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Aaron’s Analysis – WERA @ Grattan, Round 2

By Aaron Bagwell:

WERA North Central Round #2: The Race Weekend That Almost Wasn’t

Excited to get back on the bike and trying to make sure preparation is done, I decided that the last thing I should look at is a set of new spark plugs in the old R6, sounds pretty harmless. Remove the gas tank, remove the air box, pull the coils and loosen, that simple; except now. This simple task turned into quite the adventure for me. It appears that one of the plugs had some carbon build-up on the tip that proceeded to tear up threads as I pulled it out of the aluminum head. This is not a good thing anytime, let alone 10 days before the first North Central event of the year. Frustration was beginning to mount; I am not mechanical enough to rectify this situation on my own. A few phone calls and off to the engine builder we go…Thom Godward who has worked on this motor previously also crew chiefs for an AMA Superbike team and has a race in California the same weekend as mine. Despite that fact Thom worked diligently to make sure I would have the motor back. What a relief…Thanks for the hard work. Crisis avoided, let’s go racing.

Friday Practice: What a relief to finally be at the track. I had a set of Dunlop mounted earlier in the week and was ready to start finding the speed that hopefully would make me competitive on the weekend. For today I was running an N-Tec rear tire that had some laps on it but still seemed to have plenty of grip at the pace I am running. The relevance of this comment will show up later.

As the day proceeded I was picking up speed as I had hoped. The two previous trips to Grattan for track days left me wondering if the switch to the Yamaha R6 was a mistake. My lap times had still not caught up to my best laps around Grattan on my SV (1:26.4). The R6 has quite a bit more horsepower and all the trick suspension and I can’t break into the 26’s?

That trend was finally broken as I chased some of the WERA NC regulars and fast teammates Eddie Kraft and Jeff Wrobel around all day. It is amazing how riding with faster company can help drive lap times down. I ended the day with a best of 1:25.4 which not only surpassed my previous fast lap around Grattan but also met my goal for the weekend and the racing had not even started. My confidence was building and goals were adjusted for the remainder of the weekend, 1:24’s were in my reach.

Saturday, Race Day: As practice opened up I was able to get back to the low 1:26’s with that same set of tires that now had almost 80 laps on them. My confidence was high and due to a few regulars not running transponders for practice I looked fast on the morning time sheets as well.

Lunch time had arrived and new Dunlop 211 GPA’s were being mounted for the MW Solo. I again was feeling good until…When I go to pick up the tires I find out from the Dunlop vendor that the 211 GPA is 7mm shorter than the N-Tec I had been running, 7 mm not a big deal right? In motorcycle geometry and set-up it can be. I did not have time to make any ride height changes to compensate and wondered again if 7 mm would really make a difference.

As the green flag fell on the Solo 20 I found my answer, it did. The bike was not terrible but was very difficult to get off the corners, always wanting to run wide on exit. This is not a good situation when you are facing 20 laps. It took me a little while to figure out how to make this geometry work but I found a style that allowed me to push towards the middle of the race and improve a few positions. I had started 13th and finished the race in 9th, not a bad result for the first time on the R6 at Grattan. More importantly I had learned a little about how changes can affect the overall handling of the bike and what type of riding can overcome some issues. The best lap of the race was a 1:25.6 which was a little disappointing, I was hoping that I would pick-up time during the races.

The good news is that my Witchkraft Racing teammates had posted good results with Jeff winning the race and Eddie finishing 4th. Jeff had actually run off track about mid race and bent the wheels on the bike and damaged the shock and still managed to push forward for a victory, he is an ironman.

Sunday morning practice was looking good, I had added 2mm of ride height adjustment to the rear of the R6 to bring the geometry back where the bike suited my riding style a little better. Once again I was toward the top of the practice time sheets for those with transponders sitting 5th amongst the 600 group with a best time of 1.25.9. These 1.25’s aren’t so tough!

A fresh set of rubber was mounted up after morning practice and we were ready to go. My first race of the day would be MW Senior SB. I was gridded in the middle of row 7. The MW bikes were behind the HW Senior group, so there were multiple classes running. As the green flag dropped I got a good start and learned from previous start that it was best to get to the inside for those first couple of corners. As the field strung out I got by bike #194, Gene Burcham who was leading the MW class and put my head down to try and open a gap. As I would come onto the straight I could not find any of my team giving me signals. I felt like I had pushed the pace pretty well and started lapping well up into the HW field. As the white flag came out I had found a void in traffic so I relaxed a little and just wanted to bring it home safely. Unfortunately, I had relaxed too much. Gene went deep on the brakes into the “Bus Stop” and was attempting to go around the outside of me. As we exited I had one chance to turn down on him and pinch him off at the little kink but thought better of it. That is just not the kind of racer I am. Gene got a good run up the hill and I tried to draft back by to the line but ran out of room. The margin of victory, or in my case, loss was .032 seconds. I was angry at myself for not pushing harder on that last lap. Lessons were learned though and the positives were: leading 5 of 8 laps and finishing 4th overall in a HW/MW field. Best lap was a 1.25.5, I can’t be disappointed with that but I ran a faster lap than that on Friday in practice.

B Superbike would be my last race for the weekend. My confidence was still high going into this race, the competition would be tough but I felt like a “Top 10” was in my reach. Again I got off the line well and pushed hard on the first lap to clear as many bikes as possible. I knew that the front group would get away but if I could just keep a carrot out in my sight that could help pull me along I thought it would help and boy it did. I got in a group with #17, Jacob Teutsch and #18 Nik Van Goor and we pushed each other. I swapped spots with Nik on a couple of laps but he bested me in the end. It was fun to race with others who had a little more experience and gain experience on the R6. I ended up finishing 9th in that race. More importantly I had upped the ante and met my “new” goal for the weekend with a best lap of 1:24.6.

Weekend Accomplishments: I led the MW Senior Superbike Race. I reached my first goal by getting into the 1:25’s. I reached the second goal by dropping an additional second into the 1:24’s. I learned a lot about the geometry on the R6 and how it affects handling. I had a safe competitive weekend with friends.

Perspective and Thanks: Although I still have a long ways to go to be competitive near the front of a 600 field I feel that this weekend was a big step. I got the monkey off my back by getting beyond my SV times and running in a more competitive class. I know it is not going to happen overnight but I am not getting any younger and have a few personal goals that I set when I started my racing career that I hope to meet this year. These require persistence and a steep learning curve on the R6.

The people on the Withchkraft Racing Team do a great job of driving me and motivating me in a constructive way. Whether it is Doug, lead technician dialing a few suspension knobs or Eddie talking about lines, they all help to make each trip to the track a new learning experience. I only hope that the assistance I provide them give them the same benefits. With new teammate Jeff Wrobel there to lighten the mood as Joe Kraft dials in some more speed it is like a family. Thanks for all the help guys. Also thanks to Jonas McCluskey for all the inspiration he provides and of course my fiancé Kim who gives me the latitude to pursue my passion.

Thursday, May 27th, 2010 | POSTED AT: 7:29 AM
FILED UNDER: General

3 Comments on “Aaron’s Analysis – WERA @ Grattan, Round 2”

Doug wrote on 27 May, 2010, 7:42 AM
Well said Mr. Wordsmith. You really did a reset on your laptimes…outstanding effort. I was never that fast and you know the older you get the faster you were. Sorry I couldn’t help more than I did. Your setup was working well with the Dunlops for sure. Next up – fresh motor?
matt wrote on 31 May, 2010, 8:17 PM
Aaron, nice recap of what I have now learned was about much more than I realized for you. You performed well under some unfortunate circumstances, ones that always seem to have impecable timing.

Onward and upward from here, cheers to 2010.
Eddie wrote on 1 June, 2010, 7:11 AM
Aaron did absolutely great. He has a great package with the bike and will only get better every weekend!