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06-16-2009, 07:56 AM
| #1 |
| Endorsed Joined: Jul 2007 From: Arlington, WA I Ride: 02 GSXR 750 | 878 - Round 4 Race Report Short Version: Went to track, rode bike fast, other people rode faster, some slower, got fourth… twice, went home, good weekend. Long Version: Saturday: I arrived at the track at just before 7am with my Starbucks coffee and ham sandwich ready to power me through the day. I pass the Starbucks on my way to the track and it is like the Sirens to Odysseus and only by way of great willpower am I able to pass with my wallet unharmed. Such was not my willpower on Saturday and my wallet was left torn asunder. After paying my ten dollars at the gate and signing my life away to the track gods, I found a parking spot and went off to find my teammates. One would be led to believe that finding a large black trailer containing my bike in the confines of the Pacific Raceways pit area would be a relatively easy task. One would be mistaken. It wasn’t until I found my teammate, Tony Connell, that he was able to direct me to his trailer. I had only passed it ten or fifteen times, so I didn’t feel stupid. There has to be a word for something beyond stupid that could more accurately describe me. Registration has been made much easier with the new requirement of only taking your helmet with you and the bike through the tech lines. Naturally, I left my helmet in the pits, so I had to go back and retrieve it. Tech Inspector found that my radiator cap was not safety wired, which I had never had done before since I didn’t realize it was required and I had bought the bike as a fully prepped race bike. I took the bike back to my pit area and borrowed a drill and bit from Krister Fast (Thanks) and quickly had it safety wired and ready to rock. I put the one ram air tube that I have back on the bike and buttoned up the bodywork to be ready to go when first practice came up. Riders Meeting is at 8:30, with Novice practice up first at 9:00. We get out of the rider’s meeting with just enough time to throw on the leathers and get to the gate before they release the riders…. Except for today, because there are not enough cornerworker’s to effectively and safely run the track. Fortunately, Liz and the rest of the awesome volunteers got things sorted and we hit the track at about 9:10. I used the extra time to stretch a bit and make sure everything on the bike was torqued properly. Practice 1 (9:10) Uneventful practice. Tires were not on warmers and I had no intention of going very fast, so I went out on stone cold tires. Nothing felt very good, even after a number of warm-up laps. I got steadily faster throughout the session, but ended up stopping early because I just wasn’t happy. Best lap 1:40:712 Practice 2 (10:40) I found that my tires were underinflated by about 4 pounds front and rear. I inflated them to the correct pressure and put them on the warmers to make sure that this session was better. I waited for the first bikes to start rolling out past the entry gate before I pulled off the warmers and headed out. One medium fast lap, then gradually pick up speed. Bike was feeling much better for this session and I was faster every lap. My first lap of this session was faster than my fastest lap in session one. Every lap of the day so far has been faster than the one before it, but I am still not feeling 100%. Threw the bike back on the stands and got the warmers on as quickly as possible to let the tires cool slowly before warming them back up for the race 4 hours away. Best lap 1:37:784 Novice Heat 1 (2:45) I am gridded on the front row in position four for this race. If I can just get a decent launch I believe that I stand a real chance of fighting for the victory in this heat. My goal for the weekend is to see 1:35.xxx lap times again. I haven’t seen 1:35’s since I crashed in turn 8 at the end of 2007 at the Adrenaline Freaks day, but I am confident that I can do it. The bike is ready, my Michelin Power One tires are properly inflated and toasty warm thanks to my TyrSox warmers. When the final call horn blows, I take off the warmers and roll out to the gate. Unfortunately there has been a crash in the race preceding ours, so we wait at the gate while the cleanup is taken care of. Tires cool pretty rapidly when they are not being used, so I am a bit worried that I may slip if I am trying to ride too aggressively in the first lap, so I decided to play it cool on lap one and just try to keep the leaders in sight and track them down after I have confidence in the condition of my tires. The gate finally lets us go and the rest of the novices and I head down to Turn One awaiting our sighting lap. The wait at Turn One can sometimes seem very long, but this is not one of those days and we are let loose pretty quickly. The sighting lap is uneventful and I grid up for the start. Board goes up Board goes sideways Light goes out…. ……. Crap….. blew the start, bogged the engine and the first three rows are now all ahead of me. A bike flies by me on the outside of Turn 2, hitting my foot in the process… that was close. He is in too hot and runs wide, but barrels past again down the hill into turn three. I prepare to pass the group on the outside of three, as I tend to brake fairly deep into this turn (for a Novice at least). Smoke starts pouring off the rear tire of the aggressive passer that bumped me in 2, so I figure he is going to play bowling ball to the group and decide to stay wide and let the carnage unfold without me. He managed to hold it all together and I am now a few more places behind, but think that I can chase down most of this pack. I put my head down and started clicking off laps, passing where it seemed prudent. Finally I am past everyone that is close and see only one bike out in the distance. I seem to be catching him with each lap, so I just keep pushing and reel him in. He is killing me down the front straight, but I catch up pretty well on the rest of the track. I am nearly out of laps by the time I catch up and I think about passing on the exit of turn five, before the entrance of turn six, but since I haven’t been close enough to accurately gauge his proficiency, I back off and give him the line. He runs through with no issues and I make a mental note that he is a good enough rider that I can make the pass next time I am close to him. I run out of laps before having another chance and follow him across the finish line to fourth place. A good hard fought race. I find out after the race that Scott Simonsen was the rider in front of me on his GSXR 1000. He has a bigger motor which is why I couldn’t catch him on the straight. Great ride Scott Best lap 1:35.613 with four of eight laps in the 1:35s. Weekend Goal Met Sunday: Practice 1 (9:00): Cold morning weather, with weather forecast calling for significantly warmer temps by the time of my race at 2:10. This means that any work I do on setting up the bike will be worthless by the time I actually race. I have done about 80 million trackdays on this track, so I decide to skip the morning practice and go have a nice breakfast with my Mom. We head into Auburn to the Sun Break Café, for they have truly noteworthy breakfasts and their banana bread is worth a trip by itself. Be prepared to WAIT for a table. The lines are always long, but the food is worth the wait. We ate breakfast and headed back to the track to catch the first races of the day at 10:40. We didn’t quite make it in time, but still caught the 600 Superbike race at 11:10. I spent the day walking through the pits and talking with friends before heading back to my pit area at 1:10 to fire up the generator and warm up my tires. Best lap N/A Novice Heat 2 (2:10) I am gridded in row 4, position 3 for this race, so even if I get a great launch I will not likely get to the lead by turn 2. Having botched a launch in round 1 of this season I elect to simply get away with the rest of the group and see how things play out in turn 2. Madness is really the only way to describe the start of a novice heat as 30 riders of vastly different skill levels, none really very good, all try to get to the same place faster than the guy next to them. I hold a tight inside line through turn 2 and then blast past a few riders down the hill into turn 3. This is probably my best corner and I can pick off riders pretty easily by simply waiting for them to hit their brakes… …. … then hitting mine. Brake hard, turn hard, pass riders. I am riding well, making passes quickly and efficiently, working through traffic until I have clear track ahead of me with just a single lone rider ahead. I catch up a bit coming into turn 3 again and as I come up on turn 4 I see that exiting the turn is my nemesis, Scott, from Heat 1 on Saturday. I think I can take him today… I want to pass him today. Yesterday was his, today is mine. I put my head down and get to work, catching up a bit in the technical sections and losing ground on the straights. Like an accordion player expands and contracts the bellows, so too does the gap between Scott and I. Slowly, so slowly, as the laps count off, I can see visual proof that the gap is closing. I am stronger on the exit of 2 all the way down the hill into 3. I think I can pass him here, this is my spot… nope, not this lap.. the gap is still too big, but now I am on his tire. If I can just keep close to him down the straight this time, I KNOW I can make it happen. I am right on top of him and nearly push on the exit of 5, but I am not quite there… on the outside at turn 8… nope, too far around that way. The entrance to turn 9 doesn’t work either, but I get a good tow off him down the front straight so I am closer than I have ever been by the time we cut in for turn 2. Still not close, but close enough… I think I can get him into turn 3 this time. I power down the hill and brake as deep as I feel safe into turn 3, but he has taken the inside line and there is no way that I can pass him safely, so I set up on the outside line, which becomes the inside on turn 4. I have noticed that Scott is maintaining throttle between 3 and 4 instead of giving it a quick burst of fuel before braking. I give it a squirt and push up the inside of 4 as Scott goes wide to set up for the corner. Scott leans it in for the turn and sees me in his peripheral vision. He stands it up to give me room and I power past the apex on the inside as Scott is forced to run wide. I know that I have to push if I am going to create enough gap between us to prevent him from simply passing me down the front straight again, but as I come into turn 5 I see a huge cloud of dust as though someone has crashed in turn 5 and hit the gravel. I don’t see a yellow or red flag, but this appears to have just happened, so I back off the throttle just in case a bike is in the middle of the track where I can’t see it obscured by the dust cloud. I roll through 5 and 6 and don’t see any crashers, so I roll back on the throttle and power through turn 7 and up the hill. For the rest of the race, I am just concentrating on getting the best laps my tired body can do. Being smooth on the throttle and brakes and taking away the inside line on every corner to ensure that Scott can’t sneak up inside of me like I did to him. I don’t see him for the rest of the race and take the checkered flag in fourth again. Best lap 1:35.865 I am tired, but not exhausted, and I am confident that I can ride faster and make up time in a number of places where I am struggling mentally. Crashes in turn 8 and turn 6 have eroded my confidence in those corners and it is hurting me in 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. I can and will do better in the future. Physically I am in much better shape than round one, where I could barely muster four laps at race pace before becoming too tired to ride hard. I have finished 8 laps and could easily do 2 more, but I am still not where I want to be. I am carrying almost an extra 30 pounds and weight is the worst thing you can do to your bike. Acceleration, turning and braking are all more difficult with each pound you add to the bike. I am not helping my poor bike at all. Time to ramp up the workouts and cut down the calories again. What’s next: The next race weekend is in Spokane, Washington at the newly formed Spokane County Raceway Park on July 11th and 12th. There will be endurance racing on the schedule for the first time this year and I am planning on riding for an endurance team for a four hour race. Four riders, one bike, four hours… most laps wins the race. We will not be competitive, but we will have more fun than any other team. Race 1 from my forward facing camera: http://www.vholdr.com/video/wmrra-06...e-heat-1-front Race 2 from my forward facing camera: http://www.vholdr.com/video/wmrra-06...e-heat-2-front I have rear facing video of both heats as well and if all works well, I will be posting those, as well as an edited version of each race that uses the highlights from both front and rear cameras. http://www.vholdr.com/users/jcoulter Thanks for reading and we will see you again next round, Joe Coulter #878 |
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06-16-2009, 09:17 AM
| #4 |
| Pit Crew | Nice write up! Look forward to the rear view camera, I might have been in view for a corner or two. Was good to meet you at the gate before p1 saturday. |
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06-16-2009, 09:22 AM
| #5 |
| Endorsed Joined: Jul 2007 From: Arlington, WA I Ride: 02 GSXR 750 | Heat 1, rear view, is uploading to the site now. Their site take awhile to process the video, but I would expect that the rear facing view for both heats will be available for viewing by tonight. It was nice meeting you too  |
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06-16-2009, 02:45 PM
| #6 |
| Endorsed Joined: Jul 2007 From: Arlington, WA I Ride: 02 GSXR 750 | Videos linked below Heat 1 Front http://www.vholdr.com/video/wmrra-06...e-heat-1-front Heat 1 Rear http://www.vholdr.com/video/wmrra-06...ce-heat-1-rear Heat 2 Front http://www.vholdr.com/video/wmrra-06...e-heat-2-front Heat 2 Rear http://www.vholdr.com/video/wmrra-06...ce-heat-2-rear Enjoy |
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06-16-2009, 02:45 PM
| #7 |
| Moderator  Joined: May 2007 From: Bellevue, Wa. Blog Entries: 18 I Ride: with both cheeks hanging off each side. | Dude! I just watched the Rear Facing Video! I was up on your ass for a long while there, until lap 5 when you got the pass on a couple of those slower guys, and I just couldn't get around them.. Grrrr Sooooo... Dumbass me, forgot his AMB on his bike on Saturday's Novice Race =( Wish I could have seen my lap times. But going off of who was in front and behind me, I'd say 1:35's or 1:36's... I'm comfortable with that... Being I'm 300lbs in gear. Oh and see my post I posted this morning about needing more oomph down the straight... Now people can see why! LOL |
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06-16-2009, 02:53 PM
| #8 | |
| Endorsed Joined: Jul 2007 From: Arlington, WA I Ride: 02 GSXR 750 | 
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06-16-2009, 03:06 PM
| #9 | |
| Moderator Joined: May 2007 From: Bellevue, Wa. Blog Entries: 18 I Ride: with both cheeks hanging off each side. |
You finished, you took 4th, you hit your goals... Now time to work on those and set new goals! | |
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06-16-2009, 03:49 PM
| #11 | |
| Pit Crew |
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06-22-2009, 11:36 AM
| #13 | |
| Pit Crew |
 What I wanted to do...after I saw that going on the inside of T3 was a giant mess....was latch on and follow you for as long as I could since I knew I can't run that pace on my own but maybe follow it for a few corners anyway, but my huevos aren't big enough when it comes to passing and I was left in your dust at the bus stop  | |
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06-22-2009, 01:13 PM
| #14 |
| Endorsed Joined: Jul 2007 From: Arlington, WA I Ride: 02 GSXR 750 | I am too much of a wuss on the first lap. I should have forced my way into turn 2 harder and went around a few of the people that I was stuck behind, thus not giving you a chance, or a reason, to brake so hard. Just have to get better for next time. If you come out to a 2Fast day, I would be happy to drag you around for awhile... as long as you promise to not get faster than me.  |
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06-22-2009, 02:12 PM
| #15 |
| Pit Crew | Well everyone has area's to improve on, I just have...turns 1-10, starts, braking, acceleration..not much left I'll be there on the 8th following nichols around in 300 as usual(he's got a new RR btw). I'd like to follow you around too or visa versa if you have the camera's on the bike especially, even that brief clip you have of me in there helps a lot. Would you be willing to film some laps on the 8th? Yes I am intent on getting faster than you I'm looking for a 1:37 at the next track day so I have quite a ways to go yet before I get near your times. |
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06-22-2009, 03:34 PM
| #16 |
| Endorsed Joined: Jul 2007 From: Arlington, WA I Ride: 02 GSXR 750 | If all goes well, I will be hitting 1:33's during the next Pacific WMRRA date and 1:32's by the end of the year. More likely I will crash and go back to 1:40's though. |
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06-22-2009, 03:47 PM
| #17 |
| Pit Crew | Well damn, don't think I'll be hitting an :32's anytime soon lol. I'm kinda happy with the 30sec incriments of improvement. Now that crashing thing..... I am fearing, I'm still shy of the bus stop from my first crash. The whole twist throttle a "little" more on the 1k yeah.....since I got off of street tires I'd been fine thus far with no slipping, but I hit the apex at T7 on the first lap of race 2 and ended up going up the hill a little sideways. I'm sure at some point I will find that fun but right now, not so much. |
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06-22-2009, 04:15 PM
| #18 | |
| Superbiker Joined: Mar 2006 From: Marysville, Wa I Ride: better than him^^some day |
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06-23-2009, 07:38 AM
| #19 | |
| Endorsed Joined: Jul 2007 From: Arlington, WA I Ride: 02 GSXR 750 |
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