kz2zx
Pro
Nobody in Particular
Posts: 1166
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posted May 02, 2005 05:28 AM
OT - my third race weekend
I am not as fast as those guys who've been doing this for years. And I'm not as much of a natural as most of the 18-yr-olds in MW Supersport. Having said that, I had a really positive weekend.
This was Las Vegas Motor Speedway's Classic Course, and the event was a CCS Twin-Sprint weekend. I learned the track quickly, but had some trouble with some corners all weekend.
So, Saturday's races were nothing special for me - I think next season I will be going with a two-pronged approach: lose more weight, and get a 636...
But Sunday's race stood out... Sunday I had only the one race - I signed up for MW Superbike, a class I have no business being in, since my '00 carbureted R6 is supersport-legal, but I entered only because it was a race scheduled early enough to justify a Saturday night in Vegas and an early-enough return trip to Phoenix. The race:
Two-wave start. I am pretty good at controlling wheelies (and the bike does point it's nose to the sky if I'm not careful) , but I guess my mass is too hard to accelerate, because most of the field is passing me as we enter turn one. Two of the amateurs in front of me collide with a third - one stays up, the other two disintegrate into a furball. At least one other racer is forced wide, and I go wide, too, to avoid the (I think it was brakepedal/rearset) junk on the inside, plus the riders and bikes are tumbling together HARD - I watched a splinter of helmet fiberglass get chipped out of one guy's lid in slow-motion, then I was by them, and had enough room to turn, and I did, hard on the gas. The other racer forced wide I saw run off the track and get tangled up in mud and orange cones, but I had no time for him - I was into turn two, and I was in HOT, but I gently leaned harder, and pushed the bike just a tad more upright off of me, and rolled on the gas (really close to the rev limiter) and we made it t through, she and I...
And we kinda danced a little for the rest of the race, me taking little liberties with her composure, and she rewarding me with a great feeling in the gut, but me wanting to make it back to the home track and really race with my club in two weeks, so I didn't push TOO hard or too fast, and she and I just clicked off laps.
I was waiting for the fastest experts to catch me (the two-wave start thingie) and then I set about to block the experts, and make them work for their race - I was not in the mood to be easy. Kane Lasky and whoever the heck the guy was who was his only competition all weekend blew by me on the back straight lap 6 - I slowed them down not at all since the track is 100' wide at that point - but damn if I didn't make some others work for it, I could HEAR teeth gnashing behind me in the carusels the last two laps. I have no idea where I finished in the standings that race - results are not online yet, and I needed to leave before they were posted at the track. But it was at least 4th from the bottom 
The switch to Michelins is, I think, behind me, and I need only to seriously find the testicular fortitude to just trust the damn rubber and go for it. I think I'll be ready in two weeks for the next races at my home track.
Could this sport be any more addictive?
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ASMA 47
WERA 147
www.dhowellbooks.com
  
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Hells Dark Lord
Needs a life
living life, and loving it.
Posts: 7981
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posted May 02, 2005 01:30 PM
good read KZ, I wish I had the time and the money to make a go at a little racing.
A buddy and I went to Nashville to the superspeedway and did a trackday. Ed bargy was doing a school there and we went just for shits and giggles. I showed up with slicks on the bike and it was raining. I took the wheels off and took them to the Michelin guy and had him mount a set of Piolot Powers on.(that is another story)
It never really rained on us that day, but it rained while we wernt on the track. so the track never really dried out. It was my first time on this track, first time on these tires, and first time on the track in the rain. Lots of firsts for me, so my first session was taking it very easy.
After the first session I was getting to really like the feel of the Pilot Powers and they were doing very well on the wet track. The only time they slipped or slid was if I screwed up, as long as I stayed smooth so did they.
On the start of the 2nd ssession I come up behind a guy with and novice WERA plate on his bike, I followed him to the straight and then passed him with HP on the banking. 2 laps later I got passed very easily buy a guy on a GSXR 750 with rain tires on. I was like dayummmmmmmmm.......he was rolling. Later I got passed by another guy on a SV 650 with and expert plate on his bike. I could make ground on him easy on the straight, but he got back everything I gained on the straight, and then some in the curves.
Over all we had a very good time, the only person to crash was an 8 year old boy tuning his 80cc roadracer for the next days races. And the only guys that passed me were wearing expert plates on their bikes. I felt really good passing the novice WERA guys on the 10. Espicially seeing some of them were using rain tires, and I was dragging knees on street tires.....Pilot Powers......more on them later.....heheheh
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When in doubt, lean farther and go faster....
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