2008 OMRRA 600SBK - 2nd Half Race

OMRRA at PIR 600SBK - Watch the second half of the race!

2008 OMRRA 600SBK First Half of Race

This is the 600 Superbike Race from my vantage point. I was gridded at J1, way in the back, and it was a little more difficult race for me. A total blast!!!

2008 OMRAA 600SS First Half of Race

The first half of the 600 Supersport Race on April 13th, 2008 at PIR / OMRRA.

2008 OMRRA 600SS Second half of the race

600SS OMRRA - 2nd Half of Race - April 13th, 2008

2008 OMRRA Round 1 #282 Race Report

PNWRiders Racing #282 Race Report OMRRA Round 1
Race Report – OMRRA Round 1

Crib Notes
750SS(Senior) 1st, 18th overall
750SBK(Senior) DNF; highside in T4 lap 8
Middleweight SS, 11th
650 Twins, 11th
Lap time goals: 1:16 on 750 and 1:22 on SV
Best lap time actual: 1:12:2 on 750 and 1:19 on SV.

I arrived at the newly surfaced Portland International Raceway (PIR) at 7AM excited to try out the new track with CTT on Friday, and to experience my first OMRRA event that weekend.

First time out on the track was with the SV and by the time I came out of T2 I had two thoughts. Track surface = WOW!, and SV is running better than WMRRA round 1. I had set goals for myself to get to 1:22 times on the SV and 1:16 times on the 750. Based on my first impressions of the track, the grip, and the lean angles I figured my goals were easily obtainable. Friday ended up being a good day for learning the track but did have some challenges with oil spills etc. Kudos to Tyson and staff for meeting those challenges and getting us back on the track in the afternoon. All in all, a good day. I was still a bit slower than goal, but optimistic.

Saturday practice went pretty smooth. Kevin, Chris, and I kept getting faster, the track was so grippy, and all bikes were running well. What more can a guy ask for? Other than a mild low side by Chris that ended our day chasing parts and wrenching, Sat was a good day of practice giving way to lots of optimism for Sunday’s races. Chris F walked away with best lap time of 1:14:04. A full .5 second faster than the prior fastest lap.

Sunday morning came a bit cooler than Sat, but dry and clear. First practice went off without a hitch and I took second practice off as the 750SS race was right after.

750SS(Senior). I gridded on row I-4 which was fine by me given my best time of the weekend was only a 1:14:58 so I knew there were a lot of guys on the grid much faster. The flag dropped and we were away. I had a decent start that had me with the H group by T1. Wow, lots of traffic. I held my place and let the field spread out before getting back to my lines and seeing how I might try and get a few positions. I was able to get a few passes and hung on the tail of #62. I couldn’t quite get a pace to pass him, but was able to hang at his pace. I ended up taking 1st for the senior class and I believe 18th for the overall 750SS class. A solid result with a best lap time of 1:12:991.

Middleweight SS. I gridded G-1 for this race and was excited to see how the SV would do after previous carb issues. I got off to my usual bad start and patiently waited for the field to shake out before pushing up corner speed to try and get positions. I had a good time with #43 Mark Bothe through out the race. He had a distinct advantage on the straights, we were even in 7-9, and I had an edge in 1-4. Made for great racing and allowed me to focus in on improving corner speed using Mark as my benchmark. I finished 11th in this race although I had to get the verification signatures as I left my AMB transponder on the 750. Thanks to OMRRA scoring for helping me to recover from this rookie mistake.

650 Twins. I gridded H-3 for this race and determined to get a better start. The flagged dropped and we were away. My start was better than the previous race and I even had the front wheel off the ground a bit. Not enough to handicap my start, but it felt good as I didn’t know the old girl had it in her. I again realized the SV just isn’t keeping pace with her peers on the straights. I’ll need to find some extra HP for that, or take something from own mid section if I want to be truly competitive. I was able to hang onto another 11th place finish with a best lap of 1:19:9 by carrying better corner speed then previous practice sessions.

750SBK(Senior). A huge thanks to my teammates Chris Fratini and Kevin Klemmer along with our buddy Monta (anyexcuse2ride) for all the help in having my 750 ready for this race as it was back to back with 650 Twins. I reached the hot pits in plenty of time to collect my thoughts and get ready for the race ahead. I gridded H-4 for this race and was determined to keep improving my times. I was able to get a decent start passing a row and a half at the drop of the flag. As the field sorted itself out I was able to pick a few spots as the laps ticked by. As we reached mid-point I found myself on the tail of #147 Bryan Rothenburger and #122 Matt Presting. Matt was able to get by Bryan so I knew if I wanted a chance at Matt, I’d need to get by Bryan in short order. We came out of T3 and made the decision to take him on the inside of T4. Unfortunately, I was too greedy with the throttle and the resultant highside cost me another senior class win and top 20 overall finish. Kudos to Bryan for a fantastic save, a huge thanks to the OMRRA corner workers in T4 for helping me out, and thanks to Blinky for the ride back to the pits.

Overall, a great weekend. A huge thanks to the OMRRA club, members, and staff. PIR rocks!

Thanks to our 2008 sponsors and supporters.
PNWRiders Racing Team
Power Stands Racing
Adrenaline Freaks Track Days
Vortex Racing
Motorex USA
MorePower Racing
Race Tech Suspension
Junior Monkey Design

2008 WERA West Round 2 LVMS Race Report

pics to come

Race Report - WERA West Round 2: LVMS

What a weekend. As I sit here in the airport terminal waiting for my flight to board, all I can think is: I’m SO doing this again.

Friday night, 7:10pm: Southwest Flight 586, service to Las Vegas, Nevada.
Arrive in Vegas at 9:30. Arrive at Las Vegas Motor Speedway 11pm or so.

I flew down with the Marios Alvarez of Adrenaline Freaks Trackdays, Duane Warren, and Duane’s girlfriend, Erin. At the airport in Vegas, we met up with Brandon Bones of Studio819 Photography, who was on a later flight in. We all crammed into a Ford Taurus, quickly figured out how to turn off its traction control, and made our way to the track. There, waiting for us already, were Corey Baum, Brian Trudeau, Will Grenier and Arthur Cruz, as well as Corey’s girlfriend Sherry and his friend Doug, who was kind enough to let us all use his RV and trailer for the trip. Mario Jr and Sr and I walked the track when we got there, getting at least a feel for which way the track went where, and then everyone tried to get some sleep before the big morning.

Day 1 - WMRRA is fun, but THIS is racing

Saturday dawned to find us already busy in our pits. We all wanted to squeeze the absolute most we could out of the track time we’d get that morning, because for many of us this would be the first time we’d roll a tire on this track. At registration, I signed up for an ambitious five races - B and C Superbike and Superstock, analogous to our local WMRRA 750 and 600 Superbike/Supersport races, and the Middleweight Solo 20, which is basically a 600-750cc 20-lap solo endurance race. I knew I didn’t really have much of a chance in the B races, riding a five-year-old 600, but I figured I’d be able to at least put the track time to good use.

After registration, the morning moved very quickly. I took advantage of the four sessions I got (due to signing up for both B and C races) to learn the track and its tricks as best I could, and in between my own sessions I’d be out at the hot-pit wall watching and encouraging my pitmates. Las Vegas is a very technical track, with no real straightaway - I never needed sixth, and I was running the shortest gearing I’ve ever put on this bike. I sometimes had trouble keeping the front down in third gear! It was a little difficult going at first, but after a couple sessions I started to find a groove and feel more and more comfortable. My strongest corners initially I think were 3, 4, and 6: All hard-braking, very sharp left- and right-handers at the end of relatively long straights. The experience I got at Portland a few weeks ago definitely helped me here; without it I would not have been comfortable leaning the bike over as far as I did.

After the practices came the Solo 20. 20 laps, around a shorter-than-I’m-used-to track, sounds easy. It is not easy. 20 laps, in 95-degree heat, on a track you saw for the first time at 11pm the night before… it is not easy. Apparently, its nickname is the “Practice 20″ as many people simply use it as an extra, longer practice session. You’re allowed to pit out and return to the track, so it wasn’t uncommon to see people doing a few laps, coming in and making an adjustment, and going back out. Personally, I caught a little Redmistitis, and was doing my damnedest to finish all 20 laps and place well at that. Unfortunately my tires and brakes did not quite share my resolve, about halfway through, my brakes began fading and my Bridgestone Type 4 Softs, which worked so beautifully back home in the Northwest, began to overheat and get greasy. With each passing lap I had to move my brake markers further and further out, and be gentler and gentler on the exit, so that by the end of the race I felt like I was riding in the rain. If I wasn’t careful, I’d slide the rear coming into a corner trying to blip quickly, flat-track through and spin it up on the exit trying to make up for lost time. On top of all that, I was getting exhausted, too. Black bike, black leathers, blazing sun and a solid half-hour of grueling exercise… I came in at the end and practically fell off the bike from exhaustion. All in all, a BLAST! I ended up finishing 18th in a field of 25, and I feel like if I hadn’t had the tire and brake issues, I could’ve placed in the top fifteen or better.

The Solo 20 was my last track session for the day, so after dousing my head and drinking about eighty-seven water bottles, I went out to the pit wall to cheer on my pitmates. Corey and Will had gone out before me, Arthur and Brian were out with me, and then Duane and Little Mario were up after me with a GSXR-1000 and Honda RS125, respectively. Everyone looked and performed great out on the track, but unfortunately the Solos ended up claiming three of our seven bikes. Nobody got seriously hurt, though, and it was great to watch everyone pull together and repair most of the damage.

When all our races for the day were finished and over, I took a look at my brakes and tires to see what was going wrong. The Bridgestones actually had plenty of usable rubber left on them - these tires have not yet failed to amaze me with how long they’ll last, even under the most punishing conditions. I was running BT-002R Type 4’s, which are designed for an ambient temperature of 50-73F. In Vegas, the ambient temperature at the track this weekend was about 95F, and the average temperature OF the track was probably well over 110 degrees. Despite this, the tires performed way better than could be expected, and were very predictable and progressive when they did begin to give way. My brakes were a different story: Big Mario helped me flush my brake fluid and it came out foamy. With how hard LVMS is on brakes, and my EBC HH pads not giving much of an initial bite, I ended up working my brake lever very hard and I guess utterly boiling my fluid in the race. To help out with that, Brandon took me around and utilized some of his contacts through Studio819 to introduce me to some really high-up names, such as Amber Rimes, Tokee Beck (Michael Beck’s father), Dale Kiefer of Racer’s Edge, and Bravo Condoms Racing’s engine builder Jeremy Daniel. They had some great suggestions for me, and they did indeed help, but what amazed me the most was how down-to-earth everyone was. Here I am, some no-name kid on beat-up, five-year-old equipment, and there they are, working on or riding various AMA machines, yet they still found fifteen minutes to come over to my bike, poke around and give advice, and act as if they were my own teammate. I was amazed. Class acts, professionals to the definition of the term, all of them.

Day 2 - One way or the other, Vegas will get your money

Sunday morning was a little less hurried than Saturday, but not much. Practice opened at 8, so anything that needed fixing on bikes needed fixing quick. I swapped my Bridgestones out for some Pirelli SC2’s which I hoped would better be able to handle the heat, as Sunday was even hotter than Saturday, and bedded in my brakes after scuffing up the pads and rotors the night before to try to get rid of any glazing that happened in the Solo 20. After that, I had Lenny Albin of Race Tech Suspension come over and tweak my suspension a bit, hoping to get rid of some rebound problems big Mario noticed the day before.

Practice sessions today were only 10 minutes each, so I spent the first one working on nothing but moving my brake markers forward again to where they were before my problems the day before. After a couple laps, I’d succeeded in moving them from well before the third marker to just after the second one, getting me probably a good half-second deeper into the corner. I spent the second and third sessions working more on lines and some observations Mario and Brandon had while watching me Saturday. I’m happy to say that I improved in several areas, including one deceptively decreasing-radius turn just before the front straight - hitting that correctly was a big help with getting a good drive. But then, on the fourth lap of my third session: CRASH!

It happened in Turn 1, which at LVMS is an extremely hard-braking 90-degree right hander. On the front straight you get well into fifth gear, and then you bang it down into second for the turn. If you don’t do it correctly, the back wheel will skip around and chatter while it tries to match the engine speed to the bike’s speed, and this time I think I did not do it correctly. The rear didn’t chatter around nearly as much as it did on Saturday, thanks to Lenny’s master touch, but I had just dropped into second gear when poof, I’m on my ass. I was trailbraking so much because my brake pads didn’t have the bite I needed, and that extra little bit of upset from the rear wheel was just enough to push the front tire over its limit, so wham, next thing I knew I was listening to that sickening scraping sound and watching my bike slide away from me as I skidded along the pavement myself. It hit the gravel and tumbled a few times, then came to rest a good 30 yards off the pavement. As soon as I had slowed down enough to get on my feet I left the bike and booked it out of the way, as the bike and I were in an extremely dangerous impact zone and I did not want to be in the way of anybody target-fixating on me. My crash made me the fourth of the team to taste the gravel.

When the crash truck brought my bike in, we assessed the damage. The right side, which is the side it slid on, had remarkably very little damage: My brake lever had gotten pushed up, but aside from that there was only cosmetic damage to the fairings. The left side did not fare as well. Bent and broken rearsets, bent clipon, broken frame and swingarm sliders, and a massive dent in the left side of my rear rim. Once again though, everyone pulled together to get things fixed and running in record time. Corey offered me a clipon tube he didn’t need, and Lenny at Race Tech was able to heat and flatten the various pieces of my mangled rearset back into usability. Duane helped me go out at lunch and find a couple missing pieces that the crash crew couldn’t locate, and Will gave me a hand in switching out my bent rim for my good one (the one spare I brought, thank God) and zip-tying my fairings back together. By the time my first race rolled around, we had just finished all the repairs and I was ready to go.

First race of Sunday: B (750) Superbike Expert. I didn’t finish getting ready in time for the warmup lap and instead I was sent directly to my grid position. While waiting to grid up, I began blowing thick plumes of blue-white smoke out my exhaust! The track marshal, understandably, immediately came running over frantically waving his arms and forbidding me to touch the track. However, after looking at my bike and exhaust for a moment, and listening to me explain that the bike was on its side for a good ten minutes, he accepted that there was simply some oil in my airbox getting burned off, and he let me out. I sure got some wary looks from the guys around me on the grid, though. Once the race started I did my best to make up for gridding at the very back, and made a few passes, but coming back after a crash is never easy and I lost the positions again when I chickened out and braked early for T1. Then, the lap after that, my race was ended early as my freshly-repaired shifter jammed and prevented me from going any lower than 4th gear - on a track that’s mostly 2nd and 3rd.

I came back in, but wasn’t too heartbroken as I hadn’t even known if I’d be able to get out in time for B Superbike anyway. I fixed the shifter - apparently the jury-rigged shift rod was too short - and made a couple other adjustments I hadn’t had time for, then tried to sit in the shade and cool off for a bit. When C (600) Superbike came around, I rolled out a bit more comfortably, and knowing my starting position (one row ahead of dead last… yay). Warmup lap, grid.. sideways flag…. GO GO GO!!!! I managed to not fixate on the three-bike pileup that played out as thirty bikes screamed into the first turn of the race, and made up a couple positions exiting tight as traffic backed up on the wider line. I battled it out with a couple guys for another lap or two and then, as I’m on the back straight climbing through the gears, I try to shift into 5th.. and shift nothing but air. I look down after the turn and see my shift rod (the one that’d caused the lever to jam the race before) dangling loose and unattached. With my shifter broken again, I put up my hand and exit the track, DNF’ing my second race of the day.

At this point I will admit, my mood had gone from the adrenaline-fueled excitement of the day before to the tired frustration of crashing then DNF’ing two races in a row. Nobody likes performing poorly, and I am definitely no exception. However I tried hard not to let it affect me, and with the team’s encouragement and help found some Locktite and threadlock everything that was repaired from the crash. Once that was done, we had quite a while to wait before anyone’s next race, so we all piled into the RV to cool off and rest. Duane went out for Formula 1 Novice and kicked some butt, Little Mario did the same in his first real race ever, and finally after plenty of rest, first call for C Superstock.

Suiting up this time, I didn’t have the calm confidence I had the day before. Instead, my stomach housed an entire migration of Monarchs as I tried to put brake problems, tire problems, shifter problems and crashes out of my head. I didn’t need any distractions, I needed clarity and resolve. The bike is fine, I told myself. Stuff the hell outta somebody. I did my warmup lap, and went to grid, still nervous and jittery. I couldn’t wait for the race to start, so I could concentrate on what is, not what if.

Get my position. Kill the motor so it doesn’t overheat.
Wait for everyone else to take their positions.
Wait some more.
“1″ board is up. Restart the motor.
Pull in the clutch, put it in 1st. The seconds feel like hours.
Board goes sideways. Rev to the moon to drown out the heartbeats.
Green flag!

Go.

We leap forward and I push myself over the tank, but I’m still too zealous with the clutch: The front lifts and I have to back off. Arthur and Brian shoot past me into Turn 1 as we pack it in, nearly bumping fairings. I reel Brian back in on the exit of Turn 2 and pass him on the brakes into 3. I set my sights on the three ahead of me and get to work, catching up to them in the next few laps and then trying to pick them off. Arthur’s in this group somewhere. I pass one on the entrance to the back straight and get side-by-side with the next coming into the extremely fast Turn 5 right-hander. All I can think about is Corey’s wreck. He’s half a bike ahead of me, but I have the inside line and I decide I’ll be damned if I’m giving it up. I shut my mind off to thoughts of consequences and throw the bike in - it obeys. I get on the gas hard and take a tight line into T6 to make sure the pass sticks. I get the third a lap later coming onto the front straight with a better drive out of T8.

With only a few laps to go - WERA runs 8-lap mains - I see five or six seconds ahead of me AMA #196 JC Gibbs with the Rough Rider’s “R” on his back. I concentrate on reeling him in, but two laps go by and I make up a second at best. We enter the white flag lap and I’m more determined than ever to catch him. He, on the other hand, must have thought there was no one behind him, because he slows his pace down tremendously. By the time we enter the back straight I’m close enough to read his number, and coming into T6 I brake late and get on his rear wheel. I see an opportunity and try to go inside of him into T7, forgetting in my rush that T7 is a decreasing-radius turn! It must be late-apexed to be fast. I blow wide on the exit, setting me up poorly for T8 and the straight, but I’m still on his wheel and I open the throttle immediately, relying on new tires and the squirrely-rear experience I got on Saturday to keep me rubber-side down. We drag-race down the straight and I’m gaining on him. I move to the right for the pass… I’m gaining, gaining… but not fast enough. JC crosses the line 0.496 seconds ahead of me. I scream past him just after the finish line and take the access road off T1, as I was too far inside to try to slow and take the turn. I finished 16th, with a best lap of 1:24.913, and despite not taking 15th I couldn’t be happier.

That race redeemed my entire day. I came into the pits, took off my burning-hot black leather suit, dunked my head into one of the coolers full of icewater, and slumped into a chair to try and recover. I decided not to run B Superstock, as there was no way I could top this race and I wanted to make sure to end the weekend on a high note. Instead, I just changed into a shirt and shorts and went out to watch eleven-year-old Little Mario podium in his second race ever, on a track he’d only seen for two days. That boy is going places, let me tell you.

So, here I am in the terminal, dumping my brain. After Mario’s race we packed up the bikes and gear, Corey’s girlfriend cooked some spaghetti, and we came to the airport. Everyone around me is laughing and recounting stories with their friends of their escapades in the clubs, the casinos, the hotels and the restaurants of the Strip… and I look around and chuckle, because they have no idea how fun Vegas is.

I want to thank all my sponsors for all the support they give me - Adrenaline Freaks Track Days, Studio819 Photography, Race Tech Suspension, More Power Racing, Power Stands Racing, Vortex, Motorex, Pipercross Filters, Junior Monkey Design and last but certainly not least, my title sponsor PNWRiders.com, the online forum for motorcycle riders in the Pacific Northwest. Racing is a team sport and these guys are what make it possible for me, so do your part and support those who support racing!

Some laps and crashes at PIR

A few laps on Saturday at PIR / OMRRA weekend.

Slow lap at Portland International Raceway

This is my first “painfully slow” lap at PIR on the new surface.

Chasing Chris Sarbora around PIR

A few laps around PIR’s new surface following Chris.

Pacific Raceways testing

PNWRiders Racing laps at Pacific Raceways. A little of me following Chris Fratini…