swft
Needs a life
Full throttle!
Posts: One MEEEEEELLION
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posted June 27, 2002 04:19 AM
Last weekend's racing
I had mentioned roadracing and thought I'd share the post that I put up on bikeland on the 24th:
Went out to Pacific Raceway this weekend with the SV 650.
Saturday
My best time last year on the old, faster track was a 1m49s lap. This year, there's a new track portion to the right of the dragstrip, and then a jog left back onto the old track about halfway down. The rest of the track is the same layout, with better runoffs than last year. I started saturday practice on slicks, which was the first time I had ever ridden the bike on slicks. Wow! That was amazing!!. In previous sessions at PR, I had only briefly touched my knee in turn 9, and never in turn 2. With the slicks on, I was putting the knee down hard in turn 2, 4 and 9! I got done with the first practice and my lap times were solid 1:48's. Considering the new track layout adds roughly 1.5 seconds per lap, I felt I had made a greater than 2 second a lap improvement. The second practice session, I got behind some of the faster riders, and followed their lines. I felt much more confident on the bike, and it was amazing just how fast you could go into the corners with those slicks. I started to realize that the limiting factor had always been me, not the bike. After the second practice, I returned to the pits, walked around a bit, hydrated and then went over and checked my times. Jesus! Unexplored territory! 1:46.198! Almost three seconds a lap faster than the first practice! I decided to call it a day, since I was saving the slicks for a friend to ride the bike on, and didn't want to burn them up too much before his race. But I looked forward to Sunday!
Sunday
Shit! I got the schedule for sunday, and my race was first up! Normally, the 650 Supersport Twins race later in the day, but there they were at 10:00 am! That meant that I was going to have to scramble to change the tires, get the bike teched, make the riders meeting, and then get out for medium group practice. And I would have about ten minutes rest between medium practice and the race! I managed to get everything taken care of, and got out on the medium practice session. Just to clarify a point for everyone: SuperSport classes mandate the use of DOT tires. The slicks I had practiced on yesterday were not legal for this class, so I had to change tires in the morning and get the bike reteched. I'm really happy that last year, I had made the decision to buy a second set of rims for the SV. Made moving back and forth from the DOT tires to the slicks a much faster process than taking the tires over to get unmounted and remounted. Practice was a quick ten minute dash, and I used what I had learned on saturday, feeling much more confident in my abilities and the grip available with the tires. A quick dash back to the pits, and I listened for the call for 650SS Twins and Open Singles. Rolling up to the pit gates, I looked for my grid position. Hmm...Third rown second from the left. That left one row of bikes behind me, and a little bit of work for the start. The red light went out, and we were off! I would like to say that I streaked to the front and won the race, but the reality is that a 225 lb man on a 650cc motorcycle isn't likely to win any drag races to the first turn. This was my first race in the 650SS Twin class (last year was all Novice class racing) and I was concerned with not f**king up and embarrassing myself.  So I mostly maintained my position. I had three fairly bad incidents, and two times where I almost ran off the track, so I can say that I gave up five positions because of those mistakes. For anyone going out to Pacific Raceways for a track day adrenalinefreaks.com you will have a great time! Just watch for the chuckhole coming out of turn two. It's gotten where it will provoke violent tankslappers. That was two of my mistakes. The third was when I caught a seam leaned over and slid the back tire. Without thinking, I chopped the gas, which threw the bike up, and I went into a handstand on the clipons at about eighty miles an hour! Landed back on the pegs, let the bike settle, and kept going. Whew! The internal clock in my head seemed to run faster and faster. I felt that it took a *long* time to get to the halfway point. Suddenly, there was the white flag! Then the checkered flag! The cooldown lap felt good tho, with all the cornerworkers applauding our groups incident-free race. I finished well back, in 18th place, but very happy to have gotten a chance to compete with a seasoned group of SV riders. BTW, the racing in this class is *tight*. These bikes are pretty close in performance, so you don't see many riders tearing off into the distance down the front straight. All the time is made in the corners. Do the corner right, you advance two places. Do it wrong, you go back two...  After the race, I got back to my pit, got the leathers off, and grabbed the biggest bottle of water in the fridge. I think I inhaled the whole thing before I made it over to look at the race results and checked out my best lap time. I was expecting a time somewhere between my fast and slow time on the previous practice day. Holy bananas! A 1:43! On DOT tires! Obviously, the slicks were a confidence booster, and I was able to use that confidence on sunday as well. Great fun! BTW, remember how I talked about touching my knee in the turns? The left slider is about halfway worn through.
Peace,
Swft
p.s.
I gotta tell you, I've never gone faster, cornered harder, stopped quicker in over 20 years of motorcycle riding than I did once I started roadracing last year. The UK dealers have the right idea, where they include trackdays with the purchase of the motorcycle, so that the rider can go out and explore what the bike can do in a safe environment.
  
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big12
Novice Class
Posts: 91
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posted June 27, 2002 04:50 AM
Wow that's a great read I hope one day I will be able to do some kind of track day or race school.
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swft
Needs a life
Full throttle!
Posts: One MEEEEEELLION
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posted June 27, 2002 05:01 AM
What part of the country do you live in, Big12?
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swft
Needs a life
Full throttle!
Posts: One MEEEEEELLION
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posted June 27, 2002 08:42 AM
Boston, MA? Hmm, wonder if there's motorcycle riding at Brainerd?
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TReMor
Expert Class
Dazed and Confused
Posts: 115
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posted June 27, 2002 09:03 AM
Thanks for the fun to read post, Swft. I've been itching to do a track day since I got my 12, and I'm sure one of these days I'll squeeze one in. Here in SoCal we have lots of opportunities around, so I just have to find the time and coin to take advantage of one. 
BTW, isn't Brainerd in Minnesota? That's a long drive from Massachusetts.
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Zhooligan
Moderator
Post Whore Extraordinaire!
Posts: 3829
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posted June 27, 2002 07:31 PM
You have come along ways Swft. I can remeber a very frustrated guy thinking about something other than racing after a couple of nasty crashes last year. Good to see you having fun my friend.
____________
To those who do not count their life in years, but in how life
has touched them in the past and how much it can hold in the
future; -- Youth is forever.
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swft
Needs a life
Full throttle!
Posts: One MEEEEEELLION
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posted June 28, 2002 01:54 AM
Wait till you get out there on those slicks! Massive traction and the bike's light enough and not powerful enough to overwhelm the tires...Call it a four stroke 125 GP bike!
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