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Round 4 race report from visiting Amateur #538

  1. #1

    Round 4 race report from visiting Amateur #538

    I've never written a race report, so bear with me - I'm a Texan, and we don't lurn ritin' so gud round hurr.

    I took part in my first-ever round of the LRRS this past weekend. I'd never even so much as laid eyes on NHMS until that Friday morning. But my in-laws have an annual summer vacation up near Grantham, NH, and the dates lined up, so I figured I'd come up a day early and see how Yankees race motorcycles. As for me, I'm a middle of the pack Novice (what you'd call an amateur), racing in TX, OK, and LA with the CMRA.

    FRIDAY: I ended up renting the motard from Penguin because I'd never ridden a motard before, and I figured it'd be a great idea to throw another new thing into the equation. The person I was e-mailing with suggested I get to the track at 7:30 to take care of any licensing hiccups. So I did. It turned out the "hiccup" involved me showing them my CMRA license, and that was it. So I ended up just sitting around for 3 hours as I waited for racer practice to start. I asked if I could do at least a lap or two in a beginner session to at least look at the track, but was told I couldn't. Thankfully, everyone was taking it pretty easy the first session, so I didn't stick out as a guy who had no idea what he was doing TOO much. By the second session, I'd built up enough confidence to carry a bunch of speed through T6, compressing the suspension on the bike enough to drag peg and cause me to lowside. But both I and the bike survived relatively unscathed. The Penguin guys informed me that you can't really take an inside line on that turn without that happening, and I should stay a few feet away from the apex, y'know, where all the tire marks are. Aha. I would still putt through that turn the rest of the weekend. I would go on to have an uneventful 3rd session, but sadly miss the 4th session as I took care of the actual licensing hiccups, i.e. filling out paperwork and formally entering the races the next day. We all agreed that with my experience, I should just start off as an amateur. I registered for Super Singles and Ultralight Superbikes the next day, races 4 and 9. There was a legitimate hurdle to overcome with my transponder. I brought mine from home to avoid the $50 rental fee. The problem is that my transponder is direct-wire. It's great. I have it piggybacked onto the ignition switch on my bike, so I never have to worry about charging it. If my bike can run, it can run. But I was on a rented bike, and didn't want to be splicing wires. And I was on a motard, with no battery to wire directly to. But being the practical man that I am, I foresaw all of that and brought along a housing with 8 AA batteries connected together and wrapped in electrical tape (the TSA didn't bat an eye at it). The problem of securing the battery pack to the bike was solved by, er, taping it to the fender. It passed tech! I went back out for the 5th session and tried to push as hard as I reasonably could. My very last lap was my best of the day, a 1:27.0, good enough for dead last in more or less any amateur class. I was disappointed.

    SATURDAY: I didn't magically get faster overnight, at least immediately. After a somewhat slow first practice, I asked if I could be bumped down to Novice. Everyone at the registration office was adamant that I would be much better off in Amateur, even if I was last. I went into 2nd practice with renewed determination, and turned a 1:26.5. Slightly better. Then my in-laws showed up to watch, and everything went to hell. Not with them, of course - they're great, and honestly a huge reason why I married my wife - but with everything else. Do y'all normally crash this much? Thankfully, my "pit crew" was happy to wander around the track, spectating from various places (when bikes were actually running) and learning about racing. They were kind of adorably impressed by everything. Anytime bikes would come within 6 feet of each other, my father-in-law would go, "oh, oh, OH!" and my mother-in-law would gasp and flinch. That general idea towards danger, plus the fact that everyone and their brother seemed to be taking an ambulance ride, didn't really lend much credence to my argument that "racing is as safe as you make it." But they were still having a good time.

    RACE 4: After what seemed like a week, it was finally time for race 4. The lights came on, went off, and I dropped the clutch and whacked open the throttle. As I stared up at the sky, contemplating ever-growing clouds punctuated by patches of blue, I thought, "I probably should have practiced starting this thing." Thankfully I chopped the throttle and found the rear brake before the bike got too far past 11 o'clock. The suspension rebounding combined with me getting back on the gas resulted in another wheelie, which I corrected the same way, and the cycle repeated another few times. Imagine one of those bounce cars with hydraulic suspension. That was me, just pogoing the front wheel down the racetrack, in last place by several seconds before Turn 1. But luck was on my side (though not on the side of someone else, it seems) and there was another red flag, allowing me another chance to launch the bike. I did a practice start on the warm-up lap, and managed to keep pace with everyone when the lights went off. Coming into T1, though, I decided to let off and just slot into last. I had no warmers, and didn't know how much heat I might've gotten into the tires on the warm-up lap. I had decided to just keep everyone in sight for the first lap. By lap 2, I was confident enough to attempt a pass on the brakes coming into T3. I wasn't able to make it stick. But I ended up in a back-and-forth with bikes 925 and 786 that lasted for two laps, punctuated by the guys on the 125 GP bikes cutting through is like we weren't even there. By lap 6, I was able to create a gap and find enough clear track to put down another good "practice" lap for my next race. I would finish in 5th out of 7 in my class. My last three laps of that race were my fastest of the whole weekend, and I was less than a second off of podium pace with a PR of 1:25.4. I was hyped for my next race, which offered a bigger grid and a starting position in the middle of the pack (pre-register, people! Come on!)

    But that never came. More red flags and more lightning meant my day was over. Unable to return to the track tomorrow, I got a refund for my 2nd race and thanked the staff for both LRRS and Penguin. Everyone was ridiculously helpful and polite. In spite of the scheduling woes, it was a great weekend, and I'd probably do it again. It was great to ride a new style of bike, learn a new track, and see how another org runs things. If any of y'all are ever in TX, post something in the CMRA forum, and I'm sure we could set up a nice visit for you too.

    Also, "Oh my God, it's 92 degrees, that's so hot." AHAHAAHAHA. We were running an endurance race just south of Fort Worth at the same time I was racing in NH. It was 103. A 45-minute stint on triple digits is hot. What y'all have up there is what we call "October."

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    Last edited by Preeminence; 07-29-16 at 10:06 PM.

  2. #2
    Day late, dollar short carsick's Avatar
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    Re: Round 4 race report from visiting Amateur #538

    Great writeup! So, when ya comin' back?? And yes, 92° is borderline fatal for some of us.

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    99 + 02 SV650 ex-race - 91 FJ1200 street - 03 KDX220R woods - 12 WR450F motard/ice

  3. #3
    Lifer
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    Re: Round 4 race report from visiting Amateur #538

    Never ridden the track. Never ridden the bike. Jumps right in..


    ..I think I like this guy!


    Quote Originally Posted by Preeminence View Post
    Do y'all normally crash this much?
    NO! Everyone I talked to said unilaterally that they'd never seen anything like that. That aspect of the weekend pretty much sucked.

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  4. #4
    Lifer jasnmar's Avatar
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    Re: Round 4 race report from visiting Amateur #538

    Awesomeness.

    As Bub's said, Saturday was ridiculously turrible. I've never seen anything like it.

    Come visit mid January. See what you think about the temperature (says the guy originally from Oklahoma).

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  5. #5
    Lifer isaac_'s Avatar
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    Re: Round 4 race report from visiting Amateur #538

    Welcome! Texan transplant here. 1:26s for the first weekened at NHMS is very respectable. Hope you get to come back,

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    Isaac LRRS/CCS #871 ECK Racing | Spears Enterprises | GMD Computrack Boston | Pine Motorparts/PBE Specialists | Woodcraft | Street & Competition | MTag-Pirelli | OnTrack Media
    Bike: SV650, Bride of Frankenstein

  6. #6
    Lifer Imbeek's Avatar
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    Re: Round 4 race report from visiting Amateur #538

    Nice report!

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  7. #7

    Re: Round 4 race report from visiting Amateur #538

    Very nice write-up... Yup Saturday was a cluster F-- Not good or normal for us just had a bad vibe to it all day, Sunday went off nicely though to bad you could not stick around. 126s are nothing to sneeze at for a 1st time visit on a rented bike... Been to Austin in June 115 in the shade but it was a dry heat ....
    Good luck

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