Day 0 - (Thursday night ) After the 3 hour drive south from San JoseI rolled in to the track at 10:30pm the night before the race weekend. I quickly realized that the parking lot was not open for camping – as I had been led to believe. Fortunately, I had changed the way I packed for going to the track by putting the bike on one side of the minivan instead of the middle. This made it possible to shuffle things around in the inside of the van to allow me to lie down next to the bike and sleep for the night.
Day 1 - Open Practice
I awoke at 7:15 to the sounds of cars and trucks driving past me to get in to the track.
I found my “typical” parking spot for race weekends in the parking lot at Buttonwillow (near turn 1, so there’s space for my friend who has a trailer and a dog).
After I unloaded all my tools, gear, and my bike, I walked the bike over to the morning’s tech inspection. No problems, as usual. I rolled the bike back to my pit and finished setting up -- erecting my canopy, getting my tire warmers out, running electrical cords from my generator, etc. Over the last couple years I’ve started accumulating everything I need to make a day at the track more comfortable (canopy, chairs, rug, music & speakers), as well as all the tools I need to handle most mechanical “situations” that I would run into with the bike (small crashes, parts failures, etc.). The only downside is that it takes me a lot of time in the morning and at the end of the day to get set up and to pack up.
When the first session for my group was called, I rolled out right away. These first couple sessions were slow, but gradually started finding the braking and turn markers and pushing it a little faster.
I’ve always felt more comfortable at Buttonwillow than I have at Thunderhill, because Buttonwillow is much more of a rhythm / flowing track than Thunderhill. Thunderhill has a few fast sections that feel much more like “how fast do you dare to go?”
After I came back in I looked at my lap times, I realized something was amiss. I had started feeling “generally” comfortable, but my times were slower than what I had run on the track on my Aprilia RS250 – a bike with roughly half the horsepower of my current machine.
After a few sessions, I decided it was time to go and talk to Dave Moss, the suspension guy, to see if we could refine the tuning. I knew I had pretty hastily headed off to the track with new fork internals, a new rear shock, new rims, and new gearing, and that all of that would need some “adjusting.” He took a couple quick measurements and noticed that the preload on the rear shock was *way* off. He adjusted that and make a couple smaller tweaks and sent me back out. Instantly, my times were faster. The rear tire didn’t feel like it was slipping anymore – it was truly a day-and-night comparison. Getting the confidence back in my rear tire allowed me to start leaning the bike more and to start carrying much greater corner speed.
During the remaining sessions on the day, I continued to question my suspension setup. I went back to Dave a few more times and we made a couple small changes. I don’t think I’m at ideal yet, but I’m *much* closer.
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Day 2 - AFM Practice
I woke up around 6:45 as they were testing the PA system. I got my gear unloaded from the minivan and then went over to registration to pick up my paperwork. The next step was to get the bike and generator unloaded and get my tire warmers on. I did a quick check of my tire pressure (30 front, 23 rear – weird Michelin specs), and then I turned on my warmers while I finished unloading.
After I got unpacked, the first couple sessions went out and I waited. I had moved up to practice group #3 at Buttonwillow. The AFM takes each rider’s lap times and classifies them into a group – 5 or 6 depending on the number of riders, etc. I had been in group 2 in the fall at Buttonwillow, which was a frustrating experience since I was much faster than most of the riders in group 2 – I had progressed a lot since the first race of the season at that track, but I didn’t have lap times specifically at that track to prove it to the officials. Being in a fast group allows you to see the lines that faster riders are taking and helps build confidence in going through turns faster. You also don’t get held up in traffic. Also, you start later in the morning, so you don’t need to wake up quite as easly and get moving (great for night owls like me!). Being in a slow group does have one advantage – it allows you to practice passing slower riders, which is an important skill to have when you’re racing (especially if you get a bad start).
The rain came as the second group was finishing their session. It started coming down harder and harder, so I made a few adjustments to my canopy and moved everything around that I didn’t want to get wet. As it continued raining, I shot the breeze with the guys pitted next to me. The guy to one side was an old friend who I’d pitted next to at each race weekend. It was the first time I’d seen him since the end of the ’05 season six months prior, so it was good to catch up with him. The guy on the other side was a Ducati club racer coming out of “retirement” from racing. Unfortunately for him, he had some motor problems that resulted in a cracked engine side case and a bike that was leaking oil. I was impressed by how upbeat he was able to remain through what is an incredibly frustrating situation.
As the rain started to let up, the officials opened the track to everyone to bring out their cars to drive around on the track to help speed up the drying. I knew this would take a long time, so I took the opportunity to tweak my levers. I wanted to swap out the lever that came with my radial master cylinder for my brakes with a “folding” lever. The idea behind the folding lever is that it has a pivot point that won’t transfer energy from a crash into the master cylinder – hopefully saving a couple hundred bucks in the event of a crash. I quickly got down to the retaining screw for the adjustment knob that passes through the lever. Unfortunately, I stripped the screw and realized I would not be able to make the swap.
Then I started looking at the layout of the lever and throttle tubes and realized that the lever was adjusted very far outward from the bar. I realized was not good. I’d had a few panic brakes, and “stabbing” the brakes can be exacerbated by having a lever that’s a little bit out of reach. It would be better to have a lever close in to the bar. As I analyzed the situation, it became clear that my throttle tube housing was blocking me from making this switch. Since I had already decided I wanted to switch to a “fifth-turn” throttle tube/cam, I decided the brake lever situation could wait until I swapped out the throttle tube. The “fifth-turn” throttle also improves the ergonomics of whacking the throttle wide open – as it is now, the range of motion required to do so makes it slightly difficult.
After a while, the announcers came on the PA system and announced first call. I got suited up, but ended up being one of the last people out for the session. As I pulled up the hot pits, the starter motioned for me to stop and cautioned me about standing water in turn 2. I took a slow lap and saw the wet patch on the tar sealer in turn 2, and saw there was standing water in a few other places. I took it VERY easy and just practiced looking around the track and trying to think about the lines I’d want to take through each turn.
As I rolled in off the track, the rain was just starting to come down again. Wow. I’ve had rain at so few track events since I moved to California,
, it was a shock to be at 4 separate days that had rain.
After a while, I went into my minivan and started watching movies. I took a nap instead.
When I woke up, folks were already back out on the track. A wind had developed and dried the track up very quickly. On my first session out, I checked with the starter and he explained that conditions were actually very dry. When I got out on the track, I saw it was true. Pretty amazing.
The first session out I went fairly easy, just trying to get back into the flow of being on the bike. The next few sessions I started trying to push a little harder at different spots on the track, but didn’t worry as much about assembling “the perfect lap.” At one point I tried moving my braking marker for turn 1 a little deeper. As I came in, I started to panic. Rather than dipping the bike in and going through the turn, I ended up running off the track straight. After all the rain, the earth was pretty soft. Fortunately for me, I’d been off-track enough times to know how to keep the bike upright (stay away from the front brake, feather the rear brake and gradually slow down).
Thinking about that situation, I realized that in other spots on the track, the bike wasn’t turning in as quickly as I’d like. I decided I’d start dialing in more rear ride height to improve the geometry of the bike. Each session out felt fine or better with the increased ride height, so I kept cranking it up. It’s hard for me to “read” the bike, but I think it felt increasingly better and didn’t show any signs of straight-line instability, which can result from excessive rear ride height. The only instability I was experiencing was from the strong gusts of wind that were hitting me through the back half of the track.
The last session of the day started out with a bang. Literally. My friends came out to follow me and try to help me with my lines through a few turns to see if I could find some quick-wins in reducing my lap times. I had a bad line going through turn 2 on the opening lap and another rider came barreling through on the outside. He took a slower line through turns 3-4 so I decided I’d try to pass him back in turn 8. I gave him a little space and then started trying to close the gap through the next several turns. After we came through turn 5, I was starting to close the gap, but was still ~5 bike lengths behind. The left-hander leading into turn 6 is a fast one and that was when I saw it unfold. His rear stepped out to the right, hooked up quickly and he was popped out of the seat up over the handle bars. Then his bike did a quick, HARD, tank slapper and kicked him to the ground and fell over (and tumbled). Last year, I had a similar incident happen and I made the wrong decision. This year (pat myself on the back), I only backed off a little, and held my line. I went through the area where he had gone down and it was clear. A few parts shot across the track as I drove past his sliding/tumbling bike, but no big deal for me. I tried to keep going as if nothing had happened, but it’s a pretty large distraction. My heart was pounding and it took me 3-4 turns to settle back and start focusing on the laps. I came back in shortly thereafter without much to show for the afternoon sessions.
I closed the day with a best lap of 2:07, the same as 12 months prior. However, I was still 6 seconds off my best time from the fall races at Buttonwillow.
I quickly went through tech inspection for the next day and then took off my rims to get new tires put on. After dropping off the rims with the friendly Michelin team, I went and grabbed some BBQ for dinner.
After dinner, I put on fresh tires and dialed in slightly more ride height. I’d have one practice session the next day to test the feel of the increased ride height and to scrub in the tires. I also decided that my previous gearing change was slightly too extreme, so I went back one tooth on the rear sprocket to 44-teeth. It was an easy change, since I had enough chain adjustment left to be able to get a tight enough chain without removing any links. I had a compulsion to keep tinking, so I took apart the charger for my electric scooter and used some plastic weld to repair it. Finally I was tired enough to sleep and I retired for the night.
Day 3 - Race Day
I woke up pretty early – at about 6:45. I had trouble sleeping that night – partly due to the cold, and partly due to anxiety. I was having all sorts of bike dreams, which is actually a little rare for me. I grabbed some quick food, checked my tire pressure, and fired up my tire warmers. I had gone through tech inspection the night before, so my morning routine wasn’t too rushed.
In the morning practice session, nothing special happened. The track was a little cool, but it was sunny and not too windy. I went out and ground out a few laps and tried to gauge how the increased ride height felt. It was fine, in my estimation, so I decided I’d crank in even a little more before the race.
After the practice session, we had the daily riders meeting, where the race director covered off on the important updates for the club and clarified the program for the day. I was signed up for Open Twins and 600 Superbike, which were scheduled as races 1 and 2. I’d never tried back-to-back races before, but I figured this was a good chance to give it a try. Fortunately for me, the new Clubman races for novices were the first event after the rider’s meeting. They had been rained out on Saturday and the club shifted the schedule to allow them the opportunity to race.
While the clubman race was going, I took a couple minutes to clean the bike and redo some of the stickers. I knew there would be photographers out there, so I wanted to make the bike look good. Finally it was time for the first race of the season.
Race 1 – Open Twins AFM Round 1
Every race starts with a warmup lap. On the open warmup lap I slotted in behind my “nemesis.” I call him this because he’s the guy I diced it out with the most – he’s passed me a few times, and I’d passed him a few times. Just to be clear, he’s a super-nice guy and in no way “evil.”
I was gridded in 11th position, in the 3rd row, based on my final standing in the Open Twins class from the 2005 season. As the green flag came out and the bikes pulled away, I was slow, as usual. However, this time I was not as far back as I normally am off of the starting line. I credit both the gearing change I made, as well as the dyno mapping work to remove the deadspot in my powerpand by Don Lemelin of Scuderia West.
I took it very easy through the first two turns, as I observed a lot of riders “checking up” mid-turn as they went to tip in the bike and found another rider already there. Seeing this made me think someone would crash. I didn’t want to be a part of a big pile-up, so I took it a little easy. Coming out of turn 2, I had a terrible line and got a bad drive, so then it was open track and everyone was in single file. I was only two positions back from my nemesis, but it would take a while to sort things out.
After a couple more turns, I was starting to lose contact with him and his pack and just ride on my own. I rode like that for a few more laps before the leaders from the second wave of my race started to come through the field. The other wave was “Open Production” which includes some fast machines and some fast riders. As they started picking through our grid, I started getting pulled along slightly with them. With about 2.5 laps to go, I had regained visual contact with my nemesis and felt I was starting to pull him back in. I put my head down and started pushing.
Unfortunately for me, one of the open production riders who came through the field had some trouble finishing up this lap. He was quite a few bike lengths in front of me, but I on the final turn going into the main straight he was having some trouble. It looked like he had locked up his rear – getting some smoke coming off the tires, etc., but more importantly coming to a complete stop. Normally I take this turn at about 70mph, but because I had been trying to gain ground on my nemesis, I had decided I’d try to take more heat through the turn. At about the time I was starting to trail off the brakes I realized this rider was stopping directly in front of me on the track. Instead of tipping in and trying to take a tight line underneath this bike (as I should have), I panicked and braked harder. The front end of the bike felt really bad as I did this, and I later interpreted that feeling as the front tire losing traction. Normally, under extremely hard braking, the rear tire will come off the ground before the front tire gives way, so I wasn’t expecting that feeling at all. I ended up backing back off the brakes, and prepared for another off-track excursion.
As I was heading off track, I started swearing in my helmet. I was quite upset this other rider had caused me to run off the track and sacrifice *precious* points, which will end up costing me grid positions for future races. I started lining up to get back on the main straight and when I saw a small gap, I pulled back on about a third of the way down the straight. When I went to put my feet on the pegs, I realized that I had mud all over my boots (and tires) and had to drag my boots on the pavement for a few yards to clean them off. I went very gingerly through the next couple turns and backed off altogether. I ended up limping through the last two laps without being passed by anyone else in my class. On the cool-down lap, I pushed it a little harder to try to get some more heat in my tires before the next race.
Result: 19 of 21 finishers
Fast lap: 2:06
I pulled off and Mike Corbino (Jr) helped me out big time. He waited next to the hot pits where I had put my gas can. He helped me dump some fuel in the bike and handed me a water. Mike’s help allowed me to be ready without going back to my pits or getting off the bike and enabled me to get another lap in before the race – thanks!
Race 2 -- 600 Superbike
I pulled onto the grid in the waaay back. I was 55th on the grid. Yikes. I decided to hang back at the start and just use the time to work on passing and to get some more track time. The first lap was total mayhem. A few bikes went down, and it was just way too crowded. The 180-degree sweeper near the end of the track saw riders going in 4-wide. I wanted nothing to do with that.
The race was mostly uneventful. I didn’t get lapped, so I was basically riding in single file most of the race. I eventually came up on two riders who were slower than me – a yellow-plated “novice” rider and a white-plated “expert” rider. The yellow bike was in the front, and it appeared the white plate was trying to get around him, but having trouble doing so. I followed them both for about a lap, and then with a lap to go, the novice made a mistake and ran turn 3 slightly wide. The white plate was close enough to make his move and get past, and he checked out on both of us. The yellow plate regained his line before I could get past, but I was determined to beat him now. I knew I felt comfortable in turns 7 through 9, so I thought I’d try to line him up on the entrance to 7, and fall back on a try going in to 9 if it failed. Sure enough, his bike had enough pull that even with a good drive through 6, I couldn’t catch him. I maintained speed and stayed close to him, thinking I’d have an opportunity to dive to his outside coming out of turn 8. No such luck, as soon as he started straightening up his bike coming out of 8, his throttle kept me away. However, he took a slightly slower line through the next mild left and I had seen him be timid going into 9. I committed to taking a *terrible* line going into 9. I came up way on his inside and threw my bike in deep to make sure he’d see me. I didn’t hit all of my downshifts, so as I tipped it in, I got no drive and was VERY slow. Fortunately, the exit of turn 9 is downhill, and gravity helped my engine pull a little bit. I hit a quick downshift and then started a good drive. I have to assume the novice didn’t know how to react, because an experienced racer would have found a line to pass me back right away if I had tried to execute such a poor pass on them.
I put my head down for the last couple turns. Going into the final turn I had a flashback of the previous race. I decided I’d try to throw it in a bit deeper and hotter to get a good drive, but I let my engine braking shave off too much speed and I got a bad drive. By luck, the novice was far enough back at that point that I didn’t get passed back even with a bad drive.
Result: 49 of 55 finishers
Fast lap: 2:07
For the rest of the day, I hung out for a bit to watch Mike Corbino win an exciting, hard-fought, and very close 250 production race to kick off his first full season of roadracing. I also watched some friends in other races and then left after the “Formula Pacific” premier class raced.
In reflecting back on the weekend, I think it wasn’t a total loss. I recognized that I needed to shake a lot of rust off, and I was rained out of too many track days to be able to do it prior to the weekend. I also recognized that I need to work on the setup for my bike to get it to “feel” right and inspire confidence in the turns. I also diagnosed a potential issue with my front tire. I don’t think I’m getting it up to temperature, so I’m trying to work with the Michelin team to figure out what adjustment to make so that I’ll be able to get the most from the tire (my hunch is run 1-2 pounds of lower pressure, which will allow the tire to heat more and get to a higher operating pressure).
Before my next outing at the track in a few weeks, I’m going to try to get the “fifth-turn” throttle tube installed and replace my brake lever. At my next track day, I’ll try to work with Dave Moss and/or Gary Jaehne more closely to get my baseline setup dialed-in a bit more that it is. Even with my improved suspension components, I would say that the bike “felt” better at the end of last season. This should be a situation that can be fixed, but it will require a bit of know-how and effort.