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WERA Round 3 – BeaveRun Recap

BeaveRun went extremely well. We went faster and had our best finishes to date on the 600. The forecast originally called for possible rain all weekend and for the most part, we avoided it all three days. Sunday's results included three 3rd place finishes and a 4th place finish against some stiff competition.

Friday practice went pretty smoothly. Oddly enough, we didn't turn a knob on the suspension during the day, and actually all weekend. We had two setups, picked one of them to use, and never turned the screws again. What we spent the most time on was gearing. We changed gearing on the bike at least five times before the weekend was said and done. One of the things we realized was that we were running the wrong gearing at some tracks last year. And what we've known already but are realizing even more this year is that correct gearing is quite important on the 600.

So the learning experience continued. The first path we went down was finding gearing that put us higher in the rev range where the power was – so that we weren't lugging the bike through corners. As our speed progressed however, that gearing had to change. And unlike most tracks, it didn't click right away as to what gearing was the "right gearing". BeaveRun has a few fast areas where shifting occurs while leaned over. What we were learning was that the bike was great going into these corners, but as I was going through them, I wasn't gaining any additional speed. The reason for this was because when the bike leans, it goes onto the edge of the tire, which has a shorter diameter than the center of it does. This causes the revs to jump up. It just so happened that in two key areas, being leaned over and accelerating was putting the bike past the range where it makes power. So another set of gearing changes occurred once we were able to realize that I was losing time in these key areas. Ultimately it was a series of compromises. One set of gearing was better in one spot, where another set was better in a different spot. We also then made adjustments in terms of gear selection (using say 3rd gear instead of 2nd gear) in certain spots based on our gearing choice.

In the end, we spent more than on gearing than we ever have. And to be honest, there were really only three different combinations we cycled through during the weekend (anything else would have drastically altered our wheelbase/geometry), but this became necessary as we started going faster. BeaveRun is a short track, so you can only make up time in so many places. Things like gearing can make a difference when searching for tenths of seconds. We ended the day with a best time of a 1:01.2 – not near the goal I had that morning, but faster than I had ever gone around the track so far.

Saturday morning was rough. I broke two quickshifters, along with one shift rod during morning practice. Our bike has some miles on it, so the transmission is a little finicky when shifting from 2nd to 3rd gear. What had become necessary was shifting with a little extra force to ensure the bike didn't pop out of gear. This caused added pressure on the shift rod and quickshifter, resulting in the breaks. We ended up completely missing practice, as this happened on the out lap each time. Fourth time was a charm however, as my dad worked his magic and came up with a shift rod that worked flawlessly the rest of the weekend (albeit without a quickshifter until we can get another one).

To make up for the loss of practice, I signed up for an extra race that day. Normally running just the Middleweight Solo 20-lap race, we added on the Heavyweight Solo 20-lapper. The Middleweight race went well. Treating it like a race-paced practice, I dropped from a 1:01.2 to a 1:00.4. I finished 4th out of 27 bikes, which we were happy with. Chad Lewin, Sam Gaige and Randy Sherman finished in front of me – all extremely fast guys. Chad is a wicked fast guy from California who had traveled out to chase Suzuki contingency money. Sam is also an extremely fast guy who happens to have the best looking setup in the pits; and a real nice guy too. Randy is part of ARNCHU racing; who won the WERA National Heavyweight Superstock Endurance Championship last year. Very cool guys and all exceptional riders.

Since I signed up for the Heavyweight Solo at the last minute, we were gridded on the last row in the 2nd wave, which was row 15. There were 28-30 bikes in this one and we ended up finishing 7th. We had the second fastest time of the race at a :59.5, only a tenth off the fastest time set during the race. I made steady progress forward throughout the 20 laps, working on passing, lines and overall being smooth. An added bonus was that we were now only half a second off the goal I had wanted to reach coming into the weekend of getting into the 58's.

Sunday morning was damp from rain Saturday night. I took the pit bike around parts of the track and could see the track wasn't completely dry everywhere. I decided to pull the "For Sale" sign off the Pirelli intermediate tire we had sitting out all weekend, and mount it up on the bike. By the time our practice session was up, we really could have run DOT's and been alright, but I had never gotten any good laps with an intermediate tire before, so I wanted to give it a shot. The first couple sessions I took it easy, checking out the track, getting up to speed and seeing how the rear tire felt. It felt stable and I got comfortable with it pretty quickly. In the last practice session, I tried to put in some solid laps and did a :59.7, which was only two-tenths off my fastest time, and the quickest time of the morning. I felt really good with doing that in practice. The intermediate tire however, didn't feel quite as good, as it was pretty much gone afterwards – probably from conditions that weren't damp enough to warrant using.

For our first race of the day, we mounted up a new rear DOT and were ready to go. This was the 600 Superstock race with Suzuki money up for grabs. It's generally the most competitive class of the weekend. Off the start, I was 5th going into T1. I stayed there for the first three or four laps, right in tow with Chad Lewin, Sam Gaige, Randy Sherman and Nathan Dressman. We were all basically nose to tail the entire first half of the race. Around that time I realized, "hey, I'm sticking with these guys, why don't I try and pass some of them." So I started to do that. Chad and Sam had gapped us a little bit, while Nathan and Randy were running nose to tail in front of me. I was able to pass both of them going into T1, moving from 5th up into 3rd place in one turn. By then Sam had taken the lead over Chad, and I was working to catch both of them. I made a late-braking pass after the long back straight on Chad, but ran just a touch wide on the exit. This gave Chad a chance to come alongside me, where we were running side by side coming onto the front straight. He had the line and the better drive, so I had to tuck back into 3rd. On the next lap, Chad got by Sam into T5, taking over the lead. The previous lap, Sam almost lost the rear in T5, so I thought I might have a chance to get him there as well on the next lap, as he might be a bit tentative through there. I did get him into T5, but ran it a little wide, losing my drive through T6 and T7, leading onto the back straight. That gave Randy (who was now behind me) enough of a drive to pass me on the back straight. Randy and I passed back and forth again once or twice (I can't remember to be honest) and he ended up getting the better of the deal, finishing 2nd, with us in 3rd, out of 24 bikes.

I was stoked about the finish. This was our first podium finish in a points race, and I had a legitimate shot to win it if I could have made the pass on Chad stick, and gotten Sam where Chad proceeded to get him in T5 on that next lap. 3rd was a great finish though, and the amount of dicing during the race made it the most fun of the year I've had. Chad, Randy and I were congratulating each other afterwards on a great race. Definitely a fun race to be a part of. Sam finished 4th and I think Nathan crashed in the closing laps, racing with Dave (Grey), who was forced to run off the track to avoid hitting him, while also dealing with clutch issues. What we were able to take away from the race was that we had set the fastest lap time, with a :59.1. Dave and I talked afterwards and not that anyone was held up, but with all the dicing going on, I think we could have gotten down into the :58's with a clear track. Although, everyone else probably felt that way too.

750 Superstock was the next race. Down on horsepower to the 750cc bikes, we managed to finish 3rd again – our best finish in this class as well. Out of 26 bikes, we had set the 2nd fastest time just behind Chad, a touch slower at a :59.2. I had a good battle with Jeff Agnes for 2nd place. We passed each other back and forth several times and he ended up getting the better end of the deal when the race was red flagged due to a crash on lap 6. With two more laps, maybe I could have gotten by, although he's really strong on his 750 and tough to pass. Once back in the pits, I commented that the rear was sliding in a couple spots during the race. My dad checked pressures and the hot pressure had jumped two pounds higher than normal. He dropped that down, which eliminated the problem for the rest of the day.

600 Superbike was the third race. Keeping consistent, we finished 3rd yet again, behind Sam and Randy. Continuing the trend of this being our best finish in the class, I was a bit disappointed that I was apparently now stuck at a :59.2 for a best lap. Randy dropped the hammer and got down into a :58.9, which was flying. I was running with both Sam and Randy the entire race, but was losing time on both straight-aways. I would gain a little time in some spots, but would lose it all there. I don't know if it was being down on power, a gearing issue, or my not getting on the throttle soon enough. I was catching them ever so slightly in the braking zones, and I felt running even with them coming onto the straights, but they would just gap me after that. I was even trying different shift points to make sure I wasn't waiting too long to shift. It may have been my own doing, as I wasn't getting off the bike as much as I had been previously. I generally drop time as the races progress, but I was definitely stuck in a bit of a rut, unable top the times set in the first race.

The last race of the day was 750 Superbike. I had an awful start and was in 9th place going into T1. I moved forward throughout the race and ended up finishing 4th. We set the 2nd fastest lap of the race, but it was only a :59.5, even slower than the previous three races. It was faster than Jeff's best lap, who had won the race. Maybe with a better start, I could have latched onto he and Nathan (who finished 2nd) and gone a little faster.

I left the track with two questions. One was the front tire. It held up great all weekend, but we had never put so many laps on a front tire without replacing it. The tire had 40 laps from Saturday, plus four practice sessions and four sprint races on Sunday. I don't have any doubts on the grip of the tire, but I was left wondering if the profile had changed/worn down with all those laps, making the bike not turn as well. I found myself fighting the bike more on Sunday, but that leads to my second complaint – I'm not in good enough shape yet. My arms and legs were sore and I had to load up on Motrin during the day to deal with it. The shoulder injury from Grattan isn't a valid excuse because once on the bike, I don't even notice it. After feeling fresh in practice Sunday morning and doing a :59.7 on a track that wasn't completely dry, getting into the :58's should have been no problem. I just trailed off in the races, which is no excuse; but something I need to take care of for next round. I don't know, maybe fatigue didn't make a big difference, but I need to eliminate it from the list of possible reasons I didn't go faster.

Overall though the weekend was a success. Behind Randy's :58.9, we set the second fastest 600 time of the entire weekend. We were running up front with the lead pack which is something we weren't doing last year at BeaveRun. A sincere thank you to my dad for his tremendous amount of help throughout the weekend. We lost out on valuable track time Saturday morning, but with his fixes, we were able to keep moving after that without missing a beat. His work, suggestions and ideas each day were a huge reason why we were able to get down to the times we did and run them consistently. If we can find a half second next time we're there, that would be perfect.

Thank you as well to James. It's been a bit of a challenge keeping up with the newer 2006 and 2007 bikes out there, but he's made it happen. With the gearing and suspension dialed in, we're able to hang in the draft and keep up with the boys on the newer equipment. The bike is holding its own and James even thinks he can get a little more out of her before the season's over.

Lastly, best wishes to a friend of mine Dan Sheehan, who took a nasty tumble into the guardrail Sunday morning. He's at the hospital now and doing better, but he's likely to be there for a few days recovering from a punctured lung and broken ribs. No matter who it is; but especially when it's a friend, it's tough to see someone go down and have to take an ambulance ride to the hospital. Dan's the kind of guy who would help anyone and didn't think twice about lending us a quickshifter Saturday morning when we needed a replacement. Then we went and proceeded to break it. Sorry Dan. I'll be buying that one off ya. :)

Nelson Ledges is next on the schedule in a few weeks ..

Tuesday, June 5th, 2007 | POSTED AT: 4:51 PM
FILED UNDER: Race Reports