Beaver Report

[Paul_E_D]

I usually don't kiss and tell, but here goes...

Got to the beaver around 5:30pm Friday night after going the LOOOONG way there due to flooding. The track is a simple place with a welcoming staff of one.

Set up the bikes with Zambrana (my engine builder) and Steve Wenner (his rider). We didn't bring a canopy, so it was old school... under the blue sky.

We all took a track walk together and noted that the place is NARROW, leaving relatively few passing zones. The pavement is good and most turns are on camber and the layout is flowing. There are significant bumps, but only on the straights. Decent elevation change, good runoff everywhere but Turn ten, where an unprotected armco barrier runs just ten feet from the pavement parallel to the braking zone.

Saturday we got 4 practice sessions af between 12-15 laps each. Lap record for a 125 was in the 1:03 range. Each session I went faster and finished practice in the 1:05s.

Qualifying: We put the A kit cylinder/piston in my bike and I went for it. I dropped another second and did a 1:04.5 to qualify seventh. There were definitely some seriously fast machines there, and the pole was set at a phenomenal 1:02.0

Race Day: Practice was wet, and I rolled around to check it out. Great traction! Fun in the wet. Tying to take the kink wide open in the wet takes balls of steel though!

Race: DRY. 45 125s!!! I got a good launch and entered T1 in fifth. I followed the lead pack into 5 where the pole sitter had a violent motoGP style highside right in front of me. I had to check up and I lost the lead group. I tried to settle in and improve my times further, but three guys had different ideas. We got in a royal scrap for 5th or so place. It was a drafting and late braking battle, but it wasn't allowing me to get the lines I was looking for to go faster. Anyway, it was fun until I threw a chain on lap 9 or so... Bummer.

It didn't go to plan, but we had an absolute blast and saw that the level of the USGPRU is very high. It would take some practice with those guys to get near the front...

[s a x m a n]

welcome back man ...

that sucks about the chain ... awesome that you were able to still have a great time though!

[Doc]

I was SOOOoo thinking this was going to be about girls...

[Paul_E_D]

The track was really a lot of fun for the two-strokes. Flowing and fast, but technical enough for skill to come into play. It was a HP hungry place though. My bike was fast, but there were 2 Aprilia bikes there. They only sell world level machines. Cylinders cost 6K on those puppies!!! A few Hondas there were pumping out a lot of ponies as well...

Also, a few of the kids have a big weight advantage, which is also going to play big on a track like this. The front straight is mostly up hill.

No excuses though. I didn't really finish learning my way through turns 1,2,3 which flow at WOT in third gear. I kept trying to sqaure them up, but that's Loudon style, and it was slow at this track...

[brewmaster]

Paul, I have been considering doing a track day out there. Do you think it would be worth the trip for running an under powered Duc 750 with a novice at the bars?

[Paul_E_D]

Yeah, It'd be a great track on the 750. It was 8.5 hours from springfield, MA. Easy driving on 84/81/80. A little closer thatn VIR, but not as good as the north track they tell me. More like the south track at VIR.

Anyway, I really enjoyed it. There's an incredibly fun high speed downhill run with 2 wide open kinks followed by a first gear hairpin. That section was my favorite.

[a13x]

Word up man!

Q in 7th and running 4th-6th'ish is pretty killer in my book You should go to more.

[OreoGaborio]

Dude, that's awesome. good fer you, bro

Bet you were happy as a pig in shit w/ all those twosmokers around and not a motard in sight, eh?

[Paul_E_D]

Didn't miss the 4-strokers at all! Especially at this narrow track, they'd be really in the way.

This was my first attempt to race at a new track. It's overwhelming to try to get up to lap record pace in a day. Now I know a little better what the GP guys are up against.

I didn't quite get where I wanted to be, but I did learn a lot about how to get there. Next time I think I'd learn even quicker and not get quite as exhausted by it. I wore a hole through my right boot and I'm limping pretty good today.

This is the first wave of 125s. I'm the fifth one on the outside line, mostly hidden.

[legalspeed]

Wow. I'm impressed.


Good for you Paul!

[Paul_E_D]

Thanks mang!

[need4speed]

Way to go Paul

[Kip]

Is this a different race then what Road Racing World had you finishing, they have you in 38th place?

Rising Sun Cycles 125GP Race Results:

1. PJ Jacobsen Hon
2. Scott Smallwood Hon
3. Nobi Iso Apr
4. Dave Celento Hon
5. Mike Orien Hon
6. Tom Swager Hon
7. John Hjelm Hon
8. Steve Wenner Hon
9. Merle Eschman Hon
10. Frank Merdocca Hon
11. Glen Pison Hon
12. Travis Huffman Hon
13. Rich Kjar Hon
14. Colin Cameron Hon
15. Mike Santelia Hon
16. Mark Dennis Hon
17. Rick Bulmann Hon
18. Bill Duran Hon
19. Rebecca Henn Hon
20. Chris Vest Hon
21. Bill Clery Hon
22. Alex Welsh TSR
23. Steve Belknap Hon
24. L. Silberstein Hon
25. E. Sak Hon
26. Mark Welsh Hon
27. J. Lemax Hon
28. Don Murfin Hon
29. Marcus Matthews Hon
30. Brian Kjar Hon
31. Bruce Lind Yam
32. Nick Jakubowski Hon
33. P. Kearns Hon
34. Sam Clark Yam
35. T. Henshaw Hon
36. Chris Temeyden Hon
37. Brian Burton Hon
38. Paul Duval Hon
39. A. Acquisiri Hon
40. Barry Gilsenan Apr
41. Paul Hopkins Hon
42. Kyle Ferris DNF
43. Bill Cole DNS
44. Mark Whitney DNS
45. Mark White DNS
46. Chris Pyles DNS
47. Drake Core DNS
48. Robert Taylor DNS

[Paul_E_D]

No, that's the one. I DNF'ed. I was running just ahead of Steve Wenner at the time... I don't know why the results don't reflect that. These guys put this event on with no sanctioning body, so I'm sure they struggled with logistics, timing and scoring, etc.

Guess what, nobody complained about the glitches!!!

(well, almost nobody...)

[a13x]

Yea, someone always complains. I have yet to partake in or run a event without someone moaning

Deep field btw.. good stuff.

[Paul_E_D]

The field was awesome. Several teams from Cali came out, as well as a bunch of guys from Canada, FL, etc. All the top kids, too. Not just hobbyists.

[Green Hornet]

Nice write up, I always wanted to hit that track, sorry to hear about your DNF.

[Paul_E_D]

It was very fun and safe, minus the heavy braking zone at the back straight where you could easily lose your life against the bare metal wall. It reminds me of Suzuka where Kato was killed. It's runs paralell to the track, but some freak entanglement and someone's going to get hurt bad. People are bangin bars there to get into the hairpin. I'm thinking of writing to the track about it.