race report for May 21, 2006

A weekend wrought with multiple tire changes fuel shortage and a 2nd place finish - In a Senior race.

My practice went without event although I wasn’t hitting my target times.
I contribute that to early braking and conservative speeds in the fast turns, shortcomings I’m gradually chipping away. I pulled off early to have Dave at GP to check my sag and dampening. A few tweaks later, the bike felt different, and took some getting used to. The hot tear issue with the rear tire was gone, and the bike felt more planted.

I seem to end up in the same grid position in the 600 senior classes.
This helps me learn to change up my strategy for getting through the slow starters.
I used to like the inside, but had a scare as I realized (almost the hard way) the track narrowed after the festival curves. Also, as the grids get larger, the holes seem to shrink.
Not being as aggressive on the brakes nor eager to scoot up inside someone at tip in as I was last year, I’m finding myself becoming another sheep following the herd around the line until it spreads out a bit. Each time, I watched in disappointment as David Gill, my target for this year, motor around the outside and settle in with the :15-:16 pack as I go backwards trying to get around people I’m just a tiny bit faster in the infield, which isn’t saying much. This weekend I kept the group in sight, and felt like I was reeling them in.
However, not really having a battle, after the first few passes, I settled in to complete the race and conserve my strength for a long afternoon. Same grid positions for the mains, with little change in the Superbike race. Result: 4th place 600SB Senior.

No sooner had I come in from my 750 SS qualifier which earned me a 3rd place grid position, I heard the call for Taste of Racing. I spashed some fuel in and went over to assist. I roamed around on the track watching the street riders. A few of the racers and I ran a quick lap to come in behind the pack of street riders. I found a guy running slow wide lines and running almost wide enough to run off the track. I shadowed him for a bit, then led him around exaggerating my body positioning, braking areas, tip-in and apex points. He started to show improvement and he’d open up on the straight, so I would too. The final time, I opened up and noted the bike was down on power. I made a mental note to pull in, but would never make it. Not running at full throttle except for the straight, I never noticed my fuel was low. I tipped into T1, and exposed the port on the fuel tank to nothing but air. It died before T2, and I had to push the bike out of the impact zone praying no one would target fixate and anticipating the ribbing I was about to get by, well, everyone. A corner worker came to help and we leaned the bike to the left and started it. It picked up some fuel and I was able to idle to the infield road enroute to the pits when it died again. I pushed it back to the pits, when Dodge offered to push me the rest of the way. Thanks Dodge!

The 600 Supersport main was something different. 30 minutes before my grid, the sky darkens and waits. 20 minutes before we grid, the sky opens up and it looks to be a wet afternoon. My teammate immediately switches over to rains, and I deal with this feeling that its not going to last. No significant puddles are forming even though its raining steady. I watch the front straight and note the spray getting thrown by the vintage bikes.
Decision time: Go with the rains. Columbia’s mechanic helped me change to my rains and we get the wheels swapped and safety wired by 2nd call for our grid. I gave some thought to softening my suspension for the slick conditions, however didn’t know where to start and had no setup info for rain conditions. That would be my folly.
The bike slipped and squirmed the whole race. I stepped out in 5 and I instinctively put my foot out for a motocross style save which I didn’t need. I even had a push and step out in the back straight. Very demoralizing. I thought several times about pulling in and waiting in hotpit until the white flag. Not knowing what the outcome would be and not wanting to give up after coming this far, I continued to tiptoe around the track getting lapped by everyone I think. Some went out in DOTs and found dry lines. Others went out in rains and for whatever reason, ran well where I was sliding and spinning. I made it to the checker and pulled in after the “cooldown” lap hanging my head in shame.

As soon as I pitted, we replaced the rains with DOTs and added the warmers.
There was a redflag that helped delay my grid which allowed the tires to heat up longer. The 750 race went well, although I watched John Umfleet rail around in 3 on the third lap, determined to keep in front of me after I beat him in the Qualifier. I kept on his 6 while he duked it out with a twin only to highside coming out of a tight exit in 9. I exited between his spinning bike and pieces of plastic coming to rest on the track. Red flag.
We regridded and had a nice long rest, not due to John. They had him cleaned up and off the track quickly. There was a delay which I could not hear from my grid position, but noted several riders went to sit on the hotpit wall while their tires cooled down. Finally they greenflagged the track and we got another warm up lap. We restarted with a 7 lap main, down 3 from the previous start. Fine with me. I started conservatively with cool tires and fell in behind the twins again. After I gained confidence in the tires, I put my head down and threaded through the twins and started for my leader when I saw the white flag. I gave the old college try, but I couldn’t get to him in time. Result: 2nd place 750 SS Senior.

Results:
4th place 600 SB Senior
3rd place 600 SS Senior
2nd place 750 SS Senior


Overall the weekend was a good learning experience. I shaved some time off my laps. Got enough wheel changing practice to qualify for Daytona 200 pitting, and learned the value of good suspension setup.
I started becoming comfortable braking later and improving my corner entry all over the track. I’m eager for the next weekend. Another trackday, practice day, and opportunity to improve my comfort with the speed again.

Many thanks to Columbia River Moto-Sports and R&D Machine Racing for making this season possible. Rick at SB Motorsports for his tire support, the volunteers and corner workers who stand out in the rain or shine to make sure we’re attended to quickly.
We gave them their share of work this weekend. Also thanks to Shawn Gist for having a daughter with a quad to give my daughter someone to ride with while at the track.

2006 RoadRace Season Opener at Portland International Raceway

My first week back on a bike in 8 months has met with mixed results.
I started the week with a track day to reacquaint myself with the bike, the track and the suspension changes made to improve handling.
I felt like a fish out of water for the first session and began to question what I was doing out in the fast group. I'm sure many others were questioning me as well.
Soon, I started to find my rhythm and began to hit my marks again. I don't have a lap timer, so I don't know what my riding level was, nor do I want to.

Friday found me negotiating with a different tire vendor with the expectation that I'd win contingency in my class.
So Friday ended with fresh oil, filter, and new Michelin Tires.

Saturday morning practice went well. I signed up for medium practice and continued to hit my marks from the beginning of the week.
My practice times weren't impressive at all, however my confidence in the tire choice, once they warmed up, was improving.
After 2 sessions, I took the bike to the GP to have a feel. After removing a click of rebound, and double checking with the Michie vendor I was out for some more laps.
The tear line that was beginning to appear was gone. Replaced with a smooth scrubbing pattern characteristic of good throttle control and suspension setup appeared.
I returned to the pits to find my lap times had started to drop as I continued to regain confidence, however I was still braking early and using a very comfortable corner entry speed.

Sunday, I arrived mentally ready and completed all the pre-race prep-work early. I was so far ahead of schedule I had forgotten to re-establish my pre-race routine and forgot to watch the clock so as to plug in my tire warmers in enough time to get some heat built up before the sighting lap for my first qualifier.

Senior bikes, (5 years and older) start at the back of their respective 600 grids and start on the same wave.
In theory the bikes are technologically disadvantaged compared to the new bikes, so they race in their own class even though they start at the same time as the new bikes.
This makes keeping track of your class competitors difficult and its possible to get separated from them in traffic.
The starting location does offer opportunity to get good competition level passing done. I use lap times and passing opportunities to gauge my progress.

I had set my sights pretty high based on progress I made last year. This first day was a disappointment in that I didn't reach those goals, but I did manage to knock off 8 months of rust from my riding and improve throughout the weekend. I'll have a new clutch thanks to my sponsor Columbia River Moto-Sports and some more seat time with my sponsor Cascade Track time. A fresh set of Michelins thanks to Rick at SB Motor Sports will complete the bike for a new weekend of competition with Oregon Motorcycle Road Racing at our home track Portland International Raceway right here in Portland, OR.

Results:
600SS/600SS Senior Qualifier:
With the sighting lap and first lap on cold tires I got a good start and drilled my way into the middle of a 48 bike grid from the 2nd to last row.
When I tipped in and felt the bike squirm on top of cold tires, I held my line and only a tiny bit of throttle and allowed what felt like the whole pack to pass.
I continued through the infield carefully and tried my luck feeling a slip in the first turn after the back straight. After another run down the 160mph front straight, I tried a hotter turn in and found the familiar grip I needed at the start. Race on! I started rolling through the turns harder and picking targets to pass. By the end of the 4 laps I had picked up 2 positions and was surprised to find I wasn't the last person around the first lap.
Result: 4th place 600SS Senior

600SB/600SB Senior Qualifier:
This time I paid attention to time and had plenty of heat in the tires. I did some heavy braking on the sighting lap to further ensure the tires were ready.
My start wasn't as good, but I motored into the fray and held my ground going into Turn 1.
I pushed my comfort level a bit trying to overcome some of the ghosts I had encountered at the corners I had crashed in.
It was enough to gain 5 positions in 4 laps, so I was happy with progress, though I was still 3 seconds per lap from last year.
Result: 4th place 600SB Senior

600SS/600SS Senior Main:
My start was a little better and I gained enough confidence to make a mid turn mid pack pass on the inside of the exit of the first turn. This put me in the position to make another pass exiting turn 2 during the drag race to my least favorite turn. I won the race to the inside line and forced myself to keep pace so as not to give up my position on the brakes. It worked. I found my confidence in my tires and self to improve my corner speed into the only real left hander at the track. I continued to charge the entire race and picked up 7 positions in the 10 lap main, however I dropped 2 positions in my class for a 6th place finish.
I noticed that I need to step up my physical training to maintain pace the entire race.
I started to drop off my pace after the 8th lap, but found the energy to charge when I saw the white flag.
Result: 6th place 600SS Senior

600SS/600SB Senior Main:
My start wasn't great. I noticed that my clutch was getting bad and needed to keep feeding it cable to get the same feel on the lever, and had relied on getting my foot up, head down and motoring into the pack from the back of the grid where the Senior Class starts. I made a mental note to replace the disks prior to next month's race.
This time I could sense that most of the back of the pack was all around me. I got stuck inside and watched many bikes go through a hole on the outside. I felt my rear give a little at full lean, so I decided to ride a smart race and finish. I managed to get 3 passes in, but lost sight of my competitors. My finish was an unimpressive 5th place in Senior.
Result: 5th place 600SB Senior