2006 OMRRA Season Finale

The 14th and 15th brought us the best and worst of conditions for the final weekend.

Saturday was clear, fast and fun. I got one practice session on the 600, and then took the team bike out for a few laps to try to learn how to ride an SV fast at PIR.

I was able to get out on the second leg to help the team toward its top 3 goal.
I got to see first hand what the SV guys have to put up with when the I4’s go screaming by, only to throw out the anchors in T1, T7. I never really got quick enough to take advantage of the bike’s abilities at PIR, but I did have fun. I clicked off consistent :22’s with a few :21’s to show for pushing it in a few corners I’m comfortable in.
The team went on to achieve a 3rd place finish with 175 laps in 4 hours.
Steve, Dave and Darren really helped by clicking sub :20’s all afternoon.
Geoff, the bike owner and team Captain made the speech at the award ceremony.
It was a proud time for team R&D Machine.

Sunday arrived as predicted: Wet and cold. The morning conditions were misleading as the wind was blowing and it wasn’t raining, yet. I found out that there weren’t enough entrants to make senior classes, so the season was officially over for me. Despite the rain and lack of points, I decided to run anyway in the main 600 grids and have fun.
I Opted to get a new soft DOT rear to run until the track was wet enough for rains. I didn’t want to destroy my rains when a dry line appeared. I spent the warm ups changing tires, softening up my suspension, and then switching to full rains when it did finally start to rain. I went out for my first qualifier and tiptoed around the track for 4 laps. I couldn’t open the throttle anywhere without spinning the rear. It was frustrating and sketchy. I took the bike over to my vendor and talked to him a bit about it. He had a soft compound rain rear that he wanted me to try. I traded the new DOT for the softer rear and tried it again on my next quallie.
It worked like a champ. I was able to hook up everywhere except the back straight, so I short shifted and pinned it where I could. I had a blast. Now I knew how the fast guys could get around the track so fast. Setup and tires meant everything.

For the 10 lappers, the wind came up and the rain slowed to a mist. I noticed the track drying a bit, and the wind in some of the corners made them uncomfortable.
I ran to continue to get a feel for the bike and tires, until Tom and Chris came by.
Knowing Alan was somewhere behind, I signaled at the back straight and got off the line, hugging T8 tight allowing him to go around on the race line. He took it and I went back to the pits. Thinking I was done for the day, I sat down and just listened to people talking about conditions. A little later, Rob Burch came by and talked me into going out again for the last 10 lapper. I did and was rewarded with lower wind, a wet track and a good pace. I didn’t get lapped, and didn’t come in last. In fact. I got 13th in both mains.
Being that it was a double points weekend, and many opted not to run in such conditions, I brought in 40 and 48 points in 600ss and 600sb. Classes I don’t normally run in.
This shows both sides of the double points weekend coin.

Thus I complete the season with:
2nd place 750 SS Senior
3rd place 600 SS Senior
4th place 600 SB Senior

40th place 600 SS
43rd place 600 SB

Dale's OMRRA Race Report for 8/19/2006

Another Energy Sapping Scorcher Hits PIR.

I'll still take a hot day over a rain day.
I got the bike and leathers fixed in time for the August event with no time to spare.
Often when one improves significantly, they have reached a new performance plateau which get narrower and narrower the faster one gets. I was no exception. I improved by 2 seconds per lap last month to a level that makes the margin of error narrower.
I exceeded that margin and low sided the bike in an attempt to overtake a rider running equal or slightly better than I.
Having started a new job, I don't have the vacation time available to get seat time before the races. I rely on Saturday practice to re-acquaint myself with a 2-wheeled vehicle Therefore I ride my race bike one weekend every month. I feel this is a progress hampering reality, however I still enjoy doing what I can. Thus, after last month's crash, and OMRRA only having the track for one day, the track day scheduled for Friday became the practice day for many racers, myself excluded. I had very little time (20 minutes of warm-up laps first thing in the morning) to shake the cobwebs and get over the crash and be competitive. I felt out of place during the warm up laps and wondered if I really was going to be able to step up and keep up with Jon and Dave. They both managed to improve, and I went backwards. I lost the speed I had found the months before. So, it turned out to be an average day. No phenomenal lap times, but no crashes. I felt a bit gun shy, and didn’t take aggressive lines or push to get passes in some of the places I’m normally strong, so I relegated to getting deep braking passes or draft passes on the straights.

I had time to install the new master cylinder reservoir, and brake pads. I went out on my warm-ups and noted that the forks felt twisted. The bike felt good on power, but felt like the clutch was slipping or was spinning leaving hot pits. With no time to make adjustments or replace the clutch, I chose to pay attention to what the bike was doing and adjust my riding to suit. To make matters worse, the directions on the AMB Transponders say to unplug the charging base after the unit has charged. I did so on Wednesday before work. By Saturday morning, the unit was dead. The transponder had drained even though the instructions said it wouldn’t.
The result was that when I ran my qualifiers, I didn’t show up on the electronic scoring. OMRRA eliminated manual scoring that it had used last year as a backup to an aging electronic scoring system. When I went to contest my qualification results, which had placed me last on the grid for all of my races, they told me that I had to get confirmation from 2 riders who finished behind me.
Not knowing who ran behind me, I settled to run from last, and get aggressive on my starts.

I barely remember which race was which, as they were 20 minutes apart, and it was incredibly hot. I barely had time to get pitted, hydrated and fuel checked before hitting the grid again. I do remember on my last race, the 600SB race, I nailed the start and had 2nd place knowing that Dave was somewhere back there. I watched a rider take a strange line entering the back straight 2 bikes in front of me. Knowing he was going off the track, I concentrated on my line and getting as aerodynamic as possible to keep Dave behind me. I didn’t see him next to me in the entrance for the turn at the end of the straight, so I knew I had a good chance on this lap. Red Flag. I’d already passed the turn that signals whether we go back to grid or pits, so everyone and I with me went to the grid, and shut down our motors. They sent us back to our pits a few minutes later. Not knowing how long, I left my bike with the tires in the sun, while I got some water. I have a clearance problem with my front fender, which makes my front tire warmer difficult to mount. It was so hot, that I knew the sun would do just as well keeping the tires warm and I didn’t want to exert the extra energy to install the warmers while still in my hot leathers. I chose to sit in the shade, in my leathers expecting our grid to be called any minute.
I didn’t get as good of a start on the restart, and got held up by some slower riders on new bikes which meant draft passing was impossible, so I had to out brake them to get by. Not wanting to repeat last month’s off track event, I settled on bringing the bike back in a comfortable third place.

Results:

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

Dale's OMRRA 7/16 Race Report

OMRRA July Race weekend tests skill, patience.

Good morning,

I'm glad to report that all who crashed on the Columbia River Moto-sports team are all in good health.
The worse any person fared was a separated AC Joint suffered by teammate Dave Wallway.


I felt pretty good on Saturday, and ran pretty well. My friends and teammates said I was riding fast.
That was good to hear. I ran without an AMB all morning, and got it charged and mounted enough for one afternoon session, and found that I was hitting :16's on a regular basis.

Then came Sunday.
I was supposed to run in 3 qualifying races Sunday morning, however the track got completely oiled and took several hours to clean up. Knowing the corner that gives me the most fits was slick, I opted not to run the Qualifier that would be on the grid immediately after the cleanup, and changed out of my leathers, only to find out a while later that all the qualifiers would be cancelled, and my 10 lap main would be the first on the track.

600SS Senior: We were allowed 2 sighting laps to a. get a feel for the condition of the track, and b, find a safe line around. There was oil sweep visible all over, however it was well cleaned, and the traction was good. Good enough that I dipped into the :15's mid race. I ran hard enough to get many passes in to finish 3rd and increase my points standing to 3rd place. I counted 8 passes on mylaps.com.

750SS Senior: 20 minutes following my 600 race, I had to grid for the 750 race. I managed to get some water, and check my fuel. I kept my tires warm, and went out fighting. I got 3 passes and was hunting Jon who was leading the race. I avoided target fixing on a crash in turn 2 which cleared the way to hunt down Jon. In lap 7, I ran harder and closed the gap to find that I was too hot into the shifting zone at 1B. When I tried to pick up the bike for the shift, I had rolled off throttle to maintain my gap and prepare for my drive out of T2 to outbrake him into T3. The result was a loaded front end and as soon as I counter steered, the front wheel stopped spinning and slid away. I watched my 2nd place finish go out the window as I was sliding off the track. Fortunately, I had enough of a points lead coming into this weekend that I'm still in 1st place by 6 points. We enter a double points race next month, so I'll have my work cut out repairing my bike and getting my head ready to remain competitive. I achieved a new personal best during this race. While chasing down Jon, I dropped my times to 1:15.068.
I'm close enough to :14's that I know where I can accomplish this and will be ready to try next month.

600SB Senior: My bike was damaged enough that it was impossible to repair it in time for my final race for the day, so I packed up my gear and watched my teammates duke it out.

Results:
600SS Senior. 3rd place finish, 3rd place overall.
600SB Senior. DNS and I've dropped to 5th overall.
750SS Senior. DNF, however I've maintained 1st place overall with a 6 point lead.

Thanks to all the OMRRA volunteer corner workers and everyone involved in cleaning up the oil.
You all did a wonderful job returning the track to a safe and fun venue to hunt for our shiny new trophies. Dave and Barry at GP Suspension helped to get my suspension tuned perfectly for the tires and conditions. Hat off to you guys. The bike fells the best it ever has and my times are showing because of that and my confidence in my Michelin DOT tires. I'm very happy with my Pilot Race tires. They have stuck for me under some impressive mid-corner changes including hard trail-braking to prevent a collision.
The R6 motor under Ron Hopkin's building and tuning continues to run strong and withstand significant abuse including a 100 plus mph mis-shift from 3rd to 2nd instead of 4th. Thank you Ron!
Columbia Rive Moto-Sports, R&d Machine and Jason Merrit of REMAX continues to find ways to be there supporting the team. Thank you, you guys make this all possible!

Now, on to hone my crash repair skills. See you in August!

OMRRA Race report for 6/25

After a long break from the track, OMRRA took to the pavement at PIR for racing in sweltering 100 degree heat. Many personal bests were achieved despite the heat.
Here is one account:

I began my practice laps on Thursday during our Cascade Tracktime trackday feeling pretty good despite a 6 week gap since I've been on the seat.
Entering the first turn, I noticed the bike felt light, flickable and fun.
It didn't take long before I was keeping up with my teammates. Something I hadn't been able to do since the beginning of the year. Each lap felt better and better, and I decided to reel it in a bit to keep from tossing the bike.

Saturday saw the shock getting rebuilt, as I found the rebound was completely gone, and the bike was pogoing off of bumps on the back straight. With fresh tires and a refreshed shock. I put the bike aside to concentrate on supporting my team during the first of three endurance races in the North West series. The team went home with a 5th place in class with 3 laps deciding 3rd, 4th and 5th place. It was a close race.

Sunday morning warm-ups found me visiting Dave at GP Suspension to get final hydraulic tweaking done to dial in the shock. Happy with how it felt, I entered my qualifiers and broke the barrier I had all season. During my quallies and mains, I managed to dip into the low 16's with a 1:16:02 as a personal best.

Starting in the rear of the premier grids, I both enjoy and find frustrating the fact that we have to drill into the middle of a 50 bike pack, jockeying for position to beat out our class competitors of whom its difficult to distinguish with all the bikes bunched together. I made up positions in all my races, only to lose 2 positions to David Gill and Jon Walker, both on identical bikes to mine.
There were scoring mistakes during the day and I went home with 2nd place plaques, only to find out I'll be trading them for 3rd place the next time I see David.
Both are running very well this year, and I find I'm still losing to David, but I can run with Jon now, as I prove in the 750cc race Sunday Afternoon.

Prior to taking my sighting lap for the 10 lap mains, I learned to dump a bottle of water in my leathers. This soaks my shirt and instantly snaps me alert and sustains focus and energy for the entire 10 laps in 100 degree heat.
I attacked the 750 grid in the same fashion. Drive hard off the start trying to keep the wheel down and gain as many positions before the checker.
I enjoyed trading positions with Carlos, the club VP on his ducati, before he gaped me by a few seconds only to find just how gentle the throttle hand needs to be on a hot - greasy track. His highside gave me the lead in 750 Senior.
All I had to do was hold off Jon. I later learned that he had a foot control issue that wasn't serious enough to cause him to retire, but enough to be distracting.

The results of the weekend:

600 Senior Super Sport: 3rd place and 4th overall.
600 Senior Super Bike: 3rd place and 4th overall.
750 Senior Super Sport: 1st place and 1st place overall. A milestone achievement.

I couldn't have improved and raced this well without the support of Dave and the team of R&D Machine Racing. Darryl, Jason and the team of Columbia Moto-Sports have been backing me this year, and I'm trying my best not to let them down. They really set themselves apart from the other dealers with the team Barbequeue. The very nice folk that volunteer to come in and help feed a bunch of hungry racers definitely deserve recognition. Michelin tires felt especially grippy all weekend including the slickest part of the day.
Rick at SB Motorsports helps me with tire selection and suspension adjustment choices. I appreciate his help.
Dave and Barry at GP Suspension were invaluable this weekend, helping me with my shock woes. Huge thanks to you guys! Thanks to the volunteer crew that keep OMRRA running. Safety workers, scorers, and officials are all there because they love the sport. Tnank you for being there for us!

July is only a few weeks away. I'm motivated to stay fast, stay up, and stay consistent and defend my 1st place spot. We're half way through the season and nothing is decided yet. If you can make it to the track, do come down.
We have incorporated stunting, pocketbikes and open pits for visiting and viewing.
You can learn more at www.omrra.com.

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

Dale Johnson receives Top Novice Award

During the November 19 Club banquet, trophys were distributed, a silent auction was held to raise money for additional airfence installation, and Dale Johnson, Kevin Pinkstaff, and David Wallway received the Top Novice award for sportmanship, volunteer efforts, and efforts to promote the club on and off the track.

This came as a nice surprise, and my team made it a point not to tell me I was receiving the award, both because it was my birthday so it was to be a surprise, and I suspect also because I wouldn't have a speech prepared, so watching me stammer through an off the cuff speech would be entertaining.

The 2006 Board and schedule have been selected. The team is making preparations for next season. A few of us have bodywork to repair as well as engines to rebuild, and spares to acquire. Look for more updates as the season draws near.