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August
7-8 USGPRU/OMRRA An uneventful drive up, we arrived late on Thursday night. Friday practice was full so we had a day to goof off and set up. Turns out Friday it rained, and I had not brought my rain tires (it's AUGUST! It's not supposed to RAIN) so it was just as well we couldn't practice, although I needed it. Dr. Know is from Portland, so he was quite familiar with the track. We set up in the infield, which has something like a park in there, power included! It was plush and I'd love to race there again for that alone. The track itself wasn't the greatest, but still fun enough, if rough in places. |
 Our hairy barking family, stuffed in the cab |
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Saturday the weather cleared up and practice commenced. PIR has huge concrete patches and seams all over the place, and is a pretty fast track, with the front straight being 3/4 miles long or something ridiculous. Most local 125 riders have a taller internal 6th gear for that long front straight. I however, did not, and even had to borrow a 16 tooth counter sprocket becau8se mine has gone missing. I was not digging the seams that were upsetting my front end. Considering my contact patch is 1/2 wide and maybe an inch long on my front tire, a big enough upset leaned over could send me sliding. And in turn nine, that would mean into a wall! Qualifying was towards the end of the day thankfully, although it didn't seem to help me that much as I didn't qualify so hot. It was windy and everyone's times were slower, with the fastest qualifyer at 1:16.9. My fastest time was a 1:20 flat, putting me on row three, although I did a 1:17 earlier in the day. We had a lot of pit visitors all day, alongside the usual USGPRU riders, who are always friendly and visitatious (I think I just made that word up). It was a good time. Sunday races: It was 100 degrees on Sunday, you'd never guess it rained two days ago. (This unpredictable and variable weather really reminded me of Australia, where it can be windy and raining one day, 90 degrees and dry the next, and balmy with thunderstroms the following day.) I decided to do the OMRRA 125 race since I was up there anyhow. OMRRA has 4 lap qualifiers for grid positions, which are gridded by points and then by who registered first (I know, confusing). I got a smoking start and led until about turn four, where speedy local boy Mike Orien passed me. I tried to keep up to follow his lines, but the bike upset down the front straight with a bad headshake, so I slowed and was passed by a couple others. I qualified sixth out of 19. USGPRU race was a 14 lap race with 22 starters on the grid. My start was decent except I was gridded to the inside and got blocked by, oh, 20 bikes. I was also getting killed on the long straight because of my sucky drive out of turn nine. Its a crucial corner and the seam where I wanted to be scared me, so I stayed to the inside which is the worst place to be if you want a decent drive. So I went around and around, baffled by turn nine, trying a couple of different lines and never getting anything good. Thinking the front was going to tuck a couple times when I hit that seam on the exit of nine if I went too wide. It just sucked and I rode pretty poorly, couldn't stop looking at the pavement, trying to avoid concrete patches and seams. Man, that place needs a re-pave job for sure. |
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| It wasn't until lap 8 or so of this race
I noticed
a seam all the way up the front straight that was causing my bike to
headshake
occassionally. I had been bewildered as to why I would get a violent
headshake
up the straight, but only sometimes. I had been right on it a couple of
times when I got the headshake and had to slow down, just hadn't been
looking
at the pavement. Dumb, but at least I figured it out. I battled
for
10th place, making a couple good passes into turn one and seven (the
end
of a short straight) but getting passed on the front straight by the
guy
I was battling with. Then the race was red flagged on lap 10. I placed
11th.
I don't think I went much faster in this race than qualifying, which I
have
done every single race until this one. The OMRRA 125 race was next and I did far better in this one. I was gridded dead last out of 19, instead of sixth where I had qualified, because OMRRA thought I was bike #82 who was not out there. I was #82x for the weekend since my number is through USGPRU, so they said my transponder wasn't working since they were looking for #82's transponder ID. So I didn't get any times for the day and was gridded last. So from the back off the start, I was in fifth place into turn one. This was a ten lap race and I picked up a lot of speed off the short back straight into turn seven. I know my times dropped a lot, but of course have no idea what they were. Anyhow, was in 8th at one point until I figured out that turn seven entry, then I passed into seventh then sixth, beating out #28 who was a former class champion there. I placed sixth, maybe would have done better if I had been gridded correctly. That was a better race, but I still sucked in turn nine which really hurt me. Sweaty and dirty, we stopped by a BBQ at Arun's place for a bit directly from the racetrack. Then we headed back, staying the night somewhere around the California border. Next day we got a blowout around Sacramento. The tire just came apart and was so hot we couldnt touch it. It literally exploded! I must say, Chevy has got a great tire jack and spare set up (but that's about it). Special thanks to Mike and Mike of Black Flag Racing, for the counter sprocket and the support. You guys are the best. Thanks to Arun for the BBQ on Sunday night, Dr.Know of course for the moral support, and cousin Henry for the company all weekend. |
 Me, running VERY
wide in
turn 2
Dr.Know
likes to have converstaions in his full gear. Makes him feel safer.
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