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2002 GLRRA aka MGP :: Round 6 – 9/27-29

A COMPLETE TURNAROUND FROM ROUND 5.Â LAST MINUTE TIRE CHOICES MAKE THINGS INTERESTING ..

“Just remember – do what you need to do, but don’t push it unless you have to.”

- Mike Merrill

Friday Practice:

That was from an email Mikey sent me before I left for the weekend, since he wasn’t going to make it to the final round. His expert words of wisdom would definitely play a factor in the weekend’s upcoming events.

Friday’s practice went great. No fancy lap times or dicing out on the track, but a relaxing, uneventful day. After hitting up a track day the week before, my dad and I were able to sort out the problems with the Hawk. The low/mid RPM hiccuping I had been experiencing the past 3 rounds was corrected by making a clip adjustment in the carbs, which adjusted the position of the needle and solved the problem. Not knowing at the time that there were two problems going on, the other problem was with the bike not pulling past 7k at times. This was due to not charging the battery completely (running a total loss), which we solved by simply making sure we were charging basically all the time. The main confusion here was thinking that both these problems were a carb-related issue, when they weren’t.

In any event, it was a nice change to have a bike that was finally running without problems. Prior to the weekend, Eric said that the top 3 finishers in Sportsman (along with most of the other lightweight classes) were going to get dyno’d this weekend. Go figure that this would be the only time (yes, the only time :) that I would possibly be over the Sportsman limit of 65 hp. I spent some time in the afternoon with Chad on the dyno to see where I was at. With the weather being a little cooler than usual, I thought for sure I’d be pushing the horsepower limit. Sure enough, the first dyno run showed me at just over 66 hp. After taking off the gas tank and putting some tape over the air filters (truly a Macgyver rig), the bike dyno’d at 60 hp. We went back and forth taking off a quarter inch of tape here and there (real precise) until we got to 64.8. That would work now, but with weather conditions, engine temperature and any other variable that might come into play, I still wasn’t confident that what we had would be good enough on Saturday.

Saturday:

As I arrived at the track Saturday morning, I hadn’t slept well at all. I’m not sure if it was nightmares about dyno’ing at 65.1 for the Sportsman race or if it was Bob’s snoring all night. :) I think it was a little bit of pressure that I had going into the races. I was 6 points ahead of Allan (#2, Burley) in the Sportsman class and 4 points ahead of him in Lightweight Supertwins. I knew these two class championships were going to go down to the wire. I actually wasn’t pleased with the lap times I was doing on Friday. Granted, it’s just practice, but I was way off the lap times I would normally run. I tried to be pretty relaxed all weekend and have a “don’t do anything stupid” approach to all the races.

Race #2 – Lightweight Supertwins

As we lined up on the grid, I knew that I couldn’t lose to Allan by more than one position if I wanted to win the class. If I did, we’d tie in points. If he beat me by more than 2 positions, he would win out. As the green flag dropped, I had a relatively bad start. I bogged off the line and Loren (#127, Black) and Chip (#191, Kraus) got out ahead of me. I was 3rd going into turn 1 and stayed there for the next couple laps.

As I followed Chip, I was trying to catch him – I really was. But something wouldn’t let me – and my times were so slow. I was looking down at my lap timer the next couple laps and I hadn’t even cracked the 29′s yet. I kept saying, “gotta go, gotta go,” but some other voice was saying, “you’re ahead of Allan, you’re ahead of Allan.” So on the third lap, I was coming up to a couple experts. I had just gotten by one and was coming up onto Damian (#10, Dobosz), who was riding Darren Womack’s old Yamaha 350 (he’s really a much faster rider than was indicated, due to the bike he was riding). I was right behind him coming up to the jump and I was thinking about trying to make a pass, but didn’t want to force the issue, so I checked up ever so slightly. As I crested the jump, Allan buzzed by me into the right hander and was right behind Damian going through the esses. Just as that happened, it clicked that I had to get moving. It was time to quit riding passively and start mounting a charge. Before I could even complete the thought, Allan was going on the outside of Damian through the bowl, trying to make a pass. As he did that, he must have gone in too hot and he looked to lose the front and crash. Immediately I switched back into “safe mode”, knowing that all I had to do was finish and I would win the class.

The rest of the race was still pretty eventful. The next few laps, I could tell someone was close behind me, although I didn’t know who it was. Coming onto the straight, an SV came into sight next to me – it was Andy (#86, George). This has been his first year racing and he’s gotten fast pretty quickly. As we went down the straight, I had the edge on him going into 1 and was able to keep ahead of him. The last 2 laps kept us in the same order, he finishing 4th and I in 3rd. More importantly, that sealed the class up for me, which was awesome. While I was disappointed that I was running 3 seconds a lap slower than I should have been running, it paid off at the end with staying on two wheels. Afterwards, Allan came and congratulated me on a good race. It’s a shame we couldn’t have had the Edwards/Bayliss type showdown – that would have been fun.

Race #5 – Lightweight GP – Leg 1

After the LWST race, the top three guys had to dyno. I knew I wouldn’t be pushing the 75 hp limit, but I thought it would be a good chance to see what kind of horsepower I was putting out right after a race when the engine’s hot – good preliminary test for Sportsman. I had taken the tape off the air filters for the this race and dyno’d at 66 hp. I planned on putting the tape back on the air filters before the Sportsman race. However, with a change in the schedule for Saturday’s events, LWGP Leg 1 and Sportsman were back to back – I was going to have to run LWGP with the restricted air filters. After making another couple dyno runs in between races (by now I was up to about dyno run #65), Chad and I got the Hawk down to 64 hp.

On the start of this race, I had a horrid start. I dumped the clutch and the front end jumped up in the air and seemingly crashed back down as Loren and Chip took off ahead of me. I’m not sure where I was through the first lap, although I know I was going slow. The young fleet of 125′s (Cummings, Knapp and Myers) passed me before long and Chip wasn’t too far in front of me. He was currently 3rd overall in the class and I was 2 points behind him. After Adam (#20, Sylvester) crashed out early on his FZR (he and I were tied for 4th place), I knew catching Chip would at least put me in a tie for 3rd.

As the race wore on, I was trying to put in some fast laps, but it just wasn’t happening. While I was trying to push hard, that voice in my head came back again and was saying something along the lines of, “just get points and don’t DNF.” On top of that, I later realized my turn entry speed was hurting my lap times. Rather than sacrifice a little turn entry speed for a better exit, I was running into turns to hot and it was killing my exit speed. As a result, my lines were off and I was losing a lot of time. Overall, I just plain was not as aggressive and as sharp as I usually am.

On the last lap, I was coming up to a lapper as I was exiting the hairpin. I was behind him going through 10A and was going to make a pass on the inside of him on 10B. I hesitated, not sure if I could squeeze by before he folded it in – I checked up on the throttle and Allan and Jovie (#316, Barnes) zinged by me on the outside and up to the straight. Cursing in my helmet, I tucked in behind Jovie and *almost* beat him to the line, but came up short. Stupid move on my part. I should have just passed the lapper on the outside and made it easier on myself rather than try forcing a move on the inside. A lesson learned.

Race #6 – Sportsman

With races back to back, my dad was waiting up on hot pit lane to give me a quick splash of gas before the next race. I rode over and stopped at the guard rail and he was there, along with my mom and girlfriend, Gina. As I unscrewed the gas cap, Gina handed me a bottle of water, which I downed with a straw as my dad then put some gas in the tank. We went over how I was disappointed at the results of the last race, but it was irrelevant now, because this next race was important.

As I sat on the starting grid, I looked across to see Allan, Adam and Ted (#87, Wheeler) alongside me on the front row. I knew I had to get a good start this race – Ted usually gets really good starts with his Hawk and Adam does the same with his Yamaha motard. Allan usually doesn’t get as good of starts with his 2 stroke, but I knew he’d be the one chasing me down. To win the class championship, I could finish 2nd behind Allan and still win. If I finished 3rd, we’d tie. After finishing 2nd the last two times in a frustrated manner, I really wanted to win this race, but again – I didn’t want to push it if I didn’t have to. :) As I looked ahead to the experts gridding up, there were more than usual – probably 4 or 5 bikes. With this being a one wave start, I knew traffic would play a part early on in the race. The plan was to get ahead of them as quickly as possible.

The green flag dropped and I let the clutch out almost perfectly as I rolled on the throttle and shifted up to second and third gear. I didn’t see anyone next to me and I was quickly gaining on the pack of experts. As we approached turn 1, for some odd reason, they all seemed to be lining up on the outside of the track. I was mid track and as I downshifted back to third gear and was hard on the brakes, I was able to pass all of the experts except one. I was geeked that I was able to make that work because I knew that it wouldn’t be that easy for the guys behind me.

I was able to get by the last expert on the first lap and as I came onto the straight, my dad was showing that I had a good size lead on second place, who I was assuming was Allan. For the rest of the race, I was much more relaxed and wasn’t pushing as hard. As a result, my lap times dropped and I finally got into the 29′s, which I ran for the entire race – still slower than normal, but it worked. I was able to win the race comfortably and managed not to make any stupid mistakes. As I crossed the line, I breathed a sigh of relief – glad that the drama was over.

The drama wasn’t completely over yet though. As I came in to the pits, I knew I still had to have the bike dyno’d. I wasn’t worried because I knew I was under the limit. As I rode by Chad’s dyno, I looked at him and pointed as to whether or not I should hop on the dyno right away. He shrugged his shoulder that he didn’t know, so I went back to the pits to get my helmet off and get some fluids. As I was back in the pits, taking my helmet off, Aaron (#77, Bagwell) walked back and told me he just heard Eric asking Chad if Allan’s and my bike were under the horsepower limit. Chad said yes and I guess that was the end of it. I went up to make sure, and Chad said everything was set, so I didn’t need to dyno again. Now, the drama was officially over.

Race #8 – Amateur GTP

The start of this race saw Cummings, Knapp and Myers run away with it early, on their 125′s. Loren was flying too on his SV as he was running with them. Chip was next and I was following him. Cummings crashed out of the race early, which put Chip in 4th and myself in 5th place.

SIDE NOTE: Loren got down to something obscene like a 1:25.5 this weekend – and he’s staying an amateur next year. Does anyone object to this? I guess I don’t, I won’t have to race against him next year. :)

s the race progressed, I was sticking with the same approach I had in the Sportsman race, and it was paying off. I was slowly catching Chip and got a good draft off of him down the straight, where I was able to pass him going into 1. For the next few laps, I knew someone was right behind me, but I wasn’t sure who. The whizzing sound of a 125 told me that it was probably Doug (#510, Root), but I didn’t know that there was a pack of 3 other bikes with him. Every time I hit the straight, my dad was showing that the lead I had on 5th place was slim. That’s when I started losing my concentration and starting running off my normal lines, which I knew was letting the guys behind me catch up. At one point, I dipped into the 28′s, but I ran most of the race in the 29′s. I knew Doug was back there and I saw the #86 plate of Andy at one point.

As the white flag came out, I just planned on running a smart lap and didn’t want to give anyone a wide open chance to pass me. As I came out of the bowl, I saw an expert up ahead in the sweeper. As I went through the sweeper, I saw Doug out of the corner of my helmet on the outside of me. I passed the expert going into the hairpin and was only really worried about Doug, who I now thought was well behind me. I ran a little wider than I normally do going into the hairpin (which was still to the right of mid track). Well all of a sudden, Chip snuck by on the inside of me to retake 4th place. We ran up the hill and he got held up by another expert, but I wasn’t able to pass him before the checkered flag.

The race still went pretty well, except for the end. It was my best finish in GTP – I’m usually pretty tired by this time and fall off the pace. I was able to hold off Doug, Andy and Chip for the whole race, up until the end. Chip used the same move on me that I’ve used on him a few times this year. I guess what goes around comes around.

Saturday night we celebrated Chad’s (#107, Tefft) wedding in Lansing. Gina, Aaron and I made the trip over there after the races and had some good food and drinks. Chad tried to plan his wedding around the racing schedule, but it didn’t work out. When he and Niki planned the wedding, he went off the 2001 schedule, which changed for 2002. We were all sorry about his luck.

Sunday:

Race #1 – Lightweight GP – Leg 2

The prelude to this race was great. It rained early in the morning (not great), so my dad and I switched to rains for the morning practice. It had been awhile since I had been on the track in the rain and figured I needed the practice. The track was pretty wet the entire time and I thought the first race of the day would definitely be a wet one. As I talked to Allan, Doug and some of the other guys around the pits, no one was sure what the weather forecast was going to be like and everyone planned on sticking with the rains.

As soon as calls were made for the riders’ meeting, a slight breeze started and it looked like the clouds were trying to break. Looking at the track, it was still wet, but starting to dry out every so slightly. As the riders’ meeting started and Eric went over his checklist of things to cover, the sun broke. At this point, I was starting to think rains weren’t the way to go. However, I only had slicks and of course, running slicks on a track that isn’t completely dry – well, it’s not good. I snuck back down to the pits and my dad was putting the tire warmers on the slicks, which were still in the trailer. I looked at him and said, “what do you think?” He replied, “I don’t know – it’s your call, I’m getting them ready just in case.” I stood there for a minute and thought. I looked at the clock – it was 11:40. I looked at the track – it was starting to dry up. I had a good 20-30 minutes before the race started and if the track continued to dry out, rains would not be the way to go. I ran some numbers in my head too – I was currently 4th in points in this class. 3 behind Allan and 1 behind Doug. Doug and Allan both said they were sticking with rains. If we all had rains, it would be a level playing field and the way I was running so far this weekend (slow), they might beat me. If I switched to slicks and the track did dry, I’d have a distinct advantage over them. It was going to be a gamble, but I looked at my dad and said, “let’s do it.”

My dad and I, along with Aaron’s help (he had been a huge help all weekend – thanks Aaron) switched back to slicks and we had everything set to go. Luckily we did it quickly because first call and second call for the race came right after each other. As I rode up onto hot pit lane, I took inventory of who was up there and what tires they had. I saw almost everyone had rain tires on. The sun was still out and I could see the straightaway was pretty dry. Rather than take my normal spot on hot pit lane, I rode up to the front with the experts, where Eric Konigsburg was the only guy up there. The calls for the race were made so quickly, not everyone was up there yet. I went out on the warm up lap right behind Konigsburg – I wanted to make sure I had a clear view of the track and could take mental notes of where it was wet and dry, and how hard I thought I could push the bike.

As I went around, I couldn’t help but smile inside my helmet. The track wasn’t completely dry, but it was dry enough – and definitely not wet enough for rains. I noticed there was still a little puddle in turn 3 and through the esses. I knew those sealer strips through the sweeper would still be slippery, so I changed my line through there. I also noticed it was still damp on 10B. As I made my way to the grid, I noticed the brakes made a really weird “clunking” sound that I had never heard before. I didn’t think much of it – maybe the water from the track or something (this would later come into play). I looked up to my dad who was watching from up top. I pointed to the tires and gave him a thumbs up, telling him that the tire change was a good idea.

As Allan, Doug and Nick gridded alongside me on the front row, Doug looked at me, looked at my tires, and shook his head. :) He then looked over at Allan, who just shrugged his shoulders. As the “1″ board went sideways and Scott threw the green flag, we were off. I had a good start and was leading the pack down the straight. Going into 1, Nick passed me on the inside which took me by surprise. Either I braked too early or he was just pushed hard from the start. I followed him through 2 and going into 3, the unthinkable happened. I grabbed a handful of brake and the brake lever went to the bar! And I wasn’t slowing down! No brakes! I stomped on the rear brake and the rear end skidded around and I looked over my right shoulder as I rode off the track, hoping no one was going to t-bone me. Luckily I had plenty of run off room and was able to get the bike onto the grass. I was shocked and dumbfounded and as I turned the bike around to face the track, I tried the front brake and it worked! As I saw the last bike enter turn 4, I decided I was going to get back out and give it a go. As I was spinning the rear tire in the grass, trying to get back out on the track, I remember saying something to myself along the lines of, “I’m not going out like this”.

I got back on the track and took it easy on the brakes that lap – especially into the hairpin. The whole time, the brakes worked fine. I had no idea what happened. I got back onto the straight and saw some bikes ahead of me and put my head down. I caught someone on the next lap. Then as I was coming up onto a 125, she crashed in 10B, on her way to the straightaway as I checked up so as not to run into her. The following lap, Allan went down in the esses. I didn’t see it happen, but as I went by, he was still laying on the track. Not good. The ambulance came out and throughout the next couple laps, I looked over to see that he was up and walking, which was a good sign.

As the laps counted down, I continued to put in some good laps. I caught up to Jovie on one lap, then Aaron on the next lap. I was able to pass Adam on the following lap. The lap after that I caught up with Doug and passed him. The race flowed really well. Everyone was spread out and I seemed to catch one person a lap. My dad was up giving me some kind of hand signals – and I had no idea what they were at the time – turned out he was giving me lap numbers, so I knew how many laps I had left. It looked more to me like he just had his hands up, like he was excited about something. I went a couple laps and I didn’t see anyone in front of me. Going down the straight, I looked over and didn’t see anyone through turns 3 or 4 either. I had no idea what place I was in and that got me to thinking that maybe I was in the top 3. By now, the track was dry and maybe Nick and Taylor came in after roasting their rain tires or something. Or maybe someone crashed out. That didn’t turn out to be the case, as they just had a huge lead on everybody. I finished 5th, behind four 125′s. Nick, Taylor, Logan and somebody riding #325.

Looking back at the race, it was a great choice to go with the slicks and if I hadn’t had the brake problem, I could have ran with the 125′s and possibly finished a little better. The gamble worked as I was able to move up and finish 2nd overall in LWGP Leg 2, although doing it with Allan crashing out wasn’t the way I would have liked it to have happened. My dad and I both aren’t sure what really happened with the brakes. When he was up top watching me grid for the race, he did notice that the front forks were chattering when I came to a stop – something that’s not normal. But that still doesn’t explain how the brakes worked on the warmup lap and through the first 2 turns of the race.

Race #5 – Heavyweight Supertwins

The only real point for running this race was to give me a few extra points overall. With my 10th place finish in LW GTP, I figured I could at least get a 5th or 6th place here to cancel that 10th place out. Plus, it would be the last race of the season.

The race wasn’t very exciting at all. Halfway through, it started raining and everybody’s pace slowed down dramatically. Jovie had a great start and as the race progressed, I saw him up ahead of me. Adam had been right behind me, but as the rain came, he dropped off a bit. I was just tip-toeing around because it felt like I was riding on ice. I saw a couple guys go down and didn’t want to end the season with a crash. Jason Etter, who was the overall amateur champion pulled in once it started raining I think (he has a Ducati – who’d want to risk crashing that, plus he had the championship locked up) and that bumped me up to a 4th place finish.

Conclusion:

Overall, it was a great weekend – a complete reversal of round 5. I won class championships in LWST and Sportsman, while finishing 2nd in LWGP Leg 2, 4th in LWGP Leg 1, and 4th in HWST. Overall, I finished 4th out of all the amateurs and might wear the “04″ plate next year if I decide to give up #84. If Allan and I could have had seasons without as many problems as we did, I think he’d agree we could have challenged those middleweight guys for the top three spots.

Looking back, Mikey’s words of wisdom were right on the mark. Yeah, I was disappointed that I was running slower and didn’t improve on my best lap times, but playing it safe at the end couldn’t have worked out any better than it did. My goal at the beginning of the season was to finish in the top 15 overall and I surpassed that. And with all the problems, if I didn’t have my dad there to help sort them out, it would have been a completely different year.

See everyone at the banquet in January ..

Tuesday, January 1st, 2002 | POSTED AT: 12:06 PM
FILED UNDER: Race Reports