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Well Guys "n' Gals, i guess its about time I updated the site with the race results from the national weekend at Loudon. I also want to let you all know what is going on with NESR racing.
I arrived at Chez Stonner on Thursday afternoon and Jay, Ed and myself went down to the track to set up the HUGE new E-Z up. This thing weighs about 500lb's and is so rock solid it couldn't possible move (even in the windy rainy Loudon weather...yeah right). We got the thing set up in the blistering heat and then i rtegistered for the 600SS race on saturday. I had some work to do on the bike so I didn't get any practise in on thursday. We weren't sure whether we would be entering the 200 mile team challenge race at this point as I found out when I got to the track that Scott had crashed that morning and was in hospital with a dislocated shoulder.
Scott got in touch with me on thursday evening to say that he had 2 other riders for us and that he still could probably race!
Friday morning came around and Mick and I went over to the track. Now I have to say at this point that Mick helped out tremendously in the pits. Without his help we would have totally floundered this weekend. he was there the whole time and did everything from checking tire pressures to buying the gasoline to checking grid positions to being fuel pump guy in the endurance race, then he stayed to help load up everything afterwards etc etc etc. Thanks A LOT Mick. I tend to get a bit edgy during a race weekend and Mick made sure he put me in my place if I got out of line, and I appreciate that also. I won't mention the rotors on backwards or the wheel on backwards.........oops, I just did:o
Anyhoo, back to the race. We had 4 riders, myself, Scottie, Matt (don't know his last name) and Pete Kolodjiek (spelling??). Pete is a Penguin school instructer, and he took the bike away to a secret location to have the suspension tuned and he also recommended a gearing change which we performed.
Everyone took a turn for a couple of laps during practice sessions and everyone was reasonably happy with the bike. We put on some fresh dunlop DOT tires (threat of possible rain kept us from using slicks) and I headed out for my 600ss practice session to scrub in the tires. HOLY CRAP!!! The bike felt like a different bike! I knew my times were good and we were ready for the endurance race.
We set up the EZ up (small one) at the hot pit wall and brought all of our stuff over there ready for the endurance race. Thanks to Jeff and his friend (damn, I can never remember his name) for therir help all through the race (pit boarding for us and fire marshalling, as you MUST have a fire extinguisher and fire marshall on each team).
We gridded LAST (46th) on the grid as we registered very late for the race. I started and I think I made up about 20 places before turn 1 and started to get through some of the slower bikes in the field. The third time I came past the start/finish line I saw that Jeff had written 1:20 on the pit board. That was an unofficial time but it meant that I was running 6 seconds under my previous best...holy cow! I nearly missed turn one in my exitement. The best experts run 1:12's at loudon on unlimited bikes, so I was very happy with what turned out to be a 1:21 lap (officially timed). I did about 12 laps and got tired so I came in and we switched over to Matt. He went out and managed about 20 laps in the 1:21-1:23 range and we were looking fairly good. The Scottie went out with a full tank of gas and a recently dislocated shoulder. He was pulling in 1:29's which is pretty damn good for someone who is used to riding a Duc twin. He did about 12 laps before we had to pull him in for the good of the team as Pete was ready to go out and do some fast laps to get us back in the running. I have to say that Scottie was VERY understanding of the fact that for the good of the team we needed to get the faster guys out there. I am sure if Scott was fully fit and had some more practice he would be running in the low 1:20's with the rest of us. We went through the order once more with each rider (Scott sat out) and we finished the race 6th GTU team. I believe we were the 1st GTU team with 2 amateur ridersm so it was a great showing and we were all very pleased. When I pulled into the pits after the race I was directed to go to the tech area as there was some problem with the bike. It seems that we made a minor paoerwork error and were entered as a GTL team instead of a GTU team so we were disqualified (pretty bogus in my opinion). The bike ran great, no-one crashed nand we put on a more than competitive show against some serious money teams. We wil definitely enter the next endurance race that comes up.
Saturday was raining. The EZ up got caught in a gust of wind and knocked over my RC51
I went out for my 600ss race and was running pretty well (about 10th) when I low-sided in turn 2. the crash caused no damage to me or the bike and I got back on very quickly. However, the corner workewr would not let me reenter the race for about a minute and that put an end to my race. I finished 17th (not bad for after a crash...I still beat some people who had not crashed!). A few laps later I saw poor Scott crash spectacularly in turn 1 on his 748. He was 2 laps ahead of me, but could not continue so he got a DNF.
Next race weekend is July 6th and 7th. I hope to God we finally get a dry weekend's racing for a change as I destroyed my rain tires at Stonnerstock
NEWSFLASH!!!
NESR racing will have 2 bikes at loudon from next race weekend. The negotiations have finalized and the multi-dollar deal has been done. Gerard Schifino will be campaigning a CBR600F4 alongside mine in TEAM NESR. We will be setting the bikes up identically and racing in the same races. Gerard is a nnew racer, but I have seen him on the track and he is more than comfortable. Should make for some great racing as there are DEFINITELY no team orders.
Gerard and I are prepping the bikes together before the next race weekend and we have some plans for merchandise and sponsorship that should go even further to make the team more and more professional looking as time goes on.
PLEASE try to get to the track for the July race weekend. it's gonna rock with 2 NESR bikes out there!
If the weather is good, I will be in the running a race win for the first time ever now that i have the bike properly sorted and setup, and I am in the low 1:20 range for laptimes.
Degsy