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Cliff Notes:
Practiced in the dry and wet. Raced in the dry. 2nd place in LWSB. New best time of 1:26.9
Thursday:
Got a bit of a late start leaving the house and didn’t get up to the track until 10ish. Unfortunately I didn’t realize that a full day of practice was an option or I would have hustled a wee bit more. I checked in at garage #22 (Thanks Rambunctious and Bob Poetzsch) offloaded and setup. I had decided to try a set of Dunlop slicks this weekend and brought them over to be mounted. We talked a little bit about suspension settings, sidewall stiffness and pressures while I waited. Practice was cloudy but dry and deceivingly warm. I had wandered down to the new-new turn 1 beforehand to try and get a sense of the line. Seems as if most people were tiptoeing through there, which was understandable. I wanted to focus on turn 1 and my entry to turn 3. I had to move my brake marker in a bit as I was coming out of turn 2 with better drive. Reference points were all out of wack for 1-1a and a little bit for T2 also due to the changes in 1a. The new tires felt great but the bike was resisting my steering inputs. I noticed I was a whole lot more tired at the end of the sessions than I usually was and ended 3 out of the 4 sessions early by a lap or two. Bob clued me in on how to measure the tires and translate those measurements into suspension adjustments. Thursday night I dropped the front end of the bike 6mm in order to help with turn in and combat the larger circumference slicks.
Friday:
Dear god did it rain that night. Sleeping in an aluminum box (ambulance) did little to mask the downpour. Did I mention I was psyched to be pitted in a garage? Got up early and swapped over to rain tires and set new waypoints on the Starlane with Bob’s help. I was pretty nervous as I had put the bike down in practice during event #2 on DOT’s – also when it was pouring out. I shouldn’t have worried. What a difference rain tires make! Lap times were off by 5-6 seconds but the pressure recommendations made by BostonMoto on my Pirelli rains were dead on. I missed the first session due to the impromptu change in run order made by the organizers (grrrrrr…) but went out for 18 of the 20 minute second session. The race line began to dry up and I didn’t want to burn up the rains.
At this point the rain started to taper off and a look at the radar was promising. Swapped back to the Dunlops and triple checked the bike. Spent most of the morning helping out people or running around and watching in the various corners making note of the lines, estimated entry speeds, etc. I was pitted in 5A for race #9 LWSB and went into turn 1 in fourth for yet another awful start. I really need to stop launching the bike like I’m pulling away from a stop sign… on gravel… in the wet. Most of the group was running a pretty similar pace and I was having issues making a pass stick. I could show people a wheel in multiple places or even pull abreast but always backed off when it came time to seal the deal relying on the entrance to 6, the entrance to 10 or the exit of 12 to do my passing. I managed to get around Keith Draghi (NV #769) and then proceeded to waste a bunch of time trying to make a pass stick on Steve Hunt (NV #494) but snuck by him on the brakes into T6. Props to Rambunctious (Mike) for impressing upon me just how much room there was available for passing in that corner. Steve then passed me on the brakes coming into 10 and I repeated the favor back coming out of 12. We sparred like this for a lap or two until I realized I needed to stop braking so damn early into 10. Thinking I was in second or third but unsure I chased down Kevin Fogg (NV #449). I showed him a wheel in a few places and had two notable chances to pass but couldn’t commit. One was on the inside of T1 which I thought was a gamble and the other was on the inside of T3 which I’m still skittish about. I’d feel like an a$$ if I wiped in while in second place… I’d feel like an even bigger a$$ if I took out someone in the process. Finished 1.1 seconds behind Kevin for a second place. If I understand how the point structure works, I think my two second place finishes and one fifth place puts me in first place in my class. Not sure though. New best time of 1:26.9
I like the new slicks and think I’ll be leaving them on for a bit. I may try to drop the front end a tad more as the tires raised it almost 11mm and I only dropped it 6mm. Turn 1-1a is going to be a bit of a learning curve. I’m still really slow through there especially on entry speed. Hopefully the new waypoints on the Starlane will allow me to capture if I’m making progress on this front.
Huge thanks to Josh Coombs and Rambunctious for the use of their 22mm sockets this weekend. I forgot mine at home and needed one to change over the tires. Appreciate Black Squirrel helping me load the bike into the ambulance Friday too.. I was spent. Thanks to the rest who helped out or offered up advice this weekend.
Fitz
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