Witchkraft Racing: The Search for Speed

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Monday Morning Grind

My dad and I went to Grattan yesterday to watch the WERA/AMA National races. I had thought last year's record breaking times were a fluke. That was definitely not the case. Rob Jensen further dropped the lap record on a 600 down to a 1:18.930, significantly bettering Brent's (Bennett) record last year of a 1:19.589.

The quality of riders present was absolutely top notch. In addition to Rob Jensen (previously ran top 5 in AMA Supersport), Opie Caylor (top-level AMA privateer), Ben Thompson (who you might remember led the entire first lap of the AMA Superbike race at Mid-Ohio last year), Tray Batey, Mark Junge, John Jacobi (Vesrah Suzuki riders with resumes too long to list) were all in attendance. Not to mention the influx of young talent with Taylor Knapp (currently riding on an AMA support team), Tommy Aquino (riding a Graves-spec Yamaha factory bike), Chris Fillmore (finished 3rd in the AMA Supermoto at Waterford Hills last year; this was his reported 3rd time on a roadrace bike and was quite impressive) made their way to the grid throwing down some serious times. Then throw in the fast locals like Brent Bennett, Dave Grey, Jeff Kovack and of course Matt Lapham and it's easy to see why the 600 class at a national level has some similarities to running at an AMA Pro-level event. Did I also mention factory Honda rider Josh Hayes was riding in the WERA National Endurance race Saturday? He was also helping his girlfriend Melissa Paris in Sunday's races.

It's always bittersweet watching racing and not competing. I of course would rather ride. The bike's getting freshened up, so it simply wasn't rideable or else we would have been on the grid. However watching the races was half-inspiring and half-demoralizing. The bikes of the top guys I mentioned above were fast. And I mean fast. In the 600 race, I watched Tommy Aquino completely motor Brent on the front straight. Brent is no slouch and his bike has a fast motor in it. Matt Lapham had a brand new Carry Andrews motor and he was riding the wheels off the thing to stay in the draft of the Kawasaki's (and from first hand experience, Matt's bike with the stock motor in it was a rocket). In terms of speed, it's extremely difficult to compete with factory (or even semi-factory) horsepower. Plus these guys can all ride.

Also of interest were tires. A complete spread of Pirelli, Dunlop and Michelin were all present on the grid. One interesting note were the tires Rob Jensen was heard to be running. While most Michelin riders select a PR3, PR4, or PR5 model-tire for the rear, Jensen supposedly had a "PR3 RJ" (can you guess what the RJ might stand for?). Word in the paddock is that RJ is running/testing Michelin's tires for next year. Or at the very least running tires that are specifically made for him.

The silver lining was that we could have run top 10 in these races; with a bike that's going on three years old; at a WERA/AMA National event. Our times from just a trackday earlier in the year were good enough alone for top 10. Throw in new tires, race fuel, and the race environment, and I'm pretty confident we could have dropped at least another second. Although another second would not have been nearly enough to try and run top 5. We need another 2-3 seconds to get there; and I think we can. But to get into the 1:18-19 range that Rob Jensen was in? I'd be lying if I didn't think it would be nearly impossible without having the extra 5-10 horsepower that it appears he and the top 600 bikes have right now. All we can do is push forward though and ride. I've still got to get to the 1:20-1:21 range first. Once there, then maybe I can justify the excuses about being down on horsepower.

Monday, July 16th, 2007 | POSTED AT: 6:40 AM
FILED UNDER: General