Witchkraft Racing: The Search for Speed

Home » Race Reports » WERA Round 1 – Nelson Ledges Recap

WERA Round 1 – Nelson Ledges Recap

Kicking off the 2007 race season, we got off to a great start at Nelson Ledges this past weekend. My dad, Bob and Nik (Von Matt, former SV rider, now 600 rider) and I made the trip down and had a great time. Eric and Shelley were part of the fun, bringing their RV down for the weekend. The wives (Gina, Deb and Joy) came down Saturday morning as well, which was great. The weather was beautiful all weekend – a little chilly at times, but sunny skies and temperatures in the low-mid 70's all three days.

A prelude to the weekend and new to the table was an improved tire offered by Pirelli this year. I was eager to try the new tires, as they have been getting a lot of positive reviews. Unfortunately, Racer Supply (who was the Pirelli vendor at Nelson) hadn't received any of the new rear tires yet, so we were forced to run last year's tire.   We were however able to run the new front tire. This new tire is the same size dimensionally as last year, but with a new profile and construction. It's supposed to provide both better grip and longer tire life.

Friday's practice was ideal to shake off the cobwebs and attempt to get the bike dialed in. With new suspension components this year, the biggest thing we wanted to do was establish a baseline setting for Nelson. In my mind, this consisted of a compromise in getting the bike to turn (finish the turn specifically), while not hindering the ability for the bike to absorb the extremely bumpy track surface Nelson offers. I'm definitely not a suspension expert, but as a rider; those two things seem to be important around Nelson.

As a flashback, we had done a fast lap of a 1:09.9 at the second Nelson race in 2006, but had proceeded to go backwards at the final Nelson event, barely able to crack into the 1:10 range. We later found out the forks had been coming apart internally, which may have explained the slower lap times.

We put in a bunch of laps throughout Friday's practice day. Bob, Nik and I piled in laps, attempting to get up to speed. My dad even took the R6 out for a few laps, coming back with a huge smile on his face, saying how fun the bike was to ride. We made a series of changes to the bike and were down into the mid-1:11 range by the end of the day.    We weren't concerned about times as much as the way the bike handled. We initially thought damping changes to the suspension were the answer, yet geometry changes to the chassis is what seemed to give us our best results. By the end of the day we had a solid baseline for the bike – or at least we hoped we did.

Saturday morning gave us three sessions of practice. We still wanted the bike to steer better. My dad and I laid out a plan of attack, making several suspension changes throughout the morning and seeing how they affected the bike. Some were good, some weren't. We used the first two sessions to iron out changes, deciding what we liked best. We left the last session to focus on my riding, without the added complications of new suspension variables thrown into the mix. The session went well as we were comfortably down into the low 1:10 range – right near our fastest laps ever around the track.

The Middleweight Solo (a 20 lap race) went much better than I planned. After putting a number of laps on Friday and Saturday morning, I was sore and tired by Saturday afternoon. It was pathetic. For whatever reason, I didn't get much sleep at the hotel the night before. I drank a mixture of water, Gatorade, V8 and Monster to try and mask the affects of wanting to lie down and take a nap.

Once we gridded up and the green flag flew, I was in 6th or 7th place heading into T1. I passed a couple people and was behind Nathan Dressman and Jeff Kovack. As Nathan was trying to find a way around Jeff (who was riding really well), I was able to get by him, and proceeded to chase Jeff for three or four laps, eventually able to get by him in T12. I continued on for what seemed like an eternity for another 10 or so laps. I was tired and I wanted the race to end. As I saw the white flag, I saw Sam Gaige ahead of me, who was in 2nd place. I looked behind me to make sure I was alone, and took the checkered in 3rd place. This was my best finish on the R6 and I was thankful it was over.

Looking at the lap times after the race, I set a new personal best with a 1:09.7. The odd thing was I did it in lap 17, when I was nearly ready to call it quits. I felt like I was trying too hard early on in the race, and ended up going slower. I thought if I could relax a little more on Sunday, faster lap times would come. Brent Bennett had won the race, checking out in normal fashion, while Sam (former Nelson Ledges lap-record holder) finished 2nd.

Sunday went extremely well. We strung together our best results ever on the R6, with two 4th's and two 5th place finishes. I knocked down my personal best lap time by getting into the 1:08 range in two races, with my fastest lap being a 1:08.708 in the 600 Superbike race, which was the 3rd fastest time set on a 600 all weekend. Brent Bennett won that race with a best time of a 1:08.705.  I was extremely happy being that close to Brent's time, as he's one heck of a rider. In the 750 Superstock race we finished 4th, but did set the fastest lap time in the race with a 1:08.830.

My weakness throughout the weekend was inconsistent starts, and getting beaten out of turn 4. If I was passed, it was in T4. No matter where I made up time on the track, I lost it coming out of that turn. I was getting killed on the exit and there surely must be a good half second in there I need to find. The Arnchu team of Nathan Dressman and Randy Sherman (who I had finished in front of on Saturday), schooled me quite well in each of the four races on Sunday. I had generally run faster lap times, but finished behind them in every race. They clearly showed their national endurance experience by getting great starts, moving really well through traffic, and taking advantage of where I was slower than they were (you guessed it, turn 4). I would say I received a bit of an education from them this weekend.

As always, my dad was such a big help this weekend. I can't thank him enough without sounding like a broken record.  We worked well all weekend and there's definitely some more time we can find at the Ledges next time we're there Thanks also to James who was responsible for the bike running as well as it did this weekend. His engine building and fuel mapping skills are second to none, and are what keep the R6 running strong. He's also responsible for building the Ohlins forks and shock. Thanks also to Joe from Racer Supply who took great care of us this weekend. Changing tires, looking at our tire wear, hand-delivering tires to us - he does things other tire vendors don't do - regardless of who you are or where you end up on the results sheet. Pirelli really offers a great program in every possible way. Lastly, thanks to Garry (Hayes) who was a great asset in suspension tuning/troubleshooting over the weekend. His recommendations helped point us in the right direction (literally, in getting the bike to steer) and put the power to the ground.

All in all, I can't say how happy I am with the results from this past weekend. I've sure gone through my struggles getting up to speed on the R6, since making the transition last year. It's quite a rewarding feeling to see all the time, effort and work pay off. Funny how something as simple as a four digit lap time can make all that effort worthwhile. I sure hope it isn't a fluke, so we'll see how we stack up at Grattan in a couple weeks. I wasn't very competitive there last year, but hopefully that will change with what we've got this year.

Cheers,

- eddie

Tuesday, May 8th, 2007 | POSTED AT: 6:45 AM
FILED UNDER: Race Reports

2 Comments on “WERA Round 1 – Nelson Ledges Recap”

Aunt Teri wrote on 8 May, 2007, 7:00 AM
Congrats Ed! to you and the guys this weekend, sounds like the season is getting off in the right direction. Continue the hard work and you shall persevere! Best of luck this season!
Eddie wrote on 10 May, 2007, 7:33 AM
Thanks Aunt Teri. Hopefully you and the family can make it out to Grattan one time this year .. Cheers!