3
oh man, how do I even start this?
I don’t remember if every year starts the same crazy way but this one felt as crazy as they get. Everything was a race against time and a test for my nerves and patience.
First the bike, parts were on back order, bike was in NY, thankfully at very good hands (Adam Butler for the WIN!), I was busy with some very personal stuff. everything felt endless. Adam got the bike ready in time and the only thing that i was waiting for was the thermostat that was also on back order. Thankfully Scott Mullin made magic happen and got it to me in time. But with my luck as I was coming back from NY to bring my bike home, I got pulled over from a state trooper and found out (the hard way) that the Ambulance is improperly registered and I need commercial plates. With one week to go until racing week this was going to be a huge challenge to take care of.
Long story short I worked some magic and made it happen. BUT when I went to pass inspection (for commercial plates now) we found out there are some things wrong with the ambulance (suspension, rust, two front tires, service. etc). This was on Friday and my plan was to be at the track Wednesday night. I want to thank O'Malley's Truck & Auto Body in Charlton, MA for everything they did and got me up and ready in time. I want to take a moment to really thank that place because of the personal service, the constant communication to get everything done in time, for being spot on with the estimate they provided me, and of course for sticking to the original time they promised me my vehicle will be ready! They will get 100% of my business going forward and I would recommend everyone in the area who needs mechanic or body work for their cars, trucks, etc to give them a chance. they really are worth it. I haven’t had a similar experience anywhere else.
So I got the Ambulance of love back Wednesday morning and I spend the next 5 hours cleaning it since it has been sitting since October. Once it was spotless (inside) I loaded the trustworthy and loyal Suzuki SV650 Supersport and the new to me Kawasaki EX650. I was so exhausted and the weather started getting really bad as i was putting the last few things in the ambulance so I decided to sleep in my nice bed at the house and leave early Thursday morning for the track.
Arrived at the track around 1pm on Thursday. Not so many people where here. It was snowing and hailing and the wind was crazy, not the conditions I was expecting and was hoping for. Got to see Tony, Kurtz, Graham, Dove and few others. Took my time unloading everything from the ambulance. Later at the night I swapped my tires and put on fresh Pirelli Supercorsa V2s. and it was time to put on the new number plates (Expert now Yay). My good friend Michael Weyant aka 434Racer taught me how to properly apply vinyl and numbers and the sponsor stickers that he made! dude is just awesome, everything he needs for his bike, he ends up doing, powder coating, vinyl, levers, etc!
I ended up going to bed around 1am completely exhausted.
Friday:
First time riding in 2015, first time riding a Kawasaki EX650, first time riding a bike with a slipper clutch. man this was going to be some kind of experience.
Woke up at 8am, it was 33 Degrees, so freaking cold I had no desire to ride, but that was my only chance to make sure the bike is 100% and I can actually race on this thing. So i signed up for practice and ran the bike through tech.
Putting on the suit was brutal enough as it was so cold I had hard time breathing in until it reached my body temperature. As I pitted out for my first session RIDER DOWN… Great this is going to be a cluster*ck.. I had no desire to push at all, so I cruised around for 5 laps making sure the bike, runs, rides, shifts, brakes and turns lol. session 2 was similar. session 3 i decided to give it some effort and see what I can do. couple of laps in the 1:27 range (my best lap at NHMS is 1:19) which actually made me pretty happy given the conditions. as the day progressed half the paddock went down in T1A and even the ambulance had to roll out a couple of times. I hope everyone is alright, as far as i know we didn’t have any serious incidents, just a bunch of lowsides.
The sun did as a favor and showed up for 5 minutes that warmed up the surface a bit and i was able to turn few laps in the 1:24 range. That allowed me to understand the bike better and shake of my riding rust from the winter. Overall I am happy with the day. Kept the bike upright, pushed, learned a lot and I feel I am ready to race tomorrow.
Biggest thing to adjust right now is the slipper clutch, my SV had a ton of engine breaking that I am used to, this bike has none at all, so first time going into T6 or T11 and downshifting it felt like the bike was still accelerating. LOL. But the good thing is I understand how this will make me faster.. The suspension will need adjusting FOR SURE. It was set up for 200lbs rider, and I am 160. It is not fair to judge it on today conditions and performance, but the zip tie in the fork shows that I only moved 3/4 of the travel distance. I felt the bike stable yet stiff everywhere. It seems like a forgiving bike. It certainly has power, more power than the SV, it pull hard on the front straight I saw able to see 122mph and lots of place where the front wheel comes easily of the ground. I will also need a steering damper for this one for sure.
Bed very early (10pm) to get a good nights rest and wake up fresh and excited tomorrow to finally race for the first time in 2015.
Saturday:
I woke up by a bright warm light.. is this the sun??? Yes it is. It is 7am and its already warmer than yesterday. Checked the weather up it is predicting that it will be 55 around 1am. Great… My first thoughts, this is going to be a great day for racing
Had a protein shake, a banana and some milk for breakfast and patiently waited to see how the big guys do in this weather. so i sat out first practice (as I always do since I started racing) and hung out with my buddy Dove while he had breakfast and talked bench and theory racing. I geared up and went out for 2nd practice just to shake the sleep off and see if the bike is still behaving the same and i felt great although there were still some offs and the pavement was pretty cold.I had two races on Saturday GTL (I need to do as many endurance races as possible to build the right stamina and focus for the TT) and LWGP (meat grinder class at NHMS). Since this is my first Expert weekend I was gridded dead last.
Riders meeting was interesting as they decided to short down the GT races from 25 to 20 minutes and LRRS also is trying a starting method with lights. The Lights are weird combination that probably makes sense ONLY to the person that though of it. They are flashing lights not stable and there is a yellow and a red one. The BOTH are flashing, then only the red one is flashing and when the red on goes off we GO! I don’t understands why its not simple as when one light goes ON we go but whatever. I didn’t have any problems understanding or with my starts other than some riders ahead of me did not even move and worked as roadblocks.
Race #2 GTL:
I believe I was gridded in 8th row by myself. Lots of people ahead of me. I had a great start and I must have jumped at least 3 rows before T1. Sam Greenwood #228 was my best competitor in 2014 as we were both Amateurs and I linked up with him for most of the race. That made me feel good because it shows that I was on about the same pase on the EX that I was on the SV. Sam passed me early in T6 and I chased him for about 80% of the race. With about 5 minutes to go he put some lap traffic in between us in T11 and that allowed him to increase our gap. Luckily for me Sam started getting really tired and I was able to pass him on the brakes in T3 and put some racers between us right away in T6 and T9 and created a comfortable for me gap. While I was pushing to catch sam i got close to my teammate Keith Draghi #76 and his Ducati Monster 1100 EVO, I followed Keith for about half a lap and i was able to make my move in T3 on the brakes (I love that turn) and take my first top 10 position in my first ever expert race. I was able to get 8th and X points for the GTL class. Overall very happy with the bike and myself and I was not even that tired.
During that race I turned my best lap on the Kawasaki a 1:20.3 which is only one second off my best on the SV.
Race #9 LWGP
Again gridded in different zip code next to another experience and talented rider John Donald #441. I got a great start and went i believe 10th in T1, I passed a couple more people on the brakes in T3 and… RED FLAG. I don’t know who went down and where but i hope he is ok. We regridded and I got a bit of traffic on this start bouncing from let to right I wasn’t able to get much done because there is no clear path for me to go so I went in T1 pretty far behind. I worked my way through some riders throughout the race but they had shortened this race to 6 laps (instead of 8) so I didn’t have enough time to make something happen. I ended up 12th (started 29th) while I had Keith Draghi #76 and Bill Coolahan #47 ahead of me. It felt very good that after the race two very experienced riders and long time experts came and thanked me for passing me so clean and safe leaving the plenty of room. i felt good about my riding and I believe as I gather points and start towards the front of the grid my finished will get better and better. Best lap was 1:22.xxx
after the awards I had a great surprise waiting for me. My woman and best friend had driven all the way from Worcester and brought a birthday cake and tons of food to celebrate my birthday which is next week (May 3rd) but I will be at New Jersey Motorsports Park racing the CCS & ASRA Round there. The birthday cake was a picture of the Isle of Man and outlined the road course on it. It was legit AMAZING! Emily Butler made me an amazing birthday card with photos of me riding that all the great friends and my second family signed with beautiful wishes. This was by far my greatest birthday and one of the happiest moments in my life. I am a very blessed man to have such amazing people in my life. Words cannot express how thankful I am. I got to hang out with the amazing coach and friend Gino and talk about the great memories we shared down in Daytona and the future adventures of the TT.
The track is the most environment anywhere in the world. I honestly hope that my future career holds something that allows me to stay involved and spend even more time there (or any track venue really).
I went to bed pretty early (1030) since I had 3 races on Sunday and I could certainly use the rest.
Sunday:
My sundays are always the same every since I started racing.. no practice, I conserve energy and practice mentally visualizing the track and my lines. It helps me loosen up and I am pretty energetic for my first race, which I would need since I had 3 for Sunday.
Race #3 LightWeight SuperBike
I was gridded dead last (surprise surprise) in row 6 if I remember correct. I got an ok start and but got squeezed between several riders going into T1. I didn’t want to end my race (or anyone else’s early) so I fall back and passed some in T2 and some more on the brakes going into T3. I put my head down and started working through the crowd. There was a lot of traffic on this race but I managed to climb all the way to 8th place and turn several laps in the 1:20 range with a best lap of 1:20.583. Very happy with the result and I enjoy watching point accumulate and I am excited to know that I will be starting in the front(ish) rows with time.
Race #5 SupeTwins
I entered this class because I want the seat time on the Kawi. I know I have slim chances for any great results going against Ducati 1098s and Aprilia RSV 1000s but in the Amateur ranks this class forced me to carry more corner speed and practice aggressive breaking to keep up with the big bikes so I figured it would do the same with the Experts as well, fortunately I was right
I was gridded where else, dead last. But this class doesn’t have 30+ entries like the lightweight brackets. I believe it was 7 or 8 of us out there.
For Sunday LRRS had decided back to the flag start since a lot of people complained about the lights. I personally didn’t mind because I have been pretty good with both… well not this time. The 1 board started turning sideways, it was full sideways and I went… well I was already in Row 1 (started from row 3) and then the flag actually went up. aka I jumped the start pretty bad.. Disappointed from myself I eased on the brakes and got passed by 5 riders going into T1. For that first lap I wasn’t even sure I wanted to race after that but very quickly I made up my mind and put my head down and started chasing the Ducs. They were gapping me easily on the straight but the last part of the track (T11-12) that is very tight was their weakness. One by one I chased and passed but there was no way I could catch #22 Dave Dayon and #6 Rick Doucette. I made it all the way to 3rd place and I was going to get my first Expert podium on my first Expert weekend but the penalty for jumping the start was 1 lap and I ended up getting 5th place and turning a best lap of 1:20.417. Pretty happy with the result and lap times, pretty pissed off with being stupid and jumping. But the day was not over and i had one more race to go.
Race #9 Thunderbike
Same story with SuperTwins, I enter this race because I enjoy racing against bigger and similar bikes to improve myself as a rider. Grid was a bit bigger than Supertwins though with some of LRRS’ best and several time champions gridded. Oh well, no better way to learn than from the best. This time i waited until I had clear view of the flag going all the way up and launched pretty good trying to stay behind Doucette in T1, I ended up carrying way more speed than I normally do trying to chase the 5 time overall track champion, and ran wide and 2 or 3 riders passed me on the inside. #22 Dave Dayon was the one I was able to chase for the remaining of the race. I showed him a wheel several times but I was not able to make a pass that stuck. Dave is very experienced and talented rider and that fact that I got him checking on the straights to see how close to him I was made me very happy. Hoping for more of this battles to come during the season and hopefully I win some. I ended up in 5th place with a best lap of 1:20.469.
Overall what can I say about this weekend. The race track family and environment are the best in the world. I love the people over there so much. I love being there so much. I am honestly so happy just being there, I don’t know how to describe it using words. I belong there, it feels like home. The Kawi is a great bike and we will do great things together. The suspension will need some adjusting and I need more seat time on it which is coming since I will be racing at New Jersey Motorsports Park next weekend with CCS and ASRA. The ambulance is 100%, drives amazing and is a great track-home! My RSP Teammates are the best friends anyone could have asked for. I am so thankful for them and I know I wouldn’t be here without them. Special love to my “twin” Adam Butler who built the Kawasaki for me over the winter, taking time away from his family and his racing program to help me out. For those who don’t know yet, I switched to the Kawasaki because of my goal of attending the TT Isle of Man, and the regulations disqualify my SV due to age restrictions plus my research shows that the Kawi 650 is a better platform for that race. So I will try to get the bike dialed in this year and attend the Manx GP in August 2016 for my first experience ever on the Isle.
Massive thank you to all my sponsors for their great support and for having faith in me:
Alexander Academy, Meze Greek Tapas & Grille, DNA High Performance Filters, Dyno Solutions, SportBike Track Gear, Bell Helmets, AXO Racing Gear, Woodcraft, TechnoMoto Racing LTD, Souhegan Valley Motorports, Pirelli Tires, Tony’s Track Days, 434 Racer, Brunetto T-Shirts, Computrack Boston, Vortex Racing, GoPro Cameras.
I will see my LRRS Family again on May 23-24 but I will be celebrating my birthday at New Jersey Motorsports Park next weekend May 2-3. Thank you all for reading and stay safe out there,
Sav #508
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Originally Posted by number9
99 + 02 SV650 ex-race - 91 FJ1200 street - 03 KDX220R woods - 12 WR450F motard/ice
