|
|
|
October
15-17 WSMC
$#@*&$
%&*#@$! %#$!~# +&%$*
It was a frustrating weekend so I'll talk about the fun stuff first.
I received my bike from Apex Predator, who took it back from Virginia
and repaired crash damage, replaced parts, cleaned it up, changed my
shock spring to the softer spring which I liked better, replaced the
top end, broke it in, repaired the radiator leak, straightened the
frame
(which had been off 1/4 inch), replaced the bent front rim with a
straight one, and treated it better than it it had been treated in a
long time. The bike was looking great and presumably would run better
than it had in a long time as well.
I also had my newly purchased TZ250 delivered to the track for
convenience sake. This was the Toyota 200 weekend, which has a
supporting race sponsored by Road Racing World: the 250/50. There were
around 50 250s that weekend signed up to run in the race. I got let out
in their practice on my 125 on Friday, and passed at least 12 250s in 3
or 4 laps. I wasn't planning on riding my new 250 in the race, or at
all this weekend, but I figured since there were so many slow riders, I
could circulate around and learn the bike without getting in the way
too much, since I had never ridden a 250 GP bike before.
We planned to camp at the track Friday night, with our friends Jim and
Monique who had rented a trailer from the military. This thing turned
out to be a mini-me version of a camper and certainly wouldn't fit four
people, but it was entertaining and cute as trailers go. We
barbecued and worked on bikes until we couldn't see anymore, then ended
up staying with our friends Rich and Oz in their big trailer. There was
a lot of snoring that went on. Occasionally, I would hear the thump of
a shoe being thrown, a muffled "uh?" and the snoring would stop for
about 5 minutes. Earplugs are good, and there are plenty of them around
racing, none-the-less, we still rented a hotel room the next night.
|
My spanky new paint job and squeaky clean
bike. The frame is now straight too!
JM works
in the rain to get my 250 ready. I think he is at his sexiest working
on my bike.
|
My 125 race was so frustrating it is hard to talk about. We raced on
Saturday because of the T200 and 250/50. I had made a few setup
changes in practice, since the bike had been taken apart and the
suspension was kind of off since being put back together and the softer
spring was on there. As usual, we made a couple changes before
the race without practice since there were no more practice sessions
left.
I was gridded on pole and set to battle it out with Jay Pilster and
Kevin Murray for first. Mike Orien was also visiting from
Portland,
and I wanted to beat him at my home track, and have some fun in a
battle. I lead after turn one and by the time I got to turn six, I knew
there was a problem. Leaned over, the bike felt great. Better than it
felt in a loooong time since I finally had the softer shock spring back
on. But when I got nearly upright or straight up and down, I had a
head shake so bad there was no way to hold it wide open. I came
in
feeling defeated even though I rode around this problem the best I
could, battling with Sharyn Namnath and Mike Orien for 3rd and 4th,
but not being able to keep it wide open through 8 or down the front
straight. I came in feeling totally bewildered, as the bike should have
been going better than ever. Two people in the race told me they saw my
bike shaking all over the place, and kind of wallowing through turn
8. At this point, I believe it to be a tire problem on the advice
of a few knowledgeable people who have had the same sort of problem
with
the compound tire I was running. I am testing new tires at a trackday
next week, and will go from there.
I entered the 250/50 in time to make it to a heat race. This would be
the first time on my bike. I got on the grid from the warm up lap and
looked at my left boot, which was wet. What is this? I pulled into the
hot pit as the race started. Luckily Ed Sorbo was there and knew what
was going on. He figured one of the float jets was sticky and it was
just fuel leaking all over. The race officials wanted to pull me off
the track, but Ed convinced them it was a small fuel leak, and that my
lowers would catch anything still leaking, and to let me out on the
track to at least get a grid position. What he didn't tell them was
that the fuel leak also contained a 1:24 ratio of oil! I was careful
turning left....
I used those four laps I got in to figure what changes I could make to
have the bike semi ridable. The suspension was far too stiff for me,
and Sorbo had some softer fork springs that I put in the bike (thanks
Ed). We set the sag and that was about all we could do until I
practiced the next morning. Fortunately, Road Racing World decided not
to limit the race to 40 riders but to let all the entries into the
race.
We woke up rain on Sunday morning to rain. Not one tire vendor
had any 250 rain tires. I skipped practicing on slicks in the rain and
waited to see if it would clear up enough to race. It did, and instead
became hideously windy. I was gridded in the second wave, nearly
last. I got an awesome start thanks to the 125 training, and
caught the first wave on the first lap. The bike was still far too
stiff for me, and the front chattered frantically in turn 8. Aprilia
RS250s pulled me in 8. It was depressing but I was only out there to
get track time anyway.
There was a huge uproar about the final scoring, it was totally and
completely wrong. People were missing from the results, lapped riders
placed far ahead of the people who lapped them, it was a mess and the
WSMC scorers were adamant about their results being correct. Everyone
in the race was called into the office to try to hash something out.
The people who placed 30th-48th all were paid the same amount of money
so they figured they didn't need to place anyone past that point in any
correct order. The only problem was, people placed 20th-30th did not
all actually finish up there but they took home more than they should
have. People ranted on internet forums for days afterward. Finally the
race director, Larry Cochran worked out close to accurate results after
three days. I was finally placed a dismal 35th, but it wasn't like I
was exactly prepared and I now know what kind of changes I need to make
on the bike, so I'm a step ahead of where I was.
Thanks to Joel at Apex Predator, Monique and Jim for the pit help,
food, drinks and card games, Ed Sorbo for the springs, Gene Redmon for
the bike, and as always, JM for the support and help.
|
The
Scamp. Four of us were supposed to fit in here.
Monique create a miniature burning man party in the BBQ.
This is the sorry state of 250 racing in the US.
Badger and Eric. Eric performed a ton of work on my 125 before this
weekend. Too bad the tires negated all the work.
The first bike to ever win a race a Willow
Springs International Raceway visited the races this weekend. The
trophy, as well as the race winning rider were present too.
|
|
|
)
)
)
)
)
)
