The engine gremlin seemed to be associated with a hot engine. Because of this I decided to skip my three morning races on Sunday, take it as easy as I could in practice, and not push it too hard until the 500 Production Cup race - the first race after lunch. I had finally decided to acquiesce to Mike Lukachy's imploring, and raised the front of the bike one milimeter - not as much as he was suggesting, but something. I also backed out half of the compression damping increase that I had added on Saturday.
I would use the first practice primarily to evaluate the suspension change, but also to see how willing the engine gremlin was to rear its ugly head. For the first time in a long time, I started at a fairly sedate pace, and slowly picked it up. This gave me a good overall feel for the chassis setup, which I felt was definitely not optimal, but also not scary - just a reminder that I still had some tuning ahead of me. In any event, I find that I liked the gradual progression, and will make use of it in the future.
The second (and last) Sunday practice is also qualifying for the Production Cup races. While slightly off of Saturday's lap record(!) 1:39.300 pace, I was still fast enough to grab pole position. With Luke Sanzone gone, I had started to wonder whether I would have a chance to pull off a flag to flag leading win; ah, hubris. With no morning races, it seemed to take forever for lunch to arrive and be done with, but eventually we were out on the track gridded for Production Cup. I got a reasonably good start, but this time it was points leader Jason Madsen who beat me to turn one. Game on!
Jason had a clear acceleration advantage over me, which beyond getting him the hole shot also enabled him to walk away from me exiting every corner. I seemed to have a comparable advantage on the brakes which put me right back on his tail again in each succeeding corner. I was able to show him a wheel a handful of times each lap, but he was undeterred and kept to his line - not conceding me an inch (or the lead). It quickly became apparent that this was going to be a good challenge (queue AWB), and that if I was going to get around him on my terms, (rather than wait for him to make a mistake), it would have to be on an unconventional line. This put my turn 6 fiasco from Round 3 at Pueblo into the back of my mind - going off track was not an option if I was going to pull off a win here. While patience and discretion were keeping me on the track, they were not getting me any material results. By the half way point I was starting to get concerned, and got a little more aggressive with my experimenting. Going deep into turn 2 to see if I could get around the outside, I realized that I had held too much speed for the amount of track before me, and as soon as I backed off Colton Wulf overtook me for second - apparently there were a few of us stacked up behind Jason!
Coming out of turn 3 Colton patted his tail section, signalling me to tuck into his draft and follow. I did so, and quickly caught up to and then drafted by him, back onto Jason's trail. Once again by turn 4 I was right on him, and able to carry a little more speed coming out of turn 5. I swung wide for the n-th time on the downhill to the decreasing radius turn 6, but he was once again able to quickly match my speed and keep control of the racing line. Certainly I could dive under him in 6, but that would put me on such a tight line that I would have no exit speed at all and he would surely regain it immediately. I backed off and took my preferred ultra-wide entry line. I had already tried getting to the outside of him climbing the hill on the the sweeping turn 7, but to no avail given his acceleration advantage. This time he seemed to be covering the outside and I saw an opening, deciding to hold a tighter line and see if I could find my way through on the inside. I was able to eke out the slightest advantage, take the line, and pull ahead. The big question would be whether Jason would be able to overtake me by turn 8 at the top of the hill. Yes?, yes??,..., No!
Each turn that I entered without encountering a challenge let me relax ever so slightly, and after completing a lap I saw Rod Mattison on pit row signalling the I had a good lead. This allowed me to switch my attention from 'fastest lap' to 'coolest engine', easing my pace ever so slightly and short shifting wherever possible. This strategy found me taking the white flag, and one lap later, the checkered - my second win of the weekend, and only the third of my career!
The 500 Production Cup race on Sunday marks my last truely competive race of the weekend. The two remaining races, Supertwins GTU and Formula Colorado, both feature bikes with a significant power advantage over my ultra-lightweight 400 Ninja, so they are really just track time (and Clubman points) for me. I would use them to see if I could coax the engine gremlin out and hopefully improve my understanging of its triggers. The Ninja had about an hour to cool down before Supertwins GTU, which is run as a second wave behind Modern Vintage GTO. I was able to catch the slower Modern Vintage bikes by the end of the race, and finished as the last bike to be lapped - all in all a satisfying finish. I was thrashing the engine but the gremlin was silent.
There is but a 15 minute break before the Formula Colorado race, and this time I would be starting with a noticably hotter engine. I was able to work my way up to third place, but could see that James Wilkerson (in second place) was ahead of me by the length of the long back straight and pulling away. Nothing much to do but push and see if I could finish without being lapped. Crossing the line on the front straight for the white flag, it hit just after I shifted to fourth gear - dead engine! I pulled in the clutch and tried to start it while rolling; no dice. At this point I decided that it was time to put a pin in the weekend, pull off in turn 1, and wait for the crash cart.
To recap, I registered for ten races over the weekend, started seven of them, and completed four. A little disappointing on one hand, but on the other hand the four completions included two wins, and I managed to set two track records for the West Course, with a 500 Production Cup qualifying time of 1:39.300 on Saturday and a 500 Production Cup race time of 1:38.590 on Sunday. These achievements would not have been possible without all of the support that my sponsors has provided to me, and I am grateful for each and every one of them. Woodcraft, by supplying the nearly indestructable clipon mounts, rearsets, and Armour Bodies bodywork, provides a superb bike/rider interface, which in turn allows me to focus more of my attention on what I want to do, rather than what I can do or how I have to do it; in short, on track peace of mind. Rocky Mountain Kawasaki, after first selling me the bike, has provided excellent follow on support. Marv Rosencrans, the head of their service department, has performed all of the significant mechanical service on my bike, and even took the time to answer two phone calls on Saturday in order to give me troubleshooting advice on both the front end chatter and the overheating gremlin. Mike Lukachy, of Sol Performance / Pirelli Tires, kept an eye on my tire temperature and is working with me to try and address the front end chatter. Last but certainly not least, Gregg Spears of Spears Racing has provided me not only with all of the suspension and engine upgrade parts (which Marv has installed), but has also served as an objective sounding board and advisor between races. These guys rock, and I would encourage you to avail yourself of their services and products, whether you are a racer or a street rider. Tell 'em that I sent you.
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