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| August 21 WSMC I spent Thursday night, Friday, and Saturday day in Las Vegas - Thursday for my own fun and games and Friday/Saturday for a bachelorette party. It wasn't a "dress in penis hats and play games" bachelorette party, it was my best girlfriends from Grad school who don't see each other nearly enough all getting together for a Vegas reunion of sorts. One of them was getting married so it was a great excuse to all gather and live La Vida Vegas. So I stayed until Saturday afternoon then I flew home. Sunday we woke up at 3:15am to get to the track in time to change tires, register, tech, etc. and still make the two 10 min morning practice sessions. I had gone to bed at 6am Thursday night/Friday morning and then 2:30 Friday night/Saturday morning. I was seriously lacking in sleep, and I had not ridden in 5 weeks. Ok, not that big of a deal. But then I skipped Saturday practice so I could goof off in Vegas. I think I was still in Vegas when I hit the track Sunday morning... The good news was: I had tires! New ones shipped, thanks to the US Racing Club (it's a car club, more to come about this later). And my bike was evidently making more HP than it had EVER made! New clutch in, and Kevin Murray was bringing it to the track for me to ride on Sunday. Finally, everything was looking better since the last three disappointing months. First practice out the bike felt strong! By the end of the second session though, I was hitting a wall at 12K. The bike would not rev over 12. We checked the jet needle and changed it to a 1269 from a 1268, and moved the clip to the #2 position instead of the #4 where it had been. I skipped the 250 race because I never signed up in order to save a little money. The 125 race was race 14. A long wait but I thought I was ready for it. My initial start was good - the first second and a half of it, then when I went to shift into second gear my quick shifter popped back into first--twice. I think it got knocked around a little in my highside two months ago. I'm sure I was last or nearly last into turn one. Not a huge deal, until I tried to pass a few people on the outside of two and my bike wouldn't pull. I had to shift into 5th gear then back down to fourth to get any power out of it. The entire eight lap race was a struggle, with my bike getting gradually slower the whole race. I could not draft anyone, and my pegs and bodywork started to hit the ground in some of the fast corners. Even with the bike like that, I could have ridden much better. I didn't brake late enough and didn't make a couple of passes I could have. Last month with the bike making 34 HP I rode hard enough until the last lap and a half to stay in third place. This month, I just didn't ride hard enough. I guess my head was still in Vegas. At least I won money playing craps. :-s I sent the bike home with Kevin Murray again since clearly there was something wrong. We thought maybe there was too much compression in this particular cylinder head to use with the stock cylinder. Monday afternoon I get a call telling me: the clutch is completely burned up again. It made 35HP on the dyno. It was a brand new clutch! On second thought....it was supposed to be new. We bought a big lot of springs, steel and fiber plates off of ebay that were supposed to be new. They looked new. Evidently they were very used. I suppose I should be glad it isn't my motor. I have been ripped off on ebay before, more than I'd like to admit as a matter of fact. On the other hand, for every misrepresented piece of crap you buy on ebay, you get a gem that makes it all worth it. Like the brand new Kushitani size XS full suit I got for...well a quater of the price they sold for new. That, and they don't even MAKE XS anymore. As for the clutch plates.... I'll get a brand new set of plates and springs from Redline Cycle Imports before USGPRU at Cal. Speedway. Special thanks to Kent as US Racing Club for the tires, Held for the new gloves, Kevin Murray for babysitting my bike for months now, and JM for driving me to WSIR at 3:30am and then home again. |
 This is not good race practice (I'm behind the camera)  Nor is dressing hoochie and gambling  Only 6 hours of sleep in two days!  Jill had documentation that proved I should have stayed in Vegas. |