Team Daemon gets wood!! This, the 5th weekend of the Loudon Roadracing Series, was another great weekend for your favorite TDR road warriors. The weekend saw lots of thrills and one spill as Bruce, Scott, Rob and Paul fought their way to some fantastic finishes and some personal best times as well. We saw a First for Rob, a Third for Bruce and a Top Ten finish for Paul in the VERY competitive Middleweight GP class. That's the fourth weekend in a row, that TDR has reached the podium and the second weekend for which we stood upon the top step! For a closer look at how things fell out you can check out the personal race reports below.
Once again TDR would like to thank it's sponsors for helping to make
us as successful as we are. Heaps of thanks go out to HJC, Parametric
Technology Corporation, Jodi F. Solomon Speakers Bureau, Factory Pro-Tuning,
Lockhart Phillips, Fog City/Modern World Ventures (we could not have done
this without them this weekend) , North Reading Honda/Kawasaki, PK Suspension/GMD
CompuTrack, Sharkskinz, Spectro Oils (ahhhh the EX's shift so much smoother
now) , Street & Competition, The Knee Dragon, Vanson Leathers, and
Woodcraft/CFMotorsports.
Find all of the weekends race results at the LRRS website here.
After 12 days of tearing up the roads around the Blue Ridge Parkway on the XX, it was time to get back on the F4, and back to the track!
Due to a brain fade on my part, I failed to take of Thursday and Friday leading up to the weekend, like I normally do, so I was stuck heading up to the track on Friday afternoon. :(
I left work early, packed up everything, and was on the road by 4pm. Traffic on Friday afternoons sucks! Even at 4pm, the traffic was already backed up, and it took me over 2 hours to get to NHIS.
Got to the track a bit after 6pm, after stopping for gas, and some food. Just as I got near the track, it started raining. Great.
Kit was kind enough to fax in my pre entry for me while I was off playing on the BRP, but just like the week before, it didn't go through, for whatever reason. Post entered *again*. I meet up with Kit and Rob in the registration lines. Once I got that all squared away, I headed off to the garage and started to unload, where I met up with Scott.
While Scott and Kit ran off on a food run, I started playing with the F4's clip-ons while Rob pulled the wheels off the EX to get new tires mounted (Aside: Rob's wife bought him new tires for his birthday. Not only that, but for the past several race weekends, she has either sent up, or brought up fantastic chicken or beef for the BBQ! Rob is one lucky guy!). Last weekend, I moved the clip-ons under the triple clamp. While that worked, the steering radius was severely limited, as was clearance, so I was going to try to fix it. While testing clearance, I managed to break the glass covering the odo. Doh! Once I got them where I thought they would work, I got cleaned up a bit. Bruce showed up and started to unload. He had brought both Misty and Buddy along with him. Cooch wasn't sure what to make of this invasion, but was content with sharing the pit. Buddy, on the other hand, was not. They were sent to their respective corners of the garage.
The rain finally stopped, and the stars came out. We set up the canopy, and set up our tents and were in bed by midnight.
Saturday:
---------
Woke up to a fantastic day. The sun was out, there was a
nice breeze, and the temperatures were nice and comfortable. It looked
to be a good day.
I Ran over and got the bike all teched and got ready for my practice. The first practice was slow. I had to get used to the F4 again. After spending 12 days and 4000 miles riding hard on the XX though all the mountain twisties of the BRP, the F4 felt a bit weird.
The new clip on position did not work at all, so after the practice, I came in, and moved them back on top of the triple clamp, but angled down more than before.
Second practice felt much better, and I was running back on pace in the 1:20 - 1:21 range. The tires felt "ok", even though this was the second weekend on them.
Race #1, GTU (Gridded 5B)
-------------------------
I got an ok start and went into turn 1 in 9th position. I held
position for a few laps, but then I got into traffic. On about lap
4, Tony I. got by me on the TZ. I was able to stay on his tail for
a few laps, as he got held up by some slower traffic, but then he pulled
away. A few laps latter, I see him pit and later found out that his clutch
had gone away.
As the race progressed, I started sliding the rear tire on the exits of turns 2, 4 and 7! A little scary to say the least, so I backed it off a bit, to make sure I finished, and did not crash. During the final laps of the race, a few bikes managed to get by me, but on the last lap, I made a pass for position at the line under power. I finished 13th, and was running in the 1:20's.
After the race, I swung the bike by Motorace to get their opinions on the tire. It was marginal. I wanted to make it last the rest of the weekend, so I would have fresh rubber for the FUSA races at Pocono, so I swung by Peter Kate's garage, and we made some changes to the rear shock. It was a little soft, so I would spin the tire when on the power. We upped the spring, and added a bit more comp damping to see if that would help.
Between my races, I helped out the USMarshalls and worked turn 1, since they were so short staffed.
Race #11, MWSS (Gridded 5D)
---------------------------
I got one of my worst starts in a long time, and ended up going
into turn 1 in dead last position. Damn. On the first lap I
was able to pick off a few bikes going into turn 6, and then through turn
8 and 9. At the end of the first lap, I was running in something
like 19th position. On lap two, one of the riders I passed in turn 9 got
back the position, but on the 3rd lap, I was able to get by another two
bikes. I was slowly working my way through the pack. On the 4th lap
I passed another rider going into 6. According to those watching
the race, I was making up time on the brakes going into turn 1 and turn
6. Good to know.
By the 7th lap, I had a significant gap on the next rider back, and was running right on the tail of Walter Taylor (#255) on another F4 and Dave Tarczynski (#269) on an F3. I know I'm faster than Dave and can be faster then Walter. I was stuck behind them for a lap or 2, being held up, I just didn't have a good enough drive to get by them. Finally, Walter got by Dave, and I followed him right around going into turn 6. I was right on Walter's tail for a few laps, looking for the pass going into turn 1, but I just didn't have enough. Several waving yellows in turns 2 and 5 slowed me down a bit, and allowed Walter to open up a bit of a gap, too much for me to make up, so I backed off a bit to hold position, and that is where I finished. A 16th place finish. Not a good as I would have liked, but I was still sliding the rear tire a bit, especially coming up the hill in turn 4. Once again, I was running in the low 1:20's, so just slightly off pace.
After the racing day was done, we cleaned up a bit, and retired to the canopy where chef Rob cooked us up a great meal. The highlight being some fantastic beef Ann Marie had brought up for us. Ann Marie rocks, Rob is one lucky guy.
After a great meal, Bruce took off to run Buddy and Misty home,
since
they were taking a bit too much of his time. Rob, Kit, Dane,
Cooch
and myself opted to jump in Robs truck to head down the road to
the
local ice cream parlour for a little after dinner snack.
Yum!
After dinner and dessert, I pulled the front brakes on the
F4, to clean and lube the pistons. After one "oops", I had them all
back together and bled, with the help of Scott, and was in bed by midnight.
Sunday:
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Woke to the sound of rain on my tent. Fusk. Not wanting to
believe it, I went back to sleep to see if it was some horrible dream.
It wasn't. I got up and watched the rain get harder. I knew
there was no way I was going to race on Pilots in the rain, they are basically
slicks, so I decided to see how the weather was going to turn out.
Scott went out for his practice, and came back in saying he was sliding
everywhere on the Pilots. I was trying to decide between bagging
the day, trying to run on the Pilots, or biting the bullet, and getting
a set of rains.
$400 later, I have a set of Michelin full rains. I mount them up and get ready for my practice. I missed the first practice, so I had only one session to get used to the rains. It took a leap of faith to trust the tires in the rain, but they did stick, quite well, actually.
I came in from my practice and tried to dry off. After lunch, I headed back out to turn 1 to help the corner workers out again. They were so short staffed, Kit was working both turns 1 and 2 ALONE. That is a lot of ground to cover!
The rain was causing a lot of grief for a lot of the riders, and there were a lot of crashes in turns 1 and 2, keeping me busy.
After race 2, I went in to get prepped for my race.
Race 4a, MWGP (Gridded 6B)
--------------------------
As we pre-gridded, I took a look around, everyone was on full rains.
I made the right choice, I think. Even though it had stopped raining,
the track was still wet, and there was a lot of standing water.
I got an ok start, considering it was wet, and was in 10th place going into turn 3. On lap two, I made a pass for position, and then made another pass on lap four, putting me in 8th. By the 6th lap, I was all by myself, a huge gap in front, and a huge gap behind, I backed it off a bit, and that is where I finished, 8th. My first top 10 finish as an expert!
I was running as fast as a 1:31 in the rain, bust mostly 1:32-1:33 during the race. Not bad for a rain race! The fastest guys were running 1:26's -1:27's.
After my race, I ran out to turn 3 to watch Bruce race, and finish his race, a first for him in the rain! I then cleaned up a bit, and went back out to work turn 1. It was the usual collection of crashes in turn 1, considering the rain, with one exception. John Scheehser came screaming into turn 1 on his R1 while leading UN Superbike and lost the front end, waaay before the turn. Luckily, he separated from the bike, because the bike nailed the wall before the tires and demolished itself. It completely broke the front rim off the hub, broke the forks open, cracked the case, well, made a big mess. Because of all the oil, and the rain, it took forever to clean it all up. By the time we were done cleaning up, the rain had stopped, and the track had started to dry.
After the races were done, it was time to pack up and head home. Bruce and Rob went to collect their trophies, and when we found out Rob got a 1st, we broke out the champagne!
I would like to thank the whole team for their help and support
during the weekend as well as a big thanks to Dane for coming up on Saturday
to help out, a super big thanks to Jodi Solomon for coming up on a wet,
dreary Sunday to cheer the team on, and a super duper thanks to Ann Marie
Opiela for coming up on both Saturday and Sunday and for supplying the
team with a great dinner. And finally, but by no means least, a big
thank you to all our sponsors
for their help and support. Without them, we wouldn't be out there.
Both of my dog sitters were unavailable this weekend so I was about to find out how my dogs liked the track. I usually head up on Saturday morning but, because I was bringing the kids, decided to head up Friday evening. There was no way I was going to beat the rush hour traffic so I didn't leave until a bit after 7pm. By the time I hit the Hooksett tolls it had started to rain and was coming down steadily by the time I reached the track at 9. I back into our garage and Paul and Rob help me unload. Kevin wasn't able to make it this weekend so we had plenty of room to keep Buddy away from Cooch. The rain lets up and the three of us get the canopy set up just as Kit and Scott return from the food run. Shortly before hitting the sack we lure Rob to the garage and celebrate his birthday with some cupcakes. We knew about his birthday because a couple weeks back Ann-Marie had sent us e-mail asking tire questions as she was planning to buy him a new set of tires for his race bike. What a babe! And no, I already checked, she doesn't have any sisters, only brothers. :-P
Saturday morning and it's gorgeous out. Practices go fairly well but I'm a little distracted all morning because of my dogs. There's a lot of sensory stimulation at the track for them and they're a bit stressed. Buddy barks every time I leave to go do something and barks when I get back. Misty just wants to curl up in my lap.
Michael Quinn showed up bright and early, stashed his gear in our
garage and went off to learn about corner working. Big thanks for
doing so! Racers love and appreciate corner workers.
LW Sportsman - Saturday Race 4: 7th place
------------------------------------------
I get my usual lousy start and have to work through slower traffic.
There's a mess in T2 and I see Kit in what turns out to be an all too familiar
situation this weekend - on the track, picking up downed bikes and riders
while avoiding the bikes streaming by and sometimes other crashees coming
at her!
Scott must have had a poor start too because he isn't too far ahead.
He does a better job getting past slower riders and I lose touch.
I'm getting better at passing but it still takes time and while I turn
a couple 1:29s in my last two laps I run out of time and cross the line
2 seconds behind the 6th place bike. I had been making up ground
quickly and probably could have caught him with one more lap.
GTL - Saturday Race 6: 6th place
---------------------------------
It's not a great start but it has me in 9th going into T1 and 8th
going into T2. Second time around I'm coming up on an EX going in
to T1 and decide to take him around the outside. Unfortunately he
drifts wide and is going rather slow and the next thing I know I'm inches
from his rear tire. Before I can think about what to do my right
hand decides it wants to touch the front brake and does so. You know
that traction pie? At full lean, knee on the ground, there isn't
any pie left for braking. I lose the front. But someone was
watching over me and before I can think "I done screwed up" it's back.
Coming out of T2 I pull my leathers out of my butt and quickly settle back
in. Talking with Scott later I find that he was behind this same
EX rider in Race 4 and couldn't get by because he had such screwy lines
and almost took out a couple experts who were lapping him. I don't
remember when I get by this guy but I do and set my sights on the next
EX. For the first 10 laps I turn 29s and 28s with my new best lap
being a 1:28.32. Just past the halfway mark I'm going through T3, head
turned and looking up the hill. Blink. Vision gets a little blurry.
Blink. Blink. Into T6. T7. I close my left eye.
OK, vision clear. Close my right eye and everything is blurry.
I wear hard contact lens and without them I can't read the big E on the
eye chart. My eyes are *bad*. My left lens had shifted and
was no longer over my pupil. My depth perception is off. I
back off a notch. Do I keep going? Should I pit in? Nah!
I turn 30s to 32s and neither gain nor lose any positions.
I decide to head back Saturday night and leave the kids at home for Sunday. Plus I forgot to bring the ketchup and need to get that too. :-) I break down my tent, snarf a couple veggie burgers, and hit the road. While I certainly don't mind camping at the track it's hard to beat sleeping in your own bed. Except maybe when you have to get up at 5a to get back to the track...
Sunday morning at the track and it's wet. In my rookie season
last year my first two crashes came in the wet and I never finished a race
in the rain. After my second crash I bought spare rims and rain tires.
We didn't have another wet race until today. I miss the first practice
swapping wheels and brake rotors. I go out for the second practice
and take it easy. I don't care if I come in last today, I just want
to finish on two wheels.
GP Singles - Sunday Race 5: 3rd place (trophy)
-----------------------------------------------
The tires feel good but I just putt around, staying smooth, and
most important, upright. Two crashes in T2 strengthen my resolve
to take it easy. I end up lapping an amateur on a Skorpion having
been lapped myself by the winning expert. I take the checkered and
I'm still on two wheels! Hopefully I've started a new trend.
Later in the day after making sure that Rob was all set for his race I go out to help corner work in T1. I'm wearing my MuZ shirt and while I'm waiting for a gap before crossing the track a guy asks, "You wouldn't be Kevin Kennedy by chance?" "Uh, no but I know him. Why do you ask?" "Because I've been chasing that guy all year and can't beat him!" My gap appeared and I made a dash across the track before I could continue our conversation. I'll have to tell Kevin that he's wearing a target on his back the next time I see him. :)
A decent weekend. 24 pts and a trophy. And I finally finished a wet race. I only need 7 more points and 4 races to move to Expert.
As always a big thanks to our sponsors
and to Ann-Marie, Dane, Jodi, and Lisa for their support!
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..."
or
"Dr Raceglove, or How I learned to stop crashing and win a race."
Being too lazy to pack Thursday evening, I had to rush home from work Friday, pack, and rush up to the track. Get up to the track around 6:30, wait in line 10 minutes instead of the usual hour (pre-registration rocks), and get setup in the garage.
Saturday: Looks to be a gorgeous day. Took the wheels off last night to switch the aging Dunlop's for new Metzeler's. Brought them to Street & Comp to get the mounted. Spend the first practice scrubbing the tires in. Second practice, I picked up the pace a little, but I was very sloppy. I'd forgotten a few of my shift and braking markers, and was running rather sloppily. Cornerwork between practices.
Race 5, lightweight Sportsman: I have a pretty good grid position in the third row, and get a great start. I'm 5th through 1-1a-2. Red flag in turn 3, so we get to do it all over again. Get a better start, end up 4th through 1. Lose a position in 1a, but end up making it back. I'm racing hard with a pack of 4 for the first few laps. I'm still pretty sloppy with my lines, and am not as fast as I'd like to be. Another rider gets past me in 2, and just leaves me down towards 3. Damn those built bikes. Last lap, turn 12, a rider ducks underneath me, but blows the exit, and I beat him to the finish line. I end up 7th, disappointed with my results. I got down to a 1:30.09, and ran consistent 1:30's, but I know I can go faster.
Race 8a, Production Twins: I have another decent grid position on the second row, and get a great start. I'm 5th through 1-1a-2. Red flag in turn 3, so we get to do it all over again. Get a better start, end up 4th through 1. End up dicing with a group of 4 for a few laps. Hard on the brakes into turn 1, I get right up on another rider's tail. He stays far right on the exit of 1a, and I duck underneath into 2. I'm right at the apex when he rams into me. Next thing I know, I'm tumbling down the track, bikes zipping past me. I scramble over to the bike and reenter the race, in last place, inventing new curse words. Grrr. I start reeling in the back markers, but a waving yellow in turn 8 prevents me from passing in my favorite corner, turn 9. I manage to get back up to 18th out of 30. Not happy.
Sunday: Wake up to the sound of rain on my tent. Damn. It drizzles in the morning, but the rain gets heavier as the day goes on. First practice, Just try to be real smooth, leaning way off the bike to keep it upright as possible. My braking markers don't move back too far as I'm not going as fast as in the dry, and I end up downshifting less for a few corners to keep the rpms a little lower. Cornerwork between practices since they were in dire need of help. Second practice, feeling pretty good, try to follow a another rider into 3, went a little too fast, lost the front end in a puddle. Nothing bent or broken, gotta love those EX's... Vanson leathers hold up great.
Spend most of the time before my race standing in the rain first in turn 3, then in turn 2, cornerworking, and picking up many bikes. Most people and bikes OK, just lowsides, but a few highsides as they got on the power out of turn 2. Those sucked, because I had to run halfway between turn 2 and 3 to help them. Left before race 8 to get ready for...
Race 10, Lightweight Supersport: I'm so happy when I get to pre-grid. I'm on the second row, there's only one bike on the front row, and only one other bike on my row. Everyone else is behind me, and the track is drying fast. Oh yes. Get a good start, but the guy next to me is somehow way ahead of me. End up 4th into turn 1. In turn 3 one of the lead bikes pulls off with a problem. One down, three to go. I manage to pass one more on the entrance to 2, and set my sights on the lead bikes. They put a gap between me and them on the main straight, but I catch them in the back section. They're dicing with each other, slowing themselves down. The second place rider passes the leader, and I soon catch and pass as well. I try my hardest to catch the leader, but turn 10 is still damp, and 11 still has puddles in it, so I lose some time there being cautious. I keep the leader in my sights, pull him in on the brakes into 3, but can't catch him. After the finish, see Paul working turn 2, and he shows me two fingers. Second place! This is why I go racing.
After packing, I go over to get a copy of the race results. In the media center, I overhear a racer complaining to the officials, saying that he didn't jump the start. Outside, I look at the results... FIRST PLACE! The complaining racer was the leader from my race, he jumped the start and was docked three positions! Not the way I wanted to win, but I'll take it.
Congratulations to Bruce for his 3rd place finish, to Scott for getting down to a 1:27(!), Paul for getting a top ten finish. Thanks to Kit for cornerworking all of 1, 1a, and 2 all by herself for part of Sunday. Without people like her, we wouldn't be able to race.
Two crashes in one weekend? Am I tied with the team record?
Thanks to Spectro Oils, bike is shifting ALOT smoother now. Thanks
to FogCity, wouldn't have been able to see anything Sunday without them.
Many thanks to Street & Comp for mounting the tires Sat. morning. Big
thanks to all our other sponsors:
Factory Pro Tuning, HJC, Jodi F. Solomon Speakers Bureau, Lockhart Phillips,
North Reading Honda/Kawasaki, PK Suspension/GMD CompuTrack, Parametric
Technology Corporation, Sharkskinz, The Knee Dragon, Vanson Leathers, and
Woodcraft/CFMotorsports.
Did not race this weekend.
Feeling Stronger, Going Faster
For the first time this season, I wasn't scrambling to get things sealed up, welded, redone, etc. The NSR600 has reached a state of comfort; keeping the oil in (loose breather lines), starting easier, carbuerating cleanly, and handling well. The rest was up to me. I arrived at the track on Friday around 4 p.m., Kit was already there. I had enough comfort to pre-register for this event so when I checked in at the gate, I picked up my transmitter and paperwork - no lines to stand in at 6 p.m.. The weather was looking, and had been forecasted to rain. So I went to work unpacking the stuff to the garage, then setting up my tent. Within minutes of completion, it started to rain. Paul showed up and we helped him get set up as well. Kit and I were elected to go shopping, and after having a shopping moment at Wal-Mart, managed to pick up the necessary foodstuffs for all for the weekend. Sticker time. Kit and I returned from shopping close to 10pm. Rob and Bruce had also arrived and set up the canopy. Kit went off to get some sleep, Paul wanted to but also wanted me to get sponsor stickers on my bike. It was time. We mocked up one side and agreed on placement, then he went to bed. I stayed up finishing the the other side and going to bed at 12:15.
Sat AM 1st practice:
The day dawned beautiful and dry, but too early, I wanted one more
hour to sleep. I prepped myself for 1st practice but missed the very start
because of no call from the starter! I quickly got myself out there
and just warmed up - casually increasing the speed and working on lines
- a focused and relaxed practice (OK, so I forgot to put the battery in
my transmitter).
Sat AM 2nd practice:
Bruce and I went out together, I was to follow him for a few laps
to get my lines and speed up. After the 2nd lap I was feeling really good
and went past him on the straight and into T1 chasing after Chuck Berube.
I felt really dialed in and proceeded to pass him somewhere around T6.
Checking the lap times showed I had cracked the 1:30 ceiling with a 1:29:4
- 3-odd seconds faster than my last race.
Race 4 LW Sportsman:
--------------------
Bruce and I were on the front row, me in the pole position of the
wave. I dropped the hammer and the motor bogged for just a second. I tried
to recover but I just made it worse. Bruce was having a tough start too
and we got passed by several others before making it to T1. I was ahead
of Bruce so I didn't look back. T1 was a ball-up and we threaded our way
through unscathed. Unfortunately, some SV650 rider didn't make it through
T2, low-siding, and leaving himself, the bike, the seat, and other parts
scattered about the T2 exit. I exit T2 coming on full throttle seeing Kit
stopped in the middle of the turn - there was a look of concern on her
face. yea, that's it. After that I settled into a 4-5-6 battle with
an EX, an RZ, and myself respectively. I had better corner speed, but we
were matched for straight-line speed. By the 6th lap, the experts were
passing us and the EX rider nearly ran the Expert off the track in T8 with
a bad line. The RZ rider pulled off his line to avoid the EX and I ducked
under him at the apex of 10. Now I wanted that EX rider and his lousy lines
and slow corners! I came close in T3 and again in T6. We were side-by-side
with me on the outside of T10 but his drive was better and I finished 5th
right behind him, 8 more points and a best lap of 1:30:+. Next time.
I spent the rest of the day flagging T11, watching some ... uhh, unusual paths of travel - one rider rode off in T11, dirt-tracked a U-turn and re-entered where he left. Another rode right off the outside of T12 (first of the chicane turns) and U-turned back into the chicane.
Sunday:
Rain. Lots o' rain. As a joke for myself I went out in first practice
with rain gear and Michelin Pilots, not really in a position to buy a set
of rain tire$. I was slow and safe, finding, feeling the slipping points
all to easily and realizing that it wouldn't be much of a race for me with
everyone else running rains. I exited with the decision not to race. As
it turned out, the rain stopped 1 race before and the track was damp with
puddles. I stayed to play mechanic for Paul and Bruce and then packed up
to head home.
Special thanks to Ann-Marie who brought up marinated steak (she
must think we all look like Rob), so we ate like queens or kings (take
your choice) because of her efforts! Thanks also to Dane, Jody, and Lisa
for coming up and cheering us on!
Did not race this weekend.