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Posted by Steve Mackay on June 9, 2008, 7:36 am
tomorrow@erols.com wrote:
> Thursday, June 4, Promoter's Track Day
>
> We left northern Virginia Wednesday, June 4, at 8PM, about two hours
> later than planned, due to weather and unrelated personal emergencies
> that took time to resolve.
>
> Finally, George, Justin, Mike, and I rolled west on the Dulles toll
> road, to Route15 north, to I-70 west, through the night, towing
> Justin's 24-foot race trailer with George's 7.4l turbodiesel
> Excursion
> for the first time. We soon
> discovered that we had a major problem, Houston. The tail was
> wagging the dog; and the dog (the Excursion) was none too happy about
> the situation.
>
>
> After a couple of near death experiences that were saved only by
> George's driving prowess and the grace of a benevolent Lord, we
> pulled
> over and repacked the trailer following hurried cell phone
> discussions
> with more experienced towing friends. The repacking helped, the
> swaying was reduced, but only so long as we kept our road speed down
> to 65 mph or under. That, coupled with recalcitrant and downright
> ornery GPS driving aids and poor directions combined to make our
> planned 13 hour drive into an 18 hour marathon, putting us at the
> racetrack at 2pm instead of the planned 7-9 am arrival time.
>
>
> It was, of course, raining when we arrived. After setting up the
> pit,
> everyone fell to the task of getting the bike ready to go out in the
> rain. Three of my four scheduled track day sessions were already
> over, and we worked hard to get ready for the fourth and final Moto-
> ST
> (combined, all three classes) session of the day.
>
>
> So, at 4pm, I rolled out onto an unfamiliar track, on rain tires,
> with
> 45 minutes to learn a 14-turn race track. Needless to say, it
> didn't
> happen. I rode almost the entire session, and I got a general idea
> of
> which way the track turned, but that was about it.
>
>
> After the on-track session, we worked like beavers to get the bike
> set
> up for Moto-ST tech, and shortly before they closed for the day, the
> bike passed and we were able to pack up the pits and head out.
>
>
> We are now decamped at a friend's palatial home in Menomonee Falls,
> about an hour south of the track, where last night we were royally
> wined and dined before we all drifted off to a well earned and much
> needed night's sleep.
>
>
> Today we've got two hours of Moto-ST practice and qualifying.
>
>
> Oh, and our two guest riders for Saturday's race? None other than
> Scott Jensen and Eric Haugo... thanks to our newest team member,
> Chris Cooke, for arranging that for us!
>
>
> Practice and Qualifying, Saturday, June 6, 2008
>
> On Friday, we worked on the bike, waited through passing
> thundershowers, rescued our EZ-up from suffering the same untimely
> fate as many around us in the high, gusting winds that accompanied
> the
> showers, and met and discussed plans with Scott and Eric. Two nicer
> guys you couldn't hope to meet.
>
> We finally got a chance to dyno the bike, found that we were under
> the
> class horsepower limit; made a few changes, went back and dynoed the
> bike again, and were better, but still under the line, so we left
> well
> enough alone. Meanwhile, during the long wait between the rider's
> meeting at 9AM and the Moto-ST practice at 4:20 PM, George and Justin
> went out in the Excursion and bought a load distributing hitch that
> should make the trip back home much safer, if utimately less
> exciting.
>
>
> At 4:20, I went out on a dry Elkhart Lake race track for the first
> time, and within a couple of laps felt MUCH more comfortable than at
> any time on the brief Thursday outing in the wet. After 35 minutes
> I
> came in and handed the bike over to Scott Jensen. He went out for a
> couple of laps and came in to have the suspension adjusted, then went
> right back out and demonstrated what our racebike is capable of in
> the
> hands of a top ranked AMA Superbike rider. He went 22 seconds faster
> than my bast lap. Came in, had us make a couple of more changes to
> the bike, went back out for a few more laps, and came in and was
> happy. Eric Haugo was up next, and he liked the bike just the way
> Scott had it set up, and was lapping withon five seconds of Scott's
> best lap.
>
>
> The practice session ended, and the timer started on the 20 minute
> qualifying session. I went out to qualify the bike since I'll be
> riding the first leg off the race, and with changes Scott had made to
> the bike, actually felt more comfortable on it than I had with the
> setup that Donnie and Jeff and I had developed at Daytona and VIR. I
> was actually able to shave six seconds off my best lap time;
> qualifying us somewhere near the back of the grid; which is fine with
> me since I'm not really excited about first lap charges into turn one
> in a crowd at an unfamiliar racetrack, especially in a three hour
> race!
>
>
> We brought the bike back in, mounted new tires, changed the oil, did
> a
> few adjustments, cleaned it all up, and left the racetrack at about
> 8:30 for dinnner, drinks, and the ride south to our host's home in
> Menomonee Falls.
>
> Race Day, Saturday, June 7, 2008
>
> After a calm and restful night’s sleep as guests of friends Dale and
> Beth in Menomonee Falls, the team was up bright and early and at
> 6:30am headed back to the track. We arrived in time to roll out the
> racebike which Justin and Mike had completely prepped on Friday after
> practice and qualifying, including the minor control adjustments that
> guest riders Scott Jensen and Eric Haugo had requested after their
> laps on the bike. Brand new Pirelli DOT race tires were mounted,
> waiting scrubbing in during the 15 minute Moto-ST warm-up session,
> first on-track activity of the day at 8:00am.
>
>
> I got into my leathers while the crew cranked up the tire warmers and
> set up our pit. It was a bright, sunny, mild morning. Third call
> came, and the Moto-ST field lined up behind the pace car, which
> shortly led us out to take a single parade lap. Five laps later, the
> warm-up session was over and our tires were scrubbed in for the race,
> which was the LAST scheduled on-track activity of the day, at 3:25
> pm!
>
>
> Justin and George installed the load distributing hitch on the
> trailer
> and Excursion, Mike Collins tweaked various bits and fiddled with
> the
> bike, and I visited with friends who dropped by, including Steve
> Mackay, Andy, Chuck Rhodes, and Mark Olsen from rec.motorcycles and
> alt.motorcycle.sportbikes. We watched AMA Superbike qualifying and
> the start of the AMA Superbike race, before returning to our pits to
> pack up and prepare our equipment for the hot pits, pending the
> conclusion of the final AMA event of the day, Formula Extreme.
>
>
> Except... FX was red-flagged twice for lightning strikes before
> being
> put in “pending hold” status as thunderstorms and heavy rain and high
> wind moved into the area. After close to an hour, the lightning
> abated, the rain slowed to scattered sprinkles and localized showers,
> and AMA declared FX a rain race, shortened it to eight laps, and
> flagged off the field.
>
>
> While the race went on, Justin and Mike changed the DOT race (dry)
> Pirellis to the new Pirelli rain tires we had bought and mounted on
> our rain wheels on Friday. Shortly after I lined up on the grid and
> the field was green flagged to action after the pace car lap, Moto-ST
> announced that the 3 hour race had been shortened to one hour and 40
> minutes!
>
>
> Well, that meant that our planned three stop strategy, with a rider
> rotation of Tim/Scott/Eric/Scott was immediately out the window.
> Instead, I radioed in at the 1:20 mark that I should come in and let
> Scott and Eric each have a 40 minute session. With the track
> alternating between development of a narrow dry line and
> obliteration
> of that line by fresh showers, it seemed prudent to leave the rain
> tires on and just fuel up and switch riders. I was called into the
> pits at 1:05 and the team refueled the bike and Scott jumped aboard
> and roared off, very quickly getting up to speed and started catching
> and passing riders in front of us.
>
>
> By the 25 minute mark, he had gotten us to ninth place, when we began
> to become concerned that the low fuel light might not be working on
> the dash of the bike, since Scott hadn’t signaled that he was coming
> into the pits. We showed him the “DUC IN” pit board sign for the
> next three laps, but without having had time to practice pit board
> display during the single practice session we had on Friday, Scott
> never saw the board! Fortunately, the low fuel light did come on,
> and at the 13 minute mark, Scott signaled that we was coming in on
> the
> next lap. We decided not to change riders with so little time left
> in
> the race, since Scott was familiar with the way the bike was
> handling,
> the track conditions, and was up to speed.
>
>
> When Scott came in, the crew put a splash of gas in the tank and sent
> him right back out. We had lost two places on track during our brief
> refueling stop.
>
>
> Scott went to work to catch the tenth place rider, and did so on the
> white flag lap, planning to draft him and pass him at the finish
> line. However, Scott came out of turn 14 carrying so much speed than
> the 10th place rider that he was forced to pass him at the exit of
> turn 14, and the other rider tucked in behind Scott and drafted past
> HIM at the start/finish line to take tenth place by .02 seconds!
>
>
> Scott came back to the pits with a couple of completely wasted rain
> tires, to report that he had been sliding the rear end in every
> corner
> for the last half hour of the race, including a hairy outside pass of
> three riders in the carousel with the rear end about 8 inches out of
> line the whole way around the turn, just flat tracking the bike and
> sliding and weaving the whole way. “Fun!” reported brightly,
> confirming what we all suspected – those AMA Superbike guys are
> CRAZY!
>
>
> Eric came over and thanked Scott for “hogging the bike,” and we
> apologized to Eric for the loss of his turn on the bike, and invited
> both of them to ride with us again if they are so inclined. Both of
> them were gracious and accommodating and complimentary towards the
> Duc
> Pond MotoSports prepared Ducati 800 Super Sport, with Scott reporting
> that once the rain tires got good and greasy towards the end of the
> race on a drying track, it was just like riding a Superbike –
> spinning
> up the rear tire exiting turns, sliding and stepping out at turn in,
> sliding through the corners – except all in slow motion!
>
>
> After the normal post race adrenalin burn-off and packing the
> trailer,
> we headed home around 9:00 pm in heavy rain and thunder and
> lightning.
>
>
> Post script - we arrived back in norfthern Virginia at 2:00 PM and
> spent an hour
> an hour and a half on post race trailer and garage logistics, and
> everyone
> headed for home... 98 degrees. Whew!
>
And some pics to add to your race report!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevemackay/sets/72157605514145413/
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