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June
5-6, 2004 USGPRU/CCS (report
updated June 21st) This was my toughest race
weekend to date. Although I had a full-time pit crew (Dr. Know)
and only one bike to worry about, I had a cold, and of course had not
slept enough all week and was feeling very run down. It was also 105 in
the shade on Saturday. And windy...more about the wind in a bit. So now that the disclaimers
have been made for my poor performance, let me tell you about the
weekend. CCS had forgotten to put our USGPRU qualifying and races in
the schedule for the weekend! The announcer called the racing
organization something different with every announcement (USGPRA,
USGPRAU, GPRSU....just on and on) and I paid for an extra practice
session that I was never allowed to use because the race director was
very, very confused about many things that weekend. I really needed
that practice too. I had a hard time even reaching my previous best lap
time I set in last November with a
broken
leg no less. I actually never quite hit that time all day. We also had to qualify
after 3 practice sessions on Saturday. Usually the qualifying is on the
same day as the races, but not this time! It takes me about a day to
get up to race pace on a track (which isn't the mark of a great racer)
So, I had to qualify after three sessions. Put not before the wind blew
my back protector and my SOCKS away! THird call for qualifying and I
have no socks and no back protector. Now, I don't know about you but
I'd rather not get paralyzed in a crash, so if I didn't find it I was
going to be last on that grid. After some searching around I
found one sock and my protector under the van, so with a bare foot in
my boot I made it out for part of qualifying. Due to lack of practice
time and the wind shenanegans, I was fighting myself to go
faster before I was ready: my arms and legs were exhausted, *I* was
exhausted, and could barely manage a 1:30 for qualifying. My goal was
to get into the 26's this weekend, and I was
a long way away. We ate at Outback
Steakhouse, which I can barely remember, and I passed out by 9pm. Sunday I felt much better, it was even a little cooler, but it was too late as we only had one 10 minute practice session before our race. I tried to get the most I could out of it but I felt like I needed a whole day of practice since yesterday had been pretty useless. |
 The wind killed many an innocent canopy that weekend...  Some picture of me standing around wondering where my sock went. |
| The
USGPRU Race: I got a pretty good start and was 5th into turn one. Mike Orien passed me shortly and I was 6th for much or the race. I saw Kirk Snell who was holding 5th up ahead (Mike had moved to 4th quickly) and for a couple laps was gaining on him, but I couldn't get into a rhythm and relax, so I kept running wide and screwing up certain corners. The wind had picked up, and down the front straight into turn one was scary, as the 156 pound bike was getting blown around and off the line I was trying to hold. By this time Phillip Krenn was taunting me and showing me wheel for several laps. I wasn't about to let him by, but I did run wide in a corner and he got by me. I placed 7th in the race with a best time of 1:28.23, while the winner Josh Herrin was doing low 24s along with 2nd and 3rd. (A note on Herrin: he is 14, about 4'8" and reminds me of the photos of Tommy Hayden with the "Flyin Flea" leathers and the big glasses, although Herrin doesn't sport glasses and his leathers are much cooler. I promise you he will be a big name in road racing. Go Josh!) |
 I stayed in Phil Krenn's
way for as long as possible!
|
| I had
a little break before my next race, Lightweight GP, so I put on shorts
and poured water on my head and relaxed, while the wind picked up
steadily. It occurred to me that this would be my first Expert
race with CCS, so while I usually podiumed in the amateur classes, I
wondered what was going to happen today. This race I fondly refer to as the SV challenge, because that is mostly what the grid consists of, although this time there was a nifty Yamaha 350 2-stroker ridden by Clinton Whitehouse. Let me make note to the uninformed: no matter how great a starter you are on a 125, and SV will blow your doors off at the green flag. And that is exactly what happened. I did manage to pass a few slow guys into turn one, and then moved through a few more until I hit a pack that wouldn't pass each other. I had a tough time getting past one guy who had some great blocking moves (that bastard!), but finally did and he disappeared behind me quickly thereafter. I was catching the battle for 5th between an SV and that Yammie 350, and needed maybe one more lap, but the race was over. After this there was a USGPRU awards ceremony. This organization has great sponsors and gives away prizes to random participants, special prizes for a "hard-charger" of the day, plus pays down to 6th place (I won some MotoPro tools and an apron!!! - Don't get any ideas, it's a mechanics apron!) They are also a great group of people, who take racing seriously but are also genuinely helpful and friendly. I cannot speak highly enough about this race organization and if anyone is interested in racing GP bikes, this is the highest level of competition you will find in the country, but it is also a great racing community. Last race was the CCS 125 GP, which I won easily since there were only four entries. I used the race to make my way through the two races in front of ours, lightweight twins expert and amateur. I finally felt like I was getting into a rhythm and relaxing, but my times still did not drop. I am not sure what was going on this weekend, I know I pushed to go fast too soon and ended up fighting myself, but by Sunday's last race I expected to be going faster. It just wasn't coming. I am racing CA Speedway next weekend and Willow Springs the weekend after that. I hope I can break through this block! I want to give very special thanks to JM, who did not race all weekend but instead worked hard as pit crew for me. Thank you so much. Next time I won't make you wear short-shorts and a tube top, I promise. Update: I discovered what was wrong over this weekend and I guess it's a consolation of sorts. We had changed shock springs to a little stiffer spring. Now, I thought the bike felt pretty great before, heck I had done my fastest times at WSIR ever and won the 125GP race there, so I had been really been looking forward to this race to see what my times would be since the last time I was here. It seems my fork spring rate and my shock spring rate did not match, so it was recommended by several suspension companies and just about everyone else to stiffen up the rear. Now, to their credit, they just recommended the rate that technically should be best for my weight. I have had tons of problems riding the 250 because the fork springs are too stiff, however they are the recommended rate for my weight. No one wants to sell my anything lighter because it will be "too soft". Anyhow, we installed this new spring and the bumper thingy at the top went in cockeyed, severely limiting the travel. The sag also had not been set correctly (more like not at all) so it was extremly stiff. Both these things caused my bike to slide both tires everywhere and the bumps seemed to have gotten larger because they upset the bike so much! I had to wrestle the bike all weekend which wiped me out. It cost me a lot of disappointment and exhaustion, but I still dropped my laptimes and rode around that problem pretty well. |
 Still
holding 6th....
but not for long
 I won some stuff |