The Racing Wade at NHIS, August 2005

The Racing Wade at NHIS, August 6, 2005

Saturday August 6, 2005

It has been a couple months since I raced, having skipped both June events (on either end of Bike Week, the place is a zoo, prices are higher, races are sometimes shorter, and besides - I had to be elsewhere) and the one July event (I stayed home, took my Mom out to breakfast on her birthday and went riding with Connie instead - the weather was fabulous, but I heard there were a TON of redflags). Anyway, my ribs have healed from the crashes last time, and the weather looked good so I figured I'd go racing again. Finally. The gap since the last race weekend was only 2 weeks, and grids seemed smaller than usual…I think the two might be related. The picture above is from Bud Durgin - click the picture to go to his website.

This weekend was fairly laid back - I didn't go up to the track Friday to register (I was working in Unity Maine for the day, and couldn't get back in time), so Connie and I went up early on Saturday and I registered for the half-hour GTL, as well as two sprints: Lightweight SuperSport and Thunderbikes. I used the really nice pdf registration form John Bunce (#278) posted on the NEAR list. Thanks, John, for putting that together!

Since the last race, I bought a steering damper and got it installed. This really improved my confidence over the crest of the hills at turns 5 and 8, but it didn't show in my laptimes. I also bought a slightly dated but fully functional AIM laptimer (I love e-bay!), so I now get my laptimes at the end of each lap when I cross the beacon set up at the end of the pitroad wall, so I know immediately how long it took me to make the trip around Loudon's 1.6 mile circuit. Not that I really liked what it told me this time around…..Practices were all OK, but I felt faster than the 1:24's and 25's I was running.

At the rider's meeting, Jerry called out about a dozen numbers at random, and three of the riders were NOT there, incurring a $50 fine/donation for the injured rider's fund before they can get on track again. He didn't call my number, but that's OK. I know I was there. He also reported that there were two head-injuries last year, and neither one involved someone getting run over or tangling with fences or such - both were fairly gentle falls, one at low speed, but that both were Snell-approved "cheap helmets" - he declined to name the manufacturer(s). Considering how much I spent on my Arai, I'm guessing they're not the one he's down on.

The location I picked to park the van near the Turn 3 fence was not a good place to hear Bruce's announcements, so I did my best to judge when Race 2 was almost done and headed out to the grid, but as usual, I was early, so I stopped by Ted's garage (even though I knew he wouldn't be there, since he's still recuperating from his hard crash two weeks ago) and said Hey to Todd. He looked at my rear tire and said "You're doing a GT on THAT?" To which I replied, "Uh, yeah." He shook his head and walked away, but that certainly didn't improve my confidence. I knew I would need new tires after this weekend, but I didn't think it looked all that bad.

A Tire's Life Cycle


To start the weekend, a little tearing visible on the left side, right side looked OK.	After the GT, the little tearing patches have expanded to a torn strip.	After the two sprints, the right side has a little tearing now, and the left is just toast.

The photos on either side of this paragraph are are from http://www.owensracingphotos.com On the Left is Turn 9, coming down the hill perpendicular to the NASCAR back straight - I never even saw that camera there all day, even though I could almost reach out and touch it. When I hike up my skirt a bit I drag my knee all the way around T9 - not much of that this weekend though. On the right is an overhead shot of either 2, 6, or 9. With no references, I can't tell for sure. Neat photos, though. In addition to Owens, Matt Allison Photography was there, though he's been busy with other things so our pics aren't on his website as of today, and Bud Durgin was on hand (see the photo at the top of this page).

Due to my late registration, I was gridded at the very end of the pack of 22 - that's in the 6th row of 6. Dammit. I passed a few guys going into 1, but gave a couple back by turn 3, then sort of treaded water for the entire race, finishing not quite dead last, with a best time of 1:23.618, and most in the 1:24 to 1:25 range. Criminy. It was hot. I kept having to remind myself to close my mouth and lick my lips 'cause they were getting all dried out. Around lap 16 my arms were cramping during hard braking into 6, mostly. I'm such a wuss sometimes. The brakes are the problem. I use them too much. Plus, Todd's comments weighed on my fevered brain. Especially when I started pushing the front tire going up the hill around T4. I know that at full race-pace, I'm pushing tires everywhere, but it's not common for me to FEEL it. I'm about as sensitive as a block of wood usually, so that was a little spooky. And it slid a bit in T10, right where I crashed in practice several weeks ago. It's all about the mental game, right? On the plus side, the damper worked great, with the steering settling very quickly every time it had a tendency to jump around.

Here's some photos from the last raceweekend, also by Owens. I'm thinking I looked pretty much the same. Click the pictures to visit the Owens website.

The two sprint races were uneventful, except that for the first time (once in each race) I found the false neutral that BJ mentioned he had found when riding this bike before I owned it. In Race9, it came entering T 12, I was a little slow in figuring out why the bike was coasting. I squeezed the clutch and focused on where I wanted to go, and made it through the corner, essentially parking it at the entry to the front straight while I found a gear, and then found the right gear for my walking speed pace. That little episode pretty well killed lap 3, but the rest of the time I ran 1:25s and 1:26s. Man I was slow. I hiked up my skirt a little for the thunderbike race, but still only managed another 1:23.7. On the penultimate lap, two experts passed me to put me almost dead last (one fast guy appears to have crashed and re-entered, but didn't quite catch me). I was in fact, ahead of both of them, except for that false neutral coming into Turn 1, which cost me 4 seconds. Dammit again!

Maybe I'll put in the spare motor I bought from Ted earlier this year for the next event. We'll see how ambitious I am. At least I didn't crash this weekend. That was nice. After I got off the track, I pulled the wheels, with Connie's help, and traipsed over to MotoRace for new tires, but Sto was off at the winner's circle getting ready for the podium event and such, so I meandered across the parking lot to Street 'n Comp where one young lady stripped the old ones off the wheels while a young guy went to find one of the tire techs, who showed up pronto and made things happen while I ran through the shower. I'll be on shiny new pirelli's next time. New tires are always good for the confidence. I need an awning for my trailer - it doesn't provide enough shade. Time to prowl Ebay some more.

POSTSCRIPT: I found that the left peg was coming loose after I pulled in from the last race, so after getting home, I tightened that down, got the wheels tightened down & rewired, rewired the brake calipers, messed with the bodywork a little, changed the oil, and I think I'm ready for the next race. I love racing a stock bike!

LRRS has started posting the complete laptime sheets. This info is really neat. My three races can be found here:

And the race results sheets are also online:

So until next time, Ride it like you stole it, but be careful!

SUMMARY:

W&C paddock passes for Sat - $40
Tires (mounted/balanced) - $335
Steering damper (new) - $345
AIM Laptimer (used) - $120
Post-Registration for one GT ($120) and two Sprints ($60) = $240
Food - $10 (we bring our own food - waaaay cheaper than that track-food)
Gas - $25
Grand total: ~$1100 Ouch again!

-Wade Bartlett, August 8, 2005

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Last modified on 08AUG2005