7
Well here goes nothing
So after two years of trackdays I finally made the jump to racing, this was also in part due to a bit of peer pressure from some friends and Im glad they kept the pressure on.
I spent the better part of the winter picking away at the 1999 SV650 that is my track/race bike making some more modifications to it. Race wiring harness, forward mount battery, suspension refresh, oil change, the list goes on. As an engineer I can't have anything less than a perfect to me bike. So this meant if I wasn't at work or working on my fitness I was working on the race bike. Before long the winter was almost over and it was down to a week to go before Penguin Basic School (Second time I would take this) and I was loading things up.
Thursday
I finished loading the trailer, answering countless text messages from friends that were at the test and tune day as to when I was going to make it to the track. Well I finished loading things around 3 pm, and left for the track by 4. Arriving at the track I finally felt at home again being at a place I have come to call my home away from home. I got parked in front of the garage I would be racing out of, North 16 (so stop by and say hi), and began to unload. Didn't do too much setup before calling it a night.
Friday
Basic school round 2. Some of you may be wondering why I took basic for a second time, like seriously who puts themselves through that again. Well in 2014 I took the two day basic school before the classic and was in the fence about racing. I didnt feel like I was prepared enough so I put off the license until the beginning of 2015. Well the work on the bike between 2015 and 2014 didnt go well so fast forward to 2016 and taking basic again.
As always Penguin runs a great show, although it can be a bit frustrating at times trying to keep up with the schedule of track, classroom, track, classroom I made it through it. Before my first session I was a bit stressed as it takes me a bit longer now to get into my riding gear since I have one of those way to complex even for an engineer Dainese Dair suits and they arent the easiest to get into. Well a friend of mine (Kevin Wimble) saw I was stressing a bit and made sure I calmed down a bit before going on track, thanks for the help with the warmers and stands.
Basic school went by quick and before I knew it my bike had numbers, I was teched and ready for the flurry of activites Saturday would bring. A huge thanks to Steve for his words of wisdom and stories in basic, they never seem to get old.
Saturday
I made a point of doing both practice sessions as I needed the track time and to practice my starts since in the mock race friday I stalled the bike (only the third time ever doing a start).
I went out for first practice and people were telling me be careful the track is a bit cold, so I went around on the out lap, things seemed fine and I proceeded to push the pace. Im glad I did because in 3 laps I had finally broken the barrier to get a 1:29.96 lap time which would be a new PB for the time being and this also saw my name on top of the timing tower which was kind of cool.
Second practice came and again I proceeded to go just as fast and clicked off a few more 29's which I was happy with.
After second practice it was to the media center for Steve's talk about the rookie race. Dont crash, be respectful of each other, and heres your grid assignments. Off to the real riders meeting. Then the nerves came as we had to wait about 30 minutes before the rookie race would begin.
Race 1: Rookie Race Wave 2 (LW and UL) (Lap times ????)
Wave 1 went with the Unlimited and MW guys and I got the bike in gear right away ready for the start. Would I stall the bike again. I made sure to practice my starts in morning practice but this was for real this time. Larry would turn the 1 board sideways, lights started to come on, bike to 5k ripm's, lights out and away I went. I smiled a bit since I didnt stall and it was immediately head down and go. there was only 4 of us in this wave and I made it to turn 1 in third. by the time I came up and over the hill in 4 to 5 I made it to 2nd but by that time Shawn Barron (#572) had already begun to checked out. But the middle of lap 2 myself and Shawn (or what I could barely make out of his bike down the track) were catching the first wave. Half way and I continued to push on, hit my marks and just ride a clean race. Checkered flag came out and I took second, and I think 9th overall.
Race 6: Novice Formula 3 (Out lap 1:36.446 Best lap 1:30.438)
My first race at an 8 lap distance. The race starts and it goes just a smooth as before. Shawn Barron (#572) and myself checked out early with him taking the lead and me doing my best to try and keep him in sight on the first lap. We again caught up to the first wave pretty quick and started to work on getting through the Novice Formula 1 field. This was great passing experience since having only done track days I was always a bit hesitant to pass people. Well I put my head down and methodically picked them off one by one. I saw the half way flag and was already getting a bit spent, time to dig deeper and push on. The last two years I would get tired in a session on track and pull in, well thats not an option for racing so I dug deeper and showed myself I can go 8 laps. This race would finish and I would take 2nd place in my class, not sure where I was overall. But again I had a smile on my face and was having fun which was pretty much my big goal of the weekend.
Race 10: Novice Formula 2 (Out lap 1:49.631 Best lap 1:30.665)
This was a race against the 600's. And I was looking forward to the fun. Start goes off without any issue again thinking I might be getting the hang of launching a bike. Well head down and cautiously head into turn 1. Wow is all I have to say, with 30 plus riders in this field it was a slow time to make it to turn 3. We all made it and no one was down. Well end of lap 1 and time to start picking my way through the field. I managed to make quick work of passing some of the riders since I think I started in almost last place. well by what I think was lap 3 the passes started to come less and less frequent as I was having to work harder to get by some of the big bikes. This was good though as it allowed me to work on my drives and getting into corners faster and harder. I missed the half way flag and by the time lap 6 rolled around (which I didnt know it was lap 6) I was already getting winded as we came around for the last lap and I saw the white flag, I had never in my life been so happy to see it was the last lap. I finished this race in 24th place. Not bad considering it was against a lot of novices who had already had a years experience with racing.
Well with racing over with for the day it was time to hang out with some friends who had stopped up to see what this racing thing was all about and have a few beers to end a great day. I made a point of going to the awards ceremony and now will make sure this is part of my schedule every race round. I managed to get on the podium for two of my races and enjoyed actually getting a medal for that, even though it was from some of the experts it still was cool, so thanks to the experts for passing the trophies on to us Novices. Some of my friends who race on Sunday finally made it to the track. We proceeded to enjoy a great feast as has become the tradition since I started to come to the track for the races in 2014. I would try to get as much sleep as I could before Sunday but that didn't work out so well.
Sunday
Practice was only one session but was 15 minutes. I made sure I went out for the full session and also practiced my starts. I would see another PB lap time of a 1:29.822. So at this point it was a successful weekend in my opinion.
Race 5: Rookie 3 (DNS)
That's right, a DNS. I made it to pregrid and this would have been only my second time in the rain at NHMS, third time ever in the rain. I made the right turn out of pregrid, then left and before I knew it I was on the ground. In the previous days Formula 2 race they had found some oil on pit road, so I'm not 100% sure if I hit a paint mark, tar snake, or something else but I binned it on pit road. I was that novice and I for the next 15 minutes proceeded to kick myself over my rookie mistake. But I eventually looked at the bike and started to come up with what needed to be fixed. Well I had spares for the brake side rear sets, but the shifter side, I didn't have anything. At that point I lost any and all motivation to race for the rest of the day. I had one more race coming up as I kept hearing the announcer talk about riders going down I made the choice to call it a day early.
Race 10 Starter 3 (DNS)
So as I finish typing this a look back on this weekend it was overall beyond my expectation. Could I have been more prepared with spare parts, absolutly. One of the things I need to learn to be better about is when people offer to help and also offer to find spares to get you back out there, take the help. We are all a big family at loudon and want to see each other do well.
I would also like to thank the NHMS/LRRS staff for running a great show, thank you to the Medical Staff which I thankfully did not have to meet this weekend, and thank you as always to the Corner Workers.
So wrapping this up, Ill be back for next round, with more spare parts, a better game plan, and better fitness as well. I met a lot of new people, and saw a lot of old friends. I look forward to putting more faces to names next round as well.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Tas
99 + 02 SV650 ex-race - 91 FJ1200 street - 03 KDX220R woods - 12 WR450F motard/ice
