WMRRA Round 5
So Brian Schilt asked me if I wanted to race the August 30th date with WMRRA. Sounded like a good idea, what the hell, lets do it!
Neither of us had any seat time at PR, so we were counting on morning practice to "figure" out the track.
Friday, Cierra and I loaded up the trailer and drive up to Brian's house. We get there around 11PM and unload my trailer, and put everything into his. We get into bed around 12:30AM and plan on getting up around 5:30 or so. Seems like I just closed my eyes when I started smelling coffee. Got up, drank some coffee, then headed out for PR. Brian lives about 50 miles or so from the track, so its not a huge haul to get there. We arrive a little later then we wanted, but still made registration, and tech with plenty of time to spare. We unload, and setup our pits, and get ready for the day. Weather is looking really nice, so we are not worried in the least about it. I made a few rounds talking to some familiar faces, and meeting some new ones. We talked about the track, and honestly, I glossed over in no time. Without any experience on the track, and hearing what gear, lines, objects to avoid in this or that turn really confused me more then helped.
It really wasn’t till I got on the track and rode around it that I understood where, and what each turn represented.
First Practice - 15 minutes, yeah right, how about 4 laps!
Not sure what happened here, Chris Burgess was taking us out for some sighting laps, then after two he was going to check out and work on stuff. No biggie, two laps should give us a general idea of the track.
We head out, and the first thing I remember is WTF is wrong with this turn (T2)! Its bumpy as hell, and wait, is that a pot hole! Wow, I made it! ok, up hill, then down hill into this sharp right hander (T3), then hard back to the left (T4) and hard on the gas up another hill (What’s all this up and down shit! I have never been anywhere but PIR, I only know I can see one end to the other except where the tree's block me. No friggin hills!), then into a blind rise, and entry into a left hander for T5. Then hard right (T6) and another left (T7), then up the hill and around a bend (T8) onto a flat area with all these painted lines, WTF, where do I go, am I supposed to stay between some of these, holy crap, my brain is melting! To much stimulation! T9 is a trip for your first pass. Anyways, back to the track. So I’m going around T9, and I see all these people entering this strange looking spot. Wait, where is the buss stop thing? Oh crap, this is it! Ok, slam it down into 1st gear, throw it right once the bike settles a little, and whack it! ok, on an SV we can get away with tossing words like "Whack It" around, you big bike guys settle down!.
Ok, so I lived through the bus stop and am heading down what must be the front straight, go around the "kink" as its called, its more or less an avoidance of a wall.
Then in 6th gear I start to see all these cones that look to be going across the track. I’m really confused about now. Not sure WTF I am looking at I kind of check up. Chris is pretty much long gone by now, I was sight seeing through the last 8 turns and now I am entering what I find out later is T1 in 6th gear and pointed at cones. Here is the other blind corner.
Ok, it took a little trust and closing of the eyes, but I made it around the corner down hill into T2. So that was my first lap. I will sum up the remaining 3 that I got for practice; I got better at the above.
Race 1 - 650 SS Twin – 9th out of 13 riders - 1:44.5 fastest lap
So the first thing I noticed was how WMRRA grids compared to OMRRA. There are cones along the wall with numbers on them, then you have a "P" for position, but there are no painted starting boxes for riders to line up in. So everyone just lines up in the middle of the two riders in the row in front of them. A little hokey, but it works.
I get a decent start and go into T2 a little timid, I have 4 laps on the track at this point, and most of those were sighting laps, so I don’t know grip, lines, or anything really about any of the corners, so I take it easy into T2 and just hold my line and give it gas. T2 is a 4th gear corner for me, and on exit, I grab 5th and hammer the throttle up the hill. I passed some people into T3, but babied it around T3/T4 (still not sure of lines, etc.), and then up the hill to T5. Go through T5/T6/T7 single file, then around T7 full throttle around T8 and into T9. I cant explain this enough how strange it is for me to enter T9 with all the painted lines on the ground (they are there for the drag racers to line up for the drag strip), and its pretty distracting for your first time around at speed. So I go around T9 pretty fast in 4th gear, and stand the bike up, hammer it down 3 gears, hold on for dear life as the bike shakes, shimmers, and bucks all over the place entering the bus stop, once it gives me a little bit of settling down, I throw it into a right hander and grab a handful of throttle. Front gets lofty, and I’m grabbing gears down to the kink, and onto the front straight. Knowing this time the cones are NOT where I need to go, I understand slowing down for T1 is not the fastest way around the track. I keep it pinned around T1 and down the hill to the brake area. (for me was way way early still).
So now I have completed one lap at semi race pace and started passing some people and playing with Brian Schilt. It was a blast to pass Brian on the outside of T9 (ignorance is bliss!), and only lose it into T2 and have to do it all over again.
I ended up passing Brian at some point and never saw him again, Brian finished right behind me in 10th.
One race under my belt and I felt like a million bucks! Beat some local guys, and didn’t get lapped by the Pinkstaff’s. Works for me.
Race 2 - Light Weight Superbike - 12th out of 14 riders - 1:43.7 fastest lap
I was a little more prepared for this race, got out there and lined up in my starting position. Got another ok start, saw Brian get a better start then me, and saw Chris Burgess a few bikes in front of us. Got into T2 and tried to pass people on the brakes, but I’m still uncertain about grip levels so I don’t want to push it. Enter T2, exit, head into T3/T4 and settle into where I am in the race. Brian learned from my T9 passing and stopped hitting the brakes around the corner (preventing me from passing).
So we caught Chris and I think I passed him in T2, because I remember him barreling into T3 on the inside of me (T3 at PR reminds me a little of T4 at PIR), so I just hung back and went a little wide on the entry and passed Chris on the inside of T3 as he tried to block wide. Into T4 and up the hill through T5/6/7 and up through T8 into T9. I’m still really violent into the bus stop, but am getting through it ok, hitting the rubber thing on the ground with almost every lap. Chris and I go back and forth for position, him passing me into T3 and me under passing him on the inside of T3, or T4, then at some point, I stopped seeing Chris. So I just kept racing, trying to catch Brian. There were parts of the track Brian was faster then me, and parts where I felt he was holding me up. But with no real experience on the track, and not wanting to take out my buddy, I just stayed comfortably behind him and tried to pass where it was openly safe. I didn’t get by him, and finished 12th.
Another great race! We didn’t get lapped and my lap times dropped a little I am starting to see where I can improve my times as I’m getting more comfortable with the track.
Race 3 - Middle Weight GP Twins - 14th out of 19 riders - 1:42.5 fastest lap
Ok, so before I get into the race, we had a couple hours between race 2 and 3, which gave me a chance to walk around and talk with some of the other SV racers. Now in our conversations when they talked about turn this, or that, pot holes, cracks, or patched pavement, lines to take/avoid, I have a little more understanding.
One thing I was told was to try and enter the bus stop in second gear, instead of first. Push my braking for T2 to the new pavement patch. Drift a little wider down the front straight to get a good drive around T1, etc. I could see what they were talking about now, where earlier in he day, it was just "blah blah blah" because I had no references.
Ok, so onto the race. Brian and I were gridded in the back of each of these races, so once again we are in the last row of the class. I get a decent start, and see again Brian got a better one. I enter T2 a little more aggressively now that I’m more comfortable with the grip, and surface. I get by a few riders through the next few turns, and enter T9 with a new plan for the bus stop. I try second gear and hole crap, talk about love! The bike was settled, no violence, just a nice easy but sharp right hander completely under control. Wow, WTf was I thinking for the first 20 laps! So the next few laps go pretty well, I got passed by some, passed some back, passed a guy in the bus stop (which was cool as hell!), and finished the race in 14th.
Another outstanding race! There were small droplets of rain during this race, but I never felt the track slip at all. I don’t think there was enough to really make a difference to the surface.
Again beat some local guys, and didn’t get lapped by the front runners, felt great!
Overall I would have to say I am sold on PR. I fully expect to race up there next year. Everything people say about the track is true. The surface abso-make the beast with two backsen-lutely sucks, and needs to be repaved. There is no real run off, and there are obvious dangers with that. But the track itself, the people who run WMRRA, and all the racers, volunteers were outstanding. I had so much fun on the track, I was all smiles after each race. It was nice to see some OMRRA faces up there. Even a couple friends showed up to cheer us on (Do and Amber you guys rule!).
Thanks WMRRA for allowing us to come up and race your track. Thank you WMRRA volunteers, corner workers! Without you, I would not have been able to race this weekend. Thanks to all my sponsors, Brian for letting me crash at your house, driving us to the track, and generally being a cool dude! and my lovely, and very pregnant GF Cierra for roughing it out with me (we camped on the paddock)
this weekend. Thanks for the Burgess family for being so helpful with my kabillion questions.
Thanks to all the SV racers for helping me where I needed it.
I wont be able to make the October date as we are expecting our first child the first of October. However, next year I would expect to be up there for every non-conflicting weekend.
