tjones23
04-07-2009, 12:44 AM
WMRRA #413 Round 1 Race report
Tried to keep this short, but failed. Oh well.
Overall a good weekend. Bike ran awesome, rider did OK. Setting and focusing on realistic and achievable goals can be very tough at times. Coming into a new season with much accomplished already (a couple WERA West rounds), and a good precedent for being about to do 6 races its hard to say, nope, I love the Open races, but who cares if the stars might align some time this year and a big bike is added back to the stable, they are not worth it on a 600, esp. in the dry :)
Saturday practice went good. I guess I went out and just rode as long and as fast as I could with no apparent reason and pretty much burnt up a tire. Note to self -- you know PR quite well, focus on quickly getting up to speed, checking the bike and rider out, talk it over with someone then go out do a fast lap or two again then park it if all is good and wait for the races, or something like that -- just don't waste tires circulating like its a track day. Plan and focus! Lesson learned I hope.
600SS - 5th fastest lap 1:28.925
Gridded 3rd row far right 15th spot I think. The start and first lap or two were frenetic. Much passing occurred, and eventually found myself behind Mark DeGross and Jeff Seehorn. As they argued over 4th I was able to chase them down, got them both on lap 4 and just tried to keep them behind me. A couple of times Mark tried to run me down -- once in T3 and again in T9, however he ran wide so I just dove back under to reclaim the spot. Sweet. I think on the last lap he tried again, but out broke himself and had to take the run-off road. Awesome battles Mark -- it was too much fun. I took that as a sign that I could back off a bit, however what I didn't know is that Seehorn was right there and got past in T5. Furious I got re-composed through 6, set up a good drive in T7 started to attack and by the bus stop I felt I had a much better drive and was gaining at the kink, but chose to go right, however Jeff had that covered, so I had to roll off and swing back to the left try to drive to the outside. I didn't get it done unfortunately. Arrrg! I have to be pretty happy regardless. My previous best time was 1:28.478 on my R1, so within a couple tenths on an R6 in April.
750SS - 10th fastest lap 1:29.126
Started around 22nd, got a bad start, had much passing to do. By the first lap moved up to 14th then 11th by the 2nd lap. I saw there was a bit of a gap the the next group so I just put my head down and tried to crank out the laps. As I was mid-stride down the hill between 2 and 3 I noticed the blue white and yellow Suzuki of Corson Piper going down and the bike/ride hitting the embankment hard. I figured that'll bring out the red flag, however after I was clear of that incident I kept my head down and tried to get back on-pace just in case. It was not to be. Pace was slower, I don't know why exactly. My rear tire was maybe a little over-used on the right side (should have flipped before the previous race) and rider was a bit tired, but I don't think it was worth a second. Motivation can fickle.
Heal up Corson!
OpenSS
Yah, we'll not talk much about that. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Made a lot of work for myself for Sunday morning putting the bike back together and dealing with my soreness. I guess I'll put that in the "lesson learned" category. Damage report: badly bent right footrest and exhaust hanger, chowdered (but servicable) bodywork, bent front master cylinder banjo bolt, otherwise not too bad. Right hip, heel and shoulder a little worse for wear, though adrenaline kept that at bay for the most part. My leathers ground through on the left inside of my forearm leaving me a nice bit of painful roadrash. Freaking BS MotoGP kangaroo leathers. Anyway...swug by Jake Rower's that night and borrowed his right rear set assembly complete with brake, grabbed the R1 brake kit in my garage which, thankfully, I kept fully assembled, hoping it'll just bolt up, saving some time and effort not having to reprime and bleed.
Sunday
Got up waaaaay late. Sore as shit, ankle stiff and swollen, bruised heel, can barely move my right leg from the hip without just slinging it too and fro with my arms. Rummaged through my first aid kits founds some antibacterial cream and a Tegaderm bandage for the bit of road rash. Crammed in some breakfast, added a couple asprin to my normal pill regimen and got down to the track. Some recon the night before identified who I needed to talk with first thing in the morning. Jason McCarty was very kind to let me take the rearset from his old R6 -- that was a absolute life saver! I got that removed and installed on mine. I got the R1 brakes installed (fit perfect), just needing new fluid and bleeding. Rear DOT flipped and re-installed, safetywired and ready to go for practice. A quick shake down showed that the bike was good except for some serious brake fade since I didn't get around to the fluid change and bleeding. Phil Cook did me a huge favor and helped to replace the brake fluid and bleed the system. Papa Bear Gary came by with some suggestions from Eric and pretty much just got it done while I ran around getting a new rear slick installed, mounted and some lunch crammed down -- much thanks Papa Bear!
600SBK - 10th fastest lap 1:29.035
Its been awhile since I've been out on a slick, but it was working great. It took me too much time to get up to speed and I just pretty much sucked. Unfortunately the back section was really hard to get through for me, so was losing quite a bit of time there. Basic forgettable wasted race.
750SBK - 4th fastest lap 1:28.408
Had a great grid position, got a good start and after the first lap had a very lonely race. Tried to keep up with Dan Chancy on his 750, but he was on fire, so whatever. Did some 1:28's one of which was about 70/100's faster than I ever went on the R1. When I realized that Sunday night I felt pretty good. I had some time to experiment with getting on the gas really hard and early and the Dunlop NTEC slick took everything I could throw at it. Pretty nice. The front was 4 races old and still worked and looked great.
Again, overall not too bad a weekend. I want to say thanks to all my sponsors, friends and competitors who made this weekend happen for me. To Eastside Motorsports for making a commitment to the sport, providing us with an excellent team to be a part of. Its awesome to be a part of your organization. To EDR for a fast and well tuned bike and great track-side support. Even for a stock motor my bike felt FAST. Your hard work and dedication really makes my job much easier and I appreciate it. My suspension and tires worked great thanks to Barry and KFG/Dunlop. Barry's also been a great everyday and trackside source of racing and setup knowledge plus big doses of encouragement. I'm very lucky to have such value add to the services provided by people like Eric, Barry and their minions. Its a total bummer I fugged up the sweet paint applied by VallDog Design. I guess more work for you Jason in a bit -- esp. if I get my SuperHawk sold Tuesday :)
In all seriousness it would be so much more difficult to not have the support of each and everyone one of my sponsors, supporters and the very friendly and encouraging words from friends and competitors alike. Thanks everyone! With some luck I'll be rolling in Friday night to P-Town for only my second showing at that wonderful facility that is PIR...
Tim
Tried to keep this short, but failed. Oh well.
Overall a good weekend. Bike ran awesome, rider did OK. Setting and focusing on realistic and achievable goals can be very tough at times. Coming into a new season with much accomplished already (a couple WERA West rounds), and a good precedent for being about to do 6 races its hard to say, nope, I love the Open races, but who cares if the stars might align some time this year and a big bike is added back to the stable, they are not worth it on a 600, esp. in the dry :)
Saturday practice went good. I guess I went out and just rode as long and as fast as I could with no apparent reason and pretty much burnt up a tire. Note to self -- you know PR quite well, focus on quickly getting up to speed, checking the bike and rider out, talk it over with someone then go out do a fast lap or two again then park it if all is good and wait for the races, or something like that -- just don't waste tires circulating like its a track day. Plan and focus! Lesson learned I hope.
600SS - 5th fastest lap 1:28.925
Gridded 3rd row far right 15th spot I think. The start and first lap or two were frenetic. Much passing occurred, and eventually found myself behind Mark DeGross and Jeff Seehorn. As they argued over 4th I was able to chase them down, got them both on lap 4 and just tried to keep them behind me. A couple of times Mark tried to run me down -- once in T3 and again in T9, however he ran wide so I just dove back under to reclaim the spot. Sweet. I think on the last lap he tried again, but out broke himself and had to take the run-off road. Awesome battles Mark -- it was too much fun. I took that as a sign that I could back off a bit, however what I didn't know is that Seehorn was right there and got past in T5. Furious I got re-composed through 6, set up a good drive in T7 started to attack and by the bus stop I felt I had a much better drive and was gaining at the kink, but chose to go right, however Jeff had that covered, so I had to roll off and swing back to the left try to drive to the outside. I didn't get it done unfortunately. Arrrg! I have to be pretty happy regardless. My previous best time was 1:28.478 on my R1, so within a couple tenths on an R6 in April.
750SS - 10th fastest lap 1:29.126
Started around 22nd, got a bad start, had much passing to do. By the first lap moved up to 14th then 11th by the 2nd lap. I saw there was a bit of a gap the the next group so I just put my head down and tried to crank out the laps. As I was mid-stride down the hill between 2 and 3 I noticed the blue white and yellow Suzuki of Corson Piper going down and the bike/ride hitting the embankment hard. I figured that'll bring out the red flag, however after I was clear of that incident I kept my head down and tried to get back on-pace just in case. It was not to be. Pace was slower, I don't know why exactly. My rear tire was maybe a little over-used on the right side (should have flipped before the previous race) and rider was a bit tired, but I don't think it was worth a second. Motivation can fickle.
Heal up Corson!
OpenSS
Yah, we'll not talk much about that. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Made a lot of work for myself for Sunday morning putting the bike back together and dealing with my soreness. I guess I'll put that in the "lesson learned" category. Damage report: badly bent right footrest and exhaust hanger, chowdered (but servicable) bodywork, bent front master cylinder banjo bolt, otherwise not too bad. Right hip, heel and shoulder a little worse for wear, though adrenaline kept that at bay for the most part. My leathers ground through on the left inside of my forearm leaving me a nice bit of painful roadrash. Freaking BS MotoGP kangaroo leathers. Anyway...swug by Jake Rower's that night and borrowed his right rear set assembly complete with brake, grabbed the R1 brake kit in my garage which, thankfully, I kept fully assembled, hoping it'll just bolt up, saving some time and effort not having to reprime and bleed.
Sunday
Got up waaaaay late. Sore as shit, ankle stiff and swollen, bruised heel, can barely move my right leg from the hip without just slinging it too and fro with my arms. Rummaged through my first aid kits founds some antibacterial cream and a Tegaderm bandage for the bit of road rash. Crammed in some breakfast, added a couple asprin to my normal pill regimen and got down to the track. Some recon the night before identified who I needed to talk with first thing in the morning. Jason McCarty was very kind to let me take the rearset from his old R6 -- that was a absolute life saver! I got that removed and installed on mine. I got the R1 brakes installed (fit perfect), just needing new fluid and bleeding. Rear DOT flipped and re-installed, safetywired and ready to go for practice. A quick shake down showed that the bike was good except for some serious brake fade since I didn't get around to the fluid change and bleeding. Phil Cook did me a huge favor and helped to replace the brake fluid and bleed the system. Papa Bear Gary came by with some suggestions from Eric and pretty much just got it done while I ran around getting a new rear slick installed, mounted and some lunch crammed down -- much thanks Papa Bear!
600SBK - 10th fastest lap 1:29.035
Its been awhile since I've been out on a slick, but it was working great. It took me too much time to get up to speed and I just pretty much sucked. Unfortunately the back section was really hard to get through for me, so was losing quite a bit of time there. Basic forgettable wasted race.
750SBK - 4th fastest lap 1:28.408
Had a great grid position, got a good start and after the first lap had a very lonely race. Tried to keep up with Dan Chancy on his 750, but he was on fire, so whatever. Did some 1:28's one of which was about 70/100's faster than I ever went on the R1. When I realized that Sunday night I felt pretty good. I had some time to experiment with getting on the gas really hard and early and the Dunlop NTEC slick took everything I could throw at it. Pretty nice. The front was 4 races old and still worked and looked great.
Again, overall not too bad a weekend. I want to say thanks to all my sponsors, friends and competitors who made this weekend happen for me. To Eastside Motorsports for making a commitment to the sport, providing us with an excellent team to be a part of. Its awesome to be a part of your organization. To EDR for a fast and well tuned bike and great track-side support. Even for a stock motor my bike felt FAST. Your hard work and dedication really makes my job much easier and I appreciate it. My suspension and tires worked great thanks to Barry and KFG/Dunlop. Barry's also been a great everyday and trackside source of racing and setup knowledge plus big doses of encouragement. I'm very lucky to have such value add to the services provided by people like Eric, Barry and their minions. Its a total bummer I fugged up the sweet paint applied by VallDog Design. I guess more work for you Jason in a bit -- esp. if I get my SuperHawk sold Tuesday :)
In all seriousness it would be so much more difficult to not have the support of each and everyone one of my sponsors, supporters and the very friendly and encouraging words from friends and competitors alike. Thanks everyone! With some luck I'll be rolling in Friday night to P-Town for only my second showing at that wonderful facility that is PIR...
Tim