rocked. The race winner was Scott Alkinburg on that Ascot, with a best lap of 1:29.51. Ted Temple on the FZR gets second with a best lap of 1:29.63. Matt Lai pulls a 1:30.12 for Third, and the last trophy. The Hawk (Jim LaFrance) pulls fourth, with a 1:30.74 best lap. In the expert race, Ron Taylor takes his EX500 to third with a best lap of 1:26.25. Hokey Smokes, Bullwinkle! That's a honkin' EX! The winners of that race are both on Ducati 750s, running 1:24's.
My new Technik Kevlar gloves lost several studs in the right palm, and the leather there is worn through the first layer. I'm not impressed. My Helds seem much more durable, and I'll have to stick with them in the future. The Vanson suit comes through without any problems.
I get home about 6pm. Grab a bite to eat, and head to the garage. By midnight, I'm ready for bed. I mounted a different gage cluster (mine was destroyed, and not reading well anymore: either 0, 2K, or 11K RPMs. Nothing in between.), I've swapped the rear sprocket, seeking a lower top speed, since I'm still not making full use of this one at the end of the front straight. I put on a new chain, and shaved the edges of the rear tire to fit further in the swingarm as required by the new gearing/chain combo I have. A few extra chain links would have made this much easier. Gotta get some of those. While the rear tire was out, I put in a Works Performance shock I got used....It bolted right in there, unlike the fox shock I have, for which I need to fabricate a custom bushing. I also decide that the fork tubes are straight, but the triples are bent, so I loosened everything and yanked them back into line, and bolted it all down again a couple times before the alignment (as checked with a sheet of heavy plate glass) seems ok. I raised the tubes in the triples a quarter inch as well, just for shits and grins. I put on a less-smashed right pod, with a starter switch which can be made to function with some wiggling of the fingertip inside the hole where the switch-lever used to live. I put on a spare less-smashed throttle housing, and adjust the cable so it's not revving wildly. I riveted an aluminum patch over the nearly-torn-in-half right side bodywork section, then I ziptied the whole thing together. Closed the garage, celebrated the beginning of the race season a little, a passed out like a rock.
Sunday, April 18, 1999
After I wake up, I realize several things: (1) my right next-to-little-toe is a *really* nifty purple, with sharp delineations between not-damaged and damaged areas. It's sore to walk on, but I can move it. Yay. (2) My right shoulder, the left side of my neck in back, and my right thigh/hip are pretty stiff. I expect bruises to start appearing. Maybe I'm getting too old for this. (3) I put a 40-tooth rear sprocket on last night, when in fact I needed a 43 or 44 toother. Dang!
I pick up my 10 year-old boy, Tim, and get to the track about 8:30. $19 later, I have a 13-tooth front to rectify my sprocket screw up, and we get that installed. Chris helps out, as does Tim. The bike starts hard, but I make it out for the second practice. First time through turn 2, the engine bogs badly. Feels like no fuel. I didn't put in any today, and it idled some last night. Poop! I pull off at T3, and push it back to the garage. Chris dumps some fuel in for me. It starts hard again, with a big-old backfire once, and then I'm out again. Same bogging thing occurs. I make it all the way around the track, bogging periodically, but then catching for a moment. Neither tachometers (the OEM nor the Drack-dash) are working. Back in the garage, it idles ok, but when I open it up, she coughs, then works ok, then coughs. I check the fuel/air lines....Ponder what I did last night and the tach thing. A quick exam behind the gages reveals that I switched the black wire with the black/yellow wire. Ok, that explains it. The electronic ignition uses the tach to set ignition advance. Without the tach, I got no advance, and it couldn't spool up. Practice is over. I will not get to try the new gearing or the bike until the warm-up lap for my one and only race today
RACE 1, #2, Production Twins
There are 5 of us in the race: BJ, Matt, Brian Meyette, myself, and Alan Quinn. Again, I'm the last one on the grid, despite preregistration. These guys beat me to it. I am literally the last bike on the grid. In my own row. Ugh. We're the 3rd wave, and the person with the board points to us and his sign, apparently trying to ensure we know what's up. At the green flag, we all pull out around an Expert on an SV650 who stalled on the grid. The tails of these SVs are pretty cool looking: flat, pointy, ovally, sort of like a planaria. Anyway, he stalled, and we go around him. He caught us and roared by me in T7. I bet he was pissed! I followed Alan Quinn for a few laps, while BJ, Matt & Brian Meyette left us behind. Then into T1, I see Brian in the grass, riding slowly toward the pavement on the outside (the Nascar oval). I passed Alan into T3, and figure I may have a third place finish going on here....Two laps later, A red blur pulls up beside me on the inside of 5, headed toward the bowl, I see some tire there on the right. I hold my line, and he stays back for now. Considering how fast he came up on me, I figure I'm about to get lapped by one of the first wave-bikes. A few of them have already come by me. I expect him to just take me around 6, so I leave enough room on both sides so's not to push him into the weeds anywhere, but still be pretty close to the line. Then he came around me like a shot, and I realized it was Brian! He took off, but then I caught him again, and followed him to the checkers. Best dicing I've had so far, it was great. I wind up with fourth. No points. But I finally put the A.Quinn boogey man to rest (my appologies to you, Alan, but I really want to not watch the back of your leathers anymore!). Maybe I will not be stuck behind him all the time this year. Matt brought home the #1 trophy, with best lap of 1:31. Then BJ (1:33.37) and Brian (1:32.84). It's interesting to note that even though Brian blew by me at one point, I still had a better "best lap" than he did. This bodes well
for my ability to place better next time, I think. Assuming all these guys come up here from NY next week. Since there were only 5 entries, the points are limited, and only 1 and 2 get trophies. So I didn't miss a trophy by not getting by Brian. That eases the pain some. The new/used Works shock is most noticeable into turn 3. The rear feels more planted. The chatter in 10 is reduced dramatically, but still there a little. Hmmm.
The Drack system spits out a track map that looks like NHIS. I'm pretty psyched about that. It shows laptimes within 0.3 seconds of the official times for the whole race. My dash displays RPM values about 1000 higher than the analog unit. It also bounces around so much that looking at the display doesn't help any. At idle, for instance, it dances between 1200 and 2100. The analog OEM unit displays a steady 1050. They both use the same electric signal (actually, the Drack is wired to a post on the back of the OEM unit). Go figure. It does have a scrolling shift light, that I never see. It's too low on my dash as it is now, so I actually never saw it for the whole race, though it probably displayed good data for me. Maybe more practice with it will help. Moving it to the top of the windscreen may help too. We'll see.
Summary
Costs:
license $75 (last fall)
AMA membership (required) $?
Garage: $30 ($90 split three ways)
Cocoa & food at the track: $15
New numbers (red!) = $3
Sensor Magnet = $6
13-tooth sprocket: $19
Brake lever = $18 (I think, for the adjustable one)
two sprint races = $100
one GT race =$80
Pit pass = $30
Gas truck/bike = $15
one 5th of 7 for 8 points
One 8th of 8 for 5 points
One 4th of 5, for 0 points
I have 3 races and 13 points toward the 13 races / 65 points needed to move to Expert.
BIKE SETUP:
Saturday Final drive 14/42 (3.0)
Sunday Final drive 13/40 (3.08)
rear tire=beginning to look beat 150/80-16 Metzler ME33 Laser
front tire=decent 120/80-16 Dunlop K591
29-31psi for everything
temp=45F, occasional light rain drops, no big deal
mesh air filter screen
Mystery front end: reportedly gold valve emulators, with UNK springs.
UNK fork oil weight
Saturday stock rear spring and Shock
Sunday works performance shock
Sintered EBC-HH
Telefix forkbrace
89 Octane pumpgas
Rearsets, stock-mount lowered bars, stock windscreen, stock seat
