bwhip

ROUND FOUR - JULY 26 & 27

I’m finding it amazing how many thoughts or emotions about racing one can go through, just in the course of one race weekend. Every one of these thoughts passes through my mind every single time I go racing:
· Racing is the greatest thing ever!
· What am I thinking? Why am I spending so much money on this crazy sport?
· Why do I need this pressure to win or podium every time? Haven’t I got enough stress in my life?
· What a battle we had – that was awesome!
· Where are my priorities?
· Fifth place – I suck!
· Well, I guess I’ve reached my limit
· How can that guy get around this track so fast?
· Maybe I should sell the bikes and go back to golfing
· I can’t wait to do this again!

I’m concerned that my competitive, yet reasonably cautious nature threatens to take the fun out of this sometimes. On the one hand, I want desperately to win, to continually improve, and to be one of the best riders out there. On the other, there seems to be a limit to how hard I’m willing to push – not physically, but in terms of acceptable level of risk. This should be fun, right? Otherwise, why do it?

So, with that in mind, off I went to Miller for another race weekend. My plan was to go a day early for extra practice time. I don’t usually like to take extra time away from work for this activity, but I wasn’t very pleased with my results last time around, so I felt it was necessary. My plans went awry, however, when my RV overheated on the way down. I wound up not getting to the track until mid-day on Friday.

The weather Friday afternoon was brutally hot. Air temps up to 102, with a track temp around 140! With a full leather suit, helmet, gloves and boots, after 15 minutes or so on the track you could feel the core of your body just baking! But, at least it’s a dry heat…

SATURDAY

Since the last race weekend six weeks ago, my only riding was at a great three-day trackday event in Michigan with friends. I took the 1098 and SXV550 with me, and the 849 stayed at home. As a result, Saturday morning when I got out on the 849, it felt really strange. I’m always conscientious about alternating between the two bikes in my practice sessions, so that they both feel natural, otherwise I get too used to the way one turns, the gearing and redline differences, and so on. So, it took a couple of sessions to have the 849 feel comfortable again. It just didn’t seem to want to turn. The bike is very linear-feeling anyway, but after riding the 1098 for three days straight it just felt weird. I also found the brakes were fading, and I seemed to be getting some leakage of brake fluid from the reservoir.

I had spent six weeks visualizing all of the improvements I would make around the track to improve my lap times, and was certain that another second or two would automatically follow. Yet, for some reason in my practice sessions on either bike, I wasn’t making any significant improvement. I could do the 1:42’s all day long without much trouble, and occasionally get into the 1:41’s on the 1098, but I was hoping for 1:40’s and even 1:39’s. I tried everything I could think of – suspension changes for better responsiveness in the turns, pushing harder on the gas at corner exits, braking later, you name it. Still, although I was more consistent with good times, I wasn’t achieving what I would currently consider great times. Very frustrating.

KING OF CLUBS RACE – Once again, our four-man team from Idaho would contest this fun seven lap sprint, with collective results making up the team score. I was gridded pretty much dead center – row three, position B, on the 1098. This race is full of top experts on literbikes, with a few 600’s, including our club champion, a couple of guys who have raced AMA and World Superbike events, and other super-fast guys.

Turn one on the east track is a really tight double-apex hairpin at the end of the straight. I can’t tell you how close the action was at the start and into that turn! I held my own really well, and can’t believe none of us bumped each other. I wound up having a pretty good race, passing a few guys, getting passed by a few, and finishing in the same grid position that I started in, against some really tough competition. I beat some guys that I was surprised to beat, and consistently ran 1:41’s in the race, so I was reasonably pleased. But man, was it hot! At the end of the race, I was absolutely drained. Knowing that I was scheduled for back-to-back races on Sunday, I wondered how I was going to manage the heat.

SUNDAY

A couple of short practice sessions on each bike, and then it was time to go racing. The first race would be Super Twins on the 1098. The guy who normally dominates that race on his 1098R is local legend Shane Turpin. I’d talked to him the night before, and he said he had a blown tranny on his bike, so he expected me to go out and really kick butt in that race. I offered to let him use my 849 in the race. He seemed surprised, asked if I was sure, and I said absolutely. I trust him as an incredibly talented racer, and I felt it was the sporting thing to do. The sucky part would be that he would be kicking my ass using my own bike, and costing me potential contingency money! Oh well, maybe it would be inspiring to see that my bike is actually capable of going that much faster.

Race One - Super Twins – Out to the grid we go, but where is Turpin in the pole position? He never showed up, even though we’d talked about him using my bike just an hour or so before the race. I figured he must have gotten too focused on getting his new GSXR-1000 (former Jordan superbike) ready for the King of the Mountain big-money race. Oh well, I guess it would be up to me to hold off my usual rivals PK and Bunds on their 848’s (among others in the field), along with a guy who occasionally races with us from Colorado, Patrick Lansu, on his 999. Lansu is really fast, so despite the fact that he was gridded near the back of the pack, I knew he’d be coming strong in a hurry.

The green flag flies, and, despite two nice wheelies on the torquey 1098, I manage to dive into turn one first with the holeshot, sure that everyone else must be right on my tail. Between turns five and six, Lansu rips by me. That didn’t take long! I decide to try to learn from him how to do 1:38’s by staying with him as long as I can. That lasts about another half lap before he starts to fade from view. From then on, it’s a fairly lonely race for a few laps. I’m wondering where PK and Bunds are, as they both beat me pretty handily on the east track in the previous round. Maybe they’re busy battling each other?

In the fourth lap, going into the slow right-hand turn four, I see a wheel coming up the inside. There’s my buddy PK! Okay, here we go. Time to go to work. I push as hard as I dare, knowing that he’s generally done about a second better a lap than me on this track in the past.

I don’t see him again for the rest of the race, but I’m just sure he’s still there, waiting to pounce on any mistake. In the final lap I change my lines a bit, taking a narrow entry on turns where I had previously been going wide, just in case PK was going to make a move. I manage to hold him off, and right after I take the checkered flag, I turn around to see where he is. Right on my tail! Phew, that was close!

When I get back to the paddock, my friends are all there congratulating me on a great race, which is cool. One of them says, “Wasn’t that your third victory ever?” I said, “Um, I’m pretty sure I was second – Lansu got by me early.” They said no – I won! Apparently Lansu got meatballed for a jump start, and had to do a ride-through penalty! (He still managed to take third place after that, which is amazing!)

I was definitely stoked after that! I hoped to do well, but certainly wasn’t expecting to win. I respect the heck out of PK as a racer, so I definitely consider holding him off a major accomplishment. I knew it would be tougher later in the day in the Twins GTO race, as I’d be on the 849 against him, rather than the 1098. It would also be the second of my back-to-back races in the heat.

Amateur GTU – Grid position 1B, between Spencer Steed, who destroyed me last time on the east, and my buddy Nathan Titus, who keeps getting faster and faster, and came this close to beating me last time for second place. I was hoping to get a good start and do a better job of hanging with Spencer this time, while trying to hold off the hard-charging Titus and other young guns in the class.

Earlier in the day when I’d done a practice start on the 849, for some reason it seemed really grabby or juddery on the start. I figured maybe the clutch was just hot, or maybe getting tired. Well, in the race it was worse, and I got a terrible start. That’s not supposed to happen! I see Steed get the holeshot, with Titus right behind him and me in third. I’m not liking this situation! I hang with both of them for a lap or two at a pretty hot pace, determined not to let either of them get away.

They both go wide in turn three, and Titus runs slightly off the track into the dirt! I manage to slip by, and start chasing Spencer. It’s like that for a few more laps, but now Spencer is starting to gap me. I’m trying to hang, but just not feeling totally confident in the grip, and my bike still not turning the way I want it to, especially in turn five. I’m wondering how much I’ve been able to get out ahead of Titus, knowing that he’d gone off track.

Just as I’m wondering about that, he shoots by me into second, with Mac Milner right on his tail. Suddenly I’ve gone from second to fourth, with just a lap or two to go! Unacceptable. I stay right on their rear tires , waiting to pounce on any mistake. In a couple of corners, I’m much faster, but can’t find a safe way around them. At other points, their exit drive gives them a nice cushion on me.

In the final turn, I decide I need more drive, so I click an extra downshift, hoping I can explode out of the turn and beat them to the line. Nope – too high in the revs, it doesn’t do me any good, and I wind up in fourth. Turns out our little battle put us about 20 seconds ahead of the guy in fifth, and the other 20 or so in the field. I match my best lap times on the 849, but am still reasonably disgusted with not improving as much as I feel I should have.

No time to worry about that race any longer, or how hot I am. It’s time to go right back out to the grid for the Twins GTO race. I go back to my pit area for just a few seconds – enough time to take two big gulps of water, and throw some water down my chest and back. Here we go.

Twins GTO – Still on the 849, with a hot motor, hot tires, and a hotter rider. Pole position for this one, in the second wave of a dual-start race. I’m in pole position, right next to Bunds and PK, with Lansu in the field as well, along with Shannon Moham, who is also tough.

The flag flies, the bike wheelies a bit, and suddenly, a horrible grinding sound, and the bike is barely moving. What the hell??!! I’m shifting, revving, clutching, everything – nothing! I throw my hand up in the air, hoping no one coming up from the rear of the grid is going to plow me. What a nightmare. I figure I must have a fried clutch or something. I limp the bike down the straight and move it out of harm’s way in turn one. Crap!

At the same time, I see that several riders have gone down in turn one from the first wave. Red flag! The race will be restarted, but I won’t make the grid, costing me valuable points in a race where I was leading the championship standings. Lansu wins, with Moham second, Bunds third. PK got the meatball for a jump start and had to do a ride-through, and wound up taking fifth. Based on typical lap times, second through fourth was a definite possibility for me, but we’ll never know.

When I got back to the paddock, I found that the chain had come off! The chain adjuster bolt had gone right through the aluminum spacer block. Cheap Italian metal, I guess! Even with 180nm of torque on the axle nut, the torque the bike generates had pulled the axle forward and busted the spacer. It made me wonder how much that may have affected my previous race, but oh well.

If the race wasn’t red-flagged, I would have still received points under the rules of our club for starting. Because I didn’t make the restart, I got zero. Bummer.

Formula 40 – I’d considered this an optional race, and with the heat I was considering dropping it, but after not being able to race Twins GTO due to the mechanical issue, I decided I still wanted to go racing.

The skies were getting gray as some thunderstorms were rolling in, and I was feeling a few light sprinkles. I also had been out taking photos around the track, and they made a schedule change, so the start of the race really snuck up on me. The tires on the 1098 were cold, as I only had time to put them on for 5-10 minutes prior to the start of the race. I figured I’d just go out and have some fun, and if I felt any sliding going on, just back off a bit.

I was gridded in the third row, and there were quite a few really fast guys in the race, including Lansu, John Hopperstad, Gary Poole, and others. I figured I’d just go out, have some fun dicing it up with the geezers, and try to improve.

I got a decent start, and within a couple of laps was right on the tail of my buddy Tommy Richardson, a fellow “Team Idaho” member who is pretty quick on his GSXR-750. The guy is about the size of Dani Pedrosa (seriously!), and was doing pretty similar lap times to me. I stayed right on his tail (as you can see on the video), lap after lap, looking for a good place to pass – but he wasn’t giving me anything! A couple of times I thought about a bold pass, but didn’t really want to do that to a buddy in a fun race. He even went wide in the last lap, briefly into the dirt, but stayed on the gas and went right back across my line into the next turn.

Tommy held me off for fourth place, and I took a fun and relaxed fifth. Next time I’ll probably push harder, but I must admit it sure was fun to dice it up with him like that.

Here’s the video. I cut out the second and third laps to get under YouTube’s ten minute limit, but you’ll get the idea of what a fun race it was!

YouTube - Masters of the Mountain Round 4 - Formula 40

CONCLUSION

Winning sure helps a lot with my attitude! Last year, I started out pretty well in the novice classes, improved modestly through the year, but saw many of my competitors improve at a much faster rate. I’ve been concerned about that happening again this year. Getting a win sure was a boost.

I know that no matter how fast I go, there will always be someone faster, so I should be happy with continually improving, and occasionally winning or making podiums. There are lots of people who race for years without experiencing that kind of high. I’m determined to keep it fun, be grateful for progress, and continue to support and help my friends and fellow racers. If I can just keep my competitive side from eroding the pure joy I get from riding and racing, the rest of the season should be a blast. That’s what I’m striving for!

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NorthernRR

WOW, again and incredible read Brian.

I really do hate reading these posts of yours, honestly, I don;t think that I can afford the time or the bikes that it takes to do what you guys are.

Sounds like you had a blast and I someday hope to experiance that kind of "rush" as you put it.

Congrats on the great finish and keep up the good work.

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TAZ

Awesome write-up, BWhip! Thanks for letting us live vicariously through you!

CBRVFR

Congratulations on the win, but more so for just competing.

Just have fun with it. if you get too intense, it's too much like work.

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Hammer

Great write up.

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Jetbdude

wow, this is exactly how I feel!!!

Congrats AGAIN on some awesome results Brian!!

Now that chain problem HOLLY CRAP!!!!! I've never seen anything like that!

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deftones156

Great read, as always!

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evl_twn

Congrats on the win!! Too bad you had problems with the 849, but that's what you get when you buy one of those cheap Italian bikes

Does anyone make a different thickness adjuster, or are you going to have some made?

bwhip

Somebody must, because the one on the opposite side is really thick! Odd that they'd be different, and that the thick side would be on the side that doesn't have the chain, but I'll check into it further when I get a chance.

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evl_twn

What's the chance that they are swapped, and in the wrong position? It would make sense for the thicker plate to absorb the greater forward force on the chain side of the swingarm.

ND4SPD

Great job 'whip! As frustrating as it is, I think the 849 breaking on you at the start is far better than having the adjuster giving out as you're hard on the gas coming out of a corner at 80mph.

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MotoVegas

Interesting. I don't race so I can't really relate. However a very good friend of mine was in the same boat. Until he got seriously injured (sorry for the buzzkill) which put him out of work for about 4 months. After his recovery, he put down racing and returned to his roots; road and track riding. I asked him why he stopped racing he said "Riding wasn't fun anymore, and my competitive side is why I got hurt... so now I just ride for fun".



Sweet, it should be that hot or hotter when we go to Miller at the end of August, yes? "Dry heat"...



Grats on another victory!!!



Blah, sorry to hear about that Whip. Must suck *knowing* you are going to be competitive in a race only to have the bike crap out on you.



There you go... keeping your eye on the ball here. Doing this stuff for FUN is the name of the game, and I'm glad you had good time dicing it up with a good buddy.

And as usual, outstanding write-up, thanks for sharing your race weekend! Btw, is the RV okay?

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ONEvcs

Great read. Congratulations of the first place.

Why did your friend, forgot his name, not ride the 849 in the race? Not that I would have, just curious.

Sometimes having fun is so much work and effort, but so worth it.

bwhip

Yes, thanks for asking. They put in a new computer and fan, so supposedly it's fine now.

Thanks. I never got a chance to talk to Turpin about it, so I'm not sure. I believe it was because he hadn't qualified as well as he'd hoped on his new Jordan bike, and was working with his pit crew on setup changes, as that race had priority over this one for him.

Funny that it went from me trying to do him a favor (and helping him earn big contingency money) to actually being the other way around.

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ONEvcs

It would've sucked it the bike broke while he was riding it.

CBR929RE

I always enjoy reading your writeups Brian. Keep them coming and keep it fun.

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TornadoB8

Nice work, as always, on the write up AND race results!

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phobe

Congrats... nice results!

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Hammer

Whip, you said that the 848 was not feeling right, could the block have been bent a bit and throwing the alignment off to make it feel that way? I was thinking of that today and it makes since in theory.

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bwhip

In that case I think it was more just having ridden the 1098 so much at Grattan, with the 849 staying at home. The two bikes are quite different in how they feel turning, so I'm usually really careful about alternating between them every session so that they both feel comfortable. I think the problem was more evident in the starts than in the riding.

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