W

[Paul_E_D]

Wow, what a difference some nice weather makes! Lisa and I had a perfect weekend at the races. The new motor break in went smoothly on Friday and the power was promising. I got right into the low 18s in first practice, which is only 1.5 seconds off last year’s pace. That’s VERY tough to do at loudon as it’s such a busy lap. It takes a while to get the timing of all those actions precise enough to go fast.

Anyway, Saturday came and I post entered GTL for a practice race. I changed the last bit of the clutch (the cable) in hopes of figuring out why my bike is impossible to launch… and it worked! The old cable must have been stretchy enough to give it zero feel at the lever. Go figure. The cheapest bit in the whole system…

Racing:

GTL I was gridded dead last with a HUGE field of 44 experts. I got a mediocre launch, but there was no room to move forward anyway! I railed around a few bikes in 1, and tucked through a few more in 2. I looked up into 3 and it was a sea of bikes. I settled in and started to go to work. Passing, passing, and more passing for 8 laps until I finally saw a gap of clear track. I put my head down and clicked a low 17 and then the red flag flew. I ended up in 7th. That means I passed 36 bikes. Phew!

125GP was shaping up to be a real corcker as Eric and I were running the same pace, and they removed the motards from the class, so we shouldn’t get all split up on the first lap. The theory worked! I got a great launch (FINALLY!) and followed Eric down into T1. We passed the only 4-stroke to get out front (MuZ and TIG still allowed) and we got down to business. The pace was right around 17.0 lap after lap.

I passed Eric in 11 on lap 2 and he drag raced me all the way into T1, which we took side by side. I intended to close the door on him as I had the outside and a slight lead, but I just couldn't turn hard enough on the brakes, he squirted through the inside and proceeded to click off a phenomenal 16.4, gapping me by a half second. I would run up on him into T3 and 11/12, but he was getting great drive, and would eek it out again on the straights.

It turns out He was getting a little TOO much drive. I was pressuring him hard in 11 each lap and as we approached the last lap he lost the rear coming out of twelve and slid into the airfence. I stayed out of it and cruised around for the win.

This was an unbelievable pace for April (Eric set a personal best), and it bodes well for the class this year. Lap records should tumble. Getting the motards out really allows us to ride these machines the way they were intended, nose to tail with incredible corner speed!!!

It was nice to see a big crowd from this forum this weekend. See you in two weeks.

[need4speed]

Congrats on the win Paul and great write up, wish I was there but it'll have to wait .

[a13x]

Good stuff Paul, nice way to start it up. I unfortunately missed the 125GP race (was over at S&C getting some parts) which is a bummer. I did catch the GTL race, holy hell, that as INSANE going into turn one.

Can't wait to get my bike together and get out there.

[Paul_E_D]

I thought I saw you out there on Friday, no? What happened.

[a13x]

Originally posted by Paul_E_D
I thought I saw you out there on Friday, no? What happened.

Friday? Nah. I was riding Penguin Trackday on Wed on Pete's ZX and up there Saturday being a cheerleader.

Bike isn't ready yet. I had some big work events this weekend and my bike building buddy got married this month. Had to scrub Weekend #1. Beside, don't you know, it's ALWAYS bad weather in April...

[OreoGaborio]

oh man, i totally missed this write-up, Paul... that's friggin awesome bro, congrats definitely bummed out i missed those races.

[akira700]

Cool Paul ! Good way to start the season...

Good to see you Friday, hopefully I get up there again soon. The Penguin School, in particular Pete Kates taught me a couple of tips that helped me through the day Friday at the Advanced School. Things like being consistent with your reference marks and making note of the right line etc.... the track walk was really enlightening too.

Though I have to say that during the follow the leader warm up where they were taking it easy I had a real hard time keeping up. Well its good to be humbled from time to time though.

[Paul_E_D]

Hey Akira, good seeing you. The penguin guys aren't going to baby anyone that's for sure. It's a bit more of a sink or swim atmosphere. That can be good to push you, but it can cut down your confidence as well. They definitely know their stuff, though.

How would you compare you new cbr to the old one now?

[akira700]

I have to say that I miss my F3 somewhat. I guess I'm being sentimental about it. Its hard as I'm not riding them back to back and I had the whole winter in between.

I'm running about the same time as last year I think.

But 600 RR still has some tweaking to do and I've got some mental cobwebs to clear. You racers seem to get right on the cutting edge pretty quick. Main problem is over braking in T1 and T6... and not matching revs on downshifts at times for T3 and T11
entry... getting some wheel hop...

I'd like to drop the front ride ht. just a bit to make it sharper. Its seems to tip in slower than my F3, though its about 25 pound lighter I think.

During the day I upped the preload abit and went from 32 PSI to 34 PSI and it seemed to make it feel more surefooted. Need to set the sag for real... right now its just playing up and down by feel.

I'd be interested to hear what changes other 600 RR riders have done to their bikes for Louden. Do most of you all run stock gearing?

The other thing was the braking... I'm gonna put on some braided lines and HH pads which should make things better.

[Paul_E_D]

It takes a while to get comfy on a new bike. One reason I can get up to speed so quickly is that I'm not changing bikes very often.

You can see pros struggle for like two years on a new bike. It takes that long just to get to know a bike! Rossi is like a god for winning on two marques in two years.

Anyway, once you get comfy on the RR I'm sure you'll appreciate it. The RR feels wierd to me, and I guess it needs quite a bit of suspension tweaking to get it working.

600s chatter alot when downshifting. It's a timing thing. One trick is to set your idle to like 3,000 rpms for track riding. It's supposedly gives a slight slipper clutch effect.

[a13x]

Originally posted by akira700

Though I have to say that during the follow the leader warm up where they were taking it easy I had a real hard time keeping up.

Next time just let a Instructor know and they'll take you out one on one. It was the Advanced School (from what your post above says) and there is a huge range in that School (guys running 14's, guys running 34's). You are paying to be there, make the most out of it