| INTRO | ONE | TWO | THREE | FOUR | FIVE | SIX | SEVEN | FINAL |
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Race Weekend Five - 8/12/07 |
This round was on the East track, which I’ve spent a lot of time on, but it had been a while. My last race weekend on the East I had crashed the 600, so I needed to quickly try to build up my confidence, and get ready to race. Sunday morning there are two short practice sessions before the races start. That allowed me one practice on the 600, and one on the 1098. Since the last race weekend I’d made some changes to the bikes, so they both felt really weird and different. On the 600 I’d replaced the fork seals, and thought I’d saved the settings properly, but suddenly they felt horrible. The front end just felt dead. Not confidence-inspiring! On the Ducati, I installed new adjustable handlebars (not really clip-ons, because you use the stock Ducati ones, just replacing the handlebars). Of course, this makes the controls and steering feel a little different. I also had installed a Power Commander and Quickshifter, along with the new Sato rearsets. Well, the Quickshifter mostly was not working at all, so I finally just quit trying it and went back to clutching my upshifts. Also the brakes on the 600 were not feeling very strong at all, especially compared to the incredible brakes on the 1098. As a result, the practice sessions just made me uptight and nervous, wishing I’d had my normal day ahead of time to prepare and set up. I took my 600 to the suspension guru, and said “HELP!”, and told him about the fork seal replacement. He checked it out and said “You rode it like this? I can’t believe you didn’t tuck the front end!” I told him it felt like it was going to more than once. Turns out the rebound was set almost all the way “slow,” meaning it would compress and then not come back up. He tweaked it a bit and suddenly it felt the way it was supposed to.
I got a mediocre start, the bike doing a pretty good wheelie off the line. I clutched and let off the throttle a bit, but the wheelie just wouldn’t stop! Finally I got it down, just as a Buell goes around me on the outside into turn one. As we exit the turn, I give the beast some throttle and just blaze back by him. I love this bike. I now see four guys in front of me – the two ultra-fast twins riders from Utah, one on a 1098S and one on a 916, and the two KTM factory boys. I try to hang with them, but man are they fast. Within a lap or two, I’m in my customary lonely fifth position, with the leaders way out ahead of me, and sixth place to the back of the pack way behind me. Not that exciting, but good practice, and the bike is feeling really good. Turns out the local boys wound up actually beating the KTM factory guys. Next race is the Amateur GTU on the 600. I’m hoping my front suspension issue and mediocre brakes are going to be okay, and that I’ll be able to get a better start than last race weekend. My grid position is not very good – row three on the inside. The first turn on the east track really pinches you if you are on the inside. I get a decent start, but do wind up getting pinched a bit, with at least a dozen guys ahead of me coming out of turn one. I put the hammer down and start picking guys off, but before long I can see that most of the pack is hard to catch. I settle in to a rhythm that feels about normal for me, knowing that there are quite a few guys on my tail. Every once in a while a guy will show me a wheel, but I hold him off. Finally, in the last lap, he outbrakes me into turn six (the turn I’d crashed in, and am braking just a bit earlier in now), and I can’t reel him back in. I finish a somewhat disappointing 11th, and my best lap time of 1:45 is pretty disheartening (I’d done 1:44’s previously on the 600 on this track). Last is the Novice GTO. I’d always run the 600 in this race before, and have had some good results, but I decided to take advantage of the 1098’s power (and my increasing comfort level with the bike) to see what I could do. I started on the second row of the grid, and got a great start this time, outbraking several guys into the first turn, and winding up in third place coming out of the turn. I got passed by a couple of very fast guys early on, and then found myself settling into a comfortable pace, with a huge pack on my tail. “NO! Stop settling,” I tell myself. I try to imagine just adding 2-3 MPH around every part of the track, which doesn’t seem like much, but would really improve my lap times. On the second or third lap, exiting the “Attitudes” corkscrew-like turns, I shift but get a false neutral, and a buddy of mine goes by me on his R6. Oh, no you don’t! After the next turn there is a mini-straightaway, and I use the 150 HP at my disposal to just RIP by him. That was awesome! Then, I can late-brake into the next turn, since those brakes are just so good. Still, he and another guy stay right on my tail by catching me at various points around the track with better corner speed. It’s really hot and windy – 100 degrees, and as the race goes on I find myself getting really tired, physically and mentally. When’s this race going to be over! I’m working so hard trying to keep these guys at bay to hang on to that fifth spot. In the second-to-last lap, I get on the gas hard coming out of turn six, run a little wide out on to the rumble strips, so I have to back off the throttle just a tiny bit. Right then, the two bikes I’ve been holding off go by me on the left! ARRRGGHHHH!!! One little mistake costs me! I try to chase them down, but I just can’t get them. I settle for seventh, but with my best lap times ever (1:43’s), and by far my best seven-lap race time. At first I was feeling kind of bummed about not making more progress, or finishing higher in each race. But the more I thought about it, the more I became somewhat satisfied. After all, I didn’t have the benefit of the practice/setup day, had made some changes to the bikes that set me back a bit, and still managed to post my best lap times ever. Also, comparing my total race time for seven laps in the final race yesterday (12:15) was right up there with the top guys in the Twins GTO back in April, and 20 seconds faster than I was then. It was also a bunch faster than my two earlier races the same day. And, as always, it was an incredibly fun rush. I can’t wait for the next race weekend, and to see how much faster I can go once I get the 1098 dialed in, and learn just how to make the most of it. Season point totals for bwhip after five rounds (of seven): |
The first race was the Twins GTO. I had a great grid position, and one or two of the faster guys were missing this week, so I thought that this would be the round I’d finally get a podium! Then I see two young KTM factory riders roll up to pre-grid on their SuperDukes. So much for the podium. 