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Please... speak to the hand.
Posts: 3212
posted February 21, 2006 11:12 PM
Edited By: redelk on 21 Feb 2006 23:31
Backmarker Racing season starts (LONG read) Just to recap, a brief look back to the last two seasons...
BMR IN 2004 - Sweet Dreams are made of these...
Our first season had its ups and downs, but we were really "racing" now. Our riders did well in the endurance racing, as well as in the individual sprints, being their first year of racing. Not that it was expected, but we saw no podium finishes in either endurance or sprint racing. Expectations for decent overall finishes in sprint racing wasn't that high. Our riders were bouncing from one class to another, not realizing how important it was to stay in at least one of the classes for the whole season to get a good end year score for that class. At season's end, about the best we did was....
5th in class (out of 26 teams) in Medium Superstock Endurance class
20th overall (out of 94 teams) in CMRA Endurance racing
20th and 34th (out of 95) in Superstock B Novice (running 4 or 5 of the 10 races)
26th and 55th (out of 93) in Superstock C Novice (running 4 or 5 of the 10 races)
28th (out of 77) in Superbike C Novice (running 5 of the 10 races)
and a few other classes "not worth" mentioning.
BMR in 2005 - Money might be the root of all evil, but you gotta have it to race
By the start of our second season, the cost of racing had taken its toll and we lost half of the original team members (and the money they contributed to the team expenses). As we scrabbled to find additional riders for the endurance team, we realized that we would not be able to attend all 10 events and 7 endurance races. Setbacks started early as one of the new riders crashed the endurance bike in the first 20 minutes of a 4 hour race. Scoring very few points, we jumped out of the C Superstock class and moved to the C Superbike class. Even though there were only 36 teams in the C Superstock class, half of the top 10 overall winners came from that class. The odds of getting a shot at a class podium in C Superstock were less than zero. In the C Superbike class, not only could we run slicks (versus Race DOT in Superstock), only two or three of the 17 teams in the C Superbike were regularly in the top 10 overall.
Having already tossed out the first race, we were starting off at a disadvantage in our new class. Additional setbacks came from not being able to get riders to fill out the roster and the fact that we were not going to be able to attend two more of the remaining six races. With the common aspects of crashes and mechanical failures, a podium eluded us again for a second season. Still, struggling as we were, we got a lot closer and the four endurance races we ran in the C Superbike class, we finished 4th, 4th, 6th and 5th in class. At season's end, we were 5th in class and 35th overall out of 107 endurance teams.
In the sprints, we were basically down to two riders and they were still bouncing around from class to class. By the end of the season we had made some improvements in the sprints as well, finishing....
12th (out of 108) in Superstock B Novice (running 5 of the 10 races)
22nd (out of 102) in in Superstock C Novice (running 4 of the 10 races)
16th (out of 80) in Formula 1 Novice (running 5 of the 10 races)
13th (out of 42) in Formula 2 Novice (running 7 of the 10 races)
It is important to note that in the Formula 2 class we were running a '89 TZ250 against bikes like SV650, RC51 and Ducati 748.
Still, the podium-less frustration continued in the '05 sprint season. While garnishing several 5th and 4th place finishes and in one event and missing a podium by 0.673 of a second, it just wasn't to be. To add insult to injury, our number one rider, with his "almost podium finishes", got bumped up to the expert class, due to his CMRA rider's index. He was 23rd in the 33 riders that got bumped up. Though he could have protested being moved up to expert and probably would have been allowed to remain in the Novice class, he chose not to. Due to the fact that he also races his KTM 450 and KTM 250 in the regional Hare Scrambles and Enduro circuits, he will only be able to make 5 of the 10 events for '06 anyway.
One could only wonder where he would have been if he had run in more races in each of the six classes he competed in. Out of the 8 sprint events we went to, he only ran in 17 of the possible 48 races. If we had gone to all 10 sprint events like some of the new expert riders had, it would have been a possible 60 races. Of course, if he did run all those races, it would have also been close to $2,500 in just entry fees alone. I wouldn't want to even think of what the tire and race fuel bill would have been and all of that would be coming out his own pocket.
Now.... fast forward to the start of CMRA's 2006 racing season.
BMR IN 2006 - Going BIG in a Mini kind of way
While money is still a big issue (as it always is in club racing), we will not only be fielding our old '99 Yamaha R6 in the "Big Bike" Endurance Class (running in the C Superbike class again), but we have chosen to jump into the CMRA "Mini" Endurance Class as well. Mini Endurance races include bikes ranging from the EX250 and XR100 "Mini Motards" to NSR50 and 60 or 85cc motors stuffed into a GP chassis. The bike we will campaign this season will run in the Formula 4 class and has a '05 YZ85 motor stuffed into a '92 Honda RS125 GP chassis
This Mini class, like the "Big Bikes" will have 7 races during the 10 event season. The reason there is only 7 races for each is because of the tracks we race on. Since a "Big Bike" endurance race will include liter bikes, 600s, SV650s and Super Motards all on the track at the same time, tracks like Oak Hill Raceway is far too technical and small to run 50 or more bikes with that much of a speed differential. So, there are no "Big Bike" endurance races at Oak Hill. Just sprint races. On the other hand, the 2.9 mile track of Texas World would be way too much for a "Mini" endurance bike to handle, yet there will be Mini sprint races held at TWS.
Me personally, I find Mini Endurance to simply be INSANE. "Grown" adults (I use that term loosely) out on the track, mixing it up with kids on bikes that won't top 85 mph, weigh about 150 lbs and carry corner speed like no tomorrow is just plain nuts. Especially when you do it for 2, 4 or SIX HOURS straight! The BMR boys being the idiots that we are, we end up putting together a bike that will end up racing in the most hotly competed class of all the minis. All of the top 3 to 5 overall finishers ride in Formula 4. Did I mention that like its "Big Brother" counter part, there is not separate "Expert" or "Novice" class? So even though the majority of our team are Novice sprint racers, we'll be mixing it up with a bunch of Expert class riders to boot. And if you don't think these Expert riders don't take Mini Endurance seriously, you'd be sadly (and likely... painfully) mistaken. They take it "deathly" serious.
Of course, "putting together" is kinda "subjective". Having never done anything like this, we were ignorant of what it took to build a competitive bike, but we just "winged it" anyway. And in typical BMR fashion, the bike was no where near ready to race when we loaded it into the trailer to take to the first event. "Little things", like a non-functioning rear brake, a shift lever that is connected to the motor with two rods welded together and then welded to the end fittings, rear sets that were too long (damn near all the way back to the rear axle) and a "suspension" that was nothing short of questionable (and had nothing do to it but the fork oil changed) would still not be enough to keep us from racing it. DAMN! We are idiots!
Oh, but it gets better....
OFF TO THE RACES - FIRST EVENT
We were supposed to leave for the track at noon on last Thursday. "Supposed to", that is. Because one of the new team members had to wait for UPS to deliver a windscreen for his RS125, we ended up leaving at 4:30 pm. Just in time for the local rush hour traffic. Always fun when trying to pilot 50' of truck and trailer amongst the "little cars" buzzing around and cutting in front of you to make their exit. Late starts to the tracks were common place in previous seasons, and it looks like this year won't be any different.
Since Oak Hill is only 260 miles from my house, we still got there early enough to get most everything set up for the weekend. Not that we had time to work on the any of the bikes, but at least we had time to set up our 10' x 20' canopy and its end/side walls. Why would we need walls on our canopy? Well, for starters, at about 10pm that night, it started raining. Additional reasons would become apparent as the weekend progressed.
PRACTICE & THE UNKNOWN
Friday was to be a open practice day for all bikes. Early that morning, there was a mad rush to all the tire tents for folks to get rain tires mounted. Had you not preordered them not later than the first of that week, you would have been screwed. At least we did something right and were covered for all the bikes we had brought down. The funny part was that as the rain let up and the track dried out, folks that didn't have more then one set of wheels were rushing back to the tire tents to get slicks mounted. Ah, the joys of having more than one set of wheels for the bikes.
Since our Mini Endurance bike was completely "untested" (riding it up and down the neighborhood street doesn't count) and had nothing done to the motor since we got it besides fresh clutch plates, two of our three team riders took the mini out for some shake down laps. Knowing that there was no way we could address the rear brake "issue" as well as the various other "little problems", it was deemed "race ready" for the 4 hour event to be held on Saturday. Okay, so it wasn't really "ready", but it was as good as it was going to get.
Friday night, the reason for the canopy walls became obvious since it started raining again. Ah, but the reason for the double burner propane heater also became obvious that night too. Although Friday's afternoon temps were in the low 60's, that night, as the rain stopped, it dropped down to the low 30's. The team trailer doesn't have a "legitimate" heater in its A/C unit, so we had to use small space heaters to keep it warm inside while we slept. Because they suck so much electricity, we couldn't run the "heat strip" and the two space heater without overloading the 6.5kW generator. It was either no "strip heater" or we'd have to turn off the fridge and inside lights.
ICE STATION ZEBRA
Come Saturday morning, there were some iced up spots on the tops of the trailers and vehicles, but the track was fairly dry. What water that was on the track did not freeze overnight. Still, the forecasted temperatures for the day didn't suggest a "warming trend". Instead, the temps were to continue to drop as the day progressed. Morning practice was bumped back a hour and the "Mini Motard" and "Mini Sprints" race was shortened to make up for some of the lost time before the endurance race. As we set up our pit for the endurance race, it was something like a "balmy" THIRTY-ONE DEGREES! All I could think is that this is NUTS!
The insanity continued when we discovered during practice that there was no way we could heat up the super soft front and soft rear slicks of the mini. If we got the tires up to operating temp with tire warmers, all the heat would be gone after two laps and they would be hard as rocks. Even though it is common knowledge that running rain tires on a dry track will toast them in just a handful of laps, it seemed that there was nothing "common" about running on a track that MIGHT measure a 35 degree surface temperature. Our decision, lake two-thirds of the other 29 teams that were stupid enough to come to this arctic event, was to run our only set of rain tires for the whole 4 hour race.
THE NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
Our Mini Endurance Team for this event was to consist of three riders. Only one of them had ever ridden a mini competitively. He is a 16 year old kid that race on another mini team last year that folded at the end of the season. He's fast (expert class on a SV650) and he has a "bone to pick" with the fastest kid on the track. Though his previous team finished third overall in Mini Endurance, it was the #1 rider on the #1 team that he was always wanting a piece of. I didn't have the heart to tell him that if he hoped to "settle a score" with this rider on a bike we that we "built", he was going to be greatly disappointed. To make matters worse, the other two riders on the team were not only Novice riders, but in two years, had never come close to a top 10 finish in any sprint race the had ran and our #1 "Big Bike" rider was NOT going to be at this event.
It also didn't help that this #1 rider for the #1 team had a "few advantages" that BMR could never provide. Starting off, the #1 Mini Endurance team is sponsored and run by one of the biggest Honda/Yamaha dealerships in Oklahoma. Can we say "the trickest of parts"? I knew you could. Can we say they have a STAFF of "factory" builders and mechanics with over 20 YEARS of racing experience... EACH? Don't bother. How about the fact that they bring probably a DOZEN or more race bikes to each even and most of them are just for this ONE RIDER? Of course, we shouldn't worry about the fact that we test our mini by riding it up and down a neighborhood street, while they just rent a track for the day... right?
Oh, and did I mention that not only is their #1 rider one of the Top 5 fastest in CMRA, but he will also be riding in the Daytona 200 (not to mention one of the fastest in the USGPRU). Or maybe the fact that this team has not been beaten since '02? Well, Even though their #1 rider for this year is the son of a champion racer (who "taught" riders like Ty Howard and Ben Spies a "lesson or two") and his grandfather is the president of CMRA, he was NOT their #1 rider last year. That rider is now only Americans that will be racing in the FIM 600cc Superstock European Championship. Oh... and one last thing. Like our "young gun", their #1 rider is also 16 years old. The #1 rider last year is now 17 and I'm glad he's "studying" in Europe.
If our new rider wasn't the son of the CMRA chaplain, I'd just have to tell him that he was... well... FUCKED! At least when it came to "settling any scores" he might have with this other rider.
TIME TO GRID
Grid position is mostly determined by when your entry is received by the race officials. Again, in true BMR fashion, we turned ours in on the night before the race. That means we were to start in the very back of the grid. Of course, the #1 team was on the front row. We were not too worried, since it was a four our race anyway. In endurance racing, it is all about fast pit stops and rider changes anyway. Oh yeah... and not crashing. Since their #1 rider was hanging out at our trailer the night before, we learned that he was not going to be the first rider on their team to go out and he only planned on riding one stint during the whole race. Thus, we decided to send our "slowest" rider out first. If for any reason, since he built the bike, he'd most likely recognize any possible "minor" problems before they became "major" ones.
THE DROP OF THE GREEN FLAG
By the end of the second lap, we learn a small lesson. Never believe what a 16 year old kid who rides on the #1 team says the night before a race. Obviously, even though he is a great rider, he does not have any say in the team's rider order. It appears that one of the reasons they are such a winning team is that they get such a commanding lead in the first hours, it becomes almost impossible to overcome by the likes of "mere mortals" like ourselves. After just 30 minutes into the race, when our first rider came in, we were already six laps down. Weather was not being very friendly either. Though the forecasted rain didn't come, the temperatures continued to DROP! It might have been all of 29 degrees. This was just insane.
Our only response was to send out our top gun as our second rider, in hopes of chipping a little bit off of that lead. Being an experienced mini racer, we had planned on him riding for at least 45 minutes. When he would come in, we'd slam about 1.5 gallons of fuel in the tank (it only holds 2.5 gallons) and send out our third rider. After 38 minutes, our super rider starts tapping his helmet, signaling that he would be coming in... eight minutes sooner then planned. Hmmmmmm... all of us were wondering what was the deal and figured that it had to be due to the bitting cold. Still, at the end of the first hour, we had cut their lead to four laps, were 4th in class and 5th overall. Not too shabby, I thought.
IT WAS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE
When he came in, he was yelling something about the rear end feeling REAL loose. As we all started looking over the back of the bike, the rear wheel and chain tensioned all seemed to be fine. He continued to yell something about the swingarm. HUH? Looking a little further up the bike, the "problem" was discovered. The nut holding the swingarm bolt had come off and the bolt was starting to back out. Well... well. What do you know? Being a "Mini" race, I did not bring down the team's "War Wagon" (my Craftsman bottom tool box mounted on a Harbor Freight wagon, and the five tubs of "spare everything" on a accompanying dolly). Instead, I just brought down a small tool box with a handful of tools and a few spare levers in case of a crash. Needless to say, spare swingarm nuts was not part of the "spares" I brought trackside. That meant that someone had to run all the way back to the trailer and start looking for a nut that MIGHT fit the RS125's swingarm. Still, no one panicked. While one of the riders was looking for the nut, we went ahead and refueled the bike.
LADY LUCK CAN BE VERY FICKLE AT THE TRACK & PLAYS NO FAVORITES
After about four minutes had passed (or about 3 laps), our young gun's father leaned over and told me that the #1 team had just crashed. It also was not bad enough to bring out a red flag (which was good), but it was also not bad enough to where their bike had to be towed in either. Ah, how even the mighty can fall. After a total of 8:30, we found a R6 rear axle nut that fit perfectly, our third rider mounted the bike and we were racing again. It was pretty hard to not grin as I looked down pit row and saw that the #1 team was still sitting there with bunch of mechanics swarming around their bike... as our rider rode out of pit lane.
After a marathon ride of 43 minutes, our third rider came and we sent out our first rider again. We were still holding our own and actually had moved up to 4th overall. This was not due to getting any laps back, since we were still 4 laps down from the leaders and we were also still 4th in class. Our move up in the overall standings was due to the fourth place overall team (in a different class) having to make repairs from a crash. Of course, it also had to do with the #1 team repairing their bike and getting it back out onto the track and not losing anymore time than we had due to the swingarm nut.
Though our first rider was the team's slowest, he had cut almost THREE SECONDS off of his previous stint's lap times and was helping us maintain our position. We were now into the third hour and hopes of a podium in our class were starting to be felt in our pit. There was a "upside" and a "downside" to those hopes. The upside was that to get 3rd in class, we'd also get a 3rd overall. The downside was... we'd have to get into third overall if we were to even see a podium in class. Ah, but Lady Luck came again, but this time, it was to PISS on some of the teams. First, the 3rd place team had a mechanical failure. Now we were in THIRD! Oh, but it gets even better... the #1 team crashes AGAIN! OH BABY! IT IS SO ON NOW! Not only was it time to make up some laps, but now it looks like we might even have a shot at the big, bad, haven't been beaten in two and half years, NUMBER ONE TEAM!
That feeling of euphoria was quickly dashed when they got the bike quickly repaired and back out on the track. Unlike their team and their numerous Longacre triple stopwatch clipboards and two-way radios, all I had was three Sam's Club stopwatches duct taped to a regular office clipboard with a legal pad to write times on. Still, that was all I need to realize that the kid that was visiting us the night before and who said he was going to ride just one stint... was FULL OF IT! Why? Because it didn't take a rocket scientist to look at the lap time they were putting down to realize that he was back on the track. When the third hour results were posted, we were still in third, but was also still four laps down. I could also see that number climbing as I saw the repeated 8 to 10 second difference in our lap times and theirs. Oh well, I thought, you really can't complain about a third place finish.
TIME TO GET SERIOUS & PUT OUR THINKING CAPS ON
When the #1 team pitted and just did a rider change without refueling, I breathed a sigh of relief. At least we were not going to be something like eight laps down when it was all over with. Then we realized that odds were that they were going to have to pit again at least one more time for fuel. Hmmmmm.... we too had planned on refueling when our first rider came in and we sent our top rider out to finish the race. We were using about 0.8 of a gallon every 30 minutes. That meant that when our rider came in, we'd have about a gallon left in the tank and there was 40 minutes left in the race. In sending our fastest rider out, he'll use gas at a faster rate than our other two riders. Sooooooo.... would a gallon be enough? Would there even be a gallon in the tank?
Oh great. If nothing else goes wrong (losing parts or crashing), we got third overall almost locked up. If we send our fastest rider out without refueling and run out of gas, we will be just another "also ran" and be lucky to finish in the top 20 overall. We decide that when our rider comes in, we'll unscrew the cap (yes, our plastic gas cap SCREWS on and off), look into the tank and if the level is below the "first divider" we'll add fuel. If it is above it, we'll send our fast kid out without refueling. Since their #1 rider has already come in, we still might be able to make up some of the laps. Being only two laps down from second place at the three hour mark, we might even get a shot at second overall (and in class). That is if everything goes perfectly during our last stop.
DISASTER IN THE PITS
When our rider taps his helmet, we go into overdrive in the pit. On his next lap by, we signal him we and the next rider is ready for him to come in. Down pit row he comes flying. I stand ready with the fast filling Hunsacker fuel jug (our quick fill jug used on the big bike won't fit the mini). Our fast rider's father is ready to unscrew the cap and our third rider stands ready with the fire extinguisher. Our rider almost does a stoppie in our pit, the engine is killed (mandatory during all refueling) and gas cap is quickly removed. As he looks down into the tank, I am already sticking the hug's huge hose into the tank and turning the jug up.
Just as fuel starts pouring into the tank, he starts shouting.... NO! NO! HE'S GOOD! HE'S GOOD! I immediately turn the jug back down and start pulling the hose out when it happens. There was still fuel in the hose, spilling all over the tank and starting to run towards the seat. ARRRRRGH! Luck would have it that I might be an idiot, but I am not stupid. I had a hand towel tied around the end of the hose and was able to slide it off to quickly wipe off the tank and keep it from getting onto the seat of the bike. Our best rider was now on the bike, pushing it down pit lane (no electric or kick starters on these bikes) and was back onto the track with 38 minutes left in the race. Though little time was lost over the spill, I was furious at myself for making such a mistake. After two seasons of refueling endurance bikes, I know that I am better than that and don't usually make such time costing errors. Usually, that is.
DOWN TO THE WIRE
After about three laps, I realize.... OH MY GAWD! This boy is on FIRE! No, no... not "flames' fire, "FAST" fire. He was turning some of the fastest lap times of the whole event and was a full TEN SECONDS FASTER then the #1 team. I almost wet my pants when I also realized that they would have to make ANOTHER pit stop for fuel! Oh yeah! Its ON like Donkey Kong NOW! Sure enough, the come in for their last splash of fuel and rider change. Unlike me, these guys have it down to a science and can change both tires in less then 17 seconds. It didn't help that they were NOT changing tires this stop. They had done that during the repairs of one of their crashes. We were still running on the same set we had started the race with. Even rain tires for minis aren't cheap and changing tires during a mini endurance will never be an option for our team.
Within a handful of seconds, their last rider heads out pit lane and onto the track. As another few laps go by and we get close to 10 minutes remaining in the race, I look at my stop watches and can not believe what I'm seeing. Our rider is now making up FOURTEEN SECONDS A LAP! Another lap goes by and now it is FIFTEEN SECONDS. The gap between their rider and ours is now less then 45 seconds. Another lap goes by and it is SEVENTEEN SECONDS. There is less than five minutes left in the race and we are closing fast. On the next lap, it is gone up to EIGHTEEN SECONDS and the gap is less then 20 seconds.
LAST SECONDS OF FRUSTRATION
At all CMRA events, there are TV monitors in the Tech area that show the race timing and position for all the riders in the all of the races. I should say in ALMOST ever CMRA event. For reasons still unknown, they did have a monitor in Tech, but it was NOT turned on! As the clock ticks down, we are cursed by not having a clue as where we stand. Were we still in third place? Did we make up the two lap difference and move into second? Had we cut into that four lap lead the #1 team had on us? DAMN! WHERE ARE WE?
Unlike sprint races, there isn't a last lap white flag in endurance racing. As I watch the seconds tick away on the stopwatch I use to time the race, I realize that we will likely not catch the #1 team. Be it to get another lap back or even move into the lead. Who knew? Even the track announcer didn't know if where the riders stood. When I saw the flagman bring the checkered flag out from behind his back, I knew it was over. As I watched the #1 team pass the start/finish line and scored yet another overall victory, I could at least relish the fact that our rider was still closing on them and was less then 10 seconds behind.
THE TRUTH SHALL BE KNOWN
Indeed, he was just 10 seconds behind. That is.... 10 seconds and one lap. The sad reality was that it would have taken at least six more laps for us to get that lap back and catch them again to take the lead. All was not lost though. In the past, when they handed out the awards, we were always back at our trailer either getting ready for the next day of racing or packing up and getting ready to go home. Even though we needed to get ready for the "Big Bike" sprint races for the following day, for the time being, there was another place we needed to be at that moment that was far more important... at the awards ceremony. Being just one lap down from the overall winning team was good enough to not only secure our place as second in class, but second overall as well.
ONE OF THE HAPPIEST MOMENTS IN MY LIFE
Even though we will eventually have five riders on the team, there is officially only three registered for now. Thus, I assumed that we would be getting three plaques. After our fastest and youngest rider gave his brief thank you speech, he returned to where the rest of us were and started to hand out the plaques to the other two riders. Then... then he turned to me... and handed me a plaque. Stunned, I asked what this was for, after all, we only had three riders. Why the fourth plaque? As with all endurance teams, be it "Big Bike" or Minis, on the team entry form, one of the riders is designated as a "Team Captain". It is also mandatory that there be a non-riding member that is designated as a "Team Owner". That would be me. The fourth plaque is for the Team Owner.... and that would be... me.
To be honest with you, my eyes still well up when I type this. It is such an honor to be part of this team and while a little ole plaque for a second place in a silly ole club level mini endurance race might not mean much to 99% of the motorcycle riders out there, it is one of the proudest moments in my life.
NOT THAT IT CAN NOT BE TOPPED
Though the plaque is great, the overall winner not only got plaques as well, but a 4'+ tall trophy to go with those plaques. Now that the team has got its first "wood"... I WANT PLASTIC... DAMN IT! In my joy, after congratulating the winning team owner (who if you remember is also the President of CMRA), before walking away, I just smiled and told him... It's ON now. BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! It was kinda easy to make a fool out of myself when I had leaned moments earlier that the reason they made their #1 rider go put his leathers back on and do a second stint was because we were closing in on them way too fast and we had yet to put our fastest rider out for the last stint. They were FRIGGIN' SCARED we would catch them! Catch them on a bike with no rear brakes, parts falling off and running on the same set of tires for the ENTIRE race!
Oh yeah... it is so ON! (getting $200 in tire money can make ya talk stupid too)
NEXT TIME
This week, the little YZ85 engine "that could" is coming out of the bike and will be completely worked over. The suspension will be tuned and the brakes fixed (the front wasn't that great either). Come next event, the now "seasoned" MINI BACKMARKER RACING TEAM (our official Mini Endurance team name) will have a couple more little "something-somethings" for the "top dogs". Not only will the bike be better tuned, but we will be adding out original #1, now expert class rider onto the mini team. To make it even sweeter, their #1 rider will not be making all of the events this season either.
Ah, but one can not be too confident. Lady Luck and her friend "Race Karma" has a way of bitting even the most prepared of teams. Had the #1 team not had those two crashes (and possibly three), we would still be 5+ laps down. On the other hand, had we not lost that swingarm bolt, the trophy would have been ours. Still, endurance racing has no place for "ifs" and "would have - should haves". Even with the best equipment, upmost preparation and fastest riders, "victory" is NEVER a sure thing until that checkered flag drops. Okay... it still doesn't hurt to have your shit together.
THE MORNING AFTER
The sprint races the following day way an exercise in humility. It was another "balmy" day in the upper 20's. Though we didn't have any of our 600s there, we did have a '02 TZ250, a TZ125 and RS125 to mix it up with in the Sunday sprints. That humility came early when the rider of the TZ250, while running in third place (his best ever), could no longer feel the levers due to the bitting cold. In his hurry to get to the grid, he forgot to put latex gloves on underneath his leather gloves and quickly paid the price for it. Things did not get any better in the 125 races. Due to crappy starts for both riders, a mid pack finish was about the best they could muster.
We decided to run our mini endurance bike in the new "Clubman" class and looked forward to terrorizing the EX250s and other such bikes as we had the day before. Since the Clubman race was right after the 125 race, I was supposed to have the bike warmed up and be waiting at the grid so one of our riders could just move the transponder to the mini and get back onto the the track to grid for the next race. I knew things weren't going well when the little bike that "always fires up easily" when push started... didn't. It wasn't helping that I was trying to start it by pushing it in a dirt field. Every time I would let out the clutch on the bike, now running slicks, the rear tire would just lock up and drag in the dirt.
FINE! I'll just push the bitch down this hill, jump on the bike, punch the lever into second and pop the clutch. All was going as I had planned until I got the the "punch the lever" part. Right as I stomped on the shift lever, one of the rods that was welded on as a shift linkage... broke. Our weekend was officially over.
WELL ALMOST....
Just as everything is loaded up and you start to head back home, you have both a happy and sad feeling about it all being over. Though we knew that we would likely encounter some icy roads on our return trip, we were not too worried. With the new tires on the tow truck we'd be okay. We had hoped that the new (and smaller sized) tires would help with the gas mileage and torque issue with my lil' Hemi, but for some reason, on the return trip, it didn't seem to help as much as they did going down. So it was back to the "getting momentum" on downhills to be able to maintain speed on the uphills. No big deal really... until we saw the blue lights.
We weren't 30 miles from the track and we ended up getting pulled over by some podunk popo. What I thought was kinda strange was that my Valentine One detector that worked just fine going down, didn't make a peep. The officer informed me that he clocked me at the city limits doing 70 in a 55. Oh really? So what he was telling me is that he clocked me with radar two miles back, chased me down, PASSED ME without any of us seeing him, TURNED AROUND, came back at me AND TURNED AROUND AGAIN to pull in behind me. Now THAT was a neat trick. Not to mention that the Garmin GPS that was sitting on my dash did not seem to quite agree with his "version" of things. Go figure. Not quite sure on the total cost of the "violation", but it will be somewhere between $145 and $230. It would cost too much to go back and try to fight it so I guess I should be happy that I'm helping their town make payroll.
Oh well. Its now back to work and get the mini motor done as well as put the ole trusty '99 R6 endurance bike back together for next month's season opener for the Big Bike Endurance. That is... as soon as I get the motor back from getting the transmission fixed. SO much for "upmost preparation", huh?
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There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.
-Ernest Hemingway
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Posts: 3212
posted February 21, 2006 11:39 PM
Oh yeah... and a mention on Road Racing World's website (again)....
The Central Motorcycle Roadracing Association kicked off its 2006 campaign with round one of its 10-round series at Oak Hill Raceway near Henderson, Texas, this past weekend. Despite temperatures that dipped into the lower 20s, 520 sprint entries and 29 mini endurance teams braved the cold to compete in the opening round.
Action got underway on Saturday with the first round of the Shogun Motorsports Mini Endurance Series, which pays a $500 purse. The 4-hour race was won by Team K&N. The Honda RS85-mounted team also topped the Formula 4 division. Mini Backmarker Racing claimed the overall runner up spot and second in the Formula 4 class on a Yamaha TZ85, while GMAN Racing 2 finished third overall and third in Formula 4 on a Honda RS85.
Yeah baby!
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There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.
-Ernest Hemingway
posted February 22, 2006 10:53 AM
i wouldn't fix the rear brake. i'd also disconnect the front brake, put the kid back on the bike, and tell him to go out and ''settlle the score.''
always a good read with almost anything you write redelk.
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E-tard
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posted February 22, 2006 12:18 PM
Edited By: redelk on 23 Feb 2006 12:17
Thanks everyone.
Otis, the names were removed to protect no one. Actually, it was because I had posted it at another place where I preferred leaving the names out and just copied and pasted it from there.
The riders were:
Pierson Is the one that actually built the bike and would be termed as the team's "slowest" rider. He also rides the TZ250 and TZ125.
Tony is the new "guest" member of BMR. "Guest Member", meaning he just shares in the travel expenses and "owns" no stock in the team itself (i.e. help make trailer payments). He rides a Honda RS125.
Zack is the "Young Gun". He is more of a "Guest Rider" that only shares in the cost of operating the mini endurance bike. He is a Expert class rider (at 16) and runs a SV650 in the Heavyweight Twins class.
Frank is Zack's father and chaplain for CMRA. His knowledge of "Mini Endurance Racing Tricks" is rather impressive. For example, instead of refueling with a fuel jug, in the future, we will just swap gas tanks. Only one pin holds them in place. Takes less than 5 seconds when done properly.
Jonathan wasn't there. He was at an "Invitational" dirt bike ride. He is who has been our #1 rider and was recently bumped up to expert.
____________
There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.
-Ernest Hemingway
Moderator
Please... speak to the hand.
Posts: 3212
posted February 23, 2006 12:16 PM
Edited By: redelk on 23 Feb 2006 15:51
Rick, naw... we'll always be going in the opposite direction. The four tracks we will run on this season will be:
Oak Hill Raceway - Henderson, TX (about 25 miles SW of Marshall, TX)
Hallett Motor Racing Circuit - Hallett, OK (about 40 miles W of Tulsa, OK)
The Motorsports Ranch - Cresson, TX (about 30 miles S of Ft. Worth, TX)
Texas World Speedway - College Station, TX
CMRA plans on adding two more tracks in the future, but not sure when. They are
No Problem Raceway - Baton Rouge, LA
The Motorsports Ranch - Houston, TX (not affiliated with the one in Cresson).
Chris, we could really use the extra $$$$...
What really sucks is that neither of the new tracks are that close to us in Little Rock, AR. This season, we will travel somewhere around 7,500 miles to attend all 10 events. If they drop one of our current tracks and add both of the new tracks for next season, it will add about another 1,100 miles to our travel distance. That means we'll have close to $3,000 in just truck gas. You can add another $900 to that total for generator gas.
The entry fees are: 1st Entry: $70, 2nd Entry: $50 and each additional entry: $35. So if each rider ran three sprint races on Sunday, he'd be out $155. For Mini Endurance, the entry fee is $25 per hour and the events are either 2, 4 or 6 hours long. For "Big Bike" Endurance its $40 per hour and those events are 4, 5, 6, or 8 hours.
For example, the next even has both a 2 hour Mini and a 4 hour Big Bike endurance race. We'll have at least four riders also running sprints. That works out to over $800 in entry fees alone. Transport and generator fuel will run about $400. Food and drink costs will be around $200.
Then you gotta figure in fresh tires for 4 to 6 bikes (about $300 a set). We'll also go through about 15 gallons of VP U2, 10 gallons of VP U4 and 10 gallons of 93 pump gas. I think the VP fuels go for about $15 per gallon. Throw in engine oil changes, paying the susension tuner and so on... this next trip could involve around $4,000 of out of pocket expenses.
When you add up the cost of getting two R6 motors repaired, the Mini motor worded over, costs of TZ250, a couple of 125s (always replacing shit on those "2 smokes"), Jonathan's R6 tweaking AND what our various "guest" riders (up to 6 by season's end) will spend on their own personal sprint bikes and that will work out to about $60,000+ for the season (covering about 12 bikes).
"Lucky" for me, my expense will likely be under $400. Then again... I don't race. I'm just the "Pit Bitch". For the whole season, I'll be out something like $2,800 out of my own pocket. Since I only pay a share of the transport/generator fuel, food and my own gate/camping fees. The rest of the guys will be out a minimum of twice that amount, if not three times that.
So I figure a check for $75K would be a good start. Send me a e-mail and I'll give you the instructions on where to deposit it.
____________
There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.
-Ernest Hemingway
Needs a job
as a Deal's Gap tour guide.
Posts: 4767
posted February 23, 2006 12:38 PM
Damn Sherm, I was hoping I'd get to make one of you guys' races. Maybe someday.....
Now about the financial end of things, I ain't got a lot of loot, but I know a horse faced whore from Lake City, FL that can turn a dime or 3 if need be. She ain't pretty, but she's all I got. A lot lizard extraordinaire!!!
I'll go along with Chris, if I hit the powerball BMR will receive a nice donation. ____________
What we're dealin' with here is a complete lack of respect for the law.
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posted February 21, 2006 11:12 PM
Edited By: 
posted February 23, 2006 09:59 AM
She ain't pretty, but she's all I got. A lot lizard extraordinaire!!!
