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Peanut's
Race Reports
peanut,
britt bohannan, britt
arechiga, 125gp race, wsmc, peanutbritt, littlebig racing, little big
racing
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February
19-20 WSMC
I planned to go
out Friday for an extra day of practice since my 250 had the correct
weight fork springs and I could work on set up. The forecast called for
lots of rain. Now, rain isn't any sort of problem, I love racing in the
rain! But not when it is freezing, and not when I'm trying to set up
suspension, and not when I could go to work instead. I am not some sort
of work-a-holic nerd, so don't take that the wrong way. In fact, I
would love to not have to work at all. The reason is that I am a
contractor, so if I do not work I do not get paid. AND, if I don't stay
an extra day in Lancaster, I save money on practice, hotel, feul...So
now that I have absolved my guilt, let me tell you it was a good thing,
because Saturday, the track didn't even open until 12:30pm due to
standing water and dirt in turn seven! ha! It was not such a good
thing that I got up at 4am to get there by 7:30.
I ended up not even practicing, although it stopped pouring for a bit
in the afternoon. I shopped at the Lowe's and the Home Depot for JMs
birthday present (tools baby, what else?) It was his birthday and due
to work conflicts, and he would be showing up late Saturday night.
I let the guys from the self proclaimed "2 stroke Ghetto" talk me into
going to a chinese food buffet. In Lancaster. This was by far worse
that the Denny's that a few of us went to that morning to get out of
the rain. I would really rather forget both experiences. We
meet afterwards in the hotel bar and watch on board camera videos on
someone's laptop. JM arrives at 11pm.
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Its the Attack Kawasaki van at the end of
the rainbow
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Sunday
morning is half wet half dry. I take my 125 out to break in the motor
fully after replacing a top end and trying out a newly ported cylinder.
Next session I take out the 250 to check out the new springs and try to
set it up, but with a half wet track and slicks, its tough to get close
to any sort of speed for proper set up.
My races are 11 and 14. The 250 race is first and it is now 8 laps,
with sponsorship paying to sixth. The track is dry by now and I am on
the third row. I get an abysmal start and flounder through the race. I
feel oil on my shift foot after the third lap or so and miss shift due
to it being so slippery, and desperately needing new transmission oil.
I don't know if it is on the tire or what but I'm not getting black
flagged so I just slow down and just finish out the race. I probably
should have pulled off but I had so little practice I wanted to see if
I could determine anything to help set the bike up. Turns out an
exhaust bolt was loose right in front of my foot and was leaking premix
straight onto my foot. One real practice session could have fixed that.
The only exciting part of the race was when Josh Alverson stuck a
piston right in front of me and highsided himself right off the track.
Race 14 is next on my 125. I start well and the first lap until
just after (or in? I can't remember) turn nine of the first lap, where
Kevin Murry passes me. I feel that
the bike has no mid range at all. In fact, I have to downshift in turn
two. The bike hasn't been jetted and tuned correctly for the new
cyclinder and machined head. I struggle along and cannot even get into
Kevins draft. I finish second. It could be worse, at least I
didn't seize my engine, which was a possibility the whole time without
my knowing it: In going over the bike later, I realise my crank
is about 500 miles overdue for replacing...whoops! Time for a rebuild!
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A newly
cocooned 250 hopes to wake as a Superbike...
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