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WERA Round 7: Grattan National Recap (Time to Recharge)
[In Reverse Order]
Monday, July 14th:
7:34pm: My dad and I tear down the bike and are going through it. Upon examining some of the wiring on the left side of the bike, up where the engine mounts behind the frame, we see some burn markings on the rubber covering, which houses several wires coming from the stator/generator. It appears that the wires are pushing against the motor and had gotten extremely hot, damaging the wires and seemingly causing the bike to not properly charge the battery when running.
Sunday, July 13th:
5:05pm: Gina and Emily headed home with Maggie, as well as my aunt, cousin and mom. I thanked them again for coming out and apologized for not being able to put on a better show. They still were still able to have a good time; especially being able to watch my dad finish with a 1st and 2nd place on the day.
4:25pm: 750 Superbike race: DNS. My dad and Doug look over the bike and start to diagnose it. With the way things have gone up until now, and with my dad having a race coming up, I suggest we just look at it once we get home and call it a day. Matt and I watch the race and afterwards I start to pack things up.
1:45pm: 600 Superbike race. They combined a couple classes, so this was the second leg of back to back races. I come off the cool down lap and bring the bike onto hot pit lane where we quickly mount tire warmers and add a splash of gas. Once on 5-board goes up, I prepare to head out for the warm-up lap. The bike starts up, but once out on the track, I realize the bike is running ragged again. It falls nearly flat on it's face in T2, T4, past the jump and through the bowl. As I'm going around, I'm putting together the fact that this has been happening the past two races, while also in practice earlier in the morning. Not wanting to run the bike in it's current state, I pull off and bring the bike into the garage.
1:32pm: 750 Superstock. Not a great race. I was pushing and riding more relaxed (or so I thought), but the times weren't any faster. I'm not sure why. At post tech, the bike is running really hot so I have to shut it off. When I start it back up, it doesn't start on the first try. On the second try, it barely starts up and I quickly head back up to our garage.
12:44pm: 600 Superstock. This race starts off alright. I have a good launch and charge into T1 with everyone. I push hard – too hard and only do a 1:23.0 as my best time. Hardly impressive with fresh rubber and "race pace". I'm telling myself during the race to relax as I'm too tight on the bars, missing apexes and running wide through corners. I'm also noticing that I feel really slow through T2, T4 and the bowl. Also that once past the jump, I'm not having to brake at all (I normally just touch the brake). I feel pretty sweet about that, but as I turn into the right hander, I'm going way too slow and needing to get on the gas more so than normal. Weird. I lose touch with the pack in front of me, as well as having Woody Heiman and Dave (Grey) pass me and I'm not able to keep with them. We finish 10th.
Lunch: Doug, my dad and Matt help mount fresh rubber on both ends of the bike. The seat is off and we're charging the now-mounted battery to try and ensure it lasts the duration of our first race. My mom, aunt Karen and cousin Beth arrive to the track, to watch this thing called roadracing for the first time. They are followed shortly thereafter by Gina and her cousin Emily. Magglio (the pooch) is with them too. I don't think we've ever had this many people come to the track on one weekend!
10:45am: I come in and Doug and my dad check the battery. It is indeed dead. We bump start the bike again in the pits and check the power to the charging system. It's not charging the battery. We borrow a voltage regulator and battery from Richard (Harris, of Apex Manufacturing) and cross our fingers. Meanwhile we borrow a battery charger from Dennis Ergo and put it on the now-dead battery.
10:38am: Last practice session. As I go to start the bike, it dies. It won't turn over. Battery is dead. Doug goes, "pull it in, we're done for now." In full gear and ready to go out I yell, "let's try and bump start it." Doug and Justin give me a push and I'm able to bump on the first try. I head out and put in a few laps before the session ends. The laps were real weird though. The bike feels jerky and inconsistent; especially on the out-lap where I have an odd rear wheel tire slide coming out of a corner. Somehow the power delivery is just different. It sounds ragged and on the front straight, after clicking into 6th gear on the third lap, the bike's tach is buried where I can't even see it. Typically it's reaching 14.5-15k by the time I'm about ready to start braking for T1. I'm pinned on the straight trying to look up and over into the tach to see if it somehow fell off, but I see it there almost out of sight. Something's wrong.
10:22am: With the red flag incident, practices are shortened. I get about three laps, not going any faster than I did in the first session – and I'm not sure why. I was riding well and expecting faster times.
9:48am: I talk to Garry about the engine braking feature on the Yamaha ECU. I tell him about Billy's comments on closing onto me into corners and ask if maybe we have that turned up too high (which it wasn't initially). He doesn't seem to think that would be an issue, but says to try it if I want. I figure I'm just not carrying enough speed and need to turn the thing on the right handlebar some more.
9:38am: Second practice session. Billy waits for me to show me some spots where I can go faster. Going into T1, I'm backshifting into 2nd gear but a couple times the engine seems to "whirr" and jerk, and engage differently than it normally does. We only get two laps as a rider blows his motor going into T1 and apparently crashes in violent fashion. Red flag and we're down for a good 25-30 minutes while the track is cleaned and rider is attended to by medical staff. We did three laps. Rider ended up getting banged up, but was alright for the most part.
9:15am: First practice session of the morning and it goes extremely well. I ran a 1:23.4 which was only two-tenths off my qualifying time from Friday; posting the 3rd fastest time overall of the 25-30 bikes out in the session. Robert Jensen is already into low 1:19's. Good lord. Billy was following me during the session and was saying how he would close up onto me, almost drastically, leading into 2-3 different corners throughout the track and that there's definitely some spots I can make up some time.
7:02am: A good buddy of mine Justin (Fleming) had driven up the night before and was waiting for us at the track entrance. He was there to watch, spectate and also re-build Bob's steering damper. Eric and Shelley were there as well from Saturday and Eric was welcomed to a fresh Starbucks "triple grande, non-fat, no foam latte, with one raw sugar" that I had picked up for him. Yes, that's what he wanted. And I tried to trick him with a decoy. No-go. The man knows what he wants when it comes to coffee.
In any event, the weather looks to be great and I'm looking forward to getting on the bike and dropping some time.
Saturday, July 12th:
Overall Recap: My dad ran the WERA 6-Hour Endurance race with Steve and Andy George, of Carney Racing. Doug, Matt, Austin, Aaron and I are there for moral support and to help where we could. The morning starts off with a lot of rain. Most teams started off the race on rain tires and with our local Grattan knowledge, we decided to take a gamble and start on DOT's. The track was still wet/damp, but the pavement on hot pit lane was already showing dry spots. Grattan dries relatively quickly – especially with a breeze.
Of 34 entered teams, Andy started off the race and was in last place after ensuring the new DOT tires were fully scrubbed in. After that, he began to work his way through the field. The track is continuing to dry and several teams have already pitted to change tires. By the time Andy pits and hands the bike off to my dad, they're in 15th place overall and 6th in class. Not bad.
Steve does his stint and the three of them continue to put in solid and consistent laps. By the time the six hours are over, they've finished 12th overall and 4th in class. Pretty respectable considering the competition, how much Andy and Steve have ridden this year (once) and for what's now considered a vintage 2003 Yamaha R6. Everyone is happy with the results and everyone looks .. tired. Very tired. And sore. Andy and Steve both looked at me in surprise when I offered them Motrin to help with the soreness. I don't think they've ever taken any pain medication before. You would have thought I was a drug dealer.
Friday, July 11th:
Overall Recap: My dad, Doug and Austin were there, as well as my brother Matt who came out later in the day to spend the weekend with us, which was great. All the upper paddock spots were taken, but fortunately we were able to pit (for the first time) in a Grattan garage. Fancy! Billy (Stranahan) had one all to himself and welcomed us to share it with him. Even after a fair warning, he had no problem with us essentially taking it over with Honda East and Flagstar Bank-branded items strewn all over the place.
The day itself didn't go great. We were slow. Our fastest time of the day was a 1:23.2 in qualifying. Last year our fast time on the old bike was a 1:22.3. We stuck to our guns for the most part, only making a couple minor changes to the bike. Overall it felt good. I was pushing, but the times just weren't coming.
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About This Entry
- You're currently reading "WERA Round 7: Grattan National Recap (Time to Recharge)," an entry on Witchkraft Racing.
- Published: 07.15.08 / 6am
- Category: Race Reports
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A burnt wire??? Who would have thunk it. There is always next time.
Yeah and it was kind of hidden behind everything so that’s probably why none of us caught it during the day. Better for it to happen now than in a couple of weeks ..