Hello all, it's been awhile since I've had some racing to report about. My current state of unemployment, coupled with a race bike that under steers like a mofo, have limited my racing forays substantially this year. I know I'm whining, but with no championships to contend for after getting the bike so late, I'm just trying to develop the thing for as little as possible and determine whether I'm going to sell it or race it next year.

Kevin Murray from MCE Racing has been inviting Britt and yours truly to Arroyo Seco for a year or so, and we've been saying we'll do it for a similar amount of time. The September round was agreed upon and like tax day and Christmas, it rolled around much more quickly than you can say "stocking stuffers from AM/PM" or "Audit."

As our story unfolds, our hero last rode the ZX-10 on a track day prior to the August WSMC round, and was discouraged that the geometry changes made (maxxing out the rear shock length and dropping the fork spring rate to 0.95 Kg/mm) hadn't made enough difference to get the beast to hold a line. As a result, I didn't race the thing last month. Since then, I downloaded a newer Power Commander map, installed a race air filter and sent the shock in for a re-valve.

A word here about shocks. I'm fed up with Ohlins. I have friends who work there (Doug Shaw is awesome, Mike Watt, David), and it's a good thing. Clearly, they make the best stuff in the world. Crystal clearly, you and I can't buy it. The stuff we get is second rate, valved poorly, and expensive. I bought the early edition of the 2006 ZX-10R shock because I thought I'd rather deal with sourcing a spring compressor when necessary then deal with mounting the remote reservoir on a Penske. That, my good comrades, was DUMB! The Ohlins came with a lower clevis that was too short to fully maximize the length, too soft a spring even though I told them my weight and valving that was so ridiculously soft I cranked all the low speed, all the high speed, and all the rebound in and didn't get close! I've never had (or spoken with someone who has) a Penske that you couldn't race outta the box. Sure, you could sometimes make em better, but they were useable. I'm speaking as a club privateer here, but from now on, Penske shocks for me when possible.

Little,Big Racing has been sponsored for quite some time by GP Suspension. My good friend Dave Hodges is the owner, and I was at least smart enough to get him involved early and use his 25mm cartridge kit in the forks (he told me to get the Penske, as well). Whew. I sent the Ohlins to him for revalving, and waited for it to return with fingers crossed. In normal fashion, I procrastinated about getting it up there and we had to wait to leave for New Mexico until the shock arrived at 4pm Thursday. We were supposed to be on the track at 8am Friday. It takes at least 10 hours to drive to Arroyo Seco from San Diego. This new math really sucks.

Britt and I headed out towards New Mexico at 6pm. We got as far as Tucson, AZ before deciding that "late and refreshed" was better than "early and blitzed." We crashed at a Super 8 and smuggled the dogs in. We were on our way early and rolled into Arroyo Seco around mid-morning.

If you have been racing for awhile, you will appreciate a stop at Arroyo Seco and their club, the ASMA. I've been describing the experience as a cross between a track day and club racing-that's a compliment, by the way. It's not that the racing isn't competitive; they have some very fast guys there, racers who win CCS and WERA races and who flirt with the lap records at the tracks they race. Rather, it's that the grids are smaller (the largest I raced had 15 bikes) and the racers and the club are very laid back. They tap a keg and have a barbecue Saturday night for example, and when asked when the track closed we were told "just go back out, we'll flag ya down in awhile."

We got the bikes ready and on the track for the afternoon, and started to learn the counter clockwise configuration. The track can be run either way, there's lot's of run off and nothing to hit, and although the pavement is ok, it's bumpy in spots and quite narrow. It's fun despite those draw backs, with all the little track charm it can pack into its mile and change length.

Initially, I just rode around carefully, trying to learn the track and not do anything dumb. The bike felt ok, not great, but the tires were old slicks and I figured that might be a major contributor and didn't freak out. The air filter and new map made a big difference, as the thing felt like a rocket ship even though the track elevation is about 4200 feet. The short gearing Ivan Garza recommended was spot on, and the thing would wheelie in fourth gear down the straight. We both got enough sessions to learn the basic layout and get an idea of gear selection before the end of the day.

Saturday after the track closed, we stayed to do some maintenance and set up. As the sun went down, the most vicious swarm of mosquitoes descended upon us and began to kick our collective ass's. Seeing as how it was New Mexico in September, I didn't really feel the need to take a jacket and long pants, and we weren't packing bug spray-I didn't realize New Mexico is so much like Alaska! Both Britt and I eventually gave up on working on the bikes, as the bites were piling up and the madness was setting in. At one point, I looked down and counted 6 of the little demons sucking my blood, and another time managed to kill 4 with one swat.

We finally got outta there and checked into the room, but found that the town of Deming rolls up the carpets early, with most restaurants closing by 9pm. We were on our way to Denny's when we ran across a good local steakhouse that was open until 10pm. Whew.

The next morning the racers were there and I got a chance to see how fast I was compared to everyone else. Considering that my bike was not going to be ideal (at this point I still have the stock street bike upper on the thing and am running pump-gas and a map off the internet) I decided to keep running the old slicks and pump gas. I have to remember to put Velcro for my lap timer on both sides of the bike, as I didn't have any and couldn't get my lap timer to work. I followed the faster guys around and was getting held up by most of them, so I figured things were ok, as I hadn't made one suspension change in addition to the shagged tires.

In the afternoon I grabbed Phil Allison from Evan Steele Performance and had him help me measure my sag. It was very clear my rear spring was too soft, and because it's an Ohlins with the hydraulic preload adjuster, I couldn't crank enough preload in either, as the adjuster was set in the wrong spot. ARRGH. I cranked the thing all the way in and got 27mm of sag, which is actually not too bad, but since the thing was really blowing though the stroke, I would have tried living with some harshness and dialed in another 2mm or so, but no go. Of course, even if I would have had a heavier spring with me, there was no spring compressor in the pits. I set the front at 37mm and went back out after some judicious fiddling with the compression and rebound I went back out.

Now that I've maximized my geometry (read lengthen the shock as much as possible, using a longer clevis I had to BUY from Ohlins, and spacers under the frame clevis), it's become easier to get my spring rates right. I started at the front with 1.0 springs, went to .975, but with the lower rear ride height it was still a little firm, then went to .95 which seemed fine until I got the rear end closer to a setting that might work, and after lapping the track for the afternoon, I was wishing for little more spring, as I was bottoming multiple times per lap. Alas, the heavier fork springs were at home.

Next up on the hit list were the front brakes. Galfer is a new sponsor for Little,Big Racing, and in talking with Sergio, or should I say complaining about my fading front brakes to Sergio, he mentioned that the -2 lines I had didn't really allow enough fluid transfer. I think he's on to something, but I didn't get the new lines in time for the weekend, and was battling ridiculous brake fade.

At Arroyo, the brakes were great for three laps at speed, then the lever became ultra-mushy and required serious pressure to get the thing hauled down from speed. I was getting massive arm pump from squeezing so damn hard, and my lap times suffered late in the session as a result. I bled the brakes and got some air out, but it made no difference. I decided that the suspension and brake set up I had was the best I was going to get and threw on a new set of the 002 Pro's in T3 and mounted new slicks on Britt's bike.

Saturday night we went to dinner with Kevin and Sharon Murray at a local's hang out called The Adobe Deli. It was a very cool restaurant out in the middle of nowhere serving huge steaks and stiff drinks. It also gave me a chance to brush up on my country music, as there was a huge screen with country music videos playing at one end of the room. It was laughs as Kevin, Britt and the others were in rare form. I got to make fun of country stars and eat killer steak, and really, is there more to life than that?

Sunday I entered three classes, Unlimited Supersport, Superbike and Formula Arroyo. Ivan Garza was there and as he's been the scourge of the Southwest all year, winning just about every race he's entered in CCS, WERA and ASMA, I wasn't planning on being able to run with him. I was hoping to keep him in sight, however.

The first race was USS, and as I'd never been there I was gridded at the back in 8th. They grid novices behind the experts and race em all together, so it seemed like I was mid pack, but I was the last expert. I got a lousy start, ran 5th into the first turn, and tried like hell to get around the guys to keep Ivan in sight. It didn't work out that well, taking a lap to get into second, and by that time Ivan was gone and I just cruised around in second until the checkers came out. Based on the lap timers of others, I ran 1:12s, but since the lap record is a high 1:08, I wasn't really setting the world on fire. I know the Roger, the track owner and sometimes lap record holder, was having bike trouble and didn't race, or I would have been third for sure. Still, it was fun to be on the podium and be competitive even when the bike was obviously not set up even close.

The second race was Formula Arroyo, a money race that pays to 9th. I was hoping for a repeat performance, but knew that was unlikely, as the fastest 600's, who run almost the same lap times, also enter the class. If I would have gotten a decent start, I might have had a shot at third, but I got a lousy start, got stuck behind two fast 600's that were coming off the corners so much better than I was that I couldn't use my speed advantage. I was breathing down their necks and trying to figure out where to pass David Siminski for three laps, then the brakes really began to fade, and I had to start figuring out how to keep Tom Savoca (fast CCS and ASMA racer) from passing me. I ended up fifth by the skin of my teeth, and was trying to will the white flag out every lap after the first 4. The premier race gets extra length, and those 12 laps were brutal with the brake fade.

The last race was USB, and I kind of had a carbon copy of the first race, only I dropped my times a little farther, running 1:11's and keeping Ivan in sight due to some issues he had, but not able to run his pace and brake fade allowing Tom to come by on the same Superbike CBR1000RR he threatened me with earlier. I ended up a lonely third.So that's it; a second, a fifth and a third. I feel alright about that, as the bike was a handful and hardly set up well. I'm beginning to feel like there's a good setup lurking in the zedexten, and hopefully I'll track it down. I'll be looking to take home some Kawasaki contingency next month at WSMC, so there will be more set-up chasing in store. If I can figure out how to make this thing finish a corner, all I can say is look out!

We found Ivan, despite his attempts at a disguise

Lookit me, I'm ridin'

The strategically placed office, behind the dragstrip

Pitting on the dragstrip

Sheila found the only carpet in the place and had a roll

I'd like to thank the academy...