This is long. Copied from the site I use to keep a record of this
stuff for myself, you may or may not want to just skip it. There's a
vid at the end, the excitement is @ ~9:15. I'm the orange bike. This
whole deal can be seen with formatting and pics here
http://rookieroadracer.wordpress.com/
Novice #319 Race Report
What a weekend! Thought I wasn’t even going to make the races due to
some family issues. They turned out OK, thankfully, and I ended up
snagging a last minute ride up with my buddy Pete. Actually got there
early enough to register Friday, saving myself the Sat AM nonsense I’m
normally a part of. By all counts (save for it starting to rain right
as we got to Loudon) it was going to be a great weekend.
Hung out a bit on Friday night, but packed it in before too late to
catch up on my sleep for Saturday practice. Woke up Saturday to on
and off rain, decided to go out anyway on my DOT’s since I had rain
wheels but no rain tires mounted yet. Hey, traction is overrated,
right?
Due to the low participation in practice, they went to open practice
in session 2 or ¾, and it stayed that way for a while. I stayed out
there feeling out the DOT’s in the rain and trying to get the track
back into my head and looking for the line through the new T1/T1a/T2.
Tried to push the DOT’s once or twice, but didn’t like how that worked
out for me at all. Turns out a race compound tire with just enough
tread to be DOT doesn’t do too well in the rain, who would have
thought? Rather than the normal feedback, on the D208’s it felt like
I went from planted to in trouble with nothing in between. Not a
fan. In the 30 minutes or so I was out I only saw one other bike not
on rains, and I was faster than him, so I wasn’t worried about it. I
was also passing bigger bikes on rain tires, guys who clearly just
were not comfortable in the wet, even with rains. New riders, new to
the rain, gun shy… who knows?
Eventually, I heard a noise that made me nervous. Wasn’t sure what it
was, but I wanted to get in and check it out before something gave way
and I binned the bike on a mechanical. Sounded like it came from the
front, so I’m thinking brakes. I get to T10, signal pit out, sit up
and slow down. No sooner am I committed to the pit out than I realize
what the sound was… a rock being grabbed by my tire and flipped into
my zero-clearance front fender. Of course, now I’m committed to the
pit out and there’s no changing that, so rather than just riding
through hot pit and back onto the track I decide to break for a quick
drink of water and a quick check of the bike, more for peace of mind
than anything. While in, my garage mate Brendan looked at my bike as
well, and told me “You’re not going back out. May as well change out
of the leathers, your brakes are done.” I look, and sure as can be
the big pad is shot. So I change and start tearing it apart while
Brendan goes to get new pads for both of us. Turns out that pad was
completely toast, backing plate on the rotor! Whoa. New pads, but I
miss 2nd practice session now that it’s starting to dry out.
Whatever. Ride around the infield a bit and bed the new pads in and
call it a wrap until the races.
Saturday, Race #8, NV Ptwins:
Terrible start. I’ve been working on a new launch technique that was
working for me last time we had a race weekend, like 74 months ago,
but apparently I lost the touch. Get absolutely creamed off the
start. It only gets worse into T1/T1a/T2 as I still don’t have a
solid line through there. It’s dry now and I’m not going NEARLY fast
enough into there. Make up some ground coming into T3 and start to go
to work. There are a few absolute newbies in this race, so there
should be some easy pickings, right? Wrong. Anyway, after working my
way past a few people I see Kurlon in the distance. Yes! We’ve been
talking trash for the past month about this weekend, and it may be his
last novice weekend ever, so I really want to dice with him. I make
some ground on him from 6-9, lose some of it into 9, make some back
9/10, lose a bit more into 11 and make a touch back up into the
chicanes. Down the straight we go, and he gets a bit more on me
through T1/T1a/T2. I’m expecting this so I try to brake later and use
his line through there. I don’t like his line. It’s probably right,
but it’s so far from what I’d been doing it felt sketch to me and I
ended up trail braking longer than I like to. Don’t lose much, but
it’s not a confidence booster for that section. Make a bunch of
ground to him and tailgate him through the bowl, looking for a way
around but not able to find one. This goes on for an entire lap, me
trying to put a move on him and just not quite being able. People in
the bleachers said it looked like I had him for sure out of 4, but I
cooked too much momentum trying and then backing off in 3. I go into
6 on a different line than him, which sends me out much faster. I see
him go wide, and there’s the window! Inside of 7! I go for it, and
get some bike on him. Awesome, I’ve got it! Then… BOOM! I feel the
contact and struggle to keep the bike up. I try to stick with T8 for
a second, but it’s not happening. I run wide and off the track into
the dirt, holding consistent throttle, and end up back on the track.
Now I’m riding way too ginger, wondering if he made it out. Finally I
give up and look back, even though I shouldn’t, because I just have to
know. He’s not only still up, but he’s entirely too close and setting
me up to pass me back! Something clicks in my head… we’re still in a
race, and he’s about to pass me back! Back to work and I pull out the
gap, finishing the race in front of him, for 5th place. Great race,
but I’m still off pace. After checking the times I see that spots
#1-3 are all 1:26-1:28. 1:26’s would have WON AM Ptwins, nevermind
NV. In fact, all top 3 guys are turning times that would be plenty
respectable in AM, and one of them is brandy new! He’s been doing
track days for quite some time, but had just done his rookie race the
day before! Wow.
I can SEE the spots I’m leaving tons of time all over the track, but
can’t seem to do anything about it. The brakes feel different, I’m
not sure where the traction limit is anymore, and the new turn is
still throwing me off a bit. Best time is a 1:32.2. My PB from the
last weekend was a 1:31.4 and I def. should have been faster, not
slower. Oh well, I can live with it. I know where I need to do my
work.
Sunday practice I’m finally managing to put some of my trouble
sections together, but I’m still not on pace. I decide to work on
form and being smooth, and deal with the fast after. I get the
feeling I’m dealing with too many issues at once, and if I sort the
technical stuff out it’ll be easier to add some fast. I feel like
I’ve got some smooth and consistent back. Doing 33’s for time, but I
wasn’t out there for fast, I was out there for smooth and I feel like
I found it. Looking forward to pouring on some fasts in the GTL.
Sunday Race #1 GTL:
So-so start, better than yesterday but still not where it was before.
This is going to warrant some practicing. Get out there and turn some
decent laps. Before too long the first wave catches us, 600’s, 750’s,
1000’s, etc. Possibly the most hectic GTL I’ve been in, the GTO & GTU
bikes are just having at it. Quite a few yellows, quite a few bikes
crashed out, but no red flag, which was sort of surprising. I got
grazed by passing big bikes a few times, but whatever, no harm. I do
find that with getting passed in every turn by the lapping big bikes
my times are off. I feel like I put did every turn on that track
better than I have been at some point in the race, but never got a
clean lap out to see what it did to my times. I could definitely use
to get back onto the track before the next race weekend.
Overall it was a great weekend, and I had a lot of fun. Looks like
another PTwins trophy is out of the question for a bit, with the lead
3 guys running as fast or faster than the AM guys. Oh well. I’m just
going to keep doing what I’ve been doing, focusing on my time and
form.
There’s footage of the PTwins race from Kurlon’s front # plate here:
http://vimeo.com/5688949 The contact and subsequent action is around
9:15, so if you don’t want to watch the whole video watch from 9:00
until you get bored.
DanKMTB@gmail.com wrote:
> This is long. Copied from the site I use to keep a record of this
> stuff for myself, you may or may not want to just skip it. There's a
> vid at the end, the excitement is @ ~9:15. I'm the orange bike. This
> whole deal can be seen with formatting and pics here
> http://rookieroadracer.wordpress.com/
>
> Novice #319 Race Report
>
> What a weekend! Thought I wasn’t even going to make the races due to
> some family issues. They turned out OK, thankfully, and I ended up
> snagging a last minute ride up with my buddy Pete. Actually got there
> early enough to register Friday, saving myself the Sat AM nonsense I’m
> normally a part of. By all counts (save for it starting to rain right
> as we got to Loudon) it was going to be a great weekend.
>
> Hung out a bit on Friday night, but packed it in before too late to
> catch up on my sleep for Saturday practice. Woke up Saturday to on
> and off rain, decided to go out anyway on my DOT’s since I had rain
> wheels but no rain tires mounted yet. Hey, traction is overrated,
> right?
>
> Due to the low participation in practice, they went to open practice
> in session 2 or ¾, and it stayed that way for a while. I stayed out
> there feeling out the DOT’s in the rain and trying to get the track
> back into my head and looking for the line through the new T1/T1a/T2.
> Tried to push the DOT’s once or twice, but didn’t like how that worked
> out for me at all. Turns out a race compound tire with just enough
> tread to be DOT doesn’t do too well in the rain, who would have
> thought? Rather than the normal feedback, on the D208’s it felt like
> I went from planted to in trouble with nothing in between. Not a
> fan. In the 30 minutes or so I was out I only saw one other bike not
> on rains, and I was faster than him, so I wasn’t worried about it. I
> was also passing bigger bikes on rain tires, guys who clearly just
> were not comfortable in the wet, even with rains. New riders, new to
> the rain, gun shy… who knows?
>
> Eventually, I heard a noise that made me nervous. Wasn’t sure what it
> was, but I wanted to get in and check it out before something gave way
> and I binned the bike on a mechanical. Sounded like it came from the
> front, so I’m thinking brakes. I get to T10, signal pit out, sit up
> and slow down. No sooner am I committed to the pit out than I realize
> what the sound was… a rock being grabbed by my tire and flipped into
> my zero-clearance front fender. Of course, now I’m committed to the
> pit out and there’s no changing that, so rather than just riding
> through hot pit and back onto the track I decide to break for a quick
> drink of water and a quick check of the bike, more for peace of mind
> than anything. While in, my garage mate Brendan looked at my bike as
> well, and told me “You’re not going back out. May as well change out
> of the leathers, your brakes are done.” I look, and sure as can be
> the big pad is shot. So I change and start tearing it apart while
> Brendan goes to get new pads for both of us. Turns out that pad was
> completely toast, backing plate on the rotor! Whoa. New pads, but I
> miss 2nd practice session now that it’s starting to dry out.
> Whatever. Ride around the infield a bit and bed the new pads in and
> call it a wrap until the races.
>
> Saturday, Race #8, NV Ptwins:
> Terrible start. I’ve been working on a new launch technique that was
> working for me last time we had a race weekend, like 74 months ago,
> but apparently I lost the touch. Get absolutely creamed off the
> start. It only gets worse into T1/T1a/T2 as I still don’t have a
> solid line through there. It’s dry now and I’m not going NEARLY fast
> enough into there. Make up some ground coming into T3 and start to go
> to work. There are a few absolute newbies in this race, so there
> should be some easy pickings, right? Wrong. Anyway, after working my
> way past a few people I see Kurlon in the distance. Yes! We’ve been
> talking trash for the past month about this weekend, and it may be his
> last novice weekend ever, so I really want to dice with him. I make
> some ground on him from 6-9, lose some of it into 9, make some back
> 9/10, lose a bit more into 11 and make a touch back up into the
> chicanes. Down the straight we go, and he gets a bit more on me
> through T1/T1a/T2. I’m expecting this so I try to brake later and use
> his line through there. I don’t like his line. It’s probably right,
> but it’s so far from what I’d been doing it felt sketch to me and I
> ended up trail braking longer than I like to. Don’t lose much, but
> it’s not a confidence booster for that section. Make a bunch of
> ground to him and tailgate him through the bowl, looking for a way
> around but not able to find one. This goes on for an entire lap, me
> trying to put a move on him and just not quite being able. People in
> the bleachers said it looked like I had him for sure out of 4, but I
> cooked too much momentum trying and then backing off in 3. I go into
> 6 on a different line than him, which sends me out much faster. I see
> him go wide, and there’s the window! Inside of 7! I go for it, and
> get some bike on him. Awesome, I’ve got it! Then… BOOM! I feel the
> contact and struggle to keep the bike up. I try to stick with T8 for
> a second, but it’s not happening. I run wide and off the track into
> the dirt, holding consistent throttle, and end up back on the track.
> Now I’m riding way too ginger, wondering if he made it out. Finally I
> give up and look back, even though I shouldn’t, because I just have to
> know. He’s not only still up, but he’s entirely too close and setting
> me up to pass me back! Something clicks in my head… we’re still in a
> race, and he’s about to pass me back! Back to work and I pull out the
> gap, finishing the race in front of him, for 5th place. Great race,
> but I’m still off pace. After checking the times I see that spots
> #1-3 are all 1:26-1:28. 1:26’s would have WON AM Ptwins, nevermind
> NV. In fact, all top 3 guys are turning times that would be plenty
> respectable in AM, and one of them is brandy new! He’s been doing
> track days for quite some time, but had just done his rookie race the
> day before! Wow.
>
> I can SEE the spots I’m leaving tons of time all over the track, but
> can’t seem to do anything about it. The brakes feel different, I’m
> not sure where the traction limit is anymore, and the new turn is
> still throwing me off a bit. Best time is a 1:32.2. My PB from the
> last weekend was a 1:31.4 and I def. should have been faster, not
> slower. Oh well, I can live with it. I know where I need to do my
> work.
>
> Sunday practice I’m finally managing to put some of my trouble
> sections together, but I’m still not on pace. I decide to work on
> form and being smooth, and deal with the fast after. I get the
> feeling I’m dealing with too many issues at once, and if I sort the
> technical stuff out it’ll be easier to add some fast. I feel like
> I’ve got some smooth and consistent back. Doing 33’s for time, but I
> wasn’t out there for fast, I was out there for smooth and I feel like
> I found it. Looking forward to pouring on some fasts in the GTL.
>
> Sunday Race #1 GTL:
> So-so start, better than yesterday but still not where it was before.
> This is going to warrant some practicing. Get out there and turn some
> decent laps. Before too long the first wave catches us, 600’s, 750’s,
> 1000’s, etc. Possibly the most hectic GTL I’ve been in, the GTO & GTU
> bikes are just having at it. Quite a few yellows, quite a few bikes
> crashed out, but no red flag, which was sort of surprising. I got
> grazed by passing big bikes a few times, but whatever, no harm. I do
> find that with getting passed in every turn by the lapping big bikes
> my times are off. I feel like I put did every turn on that track
> better than I have been at some point in the race, but never got a
> clean lap out to see what it did to my times. I could definitely use
> to get back onto the track before the next race weekend.
>
> Overall it was a great weekend, and I had a lot of fun. Looks like
> another PTwins trophy is out of the question for a bit, with the lead
> 3 guys running as fast or faster than the AM guys. Oh well. I’m just
> going to keep doing what I’ve been doing, focusing on my time and
> form.
>
> There’s footage of the PTwins race from Kurlon’s front # plate here:
> http://vimeo.com/5688949 The contact and subsequent action is around
> 9:15, so if you don’t want to watch the whole video watch from 9:00
> until you get bored.
Great read (for a street rider <snerk>) and videos... I watched that
section of video about a half dozen times but still can't see exactly
what happened. It does look like you got up inside of him and he came
down on you. I showed The Mouse and she asked me why you didn't have
banked corners with birms :) Anyway, look good out there...
Rowdy Mouse Racing, my head is still sideways..
XML Sitemap
> stuff for myself, you may or may not want to just skip it. There's a
> vid at the end, the excitement is @ ~9:15. I'm the orange bike. This
> whole deal can be seen with formatting and pics here
> http://rookieroadracer.wordpress.com/
>
> Novice #319 Race Report
>
> What a weekend! Thought I wasn’t even going to make the races due to
> some family issues. They turned out OK, thankfully, and I ended up
> snagging a last minute ride up with my buddy Pete. Actually got there
> early enough to register Friday, saving myself the Sat AM nonsense I’m
> normally a part of. By all counts (save for it starting to rain right
> as we got to Loudon) it was going to be a great weekend.
>
> Hung out a bit on Friday night, but packed it in before too late to
> catch up on my sleep for Saturday practice. Woke up Saturday to on
> and off rain, decided to go out anyway on my DOT’s since I had rain
> wheels but no rain tires mounted yet. Hey, traction is overrated,
> right?
>
> Due to the low participation in practice, they went to open practice
> in session 2 or ¾, and it stayed that way for a while. I stayed out
> there feeling out the DOT’s in the rain and trying to get the track
> back into my head and looking for the line through the new T1/T1a/T2.
> Tried to push the DOT’s once or twice, but didn’t like how that worked
> out for me at all. Turns out a race compound tire with just enough
> tread to be DOT doesn’t do too well in the rain, who would have
> thought? Rather than the normal feedback, on the D208’s it felt like
> I went from planted to in trouble with nothing in between. Not a
> fan. In the 30 minutes or so I was out I only saw one other bike not
> on rains, and I was faster than him, so I wasn’t worried about it. I
> was also passing bigger bikes on rain tires, guys who clearly just
> were not comfortable in the wet, even with rains. New riders, new to
> the rain, gun shy… who knows?
>
> Eventually, I heard a noise that made me nervous. Wasn’t sure what it
> was, but I wanted to get in and check it out before something gave way
> and I binned the bike on a mechanical. Sounded like it came from the
> front, so I’m thinking brakes. I get to T10, signal pit out, sit up
> and slow down. No sooner am I committed to the pit out than I realize
> what the sound was… a rock being grabbed by my tire and flipped into
> my zero-clearance front fender. Of course, now I’m committed to the
> pit out and there’s no changing that, so rather than just riding
> through hot pit and back onto the track I decide to break for a quick
> drink of water and a quick check of the bike, more for peace of mind
> than anything. While in, my garage mate Brendan looked at my bike as
> well, and told me “You’re not going back out. May as well change out
> of the leathers, your brakes are done.” I look, and sure as can be
> the big pad is shot. So I change and start tearing it apart while
> Brendan goes to get new pads for both of us. Turns out that pad was
> completely toast, backing plate on the rotor! Whoa. New pads, but I
> miss 2nd practice session now that it’s starting to dry out.
> Whatever. Ride around the infield a bit and bed the new pads in and
> call it a wrap until the races.
>
> Saturday, Race #8, NV Ptwins:
> Terrible start. I’ve been working on a new launch technique that was
> working for me last time we had a race weekend, like 74 months ago,
> but apparently I lost the touch. Get absolutely creamed off the
> start. It only gets worse into T1/T1a/T2 as I still don’t have a
> solid line through there. It’s dry now and I’m not going NEARLY fast
> enough into there. Make up some ground coming into T3 and start to go
> to work. There are a few absolute newbies in this race, so there
> should be some easy pickings, right? Wrong. Anyway, after working my
> way past a few people I see Kurlon in the distance. Yes! We’ve been
> talking trash for the past month about this weekend, and it may be his
> last novice weekend ever, so I really want to dice with him. I make
> some ground on him from 6-9, lose some of it into 9, make some back
> 9/10, lose a bit more into 11 and make a touch back up into the
> chicanes. Down the straight we go, and he gets a bit more on me
> through T1/T1a/T2. I’m expecting this so I try to brake later and use
> his line through there. I don’t like his line. It’s probably right,
> but it’s so far from what I’d been doing it felt sketch to me and I
> ended up trail braking longer than I like to. Don’t lose much, but
> it’s not a confidence booster for that section. Make a bunch of
> ground to him and tailgate him through the bowl, looking for a way
> around but not able to find one. This goes on for an entire lap, me
> trying to put a move on him and just not quite being able. People in
> the bleachers said it looked like I had him for sure out of 4, but I
> cooked too much momentum trying and then backing off in 3. I go into
> 6 on a different line than him, which sends me out much faster. I see
> him go wide, and there’s the window! Inside of 7! I go for it, and
> get some bike on him. Awesome, I’ve got it! Then… BOOM! I feel the
> contact and struggle to keep the bike up. I try to stick with T8 for
> a second, but it’s not happening. I run wide and off the track into
> the dirt, holding consistent throttle, and end up back on the track.
> Now I’m riding way too ginger, wondering if he made it out. Finally I
> give up and look back, even though I shouldn’t, because I just have to
> know. He’s not only still up, but he’s entirely too close and setting
> me up to pass me back! Something clicks in my head… we’re still in a
> race, and he’s about to pass me back! Back to work and I pull out the
> gap, finishing the race in front of him, for 5th place. Great race,
> but I’m still off pace. After checking the times I see that spots
> #1-3 are all 1:26-1:28. 1:26’s would have WON AM Ptwins, nevermind
> NV. In fact, all top 3 guys are turning times that would be plenty
> respectable in AM, and one of them is brandy new! He’s been doing
> track days for quite some time, but had just done his rookie race the
> day before! Wow.
>
> I can SEE the spots I’m leaving tons of time all over the track, but
> can’t seem to do anything about it. The brakes feel different, I’m
> not sure where the traction limit is anymore, and the new turn is
> still throwing me off a bit. Best time is a 1:32.2. My PB from the
> last weekend was a 1:31.4 and I def. should have been faster, not
> slower. Oh well, I can live with it. I know where I need to do my
> work.
>
> Sunday practice I’m finally managing to put some of my trouble
> sections together, but I’m still not on pace. I decide to work on
> form and being smooth, and deal with the fast after. I get the
> feeling I’m dealing with too many issues at once, and if I sort the
> technical stuff out it’ll be easier to add some fast. I feel like
> I’ve got some smooth and consistent back. Doing 33’s for time, but I
> wasn’t out there for fast, I was out there for smooth and I feel like
> I found it. Looking forward to pouring on some fasts in the GTL.
>
> Sunday Race #1 GTL:
> So-so start, better than yesterday but still not where it was before.
> This is going to warrant some practicing. Get out there and turn some
> decent laps. Before too long the first wave catches us, 600’s, 750’s,
> 1000’s, etc. Possibly the most hectic GTL I’ve been in, the GTO & GTU
> bikes are just having at it. Quite a few yellows, quite a few bikes
> crashed out, but no red flag, which was sort of surprising. I got
> grazed by passing big bikes a few times, but whatever, no harm. I do
> find that with getting passed in every turn by the lapping big bikes
> my times are off. I feel like I put did every turn on that track
> better than I have been at some point in the race, but never got a
> clean lap out to see what it did to my times. I could definitely use
> to get back onto the track before the next race weekend.
>
> Overall it was a great weekend, and I had a lot of fun. Looks like
> another PTwins trophy is out of the question for a bit, with the lead
> 3 guys running as fast or faster than the AM guys. Oh well. I’m just
> going to keep doing what I’ve been doing, focusing on my time and
> form.
>
> There’s footage of the PTwins race from Kurlon’s front # plate here:
> http://vimeo.com/5688949 The contact and subsequent action is around
> 9:15, so if you don’t want to watch the whole video watch from 9:00
> until you get bored.