I normally don't post a race reprot here but since I ran with Gabe on the Atomic Monster for teh Team Challenge, why the hell not.
MMR Race Report June 2008
Friday started out excellent as I taught 10 New Riders the ins and outs (okay, ups and downs) of roadracing at BIR. This however leaves very little setup time for myself as I switched to the Dunlop N-Tech 211 190 rear and N-tech 211 Front tires for this event.
My First session resulted in the the new front tire rubbing a grove down the middle of a brand new tire on the first lap (apparently the new front Dunlop grows quite a bit in the center at 150 mph). I went into the pits and tried to enlarge the mounting holes of the fender to raise it up. I went back on track in the last session of the day and my mod worked for about 4 laps and then came the black flags for what appeared to be a 30 foot high, 60 foot long trail of dense whit smoke as a combination of rubber and fiberglass joined in and around my bike. There were debris flags flying as I entered Turn #1 at about 160 mph coming through the fog of this mess. The rider who pits next to me (Gabe Blevins) was right behind me at the time (aware of my tire/fender issue) and knew it was not the infamous oil-inside-out trick. He said it felt like that moment in “Days of Thunder”, “You can drive through it Cole!”.
When I got back to the pits I found that not only did I destroy a brand new N-Tech (sad indeed) I also destroyed my front fender. It looked like an Alien Beast had taken a bite out of it.
Mod #2
Fellow racer, and all around good guy, Scott Ruehle was kind enough to give me a Stock street fender he had in his trailer, and said “try this one, if you break it, no problem just speak of me well when you speak of me” Speaking well of you as we speak Scott Thanks. The thought was that the stock fender in Plastic is more rigid than the Fiberglass Race Fender and would not flex as much at 150 mph and up. Well, it was a good thought but we will call it a flawed theory at this point. Saturday only has 2 practice sessions. I went out in the first session with the street fender only to smell that familiar rubber sent on the first lap (this time I pulled off before destroying another new tire).
Mod #3
Get out the Dremmel Tool!!!!!
Yep, you guessed it we cut the entire front and top off the original fender, bolted it up and tried again (1 more session before the race day starts). I head out to be tentative and just test to see if I am gonna kill another 10,000,000 mosquitos with smoke or am I gonna actually be able to race with these new fangled tires. I went out in the Slow Practice this time to check it out, and the first lap was okay, so I Hammer the throttle on Lap 2 and enter Turn 1 about 160 mph and there is no smoke, no smell, no problem, except that this is slow practice and I am closing in on about 6 bikes going 40 mph slower than me. Repeat after me, eeeeeeeeeeesssssssssssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I make it safely past the slower bikes (bikes not riders, don’t wanna be accused of “Hatin” on the little bikes). Go around about 6-8 other bikes in the infield, and come around Turn 10 to a clear front straight, so I just give her “the berries” and take a shot a Turn #1 full out (about 163-170mph, Bike registered 178 as a top speed this weekend on the dash computer so corrected best guestimate). I go through turns #1 and #2 and still have a clear track so I keep her pinned. I got a really clean lap and did not run into traffic until I passed turn #1 again. It was very relaxed and pleasant and Mark loves him some N-Techs. When I checked the laptimer it showed a 1:49 lap on my flyer in the middle of slow practice (PERSONAL BEST EVER LAPTIME AT BIR). 1:49 is an average lap of 102 mph on a 3 mile track with turns as slow as 40mph. Needless to say I was feeling good about racing on this day, even though I only had 1 real lap of practice.
Race Day
My First race is Unlimited Supersport (yep playin with the big boys). Man, those 1000’s get out of sight fast. I got a decent start but as I hit 2nd gear that extra 40-50 HP the 1000’s have shows as the big bikes just disappear quickly, but there are still about 7 of us on smaller machines to race. I was able to even beat one of the 1000cc bikes and a 750 to bring home the 675 in 15th position with some laps at 1:50 (average speed 101.5).
Next was a new race called the Turtle and Hare Scramble. This is a 5 lap race with everything from Ultralight bikes to Heavyweight bikes on the same grid with a handicapped start based on average laptimes put down in races from this season by the rider. It is a 5 lap race that theoretically has all participants crossing the finishline at the same time (really fun stuff). It felt like I was on the grid for ever and the little bikes would be passing me before I got a green flag (it almost was). The first 2 laps were hard fought with 2 riders from my grid, but I was able to get lcear of tehm on lap 3 and get my head down with 3 laps at 1:50. Coming around Turn 10 I had an Ultralight bike in my sights and corssed the sticks .8 seconds behind to get 3rd (if I had just got my head dodwn from the get go I may have had 1st place in sight, but I will take my 3rd place trophy and add it to the collection.
Now the tough one, Pro Solo/Team Challenge 80 minutes of rolling thunder either by yourself, or with a teammate. Gabe Blevins asked me if I wanted to run with him on his Ultralight bike, a Ducati 620 Monster that I have raced before. I said “sure”, going against my plan not to run long races because it takes to long for my body to recover. Gabe started and ran for 40 minutes and I took over and finished the race running 6 laps in a row at 1:59 on a bike with 56 HP (most guys run this bike around 2:04-2:08 laptimes) so I felt pretty good about finishing 3rd in class, and passing SV650s (lightweight), and a couple of 600s (middleweight) along the way. One guy came up to me later and said Iwas really “movin” when I went under him between Turns #7, and #8. He asked “ What was that bike, an RC51?”. I did’nt have the heart to tell him that he just got passed by a bike with 56 horsepower (he was riding a Middleweight).
Sunday
I knew there was a reason I don’t run long races anymore. Sunday morning I could not go out for practice as my body just ached too much to ride. I gridded up for the MWGP race in the afternoon. Sunny Skies and I head out on the warm up lap with about 40 bikes. As we all scream through Turns #1, #2 and come into Turn #3 we all realize that Turn #3 is a flowing river of water (yea it was raining on the back side of the course). Almost every rider was able to get through the water (hope your feeling okay Robin that was a tough circumstance), and continue around with differing conditions at every turn. The race goes off and as everyone checks up coming into Turn #3 we realize it’s now dry but now Turns #4, and #5 are now wet. Conditions change at every corner on every lap, but I brought the 675 home in 8th Place, still not felling good but hey, a bad day at the Track is better than a good day at work, so I try to mentally prepare for the Unlimited GP race in about an hour.
Unlimited GP was fairley uneventful. More of the same the 1000s burry me off the start and Finish 11th but run my last lap faster than all of the other laps beating a few guys on bigger bikes.
But wait there’s more:
Monday:
On Monday Trackaddix Northern Region hosted its first event of the season at BIR (see
www.trackaddix.com for schedule).
As I taught 20 new trackday riders the “way round” and how to use these wonderful machines to their potential, I also adequately pressure tested the durability of the same Dunlop N-Tech Rear I had run 4 races and a few laps of practice on for 45 more laps. These Tires really go the distance. One of our students was turning laps in the low 2:00 minute range by mid day and had to be moved into the intermediate session (hello numberplates Chirstopher Awes!!!!).
Anywho as they say here in MN, I had a great weekend and don’t even have to unpack because on Friday I am Heading to Hastings Motorsports Park in Hastings Nebraska (a new track built last year), to further develop my N-techs and help some more riders along in their career with Trackaddix, as they host a Trackday on Saturday and CCS TRackaddix GP racing on Sunday. Until next time
See Ya at the Track.
Mark Miller Racing (MMR) thanks all of his sponsors for making this season possible.
Princess Jennife
Trackaddix
Newracers.com
Dunlop
Manley Cycle
Moto Primo
Headsweats
Momentum Photo.net
Lithium Motorsports
Vortex
LP usa
PS I will add a pic of the Tire and Fender eveil alien thing as soon as Gabe emails it to me.
