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2006 WERA – Autobahn 5/12-14 Sunday

Sunday Sprint Race Recap:

The forecast Sunday morning again called for rain, following the pattern that had occurred both Friday and Saturday. We were sadly disappointed however in that no rain fell whatsoever during the course of the day. If you've read the Friday and Saturday posts, we actually wanted rain on Sunday solely because the only laps I had on the track were in the wet, and we felt our best chances of doing well were if the precipitous lubricity (aka rain) continued.

The lack of rain presented us, along with everyone else a problem. The worst conditions in racing aren't when it's raining and wet; it's when the track is half and half – starting to dry in some parts, and still wet in others. Generally there are rain tires made specifically for wet conditions, and everything else (DOT tires and slicks) that are made for dry conditions. Neither of the aforementioned tires work well in both wet and dry conditions, so the somewhat stressful question became what tires to run – rains or DOTs?

This decision was further complicated because the Autobahn course is unlike any other race track I've been to, in that throughout an entire day without rain, the track was unable to clear up and form a dry racing line. The track layout (which consists of many positive camber turns) and drainage system (non-existent) didn't help the situation. As the day progressed, areas of the track were beginning to dry out. However, almost every turn had at least one, if not multiple streams of water running from one end of the track to the other. The positive cambered turns contributed to these streams flowing because all the water from outside the track was draining down onto the track through the streams. Add to the equation that the Autobahn South course is extremely bumpy, rippled, (especially for only being a few years old) and conducive to puddle-forming. It's not a complaint as much as it is an odd weirdness about the track. We (riders) talk about Grattan having a stream through Turn 1 which often doesn't go away until having near a full day to dry, but Autobahn makes Grattan pale in comparison.

Essentially what this meant was that everyone was on rain tires the entire day; and if everyone was like us, they torched their tires by the end of the day from using them extensively on a semi-wet track (I'm generally use to having one set of rains last the whole season). We were fortunate at the time because we had gotten a hold of one of the few sets of Pirelli intermediate tires available – tires that are made for the wet, but under drying conditions. I had never used these before.

In our first race, we ran a rain front tire and intermediate rear tire. I didn't like the intermediate at all because the rear end would slide in the puddles and streams, no matter how fast, slow, on the throttle, off the throttle, etc. I went through them. This sapped almost every bit of confidence I had. The remaining confidence was sapped from my steering damper coming loose during the race. I noticed something was wrong a few laps in, as the handlebars were moving all over the place. I was wondering if either the bumps had gotten worse since practice, or if I was holding onto the bars too tight, putting excessive input into them causing the added feedback. I knew something was wrong, as it was a somewhat jolting scenario to experience the handlebars going lock to lock on the back straightaway, enough to vibrate/push the brake pads back in the calipers, as I went to brake into turn 11. As I reached for the brake lever, it went all the way back to the handlebar, without slowing the bike down – not exactly confidence inspiring. I quickly pumped the brake lever repeatedly and got the brake pads back onto the brake discs to slow the bike down enough to make the turn (albeit running a little wide), all while picturing the front axle having fallen off and whipping the front wheel off the bike with it, casually tossing me away in the process. Fortunately this wasn't the case. I exited the track that lap and headed into the pits.

James, my dad and I were looking over the bike when we spotted that one of the steering damper bolts had vibrated loose and was near falling off. This had caused the damper to not function at all, leaving the bars to move freely without restriction. My dad was upset that he didn't catch it beforehand when looking over the bike that morning. It's not something we would have guessed to have come loose though, and it wasn't something you'd easily catch at a casual glance. James took out all the damper bolts, applied loctite to them, and tightened them back up.

The next two races were awful. I wasn't comfortable, didn't ride well, and felt like I was still riding on a full-wet track, while everyone else was going faster on a semi-dry track. At times I was trying to force the issue and in effect running wide entering turns, killing my exit corner speed and going even slower than I had been earlier in the morning. I came in with one race to go and just wanted to get the weekend over with.

B-Superbike (750cc machines) was the last race. I had a good launch and was 2nd heading into turn 1. I was third after a lap with Dave Grey and Daniel Parkinson ahead of me. Dave took an unfortunate spill which bumped me back up to 2nd place. I ran through the remaining laps thinking less about trying to "go fast", and more about just riding (because at the time I was just ready to be done riding). It turns out I ran my best times of the weekend, going faster each lap with my fastest lap on the white flag lap. I ended up with a second place finish, grabbing my first National podium on the R6. The race only had 6 or 7 riders in it, but I didn't mind taking away the points, and ending the weekend on a solid note. I did beat guys who were beating me earlier in the day, so that was good. Most of the grid didn't make it out, either due to crashing earlier, or just not wanting to race in the questionable track conditions.

So that wraps up the first three race weekends of the year. It's been a rather hectic three weeks with racing each weekend, but it's been fun and progress has been made at each event. A major thanks to James, my dad and Gina for being there the entire weekend to help out and keep things on track. It was good hanging out with the Trautmann's (Sheri especially, she's hardcore), Chris Knight, Mike and Steph. Flice, Jeff Caco, Jeff Kovack, Dave, Garry and Doug, along with the WERA crew (Evelyne especially – good to see you again) and Moose from the Pirelli truck.

We've got a couple practice dates we're going to try and hit before the next race at Grattan. Stay tuned for more details. There's also updated pictures in the gallery section from the weekend as well.

Thanks for reading,

- eddie

Tuesday, May 16th, 2006 | POSTED AT: 5:00 PM
FILED UNDER: Race Reports

5 Comments on “2006 WERA – Autobahn 5/12-14 Sunday”

mikey wrote on 16 May, 2006, 11:21 PM
I’ve been watching Edster, and I’m pleased at what I see! Congrats on the beautiful trophy. Say hi to Gina for me and Sharon gives her oooxxx.
Mikey
Eddie wrote on 17 May, 2006, 7:52 AM
Thanks for checking things out Mikey. Tell Sharon we said hello too. Hope the weather over in AZ is better than the rain we’ve been getting here all week. If you get any cool Buell pics, send them over and I’ll post them up here. :)
(\/)ike wrote on 17 May, 2006, 7:01 PM
good job kid, you are becoming a fine racer.
Eddie wrote on 18 May, 2006, 8:44 AM
Thanks Mike. Hopefully I’ll see you at Grattan next month for the races. Should be a good time ..
Aaron wrote on 22 June, 2006, 6:27 AM
Looks like the season is shaping up well, congrats on the hardware! – see you at 2nd Grattan or Mid O hopefully.

Aaron
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