OK! This weekend was Awesome. I want to thank everyone who helped out and was there
With a special big thanks to Maurice, My Sister (Nadia), and Mark.
I had a make the beast with two backsing blast despite a crash at the end of the day.
So last April race I was running mid to low 1:30s with a dip into upper 1:29s for a lap at race pace in middle weight supersport. Not the best times but not that bad considering I am on a 800cc ducati monster….faired! Oh yeah I can almost hit 140 mph by the end of the front strait. I still need to degree the cams and tune the exhaust so I don’t think I am making top horse power (especially on a bike with ~30,000 miles. ). I do remember coming of nine better than another SV rider (I was hoping to draft him) and we rode side by side till about the start/finish line before he pulled away. Oh and I should add that my high 1:29 was on 2 year old supercorsa pros with about 6 track days and 1000 or so street miles.
So for this May race I decided to buy some new tires. YAY! New rubber! Kick ass. Saturday practice was easy 1:29-1:28s without even working. I know it sounds dumb, but tires make a big difference. So much more traction, I felt way more confidant getting on the throttle earlier. I noticed my brakes seemed to pulse into the lever, but thought it was prolly cuz my brakes pads hadn’t worn in. Mo pointed out, however, that my bearings where shot! So Mark and I fixed the problem at the end of the day.
The next day Markus and Mark helped raised the rear ride height another inch (thank Elias for the first inch) to help the bike turn in better. The stock monster suspension seems to squat in corners and it pushes the bike to the outside under load forcing me wide exiting corners. I ran the first practice slowish to feel things outs bike seems a bit more unstable/tippy (especially if I hit the rev limiter on the back strait – y’awoza) but seemed to corner way better.
. Second practice I dropped into the 1:26s with consistent 1:27s. So I was happy about that.
Race one:Middle Weight SuperSport A dry race dipped into high 1:25s. Found myself scraping a knee in 8 (never done that before) and then the Pinkstaffs passed me in 9 on the inside AND on the outside at the same time. Over all a fun race. Just happy to be out there feeling what a bike
can do.Race two: 650 GP Twin Well this one was fun too! I ended up right behind another rider in my grid who I could not seem to pass despite the fact that I seemed to brake later and get on the throttle quicker than him. Any edge I had I would lose on the back or front straits. I guess I need a little more HP…well my extra “speed” came in the form of Portland sunshine….it started to rain a little and then it was easy to pass him. That was OK, but it took the fun out of it, cuz he really slowed up. Then it started to piss rain on us. Mo’s grid caught up to us and I had some 450 clubmen “show me” some good racing lines. After seeing about 2 to 3 crashes I started to slow up and just finish the race.
Finished 3rd in my grid!!! But as a novice didn’t win the trophy, even though I beat the rider behind me by ~6 seconds. Another novice also took 2nd (Josh from Eugene on a 650 hoysung) but he also did not win a trophy. La-amE!
Race three: Middle Weight Super Bike Decided to go slow (pulling 1:40s) as it was the last race of the day. The track was soaked from the rain but the sky was free of rain. The goal was to just finish put the kickstand and lights back on the bike and go home…or so I thought. I passed Keth in 1 (750) and was carrying a little too much speed in T2. Found myself stepping outside the “dry” race line. So used a little body English to pull it back in and the front slid out………….
Doh! Thanks to Mo, Jarod and Others for helping me get the bike to another location.
Jon Fay
OMRRA: #724
LP racing
Pderbyerous Racing