[CagedInside]

Thursday Night- 4/24:
Alex and I get up to the track. We drive around a little bit in the dark to get the lay of the land. We find a nice open spot near T1 and figure its a great spot to camp. Geno comes out to tell us we can't park there (BIG thanks!) because the corner workers need to have line of sight through T1-T2. Geno takes us over to meet Jersey and Heath, buncha good guys. Alex and I go back to set up our tent and Geno offers to let us camp the first night in his heated trailer. That sounded great to us so we accept and try to sleep knowing we have Penguin tomorrow.

Penguin School- Friday 4/25:
Too excited to eat. Get over to the Penguin garage and sign up. Nervous they won't accept our expired tuition certificates. All goes well and we begin what seems like the hours of classroom between us and the first track session of the season. Run back to the pits, gear up, and try to get the bikes running. For once mine is running well but Alex's won't idle without full choke (least its running, it's an EX). Time to get out there for some follow the leader. I forget why but I was late to the follow the leader session and got my own personal instructor! Was pretty sweet, got to follow right behind him for a bunch of laps, no worries about trying to remember the line from seeing it from the back of the train. Back for some classroom and then back on the track for some more follow the leader. Was dumb enough to come on time and get in a large follow the leader group. We stop at T1 nascar to see the line and have a little talk. Was very hot standing there in the sun. Get back on the line and do a few laps to come on some dangerous traffic at T9 right under the tree house. Can't see over the horizon coming out of the bowl and the stock EX breaks damn near result in my hitting the 30 people parking it to "pit in" onto the nascar track to watch and talk about T11-12. Golf cart comes out to tell us we have used our time and need to pit in. Classroom and then finally "semi-"OPEN PRACTICE!
Meet up with BJ(#31). Have to follow him around for a few follow the leader laps until he tells us we have enough of an idea of what we are doing to go out on our own. Was lucky enough to get to follow him around and have him follow me to tell me what I am doing right and wrong. Tells me I am on my way and to not get cocky or be dumb enough to crash in the rookie race.
Some how about half the penguin group gets called for practice during the AM/EXP session. That was fun, few laps of these blurrs wizzing by me until it gets noticed and red flagged...
More classroom that is just basically "DON'T CRASH IN YOUR ROOKIE RACE!" It was not 7:30PM and we were about to die of hunger (didn't really get the time to eat at all through out the day). Hit up tacobell and walmart.
Get back to the infield set up the tent, finally notice my sweet-ass army cot from the 70's won't fit in the tent

Saturday- 4/26:
Tired. Registration, tech, rookie race sign up, PRACTICE, penguin meeting, riders meeting.
ROOKIE RACE: I do what I was told, I pre-grid early, do my practice lap, grid, wait for my wave, rev the sucker to 8k, wait for the flag, ease the clutch out (learned it was hard to do with such a stretched out clutch cable)- HUGE WHEELIE. Who knew my first wheelie would be on an EX let alone an EX could wheelie . Ease off the gas, bang a gear up to get one hell of a hole-shot. Enter T1 in the front of the wave. Have a fairly good lap (1:35.something) was not a perfect line because of all the adrenaline but it was one hell of a line. Lap 2, go to enter T1-feels like I am flying. I flip it over for T1a and do a little of

this:


and this:


then some more of this:


and then finally some of this:


Honestly, it happened so fast I have NO idea what happened. Some say I was pretty close to the 1a curb and probably clipped it while others say they say sloppy bar imputs. I bet it was probably leaning over too far over without having much heat into that area of the tires...

[CagedInside]

I was completely fine and Alex finishes his like one should. My gear got pretty beat up from all the rolling, sliding, and tumbling. The bike however had a large hole in the water pump. Tried yanking off the cover to see if I could find a new one but it wouldn't come. Ryan said just to JBweld it but also started looking for a piece of scrap metal to patch it with. Comes out with some kinda brass buckle looking thing that he said would work with the tabs cut off. Then he says "here's a better idea" and pulls a penny out of his pocket.

4 minute JBweld and legal tender: Hobbs technology!




It's either a new low for the EX community or I doubled the value of my bike... Head's up has got to be good luck at least...

Wait about 3 hours and fill it with water. Ride it around the pits for a bit and it holds!
I run to the penguin garage to talk with Steve, who is running the class, if I could still get my license dispite crashing in the rookie race (yeah, I am an idiot). He says from the looks of friday and the AM practice it must of just been an honest mistake and that I did everything else right; such as staying low and not running right off of the track, ect. I really got lucky on that one...
I go to take a another nap (been sleeping every second not spent on the track). Abruptly get woken up because its second call for race 9, light weight sportsman. In a huge sleepy daze I gear up, get a number on my helment, get my bike tech'ed and make it LATE to my first real race ever. Still half asleep, I have no clue what is going on. I am just content on finishing...

[CagedInside]

Sunday- 4/27:
RAIN!
All practice groups are merged into a free for all. I follow chad out for a few laps. Scary stuff without rains. Fish tailing into T3 and down the hill into the bowl, not fun at all... Pit out after not too long and get bumbed out about the shotty conditions.
Get to watch Scott and Geno win their races and Geno break some records right after crashing. Still in shock how he can completely not let a crash in T3 phase him. My crash in T1a knocked me off of my feet badly. Gear up and CHECK GAS for race 7.

Race 7, PTwins:
I get a good launch, Alex comes blowing past me into T1... I need to get some damn breaks instead of banging down shifts to scrub off speed for every turn. I go to pass Alex on the inside of 3, show him a front tire and I see waving yellow so I roll off and let him enter first. I get him coming out of 4 on the next lap on the right side. We dice it back and forth till the last lap. Every time I lean the bike over and roll on the throttle after about the first lap I don't get any power and it just sputters til I stand it up. In the back of my mind I figure I am running out of gas but I just don't do anything about it, not really thinking. On the last lap, going into T9 it gets real bad. I damn near stall out, drift out T10 far to the left and Alex slips by me. I yank the choke to keep it running, flip it to reserve (Derek always told us at VIR to race on the reserve so this didn't happen but I ran out of gas at VIR so many times that I started running it on "On" so I could flip it to make it into the pits. I run it on reserve every time since then.) I twist it wide open to get any juice left in it to start moving... It finally does and I bust the second and biggest wheelie in my life. The front tie was higher than my head. Corner workers in T3 must have thought I was drunk... I pretty much take my time crossing the finish and pit in.

[CagedInside]

Friday- 4/9:
Get up to the track pretty late. Rain stopped around 10 so we lucked out and missed it while unpacking and setting up the tent.

Saturday- 4/10:
Go to registration. Turns out we didn't pre-register early enough and had to pay the $70 for each race. Get back to the pits, tech, and start to gear up. End up getting to first practice late and getting flagged to turn around back into the pits. Go get out there early for second practice. Pit out, goose it to turn 3, take turn 3, red flag. Some one highsided at 4. Wait on pre-grid for them to clean up but the practice is cancelled. We get screwed over and no practice.

Race 9- LightWeight Sportman
Pretty uneventful as I don't remember much from it. Just remember getting more and more back into the rhythm of things after crashing.

Sunday- 4/11:
Practice goes well. Feeling more and more comfortable again. In second practice Alex takes off, I am having some serious touble keeping up with him, I have to really kick it up a notch. Alex lowsides in 3 and I almost run over his face. His is okay, no problems on the bike, and his gear really held up well. Really minior marks that would probably wash off. Went around and looked at a few key turns with Chris (StupidHawk) to watch the lines, which really helped.

Race 7- PTwin
Ryan let me use his warmers for about 15min before the race. Not sure if it did anything but it made me feel more comfortable. I was running at a pretty good pace and was getting my times back down to where they were before crashing. Diced it up with Alex for a bit but passed him coming out of 4 and flew into the bowl. Was able to stay infort of him til the finish line. I had a lota fun that race, everything felt good and went well. I got back to the pits to change out of my gear and went to look at the results. I GOT 3rd PLACE and Alex took 4th! I was shocked, I thought I did well but not that well; didn't expect to get WOOD! Schmidt brothers are going to be tag teaming Ptwins!

Packed up the bikes and waiting around to get my wood!


Big thanks to Geno, Chris, Scott, Ryan, Derek, Kurlon, Brian, eck-racing (for the crash pics) and anyone else I am forgetting. Thanks for the advice and showing us the ropes.

[Pittenger5]

Good job bro, good to see the crashing didnt get to you guys.
And I was so hurt by being called a cherry picker that I had to bump, so one of you two better take the win next weekend.

[RyanNicholson]

i saw you around the pits a bunch...for some reason I was almost positive you were from NESR. You just had that NESR look to you.

Congrats on an interesting intro to the racing world

I'll come say hi next race weekend.

[Doc]

Nice write up man. Hope to meet you May 31st in T1a.


I HAVE to get in a dig though....

Who the hell crashes out of the rookie race?!!! You are VERY lucky they let you get your license.

Good luck man!

[Kurlon]

Aw crap, if you guys are on here I can't fib and make myself look like some kind of Novice PTwins hero without someone spoiling the fun with the truth.

You're both looking good, I'm going to have my work cut out for me trying to catch up once I'm back in the game. Any luck getting the carbs sorted? And what have you tried to get some brakes back?

(And is Ryan some kind of tire warmer whore? Every time I look away for a second he's dragged yet another set out to toss on someone's bike. : ) )

[Crash Dummy Denno]

its cool because their parents base their amount of love on who wins - now that's sibling rivalry

[OreoGitorio]

someone could make a MAAAAAAD break-dance .gif outta those pics!

[CagedInside]

Hahaha I wish I knew how to make a .gif because I have more picture of the rolling, sliding, and tumbling. Alex keeps saying we gota find someone to do it.

About his carbs, they are still stucking it up. The pilots still can't be pulled out so we got a bucket of cleaner from Derek to dunk them in.
And as for my breaks, right before penguin I had to buy a new break rotor because mine was cracked so I bought another stock one. I didn't think to actually put money (that I don't really have) into it and get the aftermarket rotor, new pads, and steel braided lines because I didn't really expect racing this season to actually happen. Now I feel like I can't keep half assing it by not doing a few things that need to be done to the bike; now that racing is actually happening.

Oh and I have heard it ALL from crashing outa the rookie race. I can laugh too because I still got my license

[RyanNicholson]

Originally Posted by CagedInside

Oh and I have heard it ALL from crashing outa the rookie race. I can laugh too because I still got my license

dont feel too bad bud, i went on the first wave (with mike) in mine

[Doc]

I stalled on the start in mine... there is video too!

[Crash Dummy Denno]

yeah dont feel bad, i missed my green flag in my gtu race this past sunday (thought i was second wave)

looked like i was asking wookie to pass the grey poupon on the front straight before we got going

damn novices!

[Kurlon]

If you put a new rotor on, you need to put new pads on to match. A good set of HH pads, plus some rotor cleaning (scotch brite pad on a buffer plus brake clean) and some time slowly bedding the pads in should result in much better braking. If you want to see if your brake line is sucking up stopping power, wrap one hand around it an squeeze the brake. If you can feel it expanding... time for a better/newer line.

[Pittenger5]

Get some stainless steel lines, get some brake pads, then get a floating rotor. They're actually not too expensive for the EX, sometimes its nice to only have one caliper. You could probably do the whole shabang for like 250.

[TheIglu]

+1

[OreoGitorio]

From what I've been told by BJ, Dana & the likes, the only advantage of the rotor is that it lasts longer & resists warping. It provides no additional stopping power. (That's the only way it got approved for use in PTwins)

You can find a SS brake line on the net for 50 bucks from HEL Performance Stainless Steel High Performance Motorcycle Brake Lines Brakelines Brakehoses Brake Hoses

I was gonna buy one of those but haven't gotten around to it.

EBC Pro-Lite Contour Brake Rotors - Kawasaki EX500 - KneeDraggers.com

EBC Brake Pads - Kawasaki EX500 Ninja500R - Read Reviews and Buy at KneeDraggers.com

[Crash Dummy Denno]

i will pistol whip the next motherfucking EX'er that complain about the cost of anything... fucking 250 for everything? try 300 per rotor

[OreoGitorio]

Originally Posted by Denno

i will pistol whip the next motherfucking EX'er that complain about the cost of anything... fucking 250 for everything? try 300 per rotor

Actually, with the links provided above, you can get pads, rotor & SS line for under 200 bucks... and that was only with 5 minutes of shopping around on the net, I'm sure there are better deals out there.

By the way, Denno... you want a set of rims with almost brand new tires, cush drive & a floating rotor? I only paid 250 for em. Of course you'd have to buy an ex500 to use em, but you could probably buy one that only needs a little work for under a grand.

[Pittenger5]

Originally Posted by OreoGitorio

From what I've been told by BJ, Dana & the likes, the only advantage of the rotor is that it lasts longer & resists warping. It provides no additional stopping power.

Id beg to differ, but maybe its all mental, I dunno, but it makes a difference to me, especially in the wet.

AND DO NOT ORDER THE ROTOR FROM KNEEDRAGGERS. They do NOT carry the floating rotor despite what they say on the website. They sent me a regular iron rotor and I had to send it back. When I called to ask they said they DONT carry the floating rotor. DO NOT GET IT THERE.

[Crash Dummy Denno]

Originally Posted by OreoGitorio

Actually, with the links provided above, you can get pads, rotor & SS line for under 200 bucks... and that was only with 5 minutes of shopping around on the net, I'm sure there are better deals out there.

By the way, Denno... you want a set of rims with almost brand new tires, cush drive & a floating rotor? I only paid 250 for em. Of course you'd have to buy an ex500 to use em, but you could probably buy one that only needs a little work for under a grand.

ive still yet to ride one of those around the track - lol - they look scary as hell though

[CagedInside]

Floating rotor on those rims you got, Pete? Maybe I'll take those off of your hands and get some pads, then use the stock rotor for rains until I get some money...

Maintaining an EX in highschool still hits the wallet pretty hard.

[Doc]

Originally Posted by Denno

i will pistol whip the next motherfucking EX'er that complain about the cost of anything... fucking 250 for everything? try 300 per rotor

But the EXers don't get all the BIG sponsors to defer costs so I bet it is about even.

[OreoGitorio]

Originally Posted by CagedInside

Floating rotor on those rims you got, Pete? Maybe I'll take those off of your hands and get some pads, then use the stock rotor for rains until I get some money...

Maintaining an EX in highschool still hits the wallet pretty hard.

It is, but.... BJ said it may not be perfectly straight. If it is, it'll go on my bike & I'll give you the semi-floater that I have on there now for free. There's nothing wrong w/ it.