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This weekend turned out to be quite the interesting time...
It all started Thursday night when I was trying to sort my jetting issues at home and I snapped the housing around the pilot jet in the carb while trying to get the pilot out of the carb. After searching for a while I found a carb in Tolland about 20 miles away and scooped that up for $250 on the way to the track.
Got to the track late Friday night and got unloaded. Got to work on the CRF getting the new carb installed and the rest of the bike put together with the help of KB and Bill (mustang) and a few others. Got the carb installed and tried to start it, but no dice. It made it pretty difficult as the slipper clutch made it so that bump starting was impossible. Since it didn't work KB came up with the idea to swap the carb bodies and install the old carb with the new body back into the bike. Me, Bill, and Boris got it started at 2:30 AM on Saturday morning...liftoff.
Saturday morning I went to work putting the bike back together from the night before and making a catch can for all of the fluids. I missed 1st practice because of it, but was able to make it out for second practice. This was the first time I had ever ridden the bike at pace before, so I took it easy and tried to figure it out. I also had never ridden any motorcycle that had new tires before, so I wanted to make sure that I scrubbed them in good before the first race. Too bad that didn't happen as I only got 2 laps in before my front brakes locked up as I was braking for turn 3. I managed to keep it up but I needed help from the amazing corner workers to drag it off of the course and behind the wall. After it cooled down a bit the brake released and I brought it back into the pits. Kurtz diagnosed it correctly and said that I had too much fluid in my remote reservoir and that the pressure was building up and making the brake lock. I removed some fluid from the reservoir and hoped that it worked for my first race (super singles.)
Super Singles I got a horrible start and am pretty sure I was last into the first corner. Going into T3 Trevor Chiappisi crashed in front of me and I barely avoided it, but I picked up 4th. Gradually throughout the race I passed the other guys in front of me and got into 2nd. The guy in first had completely gapped and there was no way that I could catch up. Turns out that on the last lap he thought that they threw the checkered so he pulled in to pit right before the real checkered flag which gave him a dnf and lucky me, the win.
Ultra Light Weight Super Bike I again got a horrible start but somehow managed to make up for it in T1 and passed everyone for the lead. I knew Andy #951 would be my main competition this race so I really had to put my head down and go for it. On the 3rd lap I crashed in T1A and picked up the bike and kept going. Only to find out that when I went to brake for T3 that my brake lever was way down from the crash and I almost couldn't find it. I nursed it around the track for the lap and then hit it on the front straight to bring it back up to almost the right height so I could use it. I had a pretty big gap so I was just cruising around the track, but going into T8 on the last lap I lost it again and was thrown into the pea stone after a few sky ground sequences. My throttle was stuck and the line from the master to the reservoir was severed, so unfortunately I got a DNF.
GTL was pretty uneventful. I got out there and got a horrible start again. I managed to pass Lorna and then kept 8th the whole time.
Motard after the start I ended up in 2nd and Trevor Chiappisi just checked out. I tried to keep up with them but I was still timid after crashing twice the day before. I also gapped the rest of the pack so I just rode my own race and made sure that I stayed upright.
Weekend best lap time was actually on Saturday and was a 1:24.7. I did a lot of work to improve the handling of the bike this weekend, but I wasn't confident in it as a rider. I also went to the Tony's Day on the 18th which solved all those problems. I got some quality track time and really got comfortable with the bike and regained confidence. I got some tips for turn 6 as well as turn 3 and turn 1. I really felt great at the end of the day but found out that my bike was never running right and needed some work. That would explain why I had gotten pulled down the front straight when racing this weekend. I ordered jets and will be attacking that problem this weekend. It will be running good and I will be more confident in weekend 2
I want to thank Tony's Track Days, MTAG Pirelli for the tires, Pine Motorparts/PBE Specialists and Scott Jette Bodywork for our paint (which came out awesome!!!), Phoenix Graphics for our pit shirts, sweatshirts, etc, Woodcraft, Motorcycles of Manchester, Street & Competition for bodywork, tires & parts, and my new suit and AestheticRAIN for our new website which is up! www.eck-racing.com
I also want to take this opportunity to really thank KB. I could have never got out there without you man. I owe you a lot.
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Originally Posted by csmutty
