2
Had a blast at the Classic, hanging with friends, turning wrenches, partying, and oh, some racing occurred too!
Ended up arriving at the track on Thur instead of Wed due to cat issues. Being distracted by a sick kitty meant extra travel time, I got to the track Thur morning to discover I forgot to pack towels (no big deal, there's a Walmart) or any clothes/etc at all. D-oh! Dropped the trailer, unloaded a bit and then sprinted back to Maine to gather the missing supplies. I had planned on taking my time Thur swapping tires and testing a new front wheel setup but my snafu in packing killed that theory.
Friday was really relaxed, only one race for the day and I actually woke early enough that I didn't have to runs for 1st practice either. I was slow in practice, but also noticed a bunch of white plates I wasn't familiar with that were MUCH slower. Seriously, it felt like I snuck out into a novice trackday session the way I was chasing people down? 2nd practice was more up to speed, but I noticed something I had been concerned about after reviewing my vids from last round, out of 12 right before I shift, A-ko would jump from 12k RPM to 14k RPM. One of two things was happening, either I'm a drifting machine and leaving darkies, or my clutch is slipping. Before it was subtle enough that I couldn't spot it on bike, now I could. Hrmmm...
I went out for the GTL, and managed to finally get the Fizzer off the line properly only to blow it on the way into T1 with a double downshift as if this wasn't my out lap. D-oh! That cost me some positions and I never really made them back. Netted a 4th running slow. Blech. Cluch slip / tire spin was more pronounced, time to do something, and because of the Classic's more spread out schedule I had plenty of time: New tires spooned on, cost offset by Bridgestone contingency from the last round. As a bonus, I mounted my R6 wheel that I got from Smutty using spacers machined for me by Rada, fit like a glove! Now if I can just find thinner rotors like the bike really wants... but that's another issue for another day. The rest of the day was spent playing Fireman for RSP during the endurance race, stupid fun time with friends, will point fire extinguisher again for, A+++++ team.
Saturday, new wheel and tires on, I went out and had fun in LWGP, my times dropped a tick, the tires were a definite improvement in my confidence getting on the gas out of the corners, and I started to clean my lines up. Unfortunately, everyone did too... 5th place finish. My problem is now confirmed to be my clutch, and it's getting worse. It does it before my 1st and 2nd shift down the straight now, and it's jumping to just below the limiter from lower in the rev range so I'm loosing drive. I still have ULSB to go, with only a sidecar race in between and no parts to tinker with so I just toss the warmers back on and try to rehydrate. My wife has arrived for the day so that helps keep my nerves in check.
ULSB is my main event, and I'm on a mission to find 22s again. I manage to holeshot the start, a first for me on A-ko and immediately out of 2 I can hear the distinct rumble of a big single behind me. I'm under pressure and cannot slip so I rely on my motor to put some distance between me and the challenger, only to have them sneak up behind me again out of 3. Motor saves me a 2nd time over the hill, but the motard makes an appearance into 6. I start to try to motor on him again before he can complete the pass, but it's pretty obvious at this point he's got me, the only way to hold him off till 9 is to aggressively pinch him off and if I have to do that on the first lap I'll be doing it the whole race so I leave him room and try to tag on instead to see if I can match his pace. No can do, he ran a good second or two a lap faster than me. I wanted to catch him badly though and that carrot in front of me, just out of reach meant I ran 23s and 22s all race, with a 25 out lap. I got beat by a motard, but I learned a few things at the same time. My garage mate told me my best lap on returning to the pits so I thought I pulled a new PB, but checking the results later showed I just skirted within one hundredth of it, d-oh!
All that remains for the weekend was LWSB on Sunday but I dropped it. My clutch was complaining down the straight, over the hill and sometimes out of 2 now. A-ko did what she needed to and got me through ULSB, I wasn't about to beat on her in a bump class I shouldn't be competitive in. Clutch will be sorted for next round, I'll be there with a plan to improve my times, I found consistency when I needed it, mission accomplished for the weekend. This is my first mechanical of the season. Yeah, that's right nay sayers, a Kurlonized bike has now gone 4 rounds problem free, 5th round issue was purely my fault for not doing routine PM in time. In my defense, I wasn't aware that the inspection schedule on this clutch was that frequent, a mistake I shall not be repeating.
AM GTL - 4th - 2nd overall in points
AM LWGP - 5th - 2nd overall in points
AM ULSB - 2nd - 1st overall in points
AM LWSB - DNS - 6th overall in points
Highlight of the event: Watching Savas finally give John Donald an honest fight, way to take it to him!
Special thanks to the Seacoast Sport Cycle garage for feeding me, Rada and family for an awesome BBQ gathering, Mike W. for introducing me to a drink I still can't recall the name of, and the rest of the center garage family for another awesome time.
We totally should have gone karting though...
Reply With Quote
99 + 02 SV650 ex-race - 91 FJ1200 street - 03 KDX220R woods - 12 WR450F motard/ice
Originally Posted by Kurlon
