It only took a few days to get over my disappointment and disgust with the unnecessary crash in my last race of round five, and for the addiction of racing to kick back in. I had, however, made the decision to scale back to one bike for racing next year (with occasional supermoto fun on the Aprilia), so I had listed the 749R (849) for sale on a couple of forums.

In a way I hoped that the bike wouldn’t sell until the end of the season so I could continue to battle for the championships in the Amateur GTU and Twins GTO classes, as I was in second place in each one through round five. I also knew that racing the bike would put it at risk, and that the potential of a crash could hurt the value. I figured if I could get my price before the end of the season I’d go ahead and sell it, reluctantly. Well, a couple of weeks ago, it sold.

I thought about trying to find a loaner bike of some sort to try to salvage points, or perhaps even riding my Aprilia in those classes, but it looks like I’m having a recurrence of the water in the oil issue again, so round six would just be SuperTwins on the 1098S.

SATURDAY
I’d been having repairs done to the 1098 from the crash, specifically re-welding the frame tabs which seem to always bend or break when the peg hits the ground. I finally got the bike back Saturday morning, and by the time I got it put back together and tech inspection done, I’d missed a couple of practice sessions.

We were back on the fast, flowing west track at Miller for this round, and the weather all weekend was absolutely perfect, around 75-80 degrees and sunny. The bike was really working great, and it was actually kind of nice to be able to just focus on setting up one machine rather than two, and not having to adapt to different turning characteristics between bikes.

Usually I run the King of Clubs race on Saturday, but had conceded my spot on Team Idaho to another friend who had missed a few rounds. At the time we had to commit to the event, I wasn’t sure of the status of my bike repairs, so I decided to skip the race.

I worked on some specific techniques a top racer friend had given me recently while out on the track, most notably to be hard on the gas in the fast parts, but really slow in the slow corners to set up better exit drives. Instead of just being smooth and gradual with everything all the way around the track, I was a little more aggressive where I could be. It seemed to be working, as in the second practice session, I wound up doing my best lap time ever, a 1:35.20.

SUNDAY
SuperTwins – I have a healthy lead in the championship standings. All I really needed to do was just show up on the grid in the last two rounds to win. I thought about that in the morning practice sessions, and wondered how that might affect how hard I’d be willing to push in the race. What would I do if PK or Bunds passed me? Would I battle back, or just be content to finish upright and ultimately win the championship?

I decided that I just couldn’t do that. My goal continues to be to improve as a racer and rider, and I love the thrill of racing and the close battles that go on during the course of a race. Sure, I don’t want to crash (or cause others to do so), but finding that perfect balance sure is a fun rush!

Being the points leader, I was slotted in pole position. I knew Patrick Lansu would be tough as he always is on that 999R, and we expected to have Shane Turpin back on his 1098R. Those are the guys we’d normally expect to be the top two finishers, with PK, Bunds and myself battling for third. We run similar lap times, and we’ve all beaten each other in various races this year. As we gridded up, however, I noticed that at the end of the warm-up lap Turpin had exited the track, apparently with some problem on his bike.

The revs go up, the visors go down, and everyone focuses on the starter. The green flag flies and off we go! I get an absolutely cracking start, probably my best ever. In a couple of practice starts earlier in the day, I’d found myself doing big wheelies, and so learned that I really needed to keep my weight over the front of the bike longer, and to practice better clutch control. This worked perfectly in the race. I had a small wheelie going , and actually shifted into second with the front wheel still in the air (which was kind of fun). I entered the high speed, third-gear turn one all alone, with the holeshot, knowing that I had a pack of snarling big twins on my tail.

It was between turn six and seven that I finally saw a wheel along side, and that wheel was quickly followed by the rest of the bike – the 999R of Lansu, who slid by as we entered seven. I did my best to hang with him, trying to learn where he was faster. Turns out it was pretty much everywhere! Hopefully next season I’ll be riding at that pace.



As the laps went along, I figured Bunds and PK must have been right on my rear tire. Twice as I powered down the straight I hit false neutrals while shifting, costing me valuable tenths. I figured I’d blown it, but still I didn’t see my rivals. Another couple of times I looked over along the pit wall and saw PK’s girlfriend jumping up and down as though she was willing her man on to pass me.

The white flag flies and still I haven’t seen Bunds or PK. I wanted to look back but just couldn’t, for fear that I’d slow down in the process. Turn five is a hairpin, which allows you to see a bit in your peripheral vision if someone is back a ways, but I never saw anyone, which made me think they must be right on my tail.

I was definitely thinking about how Bunds had gotten around me in the last Twins GTO race with just two turns to go to beat me for the win. I wasn’t about to let that happen again. I took unusual lines, braked as late as I dared, and tried to be wide and fast at the same time. As I raced across the finish line and the checkered flag flew, I was overjoyed and surprised to take second. I turned around to look back (finally!) and saw… no one! Huh? Where were Bunds and PK?

Sure, I’m on a 1098 and they’re on 848’s, but they’ve run a similar pace before. Apparently, with my great start and fast, consistent lap times (35’s and 36’s), I’d gapped them enough to get away and stay out there. Cool!



Although it kind of killed me to just be a spectator for my other two classes, it was kind of a nice, relaxing way to spend a race weekend. PK wound up winning the Twins GTO race, with Bunds in second. I’m going to hate seeing my name dropping like a rock in the season points standings in those other classes after being a close second, but I’m pretty excited about the chance of winning the SuperTwins title.

After round six, the standings should look like this:
Brian Whipple – 187
Mike Bunds – 160
Paul (PK) Avery – 149

Lansu missed the first two rounds, so he’s further back in the points.

One more round to go, and I’m really looking forward to it. We’ll be on the full track this time, and I’m really hoping for continued improvement and positive results.

ON TO THE NEXT ROUND >>>