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March Race review |
03/21/2010 |
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Since last month I had made some huge changes to both the bikes. I decided it was time to get some suspension under both the machines. Race Tech was my weapon of choice and for a very small investment (compared to the Swiss alternative Ohlins) I was able to make some massive improvements to the handling. I also invested in the power commander quick shifter and a new set of gearing for the Gsxr 600 in hopes that I could keep up with some of the higher horsepower machines that show up. The next improvement made was getting a couple sweet paint jobs on the bikes. I chose an Olive Drab green and had John Salazar hook it up. Man they look sweet ! He even took the time to match the pit scooter up with the race bikes. ( THEY LOOK SO SWEET IN THE PITS NOW...) PRACTICE DAY: We needed to get as much time on the track with both bikes so we could try and set the new suspension to my liking. WSMC was running a new practice format that was divided up by laps times rather than by bike size. I needed to go into the "A" and the "B" group practice sessions to get the saddle time to tune....Got to the 1:25's on the 1000 with the suspension fighting me all the way! I was easily able to do 1:27's on the 600 and was very happy with the gearing change. (I was using a 15 tooth front and a 47 tooth rear sprocket.) The whole day turned into a huge struggle with the 1000 kicking and screaming all the way. At the end of the day we decided to use softer front fork springs and went to bed with hopes that we had solved all our handling problems... RACE DAY!!! As usual get up, get the bikes to tech inspection, tire warmers on, get a bite to eat and just enough caffeine to elevate the heartbeat to somewhere over 100 bpm's, and discuss the race schedule with Ben so we can plan tire changes and get on the track. The 600 was Awesome! I was flying through turn 6 (Monroe ridge) with the throttle pinned and no problems with the suspension. However, the 1000 was only a tad better with the softer front springs. Darn...During the first practice I got frustrated with the 1000 and pulled off track to the hot pits to look for someone with a Flathead screwdriver to make a quick change to see if it would help. No one was handy so I flew back on track doing a massive wheelie. What I didn't know was that I had blown a coolant hose and lucky for me my wheelie had swooshed out a wave of water that was noticed by the track staff. I was quickly Black flagged and pulled of track immediately. " YOU'RE LEAKING SOMETHING!!!" he said. Couldn't have hurt my lap times I thought, damn suspension had me steaming mad at this point...and now the bike was steaming too. I pulled into the pit and in the blink of an eye Ben had the leak found and repaired. I heart Ben...what a great technician. Went out on the 1000 again, totally sucked. Pulled in and thought "did I ever set the spring sag in the rear?" Duuuuuuuh Scott. I only had about 10mm of race sag when I should be at about 30-35mm. Geeesh, just when I though I was a suspension wizard, got it figured out but ran out of practice time to check my theory...oops!!!! Race 6 (Open Modified Production) (I had brought this used tire that was sitting around the shop for a while, still had awesome tread and I decided to use it for my first two races on the 1000. What I didn't know was it was a soft compound...) Gridded in the #2 position meant that I had a good shot at getting to turn 1 in first place even though I had good company in this race . David Anthony (Aussie Dave) was out and looking sharp as a tack. He had been pitting along side a young gun named Steve Atlas (Steve-O) all weekend. In the practice sessions I noticed Steve-O was emulating David's lines and learning how to ride fast if David was leading him. I got a amazing start and lead into the first turn by at least eight bike lengths, Both David and Steve-O got around me shortly after turn two and then we saw a red flag due to a crash.. The Restart... I lead through the first five turns, I was feeling great and the suspension was amazing (finally...) I felt like everything was coming together and at one point even felt comfortable enough to blow a kiss during the race to the turn 4 hottie I noticed sitting in the stands (Jasmine, breathing easy...until that moment). Soon the two front runners had made a gap of about 5 seconds and were out of reach but at the same time I had put a gap behind me of about 8 seconds...Third place behind some really hooked up AMA guys, not to shabby. 1st 225 P ANTHONY, DAVID 30 30 undefined 2nd 585 P ATLAS, STEVE 26 26 undefined 3rd 91 P TILLERY, SCOTT 22 39 Suzuki Race 7 ( Formula 2) So this month, like last month, I had a sequence of three races in a row and was pressed for time in the pits to make the change to my other bike. I had set up a pit in a friends pit area close to the entrance of the raceway and Ben was there with the 600 ready to roll...except for the transponder used for timing and scoring. I did the warm-up lap, wasting no time getting acquainted to the bike I dove in to every turn as if the race had already started.At the starting line, Grid #2, again. I set up for the drag race to turn one and we were off. I lead for the first lap or so then had David Christensen (#858) come around me looking very confident and comfortable. I didn't seem to have any problems staying with him at his pace but couldn't find my way around him. We had built a small gap between ourselves and third place so I decided to stay put and dissect his racing line. He was fierce and wasn't sloppy anywhere that I could see so passing wasn't going to be easy and might not be an option at all. Out of turn 9 David had a huge slide and nearly lost it , I moved in for the KILL ! Thank goodness he was on pirellis ...LOL . I knew he wasn't going down without a fight so I carefully watched my lines and didn't stray wide ensuring that he wouldn't get an easy retake of the #1 position. With turn 9 being the final stretch to the finish line with a chance for overtaking via a good draft , I needed to hit the entrance to it hard enough to break his momentum. I did ! I'm sure it must have been a little scary for him after the great slide & save the previous lap in turn 9...First place Baby ! 1st 91 P TILLERY, SCOTT 30 45 Suzuki 2nd 858 P CHRISTENSEN, DAVID 26 41 Yamaha 3rd 52 P BLACK, LOREN 22 22 Yamaha Race 8 ( Open Superbike ) Immediately after the win in F2 I hopped on the 1000 and had Ben tell me to take it easy because the tire was "still a bit cold". Truth was that the soft compound tire had been shredded in race 6 but there wasn't enough time to swap before race 8 . He said to feel it out and kick ass. I went out during the warm up and was feeling a little tense from the two previous races but overall I was still feeling strong. I was gridded in 5th position and felt like getting another great start. I did but this race had more competitors than the mod prod race . I had a great fight with Mark Simon aboard the new bmw , but got the better of him towards the end of the race taking a 5th place finish. Race 12( Formula 1) Finished 7th Race 16(600 Mod. Prod) finished 5th Thanks for reading and hope that you all enjoyed. I really am thankful to have the support from my friends , family and patrons to carry on in this endeavor. |
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2010 Race Schedule
January 16-17
February 20-21
March 20-21
April 18-19
May 15-16
June 19-20
July 17-18
August 14-15
September 18-19
October 16-17
November 20-21
January 16-17
February 20-21
March 20-21
April 18-19
May 15-16
June 19-20
July 17-18
August 14-15
September 18-19
October 16-17
November 20-21
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