Two firsts and one second in Round 7, the MRA's last race weekend! Unfortunately none of them were race finishes, and I will strive to never repeat any of them.
The second first was starting a race from hot pit lane instead of from the the starting grid on the racetrack proper. This 'honor' is reserved for those who are so slow to get ready that the rest of the field has commenced their sighting lap by the time they get to pre-grid. Check!
I was late because when first call was given, I was scrambling to get my bike tech'ed due to damage incurred from my weekend's first first - crashing my bike at the beginning of a race, before crossing the start line!
If those two firsts weren't bad enough, my 'second' certainly was. I am ashamed to report that I managed to be the direct cause (if not a cause-in-fact) of another racer's own crash, after having done the same - to the same other racer, Joe Maher - in the previous round at Pueblo Motorsports Park. This round it was related to my own crash, (my first first), at the start of the Supertwins GTO race.
For context, you need to know that we grid in rows of three bikes, with alternate rows offset so that you are directly in front of (or behind) the racer two rows behind (or in front of) you. You are between the people gridded on the rows directly before or after yours. This gives a reasonably compact starting grid, which can be important for the larger fields, at the cost of limited options with respect to starting line.
For Supertwins GTO I was gridded 6R, in the rightmost position of row 6, 15 feet or so behind Joe in 4R, who was behind Colton Wulf in 2R. My starting technique is keep the starting lights in the corner of my eye as I rev my engine, while focusing the majority of my attention on my anticipated path forward. The lights went out and 20 racers engaged the clutches on their screaming engines, lunging forward for the sprint to the first corner. I felt that I got a pretty good start, and started to move to the outside in order to get around Joe, who appeared to be getting a slower start. What I couldn't see, but Joe could, was that Colton had stalled on his start and was motionless on the track in front of us. Joe braked so violently to miss Colton that he locked his front tire up sending his rear wheel well over a foot into the air! This evasive action also meant that he would be less far down the track than my path had anticipated, and my line would now be much closer to his, in fact intersecting his when he came down just as I was going by. We collided violently enough to put us both on the ground. As luck would have it, a fellow competitor's wife had been filming the start and I was able to review it. All of this happened within the space of about one second.
Last round in Pueblo we were just finishing the first lap of the combined Lightweight / Ultra-lightweight Endurance race when way too many bikes were stacked up behind Joe going into the evil turn ten that exits onto the front straight, right where the drag racers spread all of their traction promoting gunk. There isn't a lot of run-off for us on the outside of the turn, where we have to install sections of air-fencing to protect from a very solid concrete wall. I decided to try and grab several places by running up the inside of Joe on what would definitely be a irregular line. I might have made it but for Cameron Lee trying to do the same thing to me at the same time. I suspect that either one of us could have made the trick work, but there just wasn't enough room for the two of us at the same time, and something had to give. Cameron ran into my right side causing me to stand the bike up and widen my line, which forced me into Joe's right side. Neither one of us saw it coming but I was able to ride it out while Joe went down. Again I was the direct cause of his crash if not a cause-in-fact: if I had just waited - it was an endurance race after all - I would have had my turn to make a more judicious pass. I have apologized to Joe for my involvement in these two crashes, but that still doesn't clear my conscience. Yes, 'that is racing', and an opportunity passed is an opportunity lost, but it still bothers me.
It looks like Joe got off a lot easier with the second crash than the first. He has some slick leathers with an integrated airbag that he is certain saved his collarbone in Pueblo, but every time that they deploy they have to be sent back to the factory to be evaluated and recharged. He also wrecked a helmet and his Ducati took it on chin. This time around the damage was limited to some foot controls. In the Pueblo incident my Woodcraft rearsets were bent into my chain by the impact with Joe, but a long handled wrench was able to bend them back to a semblance of normal. (This is the same rearset that held up better than the bike's sub-frame in my round 4 lowside.) This last crash at High Plains Raceway saw me wrecking my second helmet of the year ($ ouch!), and also destroying a footpeg on the third crash to that rearset. I can't say enough for the durability of the Woodcraft rearsets - they are truely the industry standard. If you are thinking of getting a motorcycle out onto the track get some of these!
If you have been following along, I will report that replacing my radiator fan appears to have resolved the mysterious dying - it didn't happen once in the last two rounds. It is a relief to put that gremlin behind me. The other issue, the shuddering on the brakes is still with me and causing a fair amount of consternation. More to follow on that front to be sure.
This was my first full season of racing in almost 10 years, and while expensive it provided an immense amount of fun and camaraderie. I was able to keep Jason Madsen honest in the 500 Production Cup series, but just didn't have enough to challenge him for the overall win - kudos to Jason. I will be proud of my hard fought 2nd overall. Zip Ties and Duct Tape (Rod Mattison, Stephen Husbands and myself) made a respectable 3rd place showing in the 4 Hr True Endurance class. I have gotten to know my fellow competitors better and have tried to be a big brother to a couple of new racers in the club.
I want to take this opportunity to once again thank my sponsors. Without the support of Rocky Mountain Kawasaki, Woodcraft / Armour Bodies / Hindle Exhaust, Sol Performance / Pirelli Tires, and Spears Racing, I would not have had the results or the fun that I had this year. I hope to continue my relationship with all of them in the future. Please look into all of them if you have any appropriate motorcycling needs, and tell them that I sent you!
Now I need to excuse myself and get out to the shed to winterize my trusty 400 Ninja, and start planning for 2020. It is kind of sad to see the season finally over, but I have already started a list of the things that I want to do for next year.
Monday, September 30, 2019
Sunday, August 18, 2019
Round 5 - HPR West Course, Sunday
Saturday night I got very little sleep - too much time spent with non-productive thought. ('roof brain chatter', to borrow a quote from a college roommate.) The best that I got out of it was a plan for evaluating the bike's track worthiness.
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.
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.
Wednesday, August 7, 2019
Round 5 - HPR West Course, Saturday
High Plains Raceway (HPR), an hour east of Denver, is unique among the tracks that the MRA races at, in two ways. For one, it was built and is owned by CAMA, the Colorado Amateur Motorsports Association, a group of four local automobile clubs plus the MRA. Which leads to its second unique quality: it was designed from the beginning with two cut-offs that allow it to be run in four configurations - Full, North, West, and Short. The MRA hasn't competed on the short course, but we will use all of the other configurations this year. Round 5 was on the West course, one which I hadn't been on yet.
Arriving Friday evening gave me time to set up my pit, have a new Pirelli rear slick installed by my tire sponsor, Sol Performance, and get the bike through tech inspection. All of my sponsors came through with replacement or upgraded components in the three weeks since my crash in Round 4, support for which I am extremely grateful. Spears Racing provided a BrakeTech front rotor with Ferodo pads, a lightweight racing chain and sprockets, and two electrical eliminators. Woodcraft supplied me with a replacement clip-on handlebar and footpeg, the wayward shift bushing, and a spare shift rod. Their rearsets, CNC machined from 6061-T6 billet aluminum, had barely bent in the crash, in fact holding up much better that the stock steel bracket to which they mount - a testament to their extreme durability. Rocky Mountain Kawasaki replaced that stock bracket and a worn chain guide.
I got the bike out for the first practice on Saturday, anxious to evaluate both the repairs and the new track configuration. The cut-off for the West course takes left hand turn 8, the tightest turn on the track, and opens up its exit with a blind right hand downhill sweeper to the base of the front straight. It makes for a very nice alternative! Unfortunately I found that in spite of all of my attempts to banish it, the front end chatter was still with me. Boo! It wasn't as bad as it had been at the end of Round 4, and I wasn't as surprised by it, but I was disappointed nonetheless. I pulled into the pits and went to visit with Mike Lukachy, my Pirelli tire sponsor. We discussed how the bike was set up, and what I was experiencing, and his first suggestion was to raise the front of the bike to get some weight off of it. I had been slowly lowering the front, in a search for better feel in the corners, and was loathe to reverse that process. He then suggested an increase in compression damping with the goal of slowing down the action at the front. I took it back out for the next session and felt that it wasn't noticeably different. I realized that I had entered the realm of significant suspension set up, tuning the bike to me and my riding personality, with trade offs instead of absolutes and all of that adult stuff. Dagnabit!
Mike's next suggestion (after another unsuccessful attempt at getting me to raise the front of the bike), was to gently increase the front tire pressure. I did this a couple of times and started to feel that the biggest change might just be that I was starting to get used to the chatter - here a little, there a little, over there a bit more, and way over there, none. Out of time to play with it, 500 Production Cup, my first race of the day rolled around. While practicing the course, and evaluating the suspension, I had managed to qualify for pole position for 500 Production Cup, a good second a lap faster than the next bike. I was feeling pretty good about my prospects for the race, until Luke Sanzone, a new first time racer, on a brand new 400 Ninja got the hole shot from the back row and led into turn 1! I got around him going into turn 2 and put my head down. Leading is nice in that you don't have anybody potentially holding you up, but you also don't have anybody against whom to gauge your pace, and you are always waiting for someone to come up and challenge you. 'Be smooth, but be fast' was going through my head, and the race seemed to drag on for an eternity. The white flag came up without and challenge, and then the checkered - my first race win of the season!
I was entered in the next race, Formula 40 (for the forty year 'old' guys!!), but with the excitement of my win I forgot to exit the track after my cool down lap. D'Oh! They let me grid up for the next race and let the rest of the grid fill in around me after their warm up lap - no harm, no foul but a little embarrassing all the same. This race is actually two combined races, with a first wave of mostly 1000 cc bikes, and a second wave of mostly 600 cc bikes, among which I was gridded. My bike and I are both hopelessly over our competitive heads here, but since I can hold a predictable line I am at ease with it in order to pack as much fun as I can into my weekend. All was going well until about the time that the leaders from the first wave started passing me. I was riding well and the bike was running well - if maybe a little hot - when the engine cut-out gremlin struck. What?! No!
Now that I was in the thick of the first pack, and since I was already guaranteed the single point which was all that I could expect, I pulled off of the track rather than continue and now act as a wildcard / track hazard to the racers that were in contention for race results. Once the race finished, I dejectedly headed back to the pits to let people know that the bike wasn't fixed.
After lunch I had two more races, Lightweight GP (LWGP) and Ultra Lightweight Endurance. LWGP is a sprint race with a fairly large grid, and I got only an average start. It took a few laps to get away from my starting group, when I saw that I was starting to gain on Jason Madsen, the 500 Production Cup points leader. I determined to give him a run for his money, and when we crossed the finish line we were within inches of each other. He came out ahead, but I had great fun all the same. Most importantly, I had been pushing the bike and it never quit, a good thing!
Ultra Lightweight Endurance would be my last race of the day, and I was ready to play. It would be a second wave start for me, behind the Lightweight Endurance racers. I was able to clear out from all of the other Ultra Lightweights within a couple of laps, and then started overtaking the slower Lightweight bikes. I was getting used to the front end chatter, and the bike was running well. Just over halfway though, the now heat correlated gremlin struck for the second time for the day. As always, I was able to restart the engine almost immediately, but with the expectation of more of the same, I retired at my first convenience.
Back in the pits at the end of the day Rod Mattison and Stephen Husbands, my teammates from the 4 Hr endurance, came over for some moral and physical support. They are each very knowledgeable mechanic/engineers, certainly with much greater understanding of the workings of a modern race bike than I. We poked and prodded, and ultimately found some issues to be addressed, but no smoking gun with respect to the engine cut-out.
This sent me to bed for the night with way too much to think about, and way too little possibility for figuring any of it out.
Arriving Friday evening gave me time to set up my pit, have a new Pirelli rear slick installed by my tire sponsor, Sol Performance, and get the bike through tech inspection. All of my sponsors came through with replacement or upgraded components in the three weeks since my crash in Round 4, support for which I am extremely grateful. Spears Racing provided a BrakeTech front rotor with Ferodo pads, a lightweight racing chain and sprockets, and two electrical eliminators. Woodcraft supplied me with a replacement clip-on handlebar and footpeg, the wayward shift bushing, and a spare shift rod. Their rearsets, CNC machined from 6061-T6 billet aluminum, had barely bent in the crash, in fact holding up much better that the stock steel bracket to which they mount - a testament to their extreme durability. Rocky Mountain Kawasaki replaced that stock bracket and a worn chain guide.
I got the bike out for the first practice on Saturday, anxious to evaluate both the repairs and the new track configuration. The cut-off for the West course takes left hand turn 8, the tightest turn on the track, and opens up its exit with a blind right hand downhill sweeper to the base of the front straight. It makes for a very nice alternative! Unfortunately I found that in spite of all of my attempts to banish it, the front end chatter was still with me. Boo! It wasn't as bad as it had been at the end of Round 4, and I wasn't as surprised by it, but I was disappointed nonetheless. I pulled into the pits and went to visit with Mike Lukachy, my Pirelli tire sponsor. We discussed how the bike was set up, and what I was experiencing, and his first suggestion was to raise the front of the bike to get some weight off of it. I had been slowly lowering the front, in a search for better feel in the corners, and was loathe to reverse that process. He then suggested an increase in compression damping with the goal of slowing down the action at the front. I took it back out for the next session and felt that it wasn't noticeably different. I realized that I had entered the realm of significant suspension set up, tuning the bike to me and my riding personality, with trade offs instead of absolutes and all of that adult stuff. Dagnabit!
Mike's next suggestion (after another unsuccessful attempt at getting me to raise the front of the bike), was to gently increase the front tire pressure. I did this a couple of times and started to feel that the biggest change might just be that I was starting to get used to the chatter - here a little, there a little, over there a bit more, and way over there, none. Out of time to play with it, 500 Production Cup, my first race of the day rolled around. While practicing the course, and evaluating the suspension, I had managed to qualify for pole position for 500 Production Cup, a good second a lap faster than the next bike. I was feeling pretty good about my prospects for the race, until Luke Sanzone, a new first time racer, on a brand new 400 Ninja got the hole shot from the back row and led into turn 1! I got around him going into turn 2 and put my head down. Leading is nice in that you don't have anybody potentially holding you up, but you also don't have anybody against whom to gauge your pace, and you are always waiting for someone to come up and challenge you. 'Be smooth, but be fast' was going through my head, and the race seemed to drag on for an eternity. The white flag came up without and challenge, and then the checkered - my first race win of the season!
I was entered in the next race, Formula 40 (for the forty year 'old' guys!!), but with the excitement of my win I forgot to exit the track after my cool down lap. D'Oh! They let me grid up for the next race and let the rest of the grid fill in around me after their warm up lap - no harm, no foul but a little embarrassing all the same. This race is actually two combined races, with a first wave of mostly 1000 cc bikes, and a second wave of mostly 600 cc bikes, among which I was gridded. My bike and I are both hopelessly over our competitive heads here, but since I can hold a predictable line I am at ease with it in order to pack as much fun as I can into my weekend. All was going well until about the time that the leaders from the first wave started passing me. I was riding well and the bike was running well - if maybe a little hot - when the engine cut-out gremlin struck. What?! No!
Now that I was in the thick of the first pack, and since I was already guaranteed the single point which was all that I could expect, I pulled off of the track rather than continue and now act as a wildcard / track hazard to the racers that were in contention for race results. Once the race finished, I dejectedly headed back to the pits to let people know that the bike wasn't fixed.
After lunch I had two more races, Lightweight GP (LWGP) and Ultra Lightweight Endurance. LWGP is a sprint race with a fairly large grid, and I got only an average start. It took a few laps to get away from my starting group, when I saw that I was starting to gain on Jason Madsen, the 500 Production Cup points leader. I determined to give him a run for his money, and when we crossed the finish line we were within inches of each other. He came out ahead, but I had great fun all the same. Most importantly, I had been pushing the bike and it never quit, a good thing!
Ultra Lightweight Endurance would be my last race of the day, and I was ready to play. It would be a second wave start for me, behind the Lightweight Endurance racers. I was able to clear out from all of the other Ultra Lightweights within a couple of laps, and then started overtaking the slower Lightweight bikes. I was getting used to the front end chatter, and the bike was running well. Just over halfway though, the now heat correlated gremlin struck for the second time for the day. As always, I was able to restart the engine almost immediately, but with the expectation of more of the same, I retired at my first convenience.
Back in the pits at the end of the day Rod Mattison and Stephen Husbands, my teammates from the 4 Hr endurance, came over for some moral and physical support. They are each very knowledgeable mechanic/engineers, certainly with much greater understanding of the workings of a modern race bike than I. We poked and prodded, and ultimately found some issues to be addressed, but no smoking gun with respect to the engine cut-out.
This sent me to bed for the night with way too much to think about, and way too little possibility for figuring any of it out.
Monday, August 5, 2019
Round 5: Prep
My over-exuberance from Round 4 left me with quite a bit of
stuff to repair and replace. Time to avail
myself of some discounted products from my sponsors – Rocky Mountain Kawasaki
for the damaged stock parts and a new helmet, Woodcraft for the lost shift
bushing, a spare shift rod, and a foot peg, and after talking with Gregg
Spears, a couple of disable/lockout plugs – one to allow removal of the side
stand lockout switch, and one to eliminate the left handlebar controls.
Gregg also reiterated what I had now heard several times, that
after even a minor crash it is important to relax and tighten all of the fasteners
on the front end of the bike in order to allow any stressed suspension parts to
realign themselves. He further opined that it was very possible that I had
managed to warp my front brake rotor, either from the crash or simply from heavy
use, and that this could be the source of the front-end chatter that I was
experiencing. He strongly encouraged me to determine whether or not I had
damaged the rotor, and I took this to heart.
By the Saturday after the race, the first round of parts
from both Woodcraft and Spears were in my hot little hands and I got out to the
shed to get busy. The electrical
eliminator plugs were short work after following Gregg’s installation hints. I made a crude evaluation of my brake rotor
and decided that it would be good to replace it. I took this opportunity to order an
aftermarket BrakeTech rotor from Spears, and it is a thing of beauty indeed. I realized that I was lacking necessary lubricants
and adhesives to finish the job, and had to go back to Amazon for another round
of purchases for shop supplies. Long
story short, I got everything installed by Thursday night before the race
weekend, but had enough loose ends that while I got to the track Friday, I didn’t
get there early enough for any practice.
Sunday, July 28, 2019
Race Weekend #4 - Sprint Races
If the 4 hr Team Endurance race on Saturday was the highlight of my weekend, my solo/sprint effort was definitely the low point.
Work has kept me so busy this summer that instead of spending the Fridays before the races out on the track practicing, I have been spending them working on the Ninja. This time around I resolved myself to that position earlier than the previous races, and in so doing my acceptance led to somewhat of a 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance' day, and I was at peace with it. Perhaps a little too peaceful, because it also led to me getting out to the track a little late on Saturday, missing all but the last practice session, which is also a qualifying session for the 500 Production Cup class. The bike was feeling good - stable yet maneuverable, which reminded me that this was my first outing at High Plains Raceway with my upgraded suspension. The Ohlins cartridge fork and rear shock that I got from Spears Racing, and had installed by Rocky Mountain Kawasaki - two of my sponsors - have made enormous improvements in my comfort and precision on the track. My only regret is running the stock suspension for as long as I did. (While it is completely adequate for street use, it is underwhelming on the track.)
There were few enough bikes out on the track that I didn't have anyone in sight for the entire session - good if you are already in the zone, but I had been hoping for someone to help me gauge my pace relative to. I kept encountering the eternal 'I could have taken that corner faster' thought, and determined to try and hold more speed through the corners. (For the little bikes, the truism that 'corner exit speed is the most relevant factor for top speed on the following straight' is magnified by their relative lack of acceleration.)
I was therefore leaned waaay over in turn one, at the end of the second longest straight, when the front tire lost grip. (The 'nice' thing about such a low-side crash, is that you are already so close to the ground that there really isn't much 'falling' involved, just a transition to sliding.) Sliding across the track on my back, my mantra was 'KeepYourHeadUpKeepYourHeadUp!', which worked until i got into the dirt, caught a heel and rolled, striking my helmet on the ground and turning it into a $400 used-up bit. Grrr.
Saturday's Production Cup race is the second race of the morning, and there was enough damage to the bike that I would not be able to make it to the grid. The only positive, (and I am digging for it here), was that the amount of time spent in 'woe is me, why am I wasting my time and money' mode, before getting into 'how are we going to fix this' mode, was much shorter than after previous crashes. Improvement! It turned out that the bike was damaged enough, and with preparations for the 4 Hour Endurance race at the end of the day, I missed all three of my sprint races for Saturday. Furthermore, once I did get down to working on it, I came to the realization that I was going to have to head home to my workshop in order to accomplish sufficient repairs. Once again this led me to getting back to the track late Sunday morning, this time missing all of my practices. Production Cup was in the afternoon, and I had an opportunity to start one of my morning races to shake down my repairs. This was a good thing, because while entering turn eight near the end of the race, I found that I had no shifter! While fixing bent and broken bits I had neglected to check how securely other bits were still attached, and had lost a critical component due to a loose bolt. Double Grrr, and my second ride of shame on the crash cart for the weekend.
This time it was a scramble in the pits, (even having the lunch break at hand), canvassing my neighbors for anything that could be used to substitute for the critical bushing that had been lost. A slow panic crept in, with a couple of almost give up moments, but with Rod Mattison's ample spares kit we got it sussed out and back together in time to roll out to last place on the grid in Production Cup, the first race after lunch. I got a reasonable start, but had the entire field ahead of me. I methodically picked off the slower riders, and by the halfway mark had only two people in front of me. Cameron Lee, riding a Yamaha R3, was completely out of sight, but also out of contention because he is in fact in a smaller displacement class (!!). Jason Madsen, the 500 Production Cup points leader, (on another Kawasaki 400 Ninja) was in sight and I was reeling him in. He must have felt it too, because he was turning around on the back straight to keep an eye on me. Good - let me rent some room in your brain: a-hahahahaha! Hitting the back straight with only a couple of laps to go, right after his rear view check, and just as I was feeling confident that I would be able to challenge him for the win, my engine shut off. Completely. Hand up, I pulled over to the inside of the track and coasted to a stop, frustration seething out of every pore. Running through my bike repairs and preparation, it didn't make sense. I had gas, and everything that I needed was still connected to the bike. Once in neutral I hit the starter and it fired right up! Jason was long gone by this point, but I determined to salvage as many points as I could. The track was clear behind me so I re-entered, put my head down, and whacked the throttle wide open. The little bikes don't attain enough speed on the back straight to require a lot of braking for turn four, but there is a short downhill two turns later that does, entering a very slow, very challenging decreasing radius turn at the bottom of the hill. I had been experiencing some slight chatter in the front wheel since returning from Saturday's crash, and this time it was so severe that it felt like the front wheel was coming off of the bike. Discretion being the better part of valor and all of that, I put my hand up again, pulled off, parked the bike and called it a day, watching the rest of the race from my new vantage point while I waited for my third ('Yeah, I know where you are pitted') and final ride of shame for the weekend on the crash cart. Triple Grrr!!!
Work has kept me so busy this summer that instead of spending the Fridays before the races out on the track practicing, I have been spending them working on the Ninja. This time around I resolved myself to that position earlier than the previous races, and in so doing my acceptance led to somewhat of a 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance' day, and I was at peace with it. Perhaps a little too peaceful, because it also led to me getting out to the track a little late on Saturday, missing all but the last practice session, which is also a qualifying session for the 500 Production Cup class. The bike was feeling good - stable yet maneuverable, which reminded me that this was my first outing at High Plains Raceway with my upgraded suspension. The Ohlins cartridge fork and rear shock that I got from Spears Racing, and had installed by Rocky Mountain Kawasaki - two of my sponsors - have made enormous improvements in my comfort and precision on the track. My only regret is running the stock suspension for as long as I did. (While it is completely adequate for street use, it is underwhelming on the track.)
There were few enough bikes out on the track that I didn't have anyone in sight for the entire session - good if you are already in the zone, but I had been hoping for someone to help me gauge my pace relative to. I kept encountering the eternal 'I could have taken that corner faster' thought, and determined to try and hold more speed through the corners. (For the little bikes, the truism that 'corner exit speed is the most relevant factor for top speed on the following straight' is magnified by their relative lack of acceleration.)
I was therefore leaned waaay over in turn one, at the end of the second longest straight, when the front tire lost grip. (The 'nice' thing about such a low-side crash, is that you are already so close to the ground that there really isn't much 'falling' involved, just a transition to sliding.) Sliding across the track on my back, my mantra was 'KeepYourHeadUpKeepYourHeadUp!', which worked until i got into the dirt, caught a heel and rolled, striking my helmet on the ground and turning it into a $400 used-up bit. Grrr.
Saturday's Production Cup race is the second race of the morning, and there was enough damage to the bike that I would not be able to make it to the grid. The only positive, (and I am digging for it here), was that the amount of time spent in 'woe is me, why am I wasting my time and money' mode, before getting into 'how are we going to fix this' mode, was much shorter than after previous crashes. Improvement! It turned out that the bike was damaged enough, and with preparations for the 4 Hour Endurance race at the end of the day, I missed all three of my sprint races for Saturday. Furthermore, once I did get down to working on it, I came to the realization that I was going to have to head home to my workshop in order to accomplish sufficient repairs. Once again this led me to getting back to the track late Sunday morning, this time missing all of my practices. Production Cup was in the afternoon, and I had an opportunity to start one of my morning races to shake down my repairs. This was a good thing, because while entering turn eight near the end of the race, I found that I had no shifter! While fixing bent and broken bits I had neglected to check how securely other bits were still attached, and had lost a critical component due to a loose bolt. Double Grrr, and my second ride of shame on the crash cart for the weekend.
This time it was a scramble in the pits, (even having the lunch break at hand), canvassing my neighbors for anything that could be used to substitute for the critical bushing that had been lost. A slow panic crept in, with a couple of almost give up moments, but with Rod Mattison's ample spares kit we got it sussed out and back together in time to roll out to last place on the grid in Production Cup, the first race after lunch. I got a reasonable start, but had the entire field ahead of me. I methodically picked off the slower riders, and by the halfway mark had only two people in front of me. Cameron Lee, riding a Yamaha R3, was completely out of sight, but also out of contention because he is in fact in a smaller displacement class (!!). Jason Madsen, the 500 Production Cup points leader, (on another Kawasaki 400 Ninja) was in sight and I was reeling him in. He must have felt it too, because he was turning around on the back straight to keep an eye on me. Good - let me rent some room in your brain: a-hahahahaha! Hitting the back straight with only a couple of laps to go, right after his rear view check, and just as I was feeling confident that I would be able to challenge him for the win, my engine shut off. Completely. Hand up, I pulled over to the inside of the track and coasted to a stop, frustration seething out of every pore. Running through my bike repairs and preparation, it didn't make sense. I had gas, and everything that I needed was still connected to the bike. Once in neutral I hit the starter and it fired right up! Jason was long gone by this point, but I determined to salvage as many points as I could. The track was clear behind me so I re-entered, put my head down, and whacked the throttle wide open. The little bikes don't attain enough speed on the back straight to require a lot of braking for turn four, but there is a short downhill two turns later that does, entering a very slow, very challenging decreasing radius turn at the bottom of the hill. I had been experiencing some slight chatter in the front wheel since returning from Saturday's crash, and this time it was so severe that it felt like the front wheel was coming off of the bike. Discretion being the better part of valor and all of that, I put my hand up again, pulled off, parked the bike and called it a day, watching the rest of the race from my new vantage point while I waited for my third ('Yeah, I know where you are pitted') and final ride of shame for the weekend on the crash cart. Triple Grrr!!!
Wednesday, July 24, 2019
Weekend #4 / 4 Hr Endurance
Race Weekend #4 was an, um, character building weekend.
First, the good news.
I have picked up another race sponsor, Spears Racing, out of Manteca, California! Spears has been the preeminent source for parts and service for the small twins racebikes for decades, and I am excited to have their expertise and catalog available to my race program. I have had many conversations with the proprietor Greg Spears, and his quiet manner and wealth of knowledge leave me feeling better about my race program every time. They have goodies for both race and street bikes - take a look!
The second piece of good news is the performance of team Zip Ties & Duct Tape in the MRA's 4 Hour Endurance Race for 2019. This annual event has grown into quite a production. Team captain Rod Mattison competed in the solo event three years ago, finishing just out of the trophies, and convinced me to join him for the True Endurance category two years ago. He spent the entire winter getting my old Suzuki 600 GSX-R ready to compete. I then promptly crashed it on the third lap, forcing us to retire with 3 hrs, 50 minutes left in the race! It turned out that last place was still good enough for a 5th place trophy, and we were hooked. We gave up on the Gixxer, and last year competed on Rod's Suzuki SV 650. This time the field was a little larger, and we ended up out of the trophies in 6th place, just one lap down from 5th place. Looking for a way forward, Rod ended up purchasing the bike that beat us last year, and we successfully recruited Stephen Husbands to join us.This year, with Rod's meticulous preparation, and a last minute clutch change by Stephen at the track the night before the race, we were able to keep both our heads and the rubber side down, and bring the 12 year old Yamaha R6 home in 2nd place!
First, the good news.
I have picked up another race sponsor, Spears Racing, out of Manteca, California! Spears has been the preeminent source for parts and service for the small twins racebikes for decades, and I am excited to have their expertise and catalog available to my race program. I have had many conversations with the proprietor Greg Spears, and his quiet manner and wealth of knowledge leave me feeling better about my race program every time. They have goodies for both race and street bikes - take a look!
The second piece of good news is the performance of team Zip Ties & Duct Tape in the MRA's 4 Hour Endurance Race for 2019. This annual event has grown into quite a production. Team captain Rod Mattison competed in the solo event three years ago, finishing just out of the trophies, and convinced me to join him for the True Endurance category two years ago. He spent the entire winter getting my old Suzuki 600 GSX-R ready to compete. I then promptly crashed it on the third lap, forcing us to retire with 3 hrs, 50 minutes left in the race! It turned out that last place was still good enough for a 5th place trophy, and we were hooked. We gave up on the Gixxer, and last year competed on Rod's Suzuki SV 650. This time the field was a little larger, and we ended up out of the trophies in 6th place, just one lap down from 5th place. Looking for a way forward, Rod ended up purchasing the bike that beat us last year, and we successfully recruited Stephen Husbands to join us.This year, with Rod's meticulous preparation, and a last minute clutch change by Stephen at the track the night before the race, we were able to keep both our heads and the rubber side down, and bring the 12 year old Yamaha R6 home in 2nd place!
Wednesday, July 17, 2019
Three weekends down, four to go
My season has been off to a reasonably good start. The first weekend at High Plains Raceway (HPR) the bike was mostly in the same trim as last year. It worked okay, and I was performing okay, but unfortunately the competition was doing a little better than okay! I entered nine races, and (since i am generally competing against bigger bikes) was competitive in only three of them, getting two third places and one fourth place finish.
The second weekend was at Pikes Peak International Raceway (PPIR), the weekend of June 1st and 2nd. I got there on Friday in time to practice a small amount, which allowed me to try out the new Ohlins suspension that I had purchased from Spears Racing, (my newest sponsor), and had gotten installed on the bike along with some minor engine performance parts by Rocky Mountain Kawasaki, one of my sponsors. The suspension was definitely more stable that the stock units, but I still felt that I wasn't getting into the corners with as much ease as I would have liked. I was also able to get out on the new (for us) Yamaha R6 that Rod Mattison (#26) has purchased for this year's team 4-hr endurance race. The quick evaluation is that compared to the 400 Ninja the 600 cc R6 is incredibly fast. This is the actual bike that beat us by one lap last year, so if nothing else we have eliminated some of the competition for this year!
Itching to adjust the suspension on Friday, I ultimately decided to leave it alone through Saturday and just continue my evaluation. As I said it was stable, but didn't provide the feel, or ability to pick or change my line that I had anticipated. I did find that I was finally able to do some trail braking into the corners - applying the front brake while turning in - which I had noticed a complete lack of comfort with when riding the stock suspension, so this was a distinct improvement. Saturday evening I pulled the fork tubes up in the triple clamps, the tiniest amount - 1 mm - which has the effect of lowering the front of the bike that same amount and also making the forks a tiny amount steeper. This immediately resulted in the steering effect that I had been looking for - ease of turning in, and the flexibility to change my line mid corner. I was also able to more easily move around on the bike. I registered for 10 races that weekend, but ultimately only ran in eight of them. I did improve the two third places to seconds, and the fourth to a third, so my performance was moving in the right direction.
The third race weekend was at Pueblo Motorsports Park (PMP), the weekend of June 22-23. I missed Friday practice, getting down to the track early Saturday morning. I registered for my now normal 10 races, four on Saturday and six on Sunday. Saturday went well, and I was finally able to try out Pirelli's road race slick tires, a brand new option for my bike. Up until now I had been racing on their D.O.T. racing tires - street legal tires with tread - but with rubber soft enough that they would be ridiculously short lived if actually used on the street. New tires are always nice, but I initially didn't notice any significant improvement in my lap times after Sol Performance, another of my sponsors, mounted them for me.
Now, the road race course at PMP shares its front straight with a drag strip. This gives us a very long front straight, but also has us leaned over while going through the drag staging area. Those guys put down crazy chemicals that help make their tires as sticky as possible, but oddly these same chemicals become lubricants with the addition of the slightest amount of water. We were on the second lap of my final race on Saturday, Ultra Lightweight Endurance, when the race was red-flagged due to rain. We waited while the rain picked up, then quit, and then started up again. After an hour or so the remaining races were finally cancelled and I got busy working on my front suspension - I had decided that I wanted more corner entry flexibility, and was going to pull the fork tubes up another mm. I was half done when the sky broke open with the heaviest rain of the day, drenching me as I abandoned my chore until after some dinner.
Sunday morning we had a headwind down the big straight that was taking 10 mph off of my top speed. I had anticipated this after watching some flags in the pits, and then promptly forgot about it once out on the track, thinking that either I or the bike had gotten slower over night! I didn't notice as much of a change from the previous suspension adjustment, but was feeling good about moving around on the bike. I found myself touching my leathers down in a couple of corners and committed myself to moving even more, and hanging off more on the inside of the corners,(and moving my knee pucks as close to the point of contact as possible). This started feeling much more natural than it ever had on this bike, and I recollected that my Pirelli sponsor had said that the slicks would give better traction and feel at the edges of the tires. Game on!
500 Cup is the class with the best competition for me, and if there are enough bikes on the grid Kawasaki will pay contingency money on Sunday - $500 for first place, $250 for second, and $100 for third. The first race weekend we didn't have a big enough grid, but I did earn $250 for my second place at PPIR. Saturday I took too long to get around another bike, and by the time I did was too far back to get better than third place. No money lost, just a little pride bruisin'. On Sunday I was determined to fight for first. I was gridded in the middle of the first row, due to having the second best qualifying time. The best qualifying time went to a smaller bike that is in the 350 cup class, and he wouldn't be able to hang with the 500 Cup bikes in the long run to the first corner, leaving me with the two guys that had beaten me in Saturday's race. I was pretty confident that if I could get in front of them that I could hold them off if not pull away from them. I am running stock gearing (still!), and was disappointed to find that do what I may, I was losing the drag race to the first corner to Jason Madsen. I tucked in behind him and started studying his line. I felt that I was faster every where but on the front straight, but his line was close enough to mine that I wasn't seeing any great opportunities to pass. I started playing around with my line to see if I could fabricate a path around him. On the back half of the track there is medium length downhill straight that leads into a blind uphill sweeper to the right that culminates with a flat double apex right. Jason was staying to the inside on the double apex, so I decided to see how much more speed I could carry if I used the whole track. The track doubles back on itself to the left immediately after the double apex right-hander, and in order to keep traffic separated, there is a four foot dirt berm separating the two sections of track, with quite a bit of loose, sandy dirt leading up to the berm. I have run wide on that turn at least a couple of times before, and the last thing anybody wants to do is to blow it while leaned waaay over. (I got enough air on one of those previous runs years ago to bend BOTH of my expensive magnesium wheels! I've probably led up to this with enough foreshadowing for you to figure out that I went off the track in this corner yet once again, all the while hoping that my rear brake would get me stopped before the berm. It did, and I kept the bike up, and was able to re-enter the race dead last, with just over four laps to go. I had mostly clear track in front of me, so after a few conservative turns to make sure that my bike and my head were still in it, I put my head down and got busy. The first bike I came up on was in the 350 cup class, and I went by without a problem within a lap or so. The next bike was in my class and it took another lap to get around him. The last two laps saw me slowly catching the final three bikes, but there just wasn't enough time left to pull it off, leaving me with another third in the class, and in second place overall. My consolation is that after reviewing the race results for both Saturday and Sunday, I realized that while I had come in third both days, I had gotten the fastest laps of both of the races.
Sunday turned out to be a wonderful day of racing, with each successive race being more fun than the one before. As I got more comfortable with the Pirelli slicks I was able to push the bike harder and harder, and to move around on it much more. The bike and i are coming along very nicely, and the anticipation is building for the next race weekend.
Sunday turned out to be a wonderful day of racing, with each successive race being more fun than the one before. As I got more comfortable with the Pirelli slicks I was able to push the bike harder and harder, and to move around on it much more. The bike and i are coming along very nicely, and the anticipation is building for the next race weekend.
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