[TheIglu]

Well, here it goes. I'm tired and hungry but I figure if I don't get it out now I'll forget.

Left for the track Thursday night with my little "icebox" trailer and EX in the bed of the Taco. Was definitly nervous about the trailer, the bike (only ridden it for 1/2 a trackday) and racing in general.

Left the house earlier than expected. Got to Concord about 8:00. Had a tire shred at 75mph or so on 495 on the trailer. Oooops. Turned my lights on in the truck when it started getting dark. POP goes the fuse! Oooops x2. Dark ride from Boston Market to the track!

Pit in next to JimF who was kind enough to explain to me how things work up there. Got him and Trackdog setup with a couple beers. Setup my trailer, EZ Up and air mattress. About midnight I gave up and went to sleep. Still no Impact Armor, supposed to be at the track Friday night with another racer.

Up at 5:30, alarm set for 6:00. Down to the Penguin signup after a brief breakfast and shower. Got checked in and had them tech my bike. No issues, ready to roll.

Classroom session = lotta words, not a lotta info. Coulda been 1/2 hour instead of 2. Left, got the bike ready and headed out for the follow the leader. First session was the instructor, me, a KTM motard and an older ZX6. Nearly sleeping pace around the track and the motard STILL almost bins it a couple times. Actually hits the tires in 3 on one occasion. Every time it was my turn to follow the leader, we'd hit traffic and it was slow. Then every time the motard kid was first, we had clear track but he couldn't go more than 20mph through most corners. Not safe at all....

Next session: Better, but still slow as hell. Looks like rain!

Lunch, pasta, finished cooking it with 4 minutes to spare before next session.

More classroom (why in leathers???? useless). Now for afternoon "practice". Needed to complete two of them for my license. No sweat. First one, boring, so much traffic, people crashing and being dangerous all over the place. Watched a Duck lowside hard coming out of 12. Turns out he tried to bang a downshift at an inopportune time. Kinda weird seeing a crash, i woulda thought I woulda been spooked being so close behind one when it happened. Not really though, just rode right through. One instructor (English sounding guy on a Duck, taller, nice guy) came up to me after and said "Man, you can REALLY ride that thing!". Yes sir I tend to think I can. "Why don't you let me watch you for the next session, do you mind?" Nope not at all. It was rain anyways so he encouraged me to just show him my lines, practice turning my head, etc.

Second one, here comes the rain. It rained HARD. Puddles on the track. Supercorsa's don't like rain! Stayed up and finished the practice with a few slides.

Done riding for the day, final practice was DOWNPOURING. No problem, at least I have an EZ Up to keep my shit dry.....where is my EZ UP!!!??? Oh, there it is, all folded up nice on the ground. And here comes JimF to tell me that it took off in the wind, dented his truck AND his trailer. And then I proceded to feel like a complete asshole. Note to self: try to make good impression on fellow NESR racers who were very nice to you by not sending things into their vehicles. Also put stakes in EZ Up, that's why they come with them.

Head out to dinner with Jersey, Trackdog, Brian, R7 and another guy. Mmmmm, steak and shrimp and margarita.....

Home, one beer, go looking for my Impact Armor. The guy who has it is off premesis at dinner. Oh well.....

Bedtime. Turn in about 11:30. Fall asleep QUICKLY.

Next morning 5:30 comes and I'm up. Alarm goes off at 6:15. I was already racing in my head. Go to pre-reg and get my license. Wait in line for a while. Get transponder, sign up for LW Sportsman, GTL and PTwin. No problems. Head back, time to tech the bike. Miss first practice due to lines at reg. Go to Street and Comp, get number plates, numbers and am convinced by HesSoAGoodTeacher that I may as well get knee pucks. WTF, never put a knee down intentionally ever before, but it can't hurt.

Head back to the pits. KB and Darryl both help to finish safety wire my poor EX. Big help from them, I was rather nervous at that time and needed not to rush. They did a mint job.

Head out for practice #2. I asked if I could tag along with Pete to get the hang of how practices work. We did two easy laps and red flag. And there goes our practices! Guy in a 998 or 996 highsides HARD 7 feet in front of me coming out of turn 12 onto the straight. I wasn't worried, could see it coming and didn't need to change my line at all. That gives me a little more confidence about crashes.

Rookie race comes at noon. I take it easy as do most people. Pass quite a few people easily. Get through it without an incident. Yay! I'm a licensed racer!! WOO!


LW Sportsman comes later that afternoon. Butterflies are having a civil war in my stomach. Grid out wrong (lady says that a 2 is a 12, just missing the 1, no shit, a 12 without the 1 is a 2!!!). Got straightened out, see Chad and Oreo near me, both in second wave. Race starts, I pin it kinda and get a clean run near the front. Only 3 or 4 bikes ahead of me. Oreo passes me, I pass back. Next lap, red flag. Back to the grid, same grid. Another start, not as good for me. Not even another lap and another red flag. This time they change our grid. I'm in the second row of the second wave. Chad is in the first row and Pete in the third. I nearly grab the holeshot except for one motard (they don't count for shit anyways). I turn up the heat and start makin my way around the track. 5 laps left from the restart. Chad goes by me while I'm trying to be nice to people I shoulda just passed. I open it up and keep up with him for 3 laps. I loose him at more traffic but he's still in sight. In turn 9 I lean out carrying more speed than I ever have. Scrape!!!! No surprise, no fear, just a Zen moment of "I am dragging a knee. Life is good. I will continue to!". Confidence =+2. End up finishing in 4th overall, Pete with 5th. Not bad for my first race!!!! Me and Pete check lap times. I nailed a 1:26.462. HOLY SHIT!!!!! On my first race!!! YES!!!

Feeling genuinly mint the rest of the day. Got harped on quite a bit from some fellow EX riders (biggity + beer, ha ha ha). Had a beer that night, shot off some fireworks, chatted shit up for a while then hit the showers and crashed about 11:30. Out like a light. Impressed with myself and very impressed with the bike. Stock suspension other than front springs, old tires, stock pegs and clip ons! No complaints, she treated me well.

Alarm is set for 7:15. I'm awake at 6:30. Get up, have some breakfast, time to practice. Where was the 1st, 2nd and 3rd call for Novice yellow? Eh, I dunno? Me and Pete head out for what we thought was our first practice only to get two laps in. Next practice, red flagged pretty quick. Figures.

GTL time! Weee!

Wow, way too many bikes. Motards just crossing the race line anywhere they want. You'd think with handling like that they would BE FASTER. No? THEN GET THE FUCK OUTTA THE WAY. Too many bikes. REALLY bad start for me, got held up into 1 by someone absolutely parking it. Like as in slow for street riding. C'mon people, this is a race, nap on your own time....Get around traffic finally and start catching up to Pete. He was setting a pretty crazy pace. Right as I get him in sight the lap after the halfway, we get a red. Race is done. WTF, cheated out of another 10 minutes of track time. Finished way back, not concerned though, didn't like the race at all. Went by Brewmaster as he predicted a couple laps in. Hopefully I made a clean enough pass for him!

Ok, PTWIN time! This is what I've been waiting for all weekend. They tell me it's a small race, much less traffic and less idiots. Nice!!!! We grid 6a,b,c Darryl, me and Pete. Biggity is right ahead of us, Chad is up front on an FZR400 (pTWIN?? ha ha). We're in second wave with nearly all EX's, a couple two smokes. 1st wave is all motards and some other two smokes. Looks like fun!!!!!

First wave goes off. Bye bye chad!

Second wave is us. Nail the holeshot with Pete getting a little held up. Never looked back. Started passing first wave people. Then passed more. Passed someone in the bowl, turn 2 twice, turn 10 twice, could in turn 3 and one in turn 4. All clean for the most part. Arg, fuckin motards getting in my way! That's ok, they drop like flies to the mighty EX!!!! Next to last lap, I know I'm doing well, come up to a rider on a Ducati in 11-12. Get a good drive on him outta 12 but miss a shift on the straight right as I was inside of him handlebar to handlebar. I brake late and throw it into 1 with the front end not liking it too much. I see out of the corner of my eye the other rider and some other bike go wide into the Nascar oval. Holy shit! I hope I didn't just stuff that guy.....Keep the heat on, starting to reel in Chad little by little. Final lap comes and I manage to squeak by Darryl lapping him 15 yards before the finish line.

Get back to the pits to find out the two riders who missed turn 1 were Steve (brewmaster) and Oreo!!! Kinda wishing Pete wasn't pushed off track cause we would diced like crazy those last two laps. Next time man, next time

Got the win in PTwin on my first race weekend. Squeezed out a 1:25.98 laptime!!! Pete came in second with a best laptime of 1.26.003 or something rediculously close to 1:25. Got our trophies, lots of congrats and compliments from the NESR guys and went home happy. CAN'T WAIT till two weeks from now

Thanks Pete and Darryl, you guys really are a great help and great guys to have as team mates. Cheap Bastid Racing is raising the bar!

[a13x]

A 25.9 on a EX for your first race weekend is mighty impressive my man. Good on ya.

[s a x m a n]

that rocks man!!

congrats!!!

[R7]

Nice report Clayton 25s in your first race weekend is pretty impressive

[OreoGitorio]

dude, friggin a..... you're a MANIMAL!!!

Congrats on the win bro, you deserve it

Like ya said, too bad Steve & I ended up goin NASCAR, it woulda made things ppprrreeeettty interesting

I gotta say man, with the two of us capapble of dipping into the 25's (it was a 1:26.001 btw ) we make one helluva 1-2 punch combo

I can't believe how much riding w/ you improved my own times... no way i woulda been capapble of doin a 26 flat w/o havin you out there to chase... no way.

Congrats again bro... you friggin KILLED it

[TheIglu]

Originally posted by OreoGaborio
dude, friggin a..... you're a MANIMAL!!!

Congrats on the win bro, you deserve it

Keep towing me around & we'll be doin 22's in no time Looks like Cheap Bastid Racing's got one helluva 1-2 punch

So do I deserve to be on the CBR website now?


MMMMMM, a full pound of shrimp cocktail for dinner....I love eating when the woman is away, I get to eat it ALL!!!

[OreoGitorio]

hehehe, yeah, i'm gonna be workin on a whole new layout for the site, i think i can squeeze you in there somewhere

[oreo_n2]

Good Job Clayton! I wish i could have made up to watch ya break your cherry. Keep it up!

[McBiggity]

congrats Clayton, you're definitely moving out there, very impressive. Hopefully I can make up some time next race weekend and actually compete

[HBerry]

Yeah you can delete my picture off the site and add him since I suck at racing this year.

I will be back though, no worries!

Congrats on a great weekend Mr. Iglu, I tried to get you to race on route three, but you just stayed at 65 while I passed you.

[chr|s sedition]

Congrats Clayton. Wished I could have seen it.

[capt1014]

As a bystander,

First time I was at the races this weekend, (looking to get into it next year) met a lot of good people and to see Clayton win the first weekend out was great! Sweet run Bro!

[gixxer6]

Fuggin guy shows up to his first race weekend with 337 beers to share with us!!!!

Welcome to the family bro. good run this weekend. you and Petey both.

[Rick Lee]

Congrats on your first weekend. If it makes you feel any better i forgot to secure my ez up my first weekend and it took a trip with the wind. I look forward to meeting you in august.

[TheIglu]

Originally posted by HBerry
Congrats on a great weekend Mr. Iglu, I tried to get you to race on route three, but you just stayed at 65 while I passed you.

I didn't see ya. What were you driving/riding?

I couldn't go fast, I had just blown a tire on the trailer 15 minutes beforehand!

Heath, was 337 beers not enough?

You are all a bunch of pussies. Free beer and I almost had to take some home. WTF is up with that??? At least KB stepped up at the end of the weekend to help a brother out. Enjoy them Country Ale's and IPA's man!


I'm going to try to get those Gold Valve Emulators in this week and hopefully I'll have a fancy-pants new rear shock next race weekend to put in thanks to Darryl and his "take one for the team" EX500 aquisition.

[TheIglu]

Oreo just informed me of something:

in GTL, my worst race, when I started to clear traffic and catch up from my shitty start on the final lap before the red, I did this:

1:25.568

That was the FASTEST LAP OF THE ENTIRE FIELD. OH SHIT!!!!!

Edit: nope, a kid on a RS125 did a 1:22. My bad.

[SVRACER01]

i might have to do a GTL race with you guys and then show you how to shut the door on the icebox

good job out there

[R7]

Originally posted by SVRACER01
i might have to do a GTL race with you guys and then show you how to shut the door on the icebox

better hurry while you have a chance, I'm sure they will be bumping up as soon as they can

[OreoGitorio]

bumpin up is the latest cool thing to do... all the cool kids are doin it

Looking at the AM times for GTL and LWSM... I wouldn't be able to compete just yet... Ptwins i'll be top 5 (cuz there's only like 5 in that class ) we'll see how it goes. I've got 2 more races to complete before I advance so i've got a few weeks to figure out what i'm doing.

[Honclfibr]

tl;dr

Just kidding Clayton, nice job out there on your first race weekend

Now learn to spell my name right and maybe you can borrow some of my trick ghetto bike parts

[nt650hawk]

Congrats Clayton,
It was nice to meet you.
You looked really smooth through 1, 1A & 2 from the crows nest. I have got to pick up my pace. The 21.5 is not going to cut it. If I had known about the beer I would have stayed up a bit longer. Well not as long as 3:30 like some people that I know.

[TheIglu]

Originally posted by nt650hawk
Congrats Clayton,
It was nice to meet you.
You looked really smooth through 1, 1A & 2 from the crows nest. I have got to pick up my pace. The 21.5 is not going to cut it. If I had known about the beer I would have stayed up a bit longer. Well not as long as 3:30 like some people that I know.

Thanks man, I appreciate it. That was the first specific comments I've had concerning my riding. I really think I can brake later into 1 so I'll be working on that next time. I also think I can carry more speed into 2 if I take a later apex and really stay to the right after 1a to get a smoother line out of 2.

Places I know I can go faster without any skill improvement:

2 (as stated above)
3 (brake later, run a bit wider)
10-11 (exit out 10 all the way left, keep accelerating until nearly on top of the turn in point for 11)
1 (brake a bit later, I already seem to carry decent corner speed through it, or so my front tire says)

I'm thinking all these are worth at least a second off my best time. Hopefully that'll put me in the 1:24's next race weekend. I think that will be my realistic goal. I have half a second to go!

[Paul_E_D]

Those are good ideas. Especially the 1a and 2 thing. It's a line I have found to be fast for small bikes.

Set this line up by getting to the left as much as possible exiting T1 and using a very quick turn in to 1a. It allows you to get where you want to be after 1a without sacrificing throttle between the turns. That nice late entry into T2 with a quick turn in allows good throttle opening well before the apex and lengthens the straight between 2 and three.

I like what you're planning for 10/11 as well. finding a good roll off point is important in 11. There are two pavement seams that cross the track as well as the first apex cone on the left. you don't need much brake at all in there and you certainly don't need to stand the bike up much between the first and second cones...

Thse two areas will yield time quicker than the others you mentioned...

[TheIglu]

Originally posted by Paul_E_D
Those are good ideas. Especially the 1a and 2 thing. It's a line I have found to be fast for small bikes.

Set this line up by getting to the left as much as possible exiting T1 and using a very quick turn in to 1a. It allows you to get where you want to be after 1a without sacrificing throttle between the turns. That nice late entry into T2 with a quick turn in allows good throttle opening well before the apex and lengthens the straight between 2 and three.

I like what you're planning for 10/11 as well. finding a good roll off point is important in 11. There are two pavement seams that cross the track as well as the first apex cone on the left. you don't need much brake at all in there and you certainly don't need to stand the bike up much between the first and second cones...

Thse two areas will yield time quicker than the others you mentioned...

Mint. Thanks Paul!

I'll try some new lines as you mentioned in practice next race weekend. Hopefully I can get a good feel for them and put them in the toolbox for my races. It's actually the lines I was using in 2 to make most of my passes.

[OreoGitorio]

yeah, i started working on that back section too... think i found a few tenths between 9 and 12... i can hear that i'm getting on the throttle alot earlier than other bikes driving out of 10 and i made a LOT of passes on the outside there that I was really happy with.

I also started linking 10 with 11... driving outta 10 hard and bringing it almost to the grass on the left, then slowly turning over for 11, banging down two gears & leaning it in... felt great to connect em. Gonna be doing some riding w/ Ken C on Thrusday & i'm looking forward to hearing his feedback