Race Report: May 18 - 19, 2002
Find all of the weekends race results at the LRRS web site here.
The weekend started out great by going up to practice on Thursday afternoon. A gorgeous 75 degree sunny day. I would up doing ~120 miles on the track in the four hours of open practice - Nils' friend Joe had us lapping in the 1:29s by the end of the day so I was psyched for the weekend.
Friday - 05/17/2002
Saturday - 05/18/2002
Race #6: GP Singles - 1/1 entry (5 points)
Sunday - 05/19/2002
Race #5: LWGP - 17/23 entries (0 points)
Next race weekend, GP singles and GTL!!
Spent Friday rebuilding the top end on the TZ and breaking in the new piston.
Saturday dawns ice cold and snowing. I decide to skip the snowy practice, but to race no matter what the conditions. I put on my rain tires and prepare for the race. Checking the grid positions, I see I am the only amateur who braved the freezing rain and if I could stay upright, I would garner my first win!
Race time comes and it is still wet and cold, but the rain has slowed to a drizzle. I complete the race upright and get my trophy - a WIN!!!
Sunday dawns a nice day and I make it out for both practice sessions. With the new engine characteristics (power higher in the rev range), I decide to go up one tooth on the rear sprocket for the second practice. I am feeling much more comfortable and go to check my grid positions. When I get there, I do not see my self listed in LWGP. I go inside and find out I mistakenly circled MWGP when entering - D'OH!!! Now I am at the back of the grid for LWGP which makes the start difficult.
We get out on the track, get ready for the start, I pass 4 people on the way into turn one, when there is someone on the ground in front of me. I have to slow significantly, down shift, get back on the gas, around 2, through, 3, up the hill and there are 2 people off the track, red flag. Back to pre-grid, we go out for a warm up lap after the mess is cleaned. Return to our original grid positions, and I get a worse start, last into turn one. Behind a much slower SV rider. I take my time passing them and start to set them up for a pass in 1a when they fall right in front of me!! I go off the track, into the grass on the inside of 2, stop just before the tires, bump start the bike and get back on the track. Someone is off the track in 6, another person in 11, and when I come around again, 2 more people off the track in 2. Another red flag - this is crazy!! The race resumes in our last race positions and I get stuck behind a much slower SV rider. I am still very tentative on passing and take 2.5 laps of the 4 lap race to pass him in turn 7 and start to get my head down to get a good lap in. Race is completed. I finish towards the back of the pack, but am happy to finish considering the carnage and running off the track ;-).
Well, this was another challenging weekend for me personally. The weekend started out well enough with all of the team assembled for Thursday practice and photos of our newly re painted bikes (Thanks again to Steve Pasquale of Pasquale Auto Body in Medford MA, BTW). The weather was crisp and beautiful, if a little cooler than normal and practice was very light-very few bikes were on the track and we were all able to get lots of laps in. I managed to get down to 1:30, which while off last year's pace, was still pretty good for my second weekend. About halfway through the session though, I did have a crash in turn 3, a simple lowside when I braked too deep into the turn and lost the front wheel. Damage to the bike was pretty minimal, although it did include my nice smoked Lockhart Speedscreen and a brake lever :-(. Happily, Steve's excellent paint work was unscathed and so was I, so a few repairs later and some self-examination of my bad technique I went back out and finished the session, feeling better around the entire track.
Saturday - 05/18/2002
Sunday - 05/19/2002
Race #6a: Production Twins - 4/8 entries (9 points)
Back at the garage we replaced another front brake lever and bent out the muffler bracket and again, amazingly, the bike was fine. My leg was starting to get sore though, and I was in a black mood about my own crash and Murphy's injuries and so I decided not to go back out for race 9. That turned out to be a good decision, as I now have an enormous hematoma and most of the back of my right thigh is purple and red and pretty sore, and if I had tried to race on it, or fallen again I could have done some more serious damage.
So, my goals are evolving yet again. First priority is to heal up and get right-my medical advice is that this thing needs to heal before I fall on it again and that's just do-able in the time frame till the next weekend. If I'm ready I'd really like to finish both races and not fall down, and while I'm wishing for things, I'd really like my team mates and competitors to do that too.
Best wishes to #150 Steven Murphy for a speedy and complete recovery.
Saturday was another Loudon Classic weather wise: for the second race weekend in a row we had temperatures in the 30's and rain and wet snow. I was not entered in any races and was particularly tempted to either. I know the show must go on and all but sheesh! Anyway...
Sunday was another beauty weather wise, and I arrived at the track in time to do a bit of work on the bike and practice and it was all good. My DNF last weekend was very much on my mind and I was determined to be more thorough about pre-race preparation and setup. By early afternoon I was good to go, the bike was completely ready, tire warmers on and ready to go. I spent the afternoon watching Dane and Jim's races and hanging out with Calvin and Joe and Christine and Falvio.
Having pre-entered on January 7th, I was rewarded with pole position in my first race, and was really jazzed to go out hard on the first lap. I got about my worst start ever though, and went into T1 5th or 6th. I managed to get by one guy in T2, and settled into the groove for the 8-lap race. First impression of Junior PTwins racing compared to Amateur? Yikes! These guys are fast. Murf and 2 other guys immediately started pulling a gap on me and another bike I was behind. No time to waste getting up to speed or I'm toast. 2-3 laps in and my nearby competitor pulls in to the pits with what appears to be a mechanical problem. I've got a good 100 yards of empty track in front of me to the leaders now so I pulled out the stops and tried to catch up. 3 laps go by and I'm pretty much riding my own race-I can't catch the lead group, but no one's passing me either. On lap 6, things got painful though. Coming into T3 determined not to brake so deep, I did the opposite bad thing and got on the gas too early and this time I lost the rear, and lowsided yet again. As I slid off the track though, WHAM! I got hit hard in the back of the head with what I think was the front wheel of #150 Steve Murphy's bike. Murphy and bike tumble, and I get caught at the very top of my right thigh with his footpeg (I think). I pop up, not yet in pain and mostly fine, but unfortunately Murphy does not. He's unconscious on the track with a concussion and a broken collarbone, and the race is red-flagged. I'm credited with 4th place and 9 points, but it's a hollow 4th for sure. I indirectly caused the red flag, and was the chief beneficiary of it in the results as it turned out.
The weekend started out on a high note. Everyone met up at the track on Thursday for the open practice. John Falvey was there to try to get some action photos of us on the track as well as a team photo. Things were good! I got a lot of time in on the F4 and was really feeling good.
Friday - 05/17/2002
Saturday - 05/18/2002
Race #1: GTU - DNF (0 points)
We lined up for the start. When the green flag flew, I eased out the clutch and got a good start, screaming by Mike M. (#37) who spun it up pretty good. Going into turn 1 I was able to go around the outside of several bikes, and again in 1A - 2. Going into turn 3 I was running in 3rd behind Dave S. (#85). Jeff Wood had checked out in first. One of my best starts ever! I was stuck behind Dave for about a lap before I was able to get by him cleanly, then I put my head down, determined to hold onto 2nd, knowing that if I tried to catch Jeff, it would most likely end in disaster.
About 4 laps in, I see Jeff in the tires in turn 3. Holy crap, I'm winning this thing. Calm down. Stay loose on the bike. Don't do anything stupid. A lap later, on the front straight, I hear Jeff behind me. Sure enough, in 1A-2, he passes me on the inside. I know I cannot hang with him, but I wanted to get a tow from him. On lap 6, going into turn 10, just like every time before, I hit the apex and *WHAM*, I'm on the ground. Shit. I get up and run after the bike before it even comes to a stop. Pick it up and asses. Front brake lever is snapped off. Double shit.
I sit there and watch the bikes go through. After a few minutes Dane shows up to see what is up. I send him back to grab a new brake lever from my spares. He runs off and comes back with a clutch lever. Send him back again, no go. 5 clutch levers but no brake lever. If I had thought about it I should have had him take the one off the XX. <sigh> My first DNF. And I had 2nd all wrapped up. Turns out 3rd was like 40 seconds back.
After the race, a quick trip to Street and Comp for a new brake lever and windshield, some carefully applied color matched duct tape, and I was back in business!
Sunday - 05/19/2002
Race #2: MWGP - 13/21 entries (0 points)
We get new grid positions, based on where we were when the red flag came out. I'm on the inside of the 3rd row, Right behind Lester. Cool, I'll just follow him through. We get ready for the restart. The flag drops, and we are off. Lester bogs it big time, and I have to get out of it to avoid running into the back of him. I move to the right, only to find Dave D. (#445) pulling a monster wheelie, almost over backwards. WTF?!? As a result, I head into turn 1 way in the back. I set my sights on Shandra (#235) and Dave S. (#85). I know I'm faster than both of them, so getting around them should be easy. Ha! I did managed to get by Dave, but I could not for the life of me catch up the Shandra. Then on the white flag lap, Dave passes me on the brakes going into turn 1. In turn 2 the lead junior passes me, then immediately proceeds to low side right in front of me! I have to check up, and that just gave Dave the room he needed to walk away from me.
For whatever reason, my head was just not in the game on Sunday, only running a hand full of 20's. But to Dave and Shandra's credit, they were both riding extremely well!
Overall a slightly disappointing weekend, when I know what I was capable of, but I have to look at the positives, learn from it, and come back next time faster! I know I have top 10 finishes, and even top 3 finishes in me. Pre-entering for the next weekend, so that I don;t have to waste so much time and effort working through traffic at the starts!
Monday - 05/20/2002 - SRNE Track Day
I taught with the Penguin Roadracing School as usual on Friday. Spending most of the morning out on the XX, while Jim Brown used the F4, to get used to it, as he was going to borrow it for the weekend. In the afternoon, I spent some time on the F4 again, just to make sure I was still in the groove.
Woke in the morning to the sound of rain on my tent. Ugh. Got up and looked out. Yup, cold a wet. Went through my usual morning routine when the rain made the switch to snow. Ugh. What the hell, 2 race weekends where it has snowed? I opted not to practice in the 30°, wet, weather, since it would just be an exercise in not crashing. I was not alone in my choice, as the practice session were very empty, so much so that they combined the practices.
My race came up. I have historically done very well in the wet, so I was optimistic. Out of a grid of 24+ bikes, only 7 showed up on the grid. Life is good! I just need to finish, and I get 7th! Went out on the warm-up lap to get the feel of the rains again, since it had been over a year since I had been out on them. Felt good.
Woke to a nice bright, clear morning, if a bit chilly. Both practices felt very good. I was determined to make up for my poor showing the day before. Just one race, put my head down and go!
We line up for the start.I'm in the back again, since, for whatever reason, I failed to pre-enter. The flag drops and we are off. I get a decent start and make up a few positions into 1, and more yet through 1A and 2, and more into 3. I am running well, something like 6th when I come out of the bowl and into turn 8 and see the red flag. Coming through 9 I see why. Scott (#158) and his bike are in the middle of the track. Yikes! Scott is ok.
I hung out on Monday for the SRNE track day as an instructor. The weather was great and the day was a great success. I had a ton of fun on the XX and I think the riders all enjoyed themselves. Lots of fun!
This was not the way I expected to start the season ...
Over the winter I deliberately kept changes to a minimum on the race bike, only swapping the transmission bearing for a sealed unit to prevent blow-by oil from blowing through the bearing, seal, and out along the side of the crankcase (messy). As I was assembling the alternator case, tightening down the bolt, that wasn't tightening, ooops - a bolt hole boss is cracked - it will need to be welded - it's magnesium. Fortunately, Bikeworx has a mechanic (Doug) who has a friend that could weld it up. And he did! Much better and stronger. So I assembled the package and did the Robinsons show. I never had a chance to start the bike prior to going to the track.
So the first thing I did when I got to the track Thursday was set up the rollers and pre-start (circulate the oil through), and then start the bike - nothing - not a pop, not a sound. Pull the plug and it was immediately clear it had not seen a spark. I start testing all circuits, wires, contacts. The alternator exciter coil *appeared* to be grounded out, this is not good, but I didn't know what the specs were, since I didn't bring the manual with me. I had clipped an unnecessary pigtail of wires, and I was thinking I might have cut a necessary wire, but after reviewing the wiring, nothing had been compromised. Without manuals and specs, Thursday was a washout and I went home to return Friday either to fix or bring it all home. It was great watching Dane, Nils, Paul, and Tim, Rob, Kit, and Ann go out and come back with big smiles on their faces. The weather was great.
Friday I resigned myself that I would not be able to repair the bike for the weekend, so I went up and picked it up and came home. Subsequent testing on the exciter coil shows that it had 3 times the resistance it should, and with fraying wires, I elected to order a new one. I will have it assembled and tested (and running!) before the June weekend.
When I started running this bike, I had carb jetting problems. With those sorted, I had a couple of mechanical problems. With those repaired, I'm now having electrical problems. This should pretty much complete the cycle of problems hopefully! There's not much else to break!