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Hey race fans, you didn't think I was taking the whole winter off, did you? Nah. When Billy Saine asked if we wanted to do some crazy Ceparano Endurance Classic at jennings gp, we said yes, what's that? 3 races totaling 11 hours at a track we have yet to ride, both directions on a brand new Kawi zx4rr. Hell yeah! Billy, Kerry Smith , Semir Faz and myself committed to the project.
Friday practice got off to a damp start but the weather just kept improving and we all got laps in on both the sv and the 4rr in both directions.
First impressions of the track were, fast and flowing followed by a series of tight corners and short straights finishing with 2 more fast corners. Abrasive and grippy pavement. Fun.
First impressions of the 4rr: basically a comfy, heavier 125gp bike. It rails corners, brakes incredibly well with DPBrake pads, and accelerates surpringly hard if you keep it screaming between 12 and 14k rpms. It did have 2 flaws: a sloppy gearbox and a tendency to chatter badly while trail braking hard. But overall it had everyone smiling from ear to ear.
Before we knew it race 1 was on. They did an F1 style rolling start, which was interesting. I had the first stint, so I set out hot and took the holeshot leading out the first lap. After a few laps, a red flag came out, so we lined up for a second F1 start. I battled with the leaders for most of the session despite struggling with gear changes.
I handed the bike off to Kerry after 25 minutes and she headed out and got into a rhythm only to surprise us pitting in early running out of fuel. Whoops! We burned so much more in race conditions that we couldn't go the planned distance. We fueled the bike and sent her back out revising our strategy.
Billy did his stint, then Sam but the tire was clearly not going to go the distance. I had over cooked it early on.
Tire swap done we finished out the first race 4th in class.
A quick lunch and it was time for race 2 in reverse direction. The track does not flow as well in this direction and the whole back section becomes stop n go. I think it penalized the 4rr more than the other bikes due to it's lack of torque and a severe chatter when trying to trail brake deep and hard.
Billy lined up for the start of this one. The bike was already struggling to change gears, especially 3rd to 4th and 4th to 5th. Pretty much the gears we needed but we soldiered on.
Semir took stint 2 and also struggled with shifting gears. I Went next, followed by Kerry.
We all struggled with chatter and shifting woes, but we had a better fueling strategy and we made 1 tire go the whole way, finishing an improved 2nd in class.
Sunday dawned cool and breezy, but full sun. A single 5 hour race was on the docket. By this time the gearbox was really giving us fits but we thought 2 rear tires would definitely go the distance.
Billy Saine lined up for the rolling start. He crossed the line in 4th on lap one but immediately found a grinding false neutral in the fastest corner and ran off track only to re enter in last. Doh!
He recovered and we soldiered on. The sound of the screamer pegging the Rev limiter could be heard from all sections of the track as we wrestled it through the gears.
We made it halfway on the first tire so we confidently slotted a fresh one on and I went out hot to recover some ground. I ran a solid pace with a fastest lap of 1:23.6 and a long string of low 24s despite very slow and deliberate gear changes. The bike was on rails.
Kerry, Billy and Sam ran solid stints all while testing the Rev limiter over and over.
When Billy passed the bike to me for the last stint, all he said was, “the tire is just starting to get squirrely” OK, I'm thinking I can bring her home easily running around 1:30. My first few laps were at the 31 mark and the little 400 was spinning it up like a Superbike in the rain!
Determined to hold my pace, I rode on my feet the whole time as the bike skated across the track both on entry and exit. I was getting lapped by the fast teams who had done multiple tire swaps, fronts included. It felt dangerous but the race was almost over and we didn't have any more tires to swap anyway.
The front was now smoked too, and I was sliding both ends. I nearly highsided in turns 1, 2, 6, 11 on quite a few occasions. My pace slowed to 32, then 33 when I FINALLY saw the 1 minute board. My stomach was in knots, but I was going to make it. I actually thought, they are never going to believe me when I describe this. I took the checkers 3rd in class and the next thing I heard was Billy saying, “holy shit! Look at that tire!”
I have to say a huge thanks to Billy for inviting us to ride the special bike. He put so much into this. We didn't baby it, but we didn't destroy it either!
Thanks also go to DPBrakes, MTAGPIRELLI, as well as Mark Tenn pirelli and Tom Ceparano for making this happen!
And finally to my teammates, Kerry Smith, Billy Saine and Semir Fazlic for all the hard work, fast riding, and big laughs
Endurance racing makes for good friendships!
Awesome report as always Paul! But holy FAHK, that tire!!!
Did you grit your teeth and try to look like Clint Fuckin' Eastwood?
Or did you lisp it all hangfisted like a fuckin' flower?
Ha! Yesh. We had smoked a lot of tires over the 3 days. None looked all that bad, so I was out there thinking, they're never going to believe me when I say how tough it was to even finish the race on this thing. But the first thing I heard when I got to the pits was Billy yelling, holy shit look at that tire!
My stomach was in knots from the stress of trying to keep decent times and not crash in every corner.
Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk
My FZR would eat tires quicker than similar power SVs too, it was comical how fast it'd lunch an SC0 when they were testing that in a 160. They're small bikes but the screamer four cylinder never lets that rear tire get any rest vs the lumpy output of a twin.
That tire is smoked surprising it still held air; I am sure the front looks as bad. You're the man for keeping it up right and finishing.
Great read Paul! That tire is smoked! Why do you think sections came off like that instead of the whole circumference being worn down in that area?
-Christian LRRS/CCS HasBeen ECK Racing
2011 Pit Bike Race CHAMPION!
Agreed, it had worn through the steel belts in spots. That's getting deep into the carcass. I suspect it was about to pop. I was still knee down in all corners, but on the left side it took all my brain power to overcome my instinct NOT to lean over that far. I'm surprised I stayed up, but the bike was brand new and it's Billy's baby, so I willed it to stay on the wheels.
Billy will look at that tire and say I can still do 19s at Loudon with it. lolbut the bike was brand new and it's Billy's baby,
GREAT STUFF!!!!!!
Gino
HAWK GT Racer Expert #929
2012 CCS LRRS ULSB Champion
2012 CCS LRRS P89 Champion
2008 CCS ULSB National Champion
ECKRACING Bridgestone Street & Competition Woodcraft MOTUL On Track Media Pine Motorparts Vanson Leathers
Awesome read, Paul.
Surprised by the gearbox issues; my first impression was that it's an outstanding little clickah. Maybe the difference between "me on the street" and "y'all on the track"? Any ideas for making it more resilient to the kinds of load you're putting on it?
Love the grips and wheels; who did the paint?
-Jared
ZX-4RR, R1200GSW, 701 E/SM, Hyperstrada 821 (FS!)
I would say it was possibly our fault for setting up the linkage wrong and using an aftermarket QS, except that Kawi's are know for 2 issues: soft gearboxes and chatter. Since those are the 2 things we struggled with, I'm going to say that the gearbox could use some work. Billy has had the cases split and polishing/undercutting done on the box. He's headed back to Jennings soon, so we will know more shortly. THe problem was definitely made worse by the fact that were were WFO for every shift, and trying to make them as quickly as possible. I was the only one able to lap quickly and not miss shifts. I was very slow and deliberate with my clutch and foot timing.
A friend of Billy's in NH did the powder coating. I'll get the name. If you do it, you must get the matching Crocs. That's the rule.![]()
Scott at RACE Metalsmiths Machine Shop and Powder Coating(802) 295-7800 https://g.co/kgs/5ecRVNg
I noticed my stock QS acting weird with only a few hundred miles on the bike. I think it could be my foot not allowing a full return of the lever before trying the next shift. It was flawless at first. I hope its not something that ages poorly.
Send cash... I need a track day
I have that issue on my Pan Am, if I try to get quick I also get lazy and don’t let the lever fully return, shifter says no. Worse, I have a bad habit of preloading the shifter in anticipation of a shift which also causes a motor cut…