Race Report – RSP Racing EX#43 – Round 4 – 07/27/2013

I went into round 4 with mixed emotions, having made the decision to drop my lightweight campaign. This would be my first round without racing my longtime companion, the RSP Racing Spears Powered SV650 SuperBike which has been a part of my racing career since I began back in 2010.

I truly love the bike and it will forever hold a very special place in my heart as I learned so much from it, I feel like I am leaving a longtime friend behind. The recent introduction of the Ducati Monster EVO 1100 into the lightweight class made me feel like bringing even a SuperBike SV was akin to bringing a knife to a gun fight. Furthermore with me working abroad and not able to attend track days, the lack of seat time in general made riding two vastly different platforms unreasonable at best.

I arrived at the track late Thursday to focus on my GSXR600 which, until now, has been neglected in favor of my SV. I managed to pick up a Yoyodyne slipper clutch during the break between rounds and was anxious to get it installed as I had never ridden a bike with a true slipper clutch! Furthermore there was some maintenance to do and I even treated myself to a little bling in the form of some titanium pre-drilled fasteners for the engine, forks, and calipers courtesy of Pro-Bolt USA. No more fidgeting with safety wiring and they are nearly weightless by comparison.

I had intended on practicing Friday however since it was raining steadily I decided to take my time and get the GSXR in order. I got the new parts installed and spent a much needed leisurely Friday with my friends in the pits.

Saturday Practice

Determined to make the most of my practice time I went out for both practices in an effort to familiarize myself with the new clutch. A practice start had me a little concerned that something may be wrong as it was a little off. A few laps around the track revealed that the clutch was slipping under wide open throttle which made for some pretty poor performance as I couldn’t get the power to the ground.

I came in and after a quick call to Yoyodyne (these guys are AMAZING with the support for us racers!) they gave me a few options to try. I made some adjustments and went out for 2nd practice but it wasn’t any better. I was to do my very first GTU (endurance race) which was the 2nd race of the day so I had very little time. I tried another suggestion that Yoyodyne support had made and hoped for the best.

GTU

This was my first time running the 25 minute endurance race for the 600 class and I was a little concerned that my fitness would hold me back. The GSXR is much more physically demanding to ride than my SV and my wrist is still nowhere near 100% after my crash in round 2. While it is not as bad as last round it is still painful and I do not have the range of motion in it to get to full throttle without repositioning my hand.

I was to start in 4D. Well, at least I was on the outside. As soon as I got my start the clutch began slipping so I was unable to make any headway on the start and went into turn 1 in the middle of a very scary pack as we all jockeyed for position. I managed to make it through unscathed but as soon as we exited turn 2 hard on the throttle I began falling back, unable to make use of all the power my GSXR was putting out. I hung onto my position for a bunch of laps but the slippage was becoming worse.

The race was red-flagged as there had already been several crashes (I lost count) and I was moved to 4A on the grids for the restart. Great that I had moved up in position, bad that I was now on the inside.
My start was a carbon copy of the first and I went in mid-pack. I ran a bunch more laps but the clutch issue continued to worsen. I rode it around as best I could but in the end it was a very weak effort.

Outlap: 1:23.553
Best Lap: 1:18.429
Finish: 10th out of 13

Middleweight Grand Prix (The Dash for Cash)

This was the last race of the day which I was grateful for as I had spent the entire time between races tearing apart the clutch on my GSXR. I was concerned that the new Motul 300V full synthetic oil was simply too slick to use with a slipper clutch but upon inspection I discovered that the friction plates were dry and a little burnt and the steels were far too smooth.

I soaked the plates for a good long while and cross-hatched the steels. I literally buttoned the bike back up with less than 20 minutes to go before the race so all I could do was hope that I had nailed it.

Gridded in 4B I got a pretty decent start. No sign of the clutch slipping which made me very happy! I don’t know where I slotted into T1 but it was ahead of my grid position by a fair amount. Still, it was in a ginormous pack of people jockeying for position like crazy!

With the troubles of a slipping clutch behind me I was able to focus on my racing and try to feel out how this slipper clutch worked. Holy cow, this thing is AMAZING. I had heard stories of how good they were but until I experienced it firsthand I was simply unable to comprehend what a massive advantage one of these little gems is. I made a few passes, and got passed by a few people. All in all it was a pretty lonely race for me but I was glad to just have the bike sorted which did wonderful things to my confidence.

Outlap: 1:25.523 (LOL holy fustercluck batman! What a mess!)
Best Lap: 1:17.313
Finish: 14th out of a gazillion judging by the mess going into T1 from the launch

Sunday Practice

I opted to skip first practice in favor of getting my wife starbucks. Happy wife = happy me. She spends so much time supporting my race efforts that it was the least I could do.

Second practice felt amazing and I got into a good rhythm quickly, turning a string of 1:17.0XX which was decent for me in practice. Not where I needed to be but it was a start and I was pleased just to feel comfortable and began having fun without the pressures of a points race ahead of me.

Middleweight SuperSport

I was gridded in 2B and was elated to have a clear view of the flagger for the first time this weekend. I got a good start and was able to keep pace with the front row, and even picked up a position as Riley Rodgers (#48 ) struggled with a few wheelies, so I slotted into 5th place for T1 which was my best start on the middleweight to date. Riley wasn’t having anything to do with it however and rocketed past my coming out of Turn 2 like I was going backwards in time, reminding me just how much more work I needed to do on this bike.

I fell back into 6th and was determined not to let the bright orange of Justin Torres (# 187) lose me. I did manage to stick with him the entire race although he was very slowly pulling away. Around lap two I heard the whine of an R6 off my left and knew that someone was right there, a quick headcheck revealed that Timothy Barber (#46) was right behind me. I put my head down and spent the entire remainder of the race with him right on my butt. He presented himself on lap 4 going into T1, even getting ahead of me by about a bike length but I stuck it out and broke crazy late to retake the position. I honestly couldn’t say if I would have been able to hold onto 6th place if the race ran to its full conclusion but later that same lap a red flag prematurely ended the race.

I was elated that I had someone to dice with a bit and also to take home my 6th place finish which was my best to date in the middleweight class. This was one of the most fun races I have run in quite some time and it felt great to actually be enjoying racing again!

Outlap: 1:21.366
Best Lap: 1:17.838
Finish: 6th out of 13

In Closing

Once again I find myself disappointed with my lap times but at least I am having fun again and that always means improvement is on the horizon. The people of LRRS are simply amazing which was really driven home by the stellar BBQ we had Saturday evening with the RSP Racing/ECK Racing/Garage2 crew and a whole lot of others who showed up for the fun.

Now that I am focusing on the middleweight class I am really reminded of how much more aggressive this bracket is. The Lightweight class seems like it is a true gentlemans bracket by comparison. There were more crashes than I can count in the three races I ran this weekend (and best wishes for speedy recoveries to our injured riders from this past weekend. Sadly there were more than a few).

I know I say this every single round but it doesn’t make it any less true. I owe everything to my wife, my teammates, my friends and supporters, and my sponsors who make this whole thing possible.

Motul, SportbikeTrackGear, Knox-Armour, Spears Racing, Tonys Track Days, MTAG Pirelli, Yoshimura Research & Development of America, Inc., NEXX Helmets, Pro-Bolt, Woodcraft Cfm, GMD Computrack Boston, and Dyno Solutions

I actually managed to get some video from this round so I hope to be able to compare it to GPS telemetry and come up with a strategy for improvement. Expect some big gains for round 5! Booyah!