[OreoGitorio]

Arrived Friday just before 6pm... got my infield pass & headed in before registering. I met up w/ the rest of the usual suspects & McBiggity went back to the registration hut w/ me to help me get my shit sorted. I got my number (#182), transponder & registered for my races. Fun stuff.

Saturday I got up nice & early to get everything together, double check my bike, register for the Rookie Race, chat w/ Jeff Wood about it etc. & in the midst of everything, ended up missing both practices. No biggie, I'd much rather take my time & be methodical than rush like a mad man & forget something.

I used the rookie race as a practice & did alright. I started in the second wave, got a good start, complete w/ a sweet 12" high power wheelie & I kept it to 8-9/10ths pace. I ended up w/ a best lap time in the 1:37 range.... I was ok w/ that & knew i had PLENTY of places to improve, so i wasn't disappointed. Finished about mid-pack & actually passed some of the heavyweights that were in the first wave.

Second race on Saturday was Light Weight Sportsman. I started pretty close to Biggity & actually kept him in sight for about the first 1/2 of the race while we were workin through traffic. Eventually he was able to get past some guys that I couldn't & I kinda lost him towards the end. Again I finished about mid-pack & shaved off 4 seconds, dropping my PB to a 1:33.2

That was it for Saturday

Sunday morning, I get up nice & early once again (i've never been a morning person in my life, seriously... wtf??? ) and made a quick bike inspection....... uh oh..... TONS of white foamy crap in my oil sight window... praying that it was just some kinda film, i opened up the filler cap & sure enough, there was white shit all on the inside.... blown gasket... water's getting into the oil somewhere.

I took a look around, found some minor oil leaks (nothin major, it's an EX remember ), cleaned em up & discovered a leaky base gasket on the left side of the casing. I talked w/ some people about it & ended up changing the oil & filter, getting the crap oil outta there and flushing out most of the foam.

After that I went & talked to BJ Worsham (very good to meet ya, bro! :ok: ), told him I changed the oil out but there's still some film in there and he said "dude... it's an EX... run it"... So i did

I went out in GTL (missed both practices AGAIN) and got another good start. I kept Brian Oxx in sight for the first 3 laps, but then going through the bowl i felt the bike stutter..... aw shit.

I limped it back to hot pit, leaned it up against the wall & shut it off. got off the bike, looked at what i could & fired it back up. Everything seemed normal but I wasn't about to take a chance so i rode back to the pits.

Turns out I believe the stutter i felt in 6 was caused by low gasoline. Well... there was actually plenty of gas in there but my petcock was flipped to "ON" instead of "RES", which means it wasn't getting all the fuel from the tank. But when we looked in there we could see alot of sediment, some rust & general crap. So i removed the gas tank, completely drained out what was in there, took off the petcock, put some more gas in there to flush it all out & reassembled. Good as new.

Oil was still super milkey, but level was ok, as was the water level. (just dirty w/ oil)





After a LLOONNGG wait for race 14... Production Twins... aka THA MAIN EVENT I finally went out w/ Darrell, Mike (Biggity) and Chad Falcone. There were about 12 of us in the PTwin wave, I was gridded in 5d... back outside. Right behind Mike, right next to Chad and right in front of Darrell... this is gonna be FUN.

Green flag moves & we're off. I got a great jump, pulled along side Mike and drifted low for turn one. I ended up getting underneath Tom Joyce and passed his son going into 1a for the lead... WOO HOO!!! I ended up putting in a pretty good first lap and actually held the lead for the entire first lap & 1/2... COULDN'T BELIEVE IT! By then I started thinking about backing off a little. The start & first lap took a good amount out of me & i still had 6 & 1/2 laps left.

Connor passes me... Tom passes me... Mike.... someone else.... then Chad and I diced it up with him for laps 3 through 5. He'd get me in turn 1, 6 and 9 I think in those three laps and i'd get him between 12 - 1, 2 - 3 and 4 - 6 under power.

By lap 5 i had worked myself far enough ahead of him that I didn't see him again till the cool down lap after the checkered.

I made another pass and started closing in a little on Mike and Tom who were in 2nd and 3rd. We both came around turn 11 and I saw a bike down right by pit entrance. I didn't get a good look at the rider, but saw that he was standing up and ok... I had my suspicions that it was darrell but knew the rider was alright so I put it out of my mind, put my head down & continued chasing Mike & Tom in the fight for what I thought at the time was 2nd place.

I followed them into 1, 1a & 2 and was about 50 yards behind, slowly creeping up. As they drove out of two they both passed a lapper on the inside... It was gonna be close, but I decided right then & there that I wa NOT going to be behind that lap traffic coming into 3 and was going to pass him on the left as well.... I put my head down, twisted that throttle as far as it would go & tucked as tight as I could to the bike...

Catching up to the lap rider fast he starts drifting over as we're approacting the braking zone for three... I bang an upshift to 5th, still hard on the gas. He's drifting... drifting... drifting.... SHIT. He hits the brakes just before the ripples and now there's only about 2 feet between him and the grass... I aim for the opening, STILL at full throttle, go over the ripples, BLAST past him. had that lapper not been there, there's NO way I would have gone into 3 this hot, but I committed, I did it, now was the time to execute.

So i come flying into turn 3 faster than I ever have and i'm FAST approaching Mike who still hasn't even turned in yet.... I release the throttle between the first & second cone and KIILLLL the brakes like i've never killed em before... I feel the back end get SUPER light, dances around on me a little and I see Mike getting bigger FAST. I bang one downshift instead of two & I'm a little to his inside STILL killing the brakes. Mike set up nice & wide making my only option to go up the inside... Had i tried to go to his outside or stay behind him I would have either ended up on top of him or on top of the tire wall, so I aimed for daylight on his inside as we both turned in. I pull even w/ him just before the apex STILL on the brakes, front end starting to push & my knee on the ground. He sees me, realizes i'm not about to back off, gives me a little room and I move up his inside and start heading up turn 4 in 4th gear instead of 3rd.... I just lived through the biggest pucker moment in my life and now i'm bogging my engine heading up the hill.... DOH!!!

Luckilly Mike ran wide enough that he wasn't able to get a good drive up four, over 5 & into 6 so i held my position and started chasing Tom whos only 20 yards in front of me. I stayed behind him the rest of lap 7 and we get the white flag. I follow him into 1 right behind him, through 1a, two, into 3... he runs wide and leaves the door open for me coming out of 3 and into 4.... I shoot for the apex of 4 and get past him...

Somehow, some way i was able to hold him off for the next 45 seconds, came outta turn 12 for the front straight with him RIGHT on my rear tire w/ Mike not far behind & took the checkered.......

Now i'm thinking... "no way...... there's no way in hell.... where's the guy in 1st place??? DAMN he musta checked out, there's no one in front of me! Where is he??? I finished second, right?"

I see Tony, Rene and Ken C. all standing on pit wall by turn 1 all "hailing" me and clapping, but STILL COULDN'T BELIEVE IT.... There's NO WAY I just won that race... NO WAY.

handshakes, thumbs up & high fives w/ the other riders all through the warm-up lap, along w/ a big shove from Chad in turn 9 for a great race...

Later on I was clued into the fact that that rider that went down in turn 11 was in fact Connor Joyce.... Tom's son and leader of the race up until that point. Had he not gone down, he woulda had the race in the bag. It was his to lose & for that I feel for him. He was definitely bummed out.

For me, I still think luck had alot to do w/ it. Connor going down, lap traffic holding up Tom & Mike and actually PUSHING me to go faster and Tom running wide all attributed to my first win ever in my first p-twin race ever. Had those things not happened I probably would have finished 4th, maybe 3rd, but I was able to take advantage of the situation, stay composed and consistant (see unofficial lap times from my on-board timer below) and use all the energy I had left to control the bike and stay upright for the win. Definitely a race that'll never be forgotten.



Unofficial Lap times
lap 1 - not recorded
lap 2 - 1:32.08
lap 3 - 1:31.83
lap 4 - 1:30.93
lap 5 - 1:30.31
lap 6 - 1:30.35
lap 7 - 1:30.32
lap 8 - 1:29.23 (fastest lap and personal best)



Overall I was able to drop my best race times by a whole 8 seconds (or more, depending on what the official results say) and was able to take home a first place plaque for the mantle (that one of the NESR bastids nabbed when I wasn't lookin & is probably holding for ransom, but i'll get it... and so will they

A HUGE thanks to everyone that helped me out this weekend... Especially Mike for registration guidance and my water pump; Dan for use of his tools & electricity; Jim F for transporting my bike up there; Hucklefucker for some grub and everyone else that helped me out this weekend... Definitely an awesome group of guys, all of you.

Oh & I was able to make it to my indoor soccer game last night where we DOMINATED! Kicked some major ass & won it 12-0... I got an assist or two and was accredited w/ the shutout (i'm the goalie)

[Paul_E_D]

Congrats man! a 1:29.2 on your first weekend on the EX is fantastic. Now, if you don't change that head gasket like I told you to do before the season started, I'ma come over there and kick yo ass myself.

[OreoGitorio]

IT'S THE BASE GASKET (i think )

and unfortunately i'm gonna have to get my ass over to Jim F's where my bike's at & fix it there or somethin. This gasket fix is gonna be a learning experience and a half...

I was talking to BJ & crew and one of em said the easiest option is to remove it the gasket, clean it up and spray it w/ any generic spray paint then re-torque everything... that'll put a good film on it & create a seal (assuming the gasket isn't totally shot)

[Paul_E_D]

I'm not gonna say it again!

We didn't even run base gaskets. The chances that that's your problem are very small. I don't think coolant goes down there anyway? What the hell is BJ talkin about?

[OreoGitorio]

i dunno, he's crazy

Those are only my suspicions... i'm sure it'll turn out being both gaskets, but i'm almost CERTAIN that at least the base gasket is leaking cuz there's a little oil seeping out from there... of course there's oil seeping out from EVERYWHERE.

what puzzles me most is that it's not drinking from the coolant resevoir, but it IS dirty w/ what looks like oil or rust.... it's weird, i don't really know what to make of it.

and ever since i replaced that impeller shaft it's run nice & cool... cold even.

[a13x]

Well done.

Try not to miss practice next time Senor Squaksalot.

[s a x m a n]

7:30 on saturday morning

oreo comes over with coffee
Me: so you get through tech yet?
Pete: no, still have to get my numbers, safety wire some stuff
Me: You know practice is at 8 right?
Pete: yeah, but eh ...
(oreo walks away)

He and is crew spent the entire weekend being late for VIR too ... hehehehe

i guess more power to ya man ... just think of how you might have done if you got some practice sessions under your belt before the races ...

[OreoGitorio]

What can I say? I'm laid back & mellow, not the kind to rush things off the track

Oh... and I pulled an Oxx

[Honclfibr]

Way to go Pete winning your first race, you are a shining pinnacle of awesomeness that the other Cheap Bastid Racing members must aspire to.

Ok that's over the top a bit, but still, awesome race, I think you proved to everyone that you belong out there

[Paul_E_D]

I give up!

[zx1012r]

Pete! Nice ride! All you guys did great this weekend!

The only way water can get into the engine through the base gasket is if you are power washing the engine and it sprays through the gasket! The water only flows through the cylinder and up into the head, there are no openings on the bottom of the cylinder.

I have had quite a few head gaskets blow and it ALWAYS pushes the water out the overflow. The compression in the cylinder pushes past the head gasket and thus pushes the water out of the radiator. I have NEVER had water in the crankcase from this.

There is however a couple seals behind the water pump. One of them seals the impeller shaft from the water pump and the crankcase. if water is getting in the cylinder it is probably coming from there.

That all being said, Over the winter my bike gets some condensation in it, which an oil change and a race weekend usually takes care of.

Also make SURE you have the rear fender installed!!!! If not, when you ride in the rain the rear wheel throws MAJOR amounts of water into the airbox which isn't great for combustion, but will drain right into the crankcase through the breather in the bottom of the airbox.

I didn't actually get to meet you, I think, but you looked really good on track! Welcome to the money pit!

Mark Dages PTwins 454

[OreoGitorio]

Originally posted by Paul_E_D
I give up!

Paul, I'm not saying you're wrong, in fact all joking aside, I'm sure you're right.... i'm only saying i know that the base gasket is leaking oil.... either way it's gotta get opened up so i'll take care of everything i can.

Darrell... you're friggin insane

[s a x m a n]

Originally posted by OreoGaborio
Paul, I'm not saying you're wrong

but god forbid pete is wrong ... what would the world come too

[OreoGitorio]

Originally posted by s a x m a n
but god forbid pete is wrong ... what would the world come too

It's been known to happen... even my dad is allowed to be wrong two times a year

[zx1012r]

Pete,

If you do take the head and cylinder off, definately lap the head and cylinder flat! Otherwise you will be up all night at the track with Dana learning how to do it! Just ask me how I know these things!

Mark

[bigred875]

Originally posted by s a x m a n
but god forbid pete is wrong ... what would the world come too

[OreoGitorio]

BTW, i wanna make sure to mention that I was able to catch glimpses of Tony, Ken and Rene out there on pit wall on the inside of turn one, Oxx & Amanda in the bowl, Mike, Katie & others in turn 3 and a few people standing on Geno's trailer in 1a was terriffic... thanks for stickin around everyone. Sharing my first win with you guys made it just that much more special. It meant alot seeing you guys there.

[OreoGitorio]

Originally posted by zx1012r
Pete,

If you do take the head and cylinder off, definately lap the head and cylinder flat! Otherwise you will be up all night at the track with Dana learning how to do it! Just ask me how I know these things!

Mark

Aight, i'll look into that bro... thanks for the heads up... this job is definitely gonna be a learning experience. I'm sure i'll have to ask everyone I can about this job to get it done by next race weekend.... I may even miss out on LWSM that Saturday if it comes to that.

[SVRACER01]

Originally posted by OreoGaborio

Oh... and I pulled an Oxx

you must mean no practice and still win

i wouldnt miss the Ptwin battle. good job pete.

personally... iwould lift the cylinders (without removing the pistons) cut off the old gasket and put some honda bond (no joke) on and torque it down. do the same for the top and youll slightly raise the compression and not worry about gasket failure

[OreoGitorio]

Originally posted by SVRACER01
you must mean no practice and still win

Thanks bro... and yeah, i probably will use some kinda hondabond or somethin on that base gasket... Paul said they rarely even run a gasket there and a friend of BJ's (MAN I wish i could remember that dude's name... smart as all hell when it comes to the EX) said all you really have to do to stop the leak is loosten it and retorque the head bolts.

Basically it's just a matter of getting all the tools & a place to work on it. It's over at Jim's right now. I'll probably give him a ring & see when he's gonna be around so I can work on it. It'd be friggin awesome if anyone can help me out... there's no way i'm gonna dive into this thing w/o having a clue. I don't even have a full shop manual for this thing.

[OreoGitorio]

Originally posted by zx1012r
Pete! Nice ride! All you guys did great this weekend!

The only way water can get into the engine through the base gasket is if you are power washing the engine and it sprays through the gasket! The water only flows through the cylinder and up into the head, there are no openings on the bottom of the cylinder.

I have had quite a few head gaskets blow and it ALWAYS pushes the water out the overflow. The compression in the cylinder pushes past the head gasket and thus pushes the water out of the radiator. I have NEVER had water in the crankcase from this.

There is however a couple seals behind the water pump. One of them seals the impeller shaft from the water pump and the crankcase. if water is getting in the cylinder it is probably coming from there.

That all being said, Over the winter my bike gets some condensation in it, which an oil change and a race weekend usually takes care of.

Also make SURE you have the rear fender installed!!!! If not, when you ride in the rain the rear wheel throws MAJOR amounts of water into the airbox which isn't great for combustion, but will drain right into the crankcase through the breather in the bottom of the airbox.

I didn't actually get to meet you, I think, but you looked really good on track! Welcome to the money pit!

Mark Dages PTwins 454

Completely forgot to reply to this one....

Mark, thanks for the heads up about that water pump gasket... You've gotta be on to somethin there cuz i replaced my pump just last week. I must not have gotten a good seal w/ that RTV So what you're saying makes a LOT of sense...

I double checked the coolant and it was NOT blasting it out of the overflow resevoir & into my catch can, that's why i wasn't 100% ready to agree that it was a head gasket, although the water WAS cruddy looking, as was the oil.

I'll definitely be sure to keep an eye out for your number & introduce myself next race weekend. Your imput is much appreciated.

[Paul_E_D]

It's one of those two things... or both. (water pump/head gasket)

[OreoGitorio]

yeah, verry well could be both... hopfully i can get to it this weekend & make some progress on her. I'd rather not have to sit out LWSM on Saturday.

[R7]

Originally posted by OreoGaborio
yeah, verry well could be both... hopfully i can get to it this weekend & make some progress on her. I'd rather not have to sit out LWSM on Saturday.

No need to sit out any races, just bring your ZX as well and prep it up and do a GT race with it... you KNOW it's only a matter of time

Nice report Pete and congrats on the win

[OreoGitorio]