Witchkraft Racing: The Search for Speed

Home » Race Reports » 2006 WERA – BeaveRun 4/29-30

2006 WERA – BeaveRun 4/29-30

Round one was one of those types of weekends where you don't quite know how to classify how it went once it's over. It wasn't a great weekend, but it certainly wasn't a bad weekend either. Let's take a look at what happened and you can be the judge on how good or bad it really was.

The Good:

- I got more comfortable on the new R6 than I thought I would have coming into the weekend. I dropped 3 seconds from Friday to Saturday and felt the best yet on the bike; especially after not racing in 2005. – I went the fastest I've gone yet around BeaveRun, bettering my previous best lap time from the Suzuki SV650. – I had a great launch in the B Superbike race, grabbing 4-5 spots right away, and running my fastest laps consistently throughout the entire race.

The Not So Good:

- After dropping 3 seconds on Saturday, I couldn't seem to break any new ground and go much faster on Sunday, and was still 3 seconds off the leaders' pace. – I have roughly 35 more horsepower and I barely bettered my SV time from 2004. – I had 2 awful starts that made me feel like an amateur. – The one good launch I did have, I gave all the spots back going into turn 1 because I was too tentative to just stick the bike in there through turn 1.

Recap:

My wife (Gina), mom (Marsha) and dad (Joe) were all in attendance. Even our dog Sadie made the trip. James (Brighton Superbike) and his wife Rachael were there as well. We all got along great and had a lot of fun hanging out the entire weekend. Everyone was awesome (especially James and my dad) in making sure the bike was ready to go at all times, where I could just worry about riding the bike. The bike itself turned out extremely well. It looked great and took its share of compliments throughout the weekend.

JB and his wife Crista were also there (JB is a good friend of mine, who's been racing a 600 and is a first year expert), along with former SV650 pilot Jeff Caco making his debut on his new SV1000. There was a host of other friends there as well, which made just being at the track worth the trip. It was a little different not having anyone from the Witchkraft crew in attendance. In the past, there was always Wes, Jan, Aaron and Chad at the track. Now with all of them sort of doing their own thing and not racing as much, we're forced to go out and make new friends. A bit of a bummer, but hopefully they'll make it out to a couple races this year.

The weather in Pennsylvania was sunny and relatively warm considering we were still in the month of April. Friday practice went well, as we setup camp and got some laps on the R6, slowly dropping the lap times throughout the day.

Saturday consisted of one race – the Middleweight Solo 20, a 20-lap mini-endurance race. This race is generally a warmup/race-pace practice for the Sunday races. For me, it was good to get my first race of the year on the new bike under my belt. My nerves were running pretty high beforehand, which is always the case for most racers (if it's not, something's not right), but mine were a little higher than normal. I ended up finishing 17th out of 28 bikes. While I've become accustomed to finishing on the podium or winning races on the SV650, there were a host of fast guys in attendance, so all things considered, I was content where I finished.

I was wiped after the race. We all headed to Applebees afterwards for some food, then to the hotel where we hung out in the hot tub for awhile to soak some sore muscles. I cashed out early around 10:30pm, where my dad, James and JB stayed up until 1:00am or so.

Sunday consisted of four 10-lap sprint races. The bike was working really well and was flat-out fast. Aside from my less than stellar starts and being tentative in traffic, I put in some good laps and got more comfortable on the bike. Of the four races, strangely enough my best race was the last one (where I was most tired) in B-Superbike. I turned consistent 1:02 laptimes in every lap and put in my fastest lap of the weekend. I attributed this to finally relaxing on the bike and just riding, rather than pushing too hard and in effect, going slower because of it.

Overall, I'd say the first race weekend of the year was definitely more good than bad. The bike was fast all weekend, and the support of Brighton Superbike, along with my family and friends was great and I really appreciated them all being there. We're heading off to Nelson this weekend, so the plan it to continue to improve and see what happens. Check out the gallery section for new photos; courtesy of Marsha and Crista.

Thanks for reading.

- eddie

Wednesday, May 3rd, 2006 | POSTED AT: 12:35 PM
FILED UNDER: Race Reports

3 Comments on “2006 WERA – BeaveRun 4/29-30”

Jim Cottrell wrote on 4 May, 2006, 7:55 AM
I went through the same learning curve and I am still learning. Suggestions; You need to get more confident that the bike will take care of you. The 600′s handled much better then the bikes you were riding. Also the speed thing was a little hard to get used to. You are probably doing what I did/doâ€¦.Brake way too early and get on the gas too late. On the 600 ring its neck just like you did on the SV exiting the corners and work on your brake markers. Sound easy : )
Jim
Aaron wrote on 5 May, 2006, 10:33 AM
Bike colors have changed? Does this mean that team bikes must be “red” now?

I like red!
Eddie wrote on 8 May, 2006, 5:48 PM
Thanks Jim. It’s getting better. I am learning to ride the bike in the higher RPM’s, along with just getting used to the added speed. It’s coming along – better than I thought it would be from not racing last year.

Aaron – yeah I know. Yellow’s still the Witchkraft color though. Even if my dad and I are the only ones flying the flag right now. :)