puredanger.com Blog

Well, this was a dissapointing race weekend. Dad and I made the trek to Pacific Junction, IA (about 30 minutes south of Omaha, NE) for a weekend of racing at Mid-America Motorplex on Friday. I was really looking forward to racing there, as I haven’t been there in 4 years, and it’s a really fun layout.

I had been checking the weather forecast religiously and on Friday weather.com was saying 30% chance of rain on Saturday, cloudy but no rain on Sunday. Nice. Then we woke up Saturday to pouring rain. There was probably an inch of standing water over half of the hotel parking lot. A quick check of The Weather Channel on the hotel TV showed the entire Nebraska/Iowa area covered in rain, with no prediction of letting up until after 8:00 pm Saturday night. Hmmm.

With the amount of water already on the ground/pavement, we quickly decided that, without a set of rain tires, Saturday was a no-go. Now we had to decide whether to stick around and hope for favorable Sunday weather, or simply cut expenses and head home. Over breakfast and coffee at The Cracker Barrel (one of Dad’s perennial favorites), we decided to head back.

Why head back? Aren’t you there to race? Well, yeah, but there were a few reasons for the decision. 

First, instead of practice and races Sat and Sun, this organization runs a practice day all-day Saturday, then all the races on Sunday. This means that on Sunday there was only one practice session for EVERY RACER THERE, regardless of bike, status, etc., then racing started at 9:00. So I’d only get one very crowded practice session to re-learn the track I rode 4 years ago, which, by the way, would also most likely still be damp or wet from the night before. I didn’t figure there was any way I could get up to speed in one session, so I’d basically be using my races as practice and seat time.

Second, the budget. By staying we’d have another 2 nights in the hotel, 2 more restaurant visits, gate fees, entry fees for the races, etc. Which would have been fine if we KNEW that the rain would break Saturday afternoon, the sun would come out, and Sunday the track would be competely dry and raceable. But we didn’t know that, in fact we figured it would be the opposite. After skipping one race and tip-toeing around in another in the rain at Topeka in April, I didn’t really want to throw money at a wet racetrack again. If the race runs in the rain, you do not get a refund…

So, in the end, we reluctantly turned around and headed back home. A serious bummer, but better then sitting under the canopy watching it rain, all day, or worse, banging up yourself or the bike because you pushed a little too hard on a wet/damp racetrack.

So now we wait until Gateway in June….

This Saturday my buddies Jim and Mike and I headed out to Riverport to watch AMA Supermoto races. Having never seen them in person, we were all geeked to check it out.

Supermoto is sort of a hybrid series. The bikes are 4-stroke motocross bikes that have been modified by lowering the suspension, adding wider wheels, slick roadrace tires, and bigger brakes. The racing is multi-disciplined: The majority of the course is paved (roadracing), but there are jumps (motocross) and a dirt section (dirt track and motocross).

The signature image of Supermoto is the riders “backing it in”. As the riders enter a fast corner, they use the rear brake to get the rear tire out of line, essentially getting the bike nearly sideways, and proceed to smoke through the corner this way. It is awesome to watch…

Unfortunately there wasn’t much of a crowd – maybe 1,000 spectators – due to the lack of promotion put forth by the AMA. Which is a shame, because the racing was really good. There was lots of passing and position changes, which makes for good spectating, and we were literally 20 feet from the track. Plus, we had full access to the pit area, so you it was easy to get up-close views of the VERY trick racebikes. 

Mike, Jim and I parked ourselves at the end of the main straight, near the entrance to Turn 1. This was a stellar vantage point. From here, we could see/hear the bikes come flying down the straight, click down two gears, hang the rear tire out to dry, and proceed to smoke through the corner more or less sideways. Oh, did I mention they are doing this around 100 MPH? Sickness, just sickness. I must say, TV simply does not do this justice – watching these guys hack the rear end out at 100 MPH and maintain this beautifully controlled slide through the corner was just amazing to watch lap after lap.

Overall, it was a good time, although standing in the Riverport parking lot from 5:00 until just after 8:00 for the races had us a bit tired – but not too tired to grab a beer and some grub at The Trailhead in St. Charles post-race!

The first MCRA motorcycle track day of the season was a great time this past Sunday!

Overall the day went well. As usual, I was a Control Rider for the Novice and Intermediate groups. The CRs basically ride around with these two groups (no CRs in the Expert group) and try to help by showing them the racing lines, offering advice between sessions, and chaperoning for stupid riding behavior.

The Control Rider highlight of the day for me was watching a nice woman (turns out she’s the wife of MCRA racer Tom Shaw) on a Kawasaki Ninja 250.  After a session late in the day, I walked over to her pit, still wearing my CR vest. She didn’t see me, so I said “Excuse me”, and she looked up. “I don’t know if anyone has told you this today”, she looks nervous, like I’m going to bust her for something, “but you are doing AWESOME out there!” Instantly, she gets a big grin. “Really!?! Thanks so much!”. I told her that she was smooth, that she had all the right lines down, and that she was faster than some of the boys in a few sections. By her reaction it was like hearing that made her day. That’s the best part of being a CR…..

At the end of the day we had two races – once Expert, one Novice. I was on Pole for the Expert race because….well…I had registered for the race first.  I actually got a great start, and was in 3rd place until Turn 5. By the end of lap 1 (of a 25 minute race), I was in 5th place. I was pretty stoked! I held 5th for a couple laps – the lead group was out of range after 2 laps, but I was still surprised/pleased that no-one had passed me. Then I had a, er, miscue…

Generally, I take Turn 2 in 3rd gear. I know the Fast Guys take it in 4th. I had tried it a few times in practice in 4th gear, but didn’t feel like I got the same drive out that I did in 3rd. But, in the race I felt like I was a bit quicker, so I decided to try to roll through there in 4th. Did I mention that you are seriously cranked over in Turn 2, way over on the edge of the tire?

I held 4th gear and carried just a bit more entry speed into the turn. As I was rolling on the throttle, nice and smooth, I feel the rear tire spin and start to step out. So as I feel the bike getting sideways, I think “stay in it, stay in it”, drop my shoulders as low and inside as possible, and essentially hope for the best. In the time it takes me to think that thought, the rear hooks up, the bike straightens itself out and kicks me about a foot off the seat in the process. Luckily for me, I had plenty of track left on my right, so I found the pegs and got back on the gas. But that mistake allowed the rider behind me to get around me. Hmmm.

As the race went on, the tire kept spinning in several places on the track, so I had to just accept that I couldn’t go any faster without risking a crash, and watched a couple guys pass and pull away from me. Oh well, I finished 7th, and had a nice little scrap with my pal Keith, who of course rode behind me for a few laps then passed me so that I had someone to chase ; ) I felt like I could have gone faster, but when I tried pushing a little harder the bike was pushing the front (turns 3 & 4) or spinning the rear (turns 2 and 7), so I had to accept that the tires were past their prime and go with the whole “discretion is the better part of valor” theory. Seda had timed me and I was turning low 1:12s initially before getting to steady mid- to low- 1:11s, so I was basically back on my race pace from last June, so I really couldn’t complain too much.

Big thanks as always to my dad (everyone’s Pit Daddy), Seda (for her support and help), City Garage (buy your Bridgestones from them!), and the MCRA for putting on the event!!

My youngest sister in law (or baldiz in Turkish) had the Grand Opening of her insurance business in Eregli, Turkey 2 weeks ago. Not bad for a 22-year-old recent university graduate!!

Senin icin cok mutluyum baldiz’cim!!! (I’m very happy for you sis!!!) 

Big thanks to Alex for setting me up with my very own blog!

Now I shall attempt to learn how to actually blog and stuff…