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2002 GLRRA aka MGP :: Round 2 – 5/17-19

SOME COLD WEATHER, PAIRED WITH SOME CONSISTENT IMPROVEMENT

Friday Practice:

Coming from Round One, I was pretty excited. I had my best finishes and lap times yet and was eager for the weekend to begin. However, not much positive was to be said on this day. To start off with, the Dunlop truck wasn’t going to be at the track anymore, so getting tires from them would a chore. I had them shipped to my house earlier in the week, after talking to both Dunlop and Eric and finding out they wouldn’t be at anymore MWCF events. With Dunlop not paying out contingency, Eric decided to tell them to stay home. I agree with Eric to in effect, penalize them for not giving the riders in our organization anything, but that does make it tougher to 1) get Dunlop tires and 2) get them changed in a hurry. With Moose being the only guy to change tires, things are going to get pretty ugly when it’s raining before a race.

Anyway, Friday was pretty much useless. To make a long story short, I had an overheating problem, a carburetor problem from the previous weekend, and a clutch problem. My dad and I took out the carbs and cleaned them earlier that week, hoping this would be the solution. I removed the thermostat which seemed to cure the overheating problem – and once my dad arrived on Saturday morning, we replaced the clutch that was fried. I ended up getting about 5 laps at half speed on Friday and completely missed practice on Saturday. The carb problem would show itself again before the weekend was over. All these recent problems have been a bit of a surprise. Last year, aside from some minor electrical problems, the bike was great. Hopefully this isn’t a sign for things to come.

SATURDAY:

Race #2 – Lightweight Supertwins

Going into this race, I was less than pleased. Having almost no track time the entire weekend, I just wanted to get out and “stretch my legs”, make sure the bike was running okay, and try to get back up to speed. Of course, having a 3rd place finish last round (where I had never had a top ten finish at all last year) really fired up my adrenaline and would make “taking it easy” pretty much impossible.

I was gridded on the front row – something I wasn’t used to – alongside Allan (Burley, #2), Adam (Sylvester, #20) and fellow Witchkraft Racing teammate Bob (Watson, #54). At the starter’s tower, Scott held the “1″ board sideways for what felt like an eternity. He finally dropped the green flag and we were off. Bob had the hole shot and was leading down the straight – I was right behind him and able to get by him on the inside going into turn one (now mind you – I never pass Bob, so this alone was one of those “SportsCenter Highlight” things that I wish I had on tape). Anyway, this was short lived because I ran a wide line going into 2 and he passed me pretty easily there on the inside. As the race progressed, Allan passed me .. then Adam passed me .. I got Adam back .. then he passed me again .. Deagan (Brush, #92) passed me, almost crashed in turn 2, almost crashed past the jump, then crashed in the bowl. I then tried to catch back up to Adam, but let it slip away and couldn’t catch him (he was on his Yamaha 426, so I thought there was a chance). I Finished 4th. Overall, I was pretty happy – I was able to better my personal best lap time of a 1:33.3 with consistent 1:32′s. Bob pretty much ran away with this race and had his first win of the weekend.

Race #4 – Lightweight GP: Leg 1

The dreaded 125′s. These are the races that are deceiving. You get what seems to be a good start in a race, then as the race progresses, the 1-2-5′s start catching up and passing everybody! it’s quite annoying. :) Anyway, I don’t remember too much about this race. I had a horrible start – had the dreaded wheelie off the line, slam the front tire back on the ground, and have it come right back up again. I was yelling in my helmet, but it didn’t matter. I think I was 3rd or 4th into 1 and then went backwards from there. Daegan passed me into 1 and then went way wide into 2, where I passed him back. I wanted to make sure and pass him there. I can never seem to get back by him once he passes me – he runs different lines and I never really know where he’s going to be – so I usually just sit back – and by the time I decide to get ballsy and do something, he’s gone. I later found out that he almost clipped me when he was swooping back over coming out of turn 2 – that could have been ugly. Anyway, he passed me back on the straight I believe – and I had him, along with Allan and Nick (Cummings, #64) not too far in front of me. They all seemed pretty bunched together battling for position (not that that I was watching them or anything), when Daegan lost the front end in the hairpin, making it pretty hairy for Allan and Nick. I ended up finishing 7th in this race, while Bob won and Adam finished 2nd, riding his FZR 400 this time. Again, I couldn’t really complain – this was my best finish in LW GP so far.

Race #6 – Sportsman

Well, this is the class that seems to have drawn a lot of attention so far this season. I made a late charge last season to end up finishing 3rd overall in the class (my biggest accomplishment yet) and was hoping that I could win the class championship this year without too much of a fight. That has been far from the case thus far. To start, Adam on his Yamaha 426 has really stepped it up. He’s gotten super quick on that thing. Allan now has his Aprilia “B” bike, which doesn’t seem any slower than his “A” bike. Throw in Sal (Manley, #309), Dave (Phelps, #133) and Ted (Wheeler, #87) all on Hawks plus my good buddy (and fast guy) Chad (Teft, #107), in addition to just about everyone from last year, and the class has really heated up.

My whole plan for the race was just to get a solid start and be consistent the first half of the race. I wanted to make sure I kept up with Adam and Allan who I knew would be in the front just like they were in the first race. I didn’t know where Chad would fall in there – knowing the way he always whines about being slow, I figured he’d be in the front too. :) So the green flag dropped and I got the hole shot and into turn 1 first. Somewhere between turns 2 and 3, Adam passed me – which I knew was coming. He seems to have no fear of the cold tire theory on the first lap of the race – I was expecting that and had planned on trying to keep up with him and push it harder the last half of the race. So after the first lap, he built a pretty good lead (he was halfway down the straightaway as I was coming onto it). Needless to say, the plan was getting out of hand. So the next couple laps I slowly caught him a bit as I passed the halfway flag. On that lap, I was coming out of turn 2 just as he was just heading into 3 when he crashed out into the grass – I made sure to keep my eyes focused on the track and got through turn 3 without a problem. As I was going into the bowl, I looked over to see if anyone else was behind me – Allan and Chad were just getting to the jump. It looked like Adam and I had made a bit of a run away from the rest of the pack up until his crash. So I had a pretty decent lead and just ran through the rest of the laps, making sure I didn’t do anything stupid and was able to win the race. Allan finished 2nd and Chad, 3rd. They each finished 3rd and 4th respectively last round, so the class championship is far from decided. I later went up and checked to see how Adam was. He said he just lost the front going into 3 and wasn’t sure if it was just too much corner speed or a little trail braking that caused it. In any event, he was alright – and sure to whoop on me with his FZR400 in the other lightweight races.

Race #9 – LW GTP

This race always seems to be my least favorite. It’s my fourth race of the day – and it’s 15 laps. I didn’t even ride this race last year because I always felt I was tiring mentally by this time and didn’t want to do anything stupid. Well, I ran 4 races last round and it wasn’t bad. Sitting at a desk at work all day allows me to whine about being out of shape, but aside from being a little sore from the other races, I really wasn’t worried. I just planned on taking it slow and hoping for a top ten finish. Round one was the first time I ever finished in the top ten in this class (9th), so I wanted to try to make a streak out of it.

As soon as the green flag dropped, my plan for taking it slow went out the window (again). I had a pretty good start and was somewhere like 3rd into turn 1. Bob was in the lead and Adam (now on his FZR400) was right behind him. On that same lap, Chip (Kraus, #191) passed me and that’s when things got interesting. As Bob and Adam steadily pulled away on us, Chip and I went back and forth the whole race. I was behind him most of the time. I out braked him going into 1, then he passed me coming onto the straightaway. I pulled alongside him into 2, could have probably forced the issue and made a pass there, but held back and let him through. I passed him again going into the hairpin, but he got me back up the hill and onto the straight. After that I followed him the rest of the race, catching up to him a little bit through the back part of the track, but losing ground on him from turns 10a and 10b through the straightaway. Chip is definitely fast. He’s pretty late on the brakes going into 1 and after I passed him there and in the hairpin, he really seemed to both, brake later and hold a tighter line so I couldn’t get by. The last 3-4 laps of the race, I was running a wide entrance into 1 to try and get under him into 2, but I just didn’t have enough speed coming out of 1 to pull it off.

Somewhere during that time, Nick passed us and then Doug (Root, #510) on his 125 got ahead of us too. I ended up getting a 6th place, which was my best finish GTP. Plus, I set a 1.30.5 lap time which was almost a full 3 seconds faster than my last round’s 1.33.3 best. I was shocked – I was doing 1.31′s and 1.30′s the entire race. Talking to Doug after the race, he couldn’t believe that I didn’t get past Chip that race. Apparently he was following me for awhile and could see that we were both faster than him in the back part of the track. Oh well – couldn’t complain about anything there (although I did note that I felt like I was absolutely crawling through the “esses” and the “bowl”).

Sunday Practice:

Sunday turned out to be both sunnier and warmer than Saturday had been. By this time, I just wanted to get these races done and over with. I was sore and these Sunday events always take so much longer due to all the other stuff going on for the fans, which I would be a fan of myself, except – there were no fans present. :). Hell, there were barely any riders present. Anyway, I went out in practice with Chad and Aaron (Bagwell, #77).

SIDENOTE: Aaron is another new lightweight rider – one of those “SV” guys that just thinks he’s gonna whoop on every other “non-SV” rider just because he has an SV :). To make matters worse, he’s has a mentor in Jim Cottrell – only the fastest SV rider around Grattan. Great things to look forward too …

Anyway – the 3 of us went around for a few laps, passing back and forth. Having a grand old time. Not really getting anything solid out of it. I should have been working on my lines around the track and technique. I was working on braking markers going into 1 and 9 and tried to get a better line out of the “jump” and into the “esses”, but I don’t think much came out of it. I later found out that Kevin Patmore (Witchkraft Racing – #12 Expert) was ahead waiting for me too dice around with. This was after I had been “waiting” for Chad and Aaron to get around a couple slower riders so we could play around. So all this ‘waiting around’ didn’t translate into anything productive. I was only out for about 2/3 of the practice session and then came in to get ready for the upcoming races.

Race #1 – Michigan GP – Leg #2

This race was quite a roller coaster. I was gridded on the second row – behind Bob and Adam (on his FZR), along with Allan (#2), Root (#510) and Nick (#64) somewhere nearby. I had a really good start and was right behind Adam and Bob going into turn one. As the first lap progressed, I was still right behind Bob. I couldn’t believe it. I’m never able to hang with him. To make things even more interesting, I was almost close enough to try and out brake him going into the hairpin! Unbelievable! Anyway, Bob must have just been warming his tires up because he and Adam slowly pulled away, although I was still pretty close with them for the first half of the race, which was a first. Had to take something good out of that.

As the race kept on, I was 3rd for about half the race I would guess. My dad was up on the straightaway giving me hand signals as to how big of a lead I had on 4th place. I had no idea who it was, but his hands kept getting closer and closer together as I figured out it was Nick Cummings. He passed me just getting on the straightaway and I was able to get right in behind him. Man, his 125 is fast. I wasn’t able to do much in terms of out-motoring him down the straight, but I was able to get a bit of a draft though and get back past him going into 1. The next lap he came alongside me 3/4 of the way down the straight, but I braked a bit later than he did and still kept ahead of him. I think I was able to keep him behind me for about 3 laps when he eventually passed me going over the jump. I was pretty content knowing that my lap times had to be decent to keep up with him – it was only last round that he was past me and gone.

So I cruised around in 4th place – Nick had a pretty decent lead, but I was able to keep it consistent for most of the race. I’ve come to the conclusion that I have an issue following people after I get passed. Because once I get passed, I can never catch back up it seems – the only logic I have for this is that I get caught watching the rider(s) in front of me, rather than where I’m going on the track – something I’ve got to work on.

Anyway, the rest of the race was downhill from there. I hit a false neutral going into 1 – let both Allan and Doug by me, which sucked. Then trying to catch them, I blew the hairpin twice – once going in too deep and once via a false neutral – which was a little disconcerting. To make matters worse, I had forgotten to put gas in the tank after the morning practice – so I put together a 1:43 lap time where I was fiddling for the reserve on the gas tank. Someone else passed me and I ended up with a 7th place. Still my best finish in the class, but I couldn’t help thinking that if I had been a little more consistent, I could have had a 4th place.

Race #5 – Heavyweight Supertwins

Not much to be said of this race. After waiting around all afternoon, I was ready to get this race over with. I’m never that competitive in this class – mainly because the Duc’s come out to play and leave me in the dust. But, this was a chance for more track time and I wanted more race experience when I was a bit fatigued. Figured it might help me out on the Saturday races too.

Anyway, there were only 6 or 7 bikes in this race. 3 Ducati’s, an SV, Adam on his Yamaha 426 and I think one of the Dega guys. The green flagged dropped and I had the hole shot. I was first going down the straight when one of the Duc’s came buzzing by me and parked it in turn 1. If I had a little more than a Hawk under me, I would have had him into 2, but he was able to make up the lost ground and beat me there. Needless to say, as the race wore on, he pulled away, and the other Ducati passed me a couple laps later. I think just about everyone else passed me as I recall. I think the Dega guy crashed in the hairpin, so that bumped me up a spot. And I caught back up and passed Adam. I ended up fishing 5th out of 6 bikes. Not bad points for finishing next to last. :)

Conclusion:

Overall the weekend was a great success. Bob won every race he was in – he also had all 1st places and one 2nd place over on the motorcross side. Kevin set his personal best lap time with a 1:28, while Wes (Swain, #17) had some good finishes. Mikey (Merrill, #161) and Chuck (Seilnacht, #508) didn’t make it out, but hopefully next round we’ll have the whole Witchkraft team in attendance. Big thanks goes out to my dad – who came Saturday and saved the day by replacing the clutch on my bike – would not have had any finishes if it wasn’t for him.

Until Round Three …

Tuesday, January 1st, 2002 | POSTED AT: 12:02 PM
FILED UNDER: Race Reports