I missed the last race-weekend due to business committments out of state. So I have been off-track for nearly two months leading up to this weekend. New for this race weekend were a 14/42 final drive, a 150/80-16 Metzler rear tire (yes, it fits in the swingarm, but required shimming the rear brake brace-mount to keep it from rubbing on the sidewall). I got a chance to practice starts a few days ago, at an old airbase. No timing lights and such, but it was good to play. Launches around 8K seemed to work best. Not too sudden with the clutch, or I'd get the dreaded wheelie. Below 8K and I couldn't keep it from bogging the engine. Good to know before I'm on the grid.
Friday, July 17, 1998
I got to the track at about 5pm...registration opens at 6pm. There were already three guys waiting in line (grid position for club-racing here at Loudon is determined by order of registration). I dropped the trailer and bike in the pits, and came back. I was about second in my line. I was feeling really psyched to race again, and decided to go for two races each day. This turned out to be a mixed blessing (aren't they all?). After registering, I got the bike through tech. No problemo. But I forgot my helmet on the counter at home. D-Oh! Have to get that tech'd Saturday morning. I threw a tarp over everything, and headed home for the night.
Saturday, July 18, 1998
Arrival at 7. My practice started on time at 8am. The skies were blueblueblue, with very few light clouds. It was nice early, but got into the low-mid 90's by afternoon. Even in the morning, peeling the leathers off after a practice was a chore due to sweat. Plus the leathers seem to have shrunk a little, *shrug* go figure.
I ran low 1:40's during the first practice, with one 1:40. The new tire was fine, but I couldn't find a rhythm for shifting: I bounced the rev limiter a bunch of times. Even so, I checked lap times, and decided I could run with the middle-speed amateurs for the next practice without being a serious impediment to travel. I went to tech and got the appropriate sticker for the next practice on my bike.
The second practice went very well. I got the right peg to the ground in turn 1A, making what seemed like a LOT of noise and initiating a mild front tire slide, but didn't crash. Not that I had presence of mind to do anything particular, it was over before I had fully decided what to do about it, I think. Instinct happened to have worked ok that time. I started hanging off a little bit more, and steadily brought lap times down, culminating in a single 1:35 pass near the end of practice. Chasing faster guys bought me 5 seconds in one practice. Wow.
First race was Lightweight Sportsman, where my essentially stock EX was slightly outgunned by guys with pipes and jet-kits. I got a decent grid (row 3) in a big field (31 entries). A horrible start involving a bogged engine allowed me to watch about 10 people zoom by before turn one. I spent the rest of the race playing catch-up. Trying to carry more speed through turn 6, I got the left peg down hard and slid towards the edge of the track, but kept in it, and watched where I wanted to go (instead of watching the looming rocks & tires) and pulled it off. This one lasted long enough that I actually thought about it while it was happening. I hate that sound! I decided I needed to hang off more, and that there was a lot of potential for time gains in this turn. I focussed on riding more & shifting less, using 6K to 11K RPM instead of trying to keep the RPM at a higher/narrower band. I think that helped a lot. I finished 12 of 31, getting 4 points toward moving up in rank, my best lap was number 6 at 1:35.92.
My second race was #7A, Production Twins. Not as large a field, but this time, they gridded the senior Sportbikes behind us. I gridded on Row two. Yee-ha! A decent start put me about 4th going into turn 1, two much faster riders came past me during the first two laps, along with the senior sportbikes (they nearly took my paint off!) I made a couple decent passes, and one really UGLY pass in turn 9, coming in low late braking, and running somewhat wide on the far side to carry enough speed to make it stick. I appologized later to Alan for that one. He remembered it....I finished 5th of 17, again the sixth lap was my best at 1:35.08. Another 8 points, for a total of 24. Halfway to my Junior plates. Late-braking into turn 1 was a good place for me when dealing with similarly powered bikes. Staying in it all the way around turns 7 and 8 got me caught up to a bunch of people through the weekend-waiting to brake for 9 until I'm nearly there, and taking the smoother inside line was a good thing.
I found a set of Metzler take-offs with a reported two race weekends on them for $50. Mahvelous condition for street duty. Such a deal. The front pads on my single disk were toast, so I bought a set of EBC-HH sintered pads from the Penguin school ($20), packed up the bike and brought it all home to get ready for Sunday--new pads, change the oil, lube the chain, check the battery. typical stuff. I also bought a "dining canopy" from Walmart.
Sunday, July 19, 1998
Having moved to the middle-speed practice meant that my first session was 45 minutes later than yesterday. Yay. I brought coffees for TJ and Na, who were camping at the track (which has horrible coffee). The first practice was devoted to two hard laps to bed the pads in, then let them cool until the next practice. No problems. Set up the canopy at turn 3: tied off against the fence with poles on the far side, held down by toolboxes & such, it worked very well. A scrap of carpet, two lawn chairs, and I was stylin!
The second practice went ok until near the end, when the bike burped and started sporadically losing power above 8K...It couldn't get out of its own way for a bit, then a burst of full power, then it was gone again...so I pulled in (with only one lap to go, I think), and looked things over. The fuel-valve vaccum line was half off the petcock. Hmmmm. So I put a new hose on, and gave it a quick ride around the pits-it seemed ok, I couldn't really test it except on the track...the next opportunity for that would be the races this afternoon. Ugh. Well, that's racing. I hoped I had fixed it, went to the rider's meeting, and then went up to Turn 1 to corner work for the first two races before mine. Riding the bike from turn one back to where I was pitted near turn 3, I tried whacking the throttle, and it was painfully obvious now that I had NOT fixed the problem. An uneven cadence to the exhaust & funny noises from what seemed to be the top end lead me to suspect a valve spring. I pulled the head off, and they seemed ok when pushed on with a long screwdriver...I scouted around for a spare ignitor, with no luck. By this time, of course my race was nearly over. I threw in the towel. I was scheduled to cornerwork again, so I didn't have time for further troubleshooting now. My second race was a writeoff. Damn. But that's racing, right? I was glad I did two races on Saturday while it was running.
I spent the rest of the afternoon at Turn 1, with Mike Bailey. A couple of minor spills to pick up, but nothing big. It was educational to watch the same turn hundreds of times, and compare the line taken by the experts and that of the amateurs....Hmmm, I think I can improve my turn 1 speed now (once I have a running bike, that is). Late in the day someone scooped a lot of gravel onto turn 7, after getting all crossed up in 6. He was ok, but it took a bunch of us with brooms to clean the track off. The sunscreen I put on in the morning apparently got sweated off, as my shoulders and neck got toasted pretty good.
Tips: Bring way more water than you think you'll need. I drank nearly a gallon each day in this heat. Bring lots of spares. I think the entire spare bike is going to come with me next time. This is the second time I've wished I had it with me.
Summary
three sprint races = $150 (one DNS sunday, nonrefundable, though, ouch)
One GT race = $75 (DNS, ugh. that hurts worse)
Pit pass = $20 (refunded by US Marshalls, for cornerworking)
Gas truck/bike = $15
Food = ? (mostly from home)
Two points-paying finishes, 4 and 8 for a total of 12 this weekend
My first trophy. 5th place in PTWN-AM.
I have 7 races and 28 points toward the 10 races / 45 points needed to move to Junior.
BIKE SETUP:
New final drive (14/42)
rear tire=decent 150/80-16 Metzler ME33 Laser
front tire=decent 120/80-16 Metzler ME99
27psi front (30psi when hot), 28 psi rear (32 when hot)
mesh air filter screen, airbox fully assembled
Progressive front fork springs
15W fork oil
EBC green front pads Saturday, Sintered EBC-HH bedded in but not used Sunday
No forkbrace
93 Octane pumpgas
