Witchkraft Racing: The Search for Speed

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2004 WERA :: BeaveRun – 4/24-25

WITCHKRAFT DROPS THE HAMMER TO START 2004

Prelude:

BeaveRun is five hours from our house. My dad and I had been up late every night of the week for the previous 2+ weeks getting both bikes ready. The Thursday before the first race weekend of the season would be no different, as we finally loaded the bikes into the trailer around 11:00pm. With my mom and girlfriend Gina getting antsy, we quickly loaded everything else and headed for PA. Four and a half hours later we rolled into the Holiday Inn parking lot and were in bed at around 3:30am to wake up three hours later for Friday practice.

Friday morning was wet. We met up with Wes and Jan, along with Chad, Niki, and the entire Carney Racing crew, all who had made it to Pennsylvania a bit earlier than we had. My dad and I both rode both bikes throughout the day, as it started to dry out in the afternoon. BeaveRun’s a fun track. Being the first time there for all of us, we found distinct similarities in the track layout compared to other tracks. BeaveRun was a combination of Gingerman, Nelson Ledges and Grattan Raceway. The only series of turns that didn’t remind me of another track was the right-left-right turns 5, 6 and 7. Turn 5 was a slow, uphill right-hander that quickly folded into a short left, which led to the right-handed, downhill turn 7. After turn 7, the fast left kink is similar to Gingerman (and even Putnam Park), while the following right-handed kink is similar to Nelson Ledges’ back straight. The track was designed by Alan Wilson, who’s done other tracks, obviously in a similar manner. Regardless, the track was fun and talking to the track management revealed that they have plans to lengthen the track for next year, which should make BeaveRun one of the better tracks in the midwest region. The rest of Friday was fairly uneventful. The whole Michigan crew went out to eat and took the Carney Bus which is always a good time.

Saturday morning, my dad and I both mounted new rubber for the weekend’s races. As a first year expert, I wasn’t sure what to expect in terms of competition. The morning practice sessions revealed that I was only fourth fastest, not a position I was used to. I had to repeatedly tell myself that I was at a new track, it was my first race weekend of the year – and that I’m not an amateur any more.

Lightweight Solo 20

I was gridded on the outside of the third row. Watching the starter during the first race, I saw that he was quick in throwing the green flag. It was the same for our race, so as soon as the “1″ board went up, I clicked into first gear and put my visor down. Almost immediately after the 1 board went sideways, he threw the green flag. I had a great launch and was first into turn 1. I tried pushing relatively hard, figuring a couple guys would come by me before long. As the first few laps clipped off, I was still in the lead. With BeaveRun being a short track, I was coming onto lap traffic by the fourth lap. I was trying to get by them as quickly as possible, but with my track inexperience, I was being way too cautious, often waiting a turn or two before making a pass on certain riders. I didn’t want to do anything stupid, especially in the first race of the season.

As I saw the halfway flag, the bike was feeling pretty good. I wasn’t happy/comfortable with it at all at Grattan a couple weeks earlier, but this track was either better suited for the bike, or I was finally just focusing on riding on not suspension setup. There was a new front end on the bike, along with some other changes that would take some getting used to. The one thing I thought could be improved was having the bike steer into turns a little quicker.

In the second half of the race, I was still in the lead. At one point, I came onto a group of at least 10-12 amateur riders that were literally nose to tail on the track. They were so close, I would have sworn they just started another race that I wasn’t aware of. I was able to get through that group of bikes in one lap, which I had hoped didn’t slow me down too much. I also caught a few expert bikes in the closing laps which I took as a good sign that I had stepped up the pace from practice earlier.

I crossed the finish line without getting passed, winning my first expert race. Phew. What a relief to get that first race out of the way. Checking the timing sheets after the race, I was happy to see that I set the fastest laps of the race and won by a margin of 15 seconds. I knew everyone else was going to be getting faster as the weekend progressed, so I’d have to do the same in the coming races. My dad finished 6th in his first race of the year on the new SV650. He had a good battle with Andy (George, of Carney Racing), which he said was a blast. Chad also had a strong finish, scoring a 2nd place among the amateurs. After we packed up, we all headed back to the hotel and ate at the restaurant/bar they had downstairs. We had a group of about 16 which was great. This again proving that the company and friends at the track is just as much a part of a race weekend as the actual racing is.

Sunday:

My dad and I switched back and forth between both bikes in the morning practice sessions, trying to make the new SV feel more like the old one. Max at Traxxion Dynamics sent us two springs to try – a 525 and 500 lb. spring. We had the 525 mounted and the more we rode it, the more we realized how harsh it was. We didn’t have time to change springs, but we did soften up the front and rear compression – both noticeable improvements. Mike (Merrill, Witchkraft teammate) also showed up Sunday morning, looking to ride the newly tuned and painted 600 in some sprint races.

Formula 2:

The first race of the day was Formula 2, followed by Heavyweight Twins. I was still riding the carburated SV and my dad was on the fuel-injected SV. We put in some extra gas, as we wouldn’t have time to refuel with back-to-back races.

As I sat on the 3rd row of the grid, another bike was totally blocking my view of the starter. I quickly tried moving, but still couldn’t see it. I was able to see the “1″ board come up, so I just put the bike and gear and hoped for the best. Instead of looking for the starter, I just watched the other bikes. As soon as I saw movement, I took off. I didn’t have a very good start, but at least I could see my dad get the holeshot and lead into turn 1. I think I was 3rd going into turn 1, passing a few bikes on the brakes. I passed the second place bike going into the right-handed turn 4 and was now right behind my dad. I came along the inside of him going into turn 5, passing him for the lead. I had hoped I didn’t slow him down at all because I totally wanted him and I have to have the race for 1st and 2nd all to ourselves.

I must have been thinking about the father/son combo too much. Going through the fast left-handed kink onto the back straight, I lost my concentration or something because I ran way wide and about a foot off the track. I quickly stood up on the pegs and maneuvered the bike back onto the asphalt. As I got back on the gas, my dad went by and I could only imagine what he was thinking. Probably a combination of worry (is he alright?) and joy (I’m in the lead!). I was able to pass him back going into the hairpin-like turn 10 and not make another stupid mistake. I clipped off some good laps, improving on my best lap time from Saturday and winning the race by 16 seconds. My dad finished 3rd, which was a great result for the new bike. We came into post-tech and headed right back out, as Heavyweight Superbike was about to start.

Heavyweight Superbike:

This race was run with the C Superbike class, which consisted of the 600cc 4-cylinder machines. After a red flag on the first lap, we re-gridded and started again. At this point, the sky had darkened and a few drops of rain began to fall. With slicks mounted (not recommended for rain usage), the conditions weren’t bad enough where I’d be affected by the little bit of precipitation (yet).

I had a good start and was leading the first lap. Up ahead I was about two seconds behind a pack of about 8 guys on 600′s and my eyes lit up. If I could keep up with at least a few of the them, that would be awesome. In the next couple laps, I actually passed two of them. Coming onto the straight away, I then passed Mark Biletnikoff, a friend/rival of mine. We had some good races last year as amateurs and I had a big smile in my helmet as I went by him. I knew this would be short-lived, as he (or anyone on a 600) doesn’t want to get beat by a little SV. He passed me back going into turn 1 and then stepped it up after that. I think he had slowed down because of the light rain and once he saw me, he knew he had to go faster.

The remainder of the race went well. I won the race by 11 or 12 seconds, but I was mainly just trying to keep up with the 600′s, which I did to some extent. There was a group of 6 of them that I had in my sight for most of the race. In the last couple laps, the rain started to come down a little harder and the bike started to slide, which was a bit disconcerting. I backed it down slightly and made sure I finished the race on two wheels.

Lightweight Superbike:

It was now fully raining. There were two races before Lightweight Superbike. We sat under the canopy as the rain started to come down harder. It was my mom, Gina, Mike, my dad and myself.

Eddie: “I’m going to have to just play damage control on slicks – there isn’t enough time to switch to rains.”

[ rain coming down harder ]

[ surrounding people switching to rain tires ]

[ Eddie thinking and looking around nervously ]

Eddie (looking at Mike and already assuming a “yes” response from dad): “Wanna help with a tire swap?”

Mike immediately answered, “sure”, and we got to work. My dad and Mike were quickly working on the front, swapping rotors off the slick-mounted wheel and putting them on the rain-mounted wheel. Gina and I were working on the rear tire. This would have normally been easy, but I had captive wheel spacers on my normal race wheel, so I couldn’t use the same sprocket carrier/spacers with the rain wheel. I had these parts somewhere at home, but we couldn’t find (forgot) them when we left for the track at 11 pm Thursday night. Thank God for Chad. He bought an “extra” SV last year just to have for spares and so far, I’ve been the main beneficiary of the extra bike. As Chad and Niki were busy swapping wheels, I ran over and asked if I could borrow some parts. With luck seemingly on my side (for the moment), the exact parts I needed were lying on the floor of his trailer. I yelled, “Thanks Chad!”, as I ran back to our pits to continue the work. Gina was a huge help as she swapped sprockets on the sprocket carrier and then I mounted up the rear wheel. We finished mounting the rear and were ready to go with a few minutes to spare.

I had almost forgotten how well the rain tires worked, so I was a little tentative initially, but I was able to lead the first lap of the race and was getting progressively faster with each lap. Three laps into the race, there was no one near me and I wasn’t even pushing hard. I was just riding around comfortably, actually waiting for someone to pass me where I’d have to step up the pace if necessary. A major problem struck on the fifth lap however. Coming out of turn 7, there’s a straight-stretch that leads to the left-handed kink, entering onto the back straight away. As I exited 7, I had the throttle pinned once I was upright on the center of the tire. As I went to lightly roll off the throttle for the kink, the throttle wouldn’t roll off. It was stuck – pinned! I wrestled the throttle as best I could, but it wouldn’t budge. I was moving fairly quick at this point and had to just lean the bike into the left and trust the tires. I made it through, using all of the track and immediately started to try and slow the bike down. I shifted down to fifth gear – nothing. I kept wrestling with the throttle, looking down at it as I was racing down the back straight in the rain. Realizing that this wasn’t something I could fix, I unwillingly pulled in the clutch and hit the kill switch. The motor shut down and I rolled off the track at the end of the straight away with my arm in the air. Once off the track, I tried starting the bike, but to no avail. Game over.

Disappointing. I watched the rest of the race with a couple corner workers as it continued to rain. As I was waiting for the crash truck to come and pick me up, Chad pulled up on the cool down lap and pointed for me to hop on. I ran over and jumped on the back of his bike and he took us in, riding on the tank. What a friend. My bike sat against the guardrail the rest of the day and couldn’t be picked up until all the races were finished. I sadly found out that I was all by myself in the race and my best lap up until disaster was over 7 seconds faster than anyone else on the track. Bummer.

Lightweight Supersport:

This was my first race on the new bike and it was still raining. Not the ideal way to start things off. We didn’t have rain tires yet for the ’04 SV, so we were forced to run DOT tires, which are basically slicks with some grooves on the center of the tire. Again, not ideal.

I had a surprisingly good start and was leading through the first few turns. Hoping I would have the same grip as I had with the rain tires, I was going pretty good, but the bike disagreed and was sliding around. I knew if I didn’t back it down, I’d end up on the asphalt. Bikes were slowly passing me and all I could remember seeing was the tread of their rain tires going by. Adding insult to injury, I would see my bike leaned against the guardrail in turn 10 on every lap – with rain tires.

I finished somewhere like 7th or 8th overall, but there were multiple classes running in the race, so I ended up with a 3rd place in class, which was good points if nothing else. Everyone ahead of me had rains and I even beat a couple guys on rains, so there was something positive to take away from it.

Heavyweight Supersport:

This race wasn’t fun. It was raining harder now and I went even slower than I did in the Lightweight Supersport race. Most guys elected not to run the race, so there were only three bikes in our class. I finished 2nd. Eh.

Conclusion:

Overall, the weekend was still good. I won my first three races as an expert, which was great. While we didn’t have rain tires for the new SV, I at least got some points in the two Supersport classes. The worst part was the DNF in Lightweight Superbike, which I should have won. We later found out that a small pebble had gotten into the rear carb and lodged itself against one of the rollers that controls the throttle. The roller couldn’t move with the pebble/rock in place, thus the stuck throttle.

A big thanks to my dad for all the work he/we did over the winter to get things ready for the season. Thanks also to Gina and my mom, who dealt with us out late in the garage many a nights. From our initial results, the work has already started to pay off. A big thanks to Mikey for helping with the tire swap, along with Chad as he was the perfect teammate all weekend long. Supplying spare parts, helping setup suspension and even giving me a lift back to the pits in the rain. Thanks Man.

Thanks also to Jamie Hanshaw who took on the task of making sure both motors were ready to go and even had me over with the ’00 SV to make sure it was running right. James over at Brighton Superbike was also a big help in getting both bikes on the dyno and making the custom fuel-injection map on the ’04 SV which rocks. Lastly Gregg Spears, who has been immensely helpful with anything and everything having to do with getting our race program going this year.

Grattan’s next ..

Thursday, January 1st, 2004 | POSTED AT: 12:01 PM
FILED UNDER: Race Reports