No frills finishes in my expert debut.
The goals were simple: Not to crash, and not to finish last.
In the posted qualifying times, I posted a 5th place in 600 SuperSport Senior and a 2nd place in 600 Superbike Senior scoring 2 season points and putting me on the board for my first time at 100th place. My class standings are 5th in 600 Supersport and 4th in 600 Superbike.
Overall my finishes were somewhere at the back of the entire 600 grids as regular and senior bikes are gridded together. Not last place, but not where I'd like to be, but good enough for now.
Happily, I achieved both goals in my first expert races on none other than a contingency money weekend. I would have had a chuckle if I were a board member graduating novices into the expert grid. “They want to graduate and compete with the experts?” “Alright, their first race shall be in a money grid. Let see how they fare in this traffic ..(evil laugh)”.
All humor aside, with the exception of one unfortunate high-side by one fast up-comer during the 750SS event, the OMRRA NV4/NV5 novices performed well and proved they can hold their lines.
Everyone who has raced has been here; Anticipation, Apprehension, excitement, over-thinking things. I occupied myself with double checking the bike for loose bolts, safety wire, an occasional squeeze of the brake lever looking for that familiar firmness.
I hydrated, ate, and took some quiet time to visualize the turns.
I should have taken the time to visualize the start, with race gas.
All my time in Novice, I ran with pump gas, and made the choice to empty my tank and fuel bottle of its pump gas during the practice on Saturday.
Looking back, I should have attended the Friday night drag races and practiced some starts with race fuel. I would have learned to adjust my clutch slippage to keep the front end down. Needless to say, the added horse power was an oversight. I adjusted for the HP difference under maintenance throttle through and roll-on exiting the corners well enough. However, the familiar clutch slippage from my Novice days went out the window when the first green flag dropped.
I found my grid position on the last row of the experts and took position after the sighting lap. I forgot all about being nervous. I wanted to race!
No sooner did I see daylight between the flag and the starter’s fingers I launched.
Disengaging the clutch after feathering the start and rolling as hard as usual, the front end climbed skyward. I chopped the throttle to bring the front end down and re-feathered the clutch and watched what I thought was the entire grid roll away.
I managed to motor into the pack and find a line through the fray to get some passing done. My first two targets tipped in early and slowly. I set my entry speed and tipped in and started to roll when the rear of the two changed lines to pass and proceeded right across my line and a collision course with my front end. I touched the front lever slightly and held the tank. It worked, I didn’t get forced off the track and I fell in right behind the passer as we both overtook our quarry. I got the next couple of guys in my favorite braking zones to come up from last only to lose a position to one of them down the straight. He didn’t let me out brake him a second time. I worked on him all the way to an early checker. As I was anticipating, but hoping to avoid, the 3 leaders overtook us on the last lap. The leader and 2nd place came around 2 and 1 respective turns before the checker. An early flag for the back of the pack, which under OMRRA rules, ended the race.
I took the cool down lap and went through the infield turns with my hand on my knee and one of the guys behind came around still racing. I noticed the corner workers weren’t applauding as they usually do on our cool down, so I wicked it up and chased the rider to another checker and a second cool down lap. Conforming what I thought was the early checker, with the referee, did in fact end the race. So my finishing position should hold.
The Super bike race was equally as interesting. We qualified in the morning on a warm dry track. The weather chose to play with us in the afternoon as drizzle changed to rain and sent us scrambling to change tires. I got my rains on just in time and led the grid for a sighting lap. The track was snotty in some spots, but there was standing water to preserve the tires and some semi dry lines to race in.
The grid was a little less full than in the earlier quallie. Fine with me.
The flag dropped and I enjoyed an uneventful start and slight slip as I had to cross a paint stripe. I stayed light on the pegs throughout the race and the bars and gradually lowered my lap times as I found better and better grip. I’m told that I finished in the front half of the pack.
I don’t have the final results as it takes a few days for them to get posted, however I did look back a few times entering the front straight to see a longer line of bikes behind me than the first race, however the I got to see the leaders come by me for this race too. Wow these guys are good! (I was just awestruck to think how well these guys do in the rain and how far I've got to go.) I got a braking pass on a guy who then got me entering the same straight. He didn’t let me get inside him again. And as soon as I tipped her in for the first turn and rolled, she bogged. I managed to get her back to the last turn before she lost her fire. I deadsticked across the finish line and into the pits. I found out exactly how much race gas I need in my tank for a sighting lap and a 10 lap main. Literally the exact amount, as every time I would lean for a right hander, I would be rewareded with a starving engine, which would spring back to life when I straightened out or dipped into a left. The final corner where the finish line is turned is a right hander and the final turn she’d take for the day.
I enjoyed my first expert race and learned quite a bit. I look forward to applying what I’ve learned next month. Look for my report for July 17th soon afterward.
Many thanks for help in the pits and moral support by Dave, Bob and Sven from R&D Machine.
Their help came at a stressful and critical point when the rain started 20 minutes before my start and I had to switch to rain tires and re-safety wire.
Thanks also to the friendly folk at LP Team Privateer for being eager to help find parts following my trackday crash last month. Go see Byron from Lightspeed Designs. His graphics are great and they survive well under high speed abrasion with asphalt and dirt.
Cheers!
Dale from 737Racing.
In the posted qualifying times, I posted a 5th place in 600 SuperSport Senior and a 2nd place in 600 Superbike Senior scoring 2 season points and putting me on the board for my first time at 100th place. My class standings are 5th in 600 Supersport and 4th in 600 Superbike.
Overall my finishes were somewhere at the back of the entire 600 grids as regular and senior bikes are gridded together. Not last place, but not where I'd like to be, but good enough for now.
Happily, I achieved both goals in my first expert races on none other than a contingency money weekend. I would have had a chuckle if I were a board member graduating novices into the expert grid. “They want to graduate and compete with the experts?” “Alright, their first race shall be in a money grid. Let see how they fare in this traffic ..(evil laugh)”.
All humor aside, with the exception of one unfortunate high-side by one fast up-comer during the 750SS event, the OMRRA NV4/NV5 novices performed well and proved they can hold their lines.
Everyone who has raced has been here; Anticipation, Apprehension, excitement, over-thinking things. I occupied myself with double checking the bike for loose bolts, safety wire, an occasional squeeze of the brake lever looking for that familiar firmness.
I hydrated, ate, and took some quiet time to visualize the turns.
I should have taken the time to visualize the start, with race gas.
All my time in Novice, I ran with pump gas, and made the choice to empty my tank and fuel bottle of its pump gas during the practice on Saturday.
Looking back, I should have attended the Friday night drag races and practiced some starts with race fuel. I would have learned to adjust my clutch slippage to keep the front end down. Needless to say, the added horse power was an oversight. I adjusted for the HP difference under maintenance throttle through and roll-on exiting the corners well enough. However, the familiar clutch slippage from my Novice days went out the window when the first green flag dropped.
I found my grid position on the last row of the experts and took position after the sighting lap. I forgot all about being nervous. I wanted to race!
No sooner did I see daylight between the flag and the starter’s fingers I launched.
Disengaging the clutch after feathering the start and rolling as hard as usual, the front end climbed skyward. I chopped the throttle to bring the front end down and re-feathered the clutch and watched what I thought was the entire grid roll away.
I managed to motor into the pack and find a line through the fray to get some passing done. My first two targets tipped in early and slowly. I set my entry speed and tipped in and started to roll when the rear of the two changed lines to pass and proceeded right across my line and a collision course with my front end. I touched the front lever slightly and held the tank. It worked, I didn’t get forced off the track and I fell in right behind the passer as we both overtook our quarry. I got the next couple of guys in my favorite braking zones to come up from last only to lose a position to one of them down the straight. He didn’t let me out brake him a second time. I worked on him all the way to an early checker. As I was anticipating, but hoping to avoid, the 3 leaders overtook us on the last lap. The leader and 2nd place came around 2 and 1 respective turns before the checker. An early flag for the back of the pack, which under OMRRA rules, ended the race.
I took the cool down lap and went through the infield turns with my hand on my knee and one of the guys behind came around still racing. I noticed the corner workers weren’t applauding as they usually do on our cool down, so I wicked it up and chased the rider to another checker and a second cool down lap. Conforming what I thought was the early checker, with the referee, did in fact end the race. So my finishing position should hold.
The Super bike race was equally as interesting. We qualified in the morning on a warm dry track. The weather chose to play with us in the afternoon as drizzle changed to rain and sent us scrambling to change tires. I got my rains on just in time and led the grid for a sighting lap. The track was snotty in some spots, but there was standing water to preserve the tires and some semi dry lines to race in.
The grid was a little less full than in the earlier quallie. Fine with me.
The flag dropped and I enjoyed an uneventful start and slight slip as I had to cross a paint stripe. I stayed light on the pegs throughout the race and the bars and gradually lowered my lap times as I found better and better grip. I’m told that I finished in the front half of the pack.
I don’t have the final results as it takes a few days for them to get posted, however I did look back a few times entering the front straight to see a longer line of bikes behind me than the first race, however the I got to see the leaders come by me for this race too. Wow these guys are good! (I was just awestruck to think how well these guys do in the rain and how far I've got to go.) I got a braking pass on a guy who then got me entering the same straight. He didn’t let me get inside him again. And as soon as I tipped her in for the first turn and rolled, she bogged. I managed to get her back to the last turn before she lost her fire. I deadsticked across the finish line and into the pits. I found out exactly how much race gas I need in my tank for a sighting lap and a 10 lap main. Literally the exact amount, as every time I would lean for a right hander, I would be rewareded with a starving engine, which would spring back to life when I straightened out or dipped into a left. The final corner where the finish line is turned is a right hander and the final turn she’d take for the day.
I enjoyed my first expert race and learned quite a bit. I look forward to applying what I’ve learned next month. Look for my report for July 17th soon afterward.
Many thanks for help in the pits and moral support by Dave, Bob and Sven from R&D Machine.
Their help came at a stressful and critical point when the rain started 20 minutes before my start and I had to switch to rain tires and re-safety wire.
Thanks also to the friendly folk at LP Team Privateer for being eager to help find parts following my trackday crash last month. Go see Byron from Lightspeed Designs. His graphics are great and they survive well under high speed abrasion with asphalt and dirt.
Cheers!
Dale from 737Racing.
