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WERA Round 4 – Nelson Ledges Recap

-1 click rebound, -2 clicks compression, +1 click compression, +2 clicks rebound, 1/2 a turn of preload, -5 clicks high-speed compression, +3 clicks compression, white compound front tire, green compound tire, blue compound tire .. This is kind of what our list of changes looked like from Nelson Ledges this past weekend.

The weather was hot; high 80-degree weather all weekend, with temperatures creeping over 90 degrees on Sunday. Friday's practice was uneventful. My dad and I were somewhat frustrated as our setup from May didn't appear to be working quite as well as it did before. We attributed this to the significant increase in temperature from May to July. We piled in a ton of laps on Friday; too many actually, as both Nik and I were wiped out after roughly 10 practice sessions by the time the day was done. We didn't feel that we had gotten anywhere and that was frustrating. The track felt extra rough and the best time we could put together was a 1:10.3. After getting into the 1:08 range in May, our goal was to at least be comfortably doing 9's in practice, but that simply didn't happen.

To compile the problem, we couldn't get our normal front tire compound. Pirelli was out of the front tire we used, so we had to try something that we had never run before – an even softer tire, which gripped more, lasted less, and probably made our suspension act differently because of the extra grip from the tire. By the end of the day, the tire was done. In bittersweet fashion, a Fed-Ex truck delivered a stack of Pirelli tires to the track later in the afternoon. This was good in that we didn't have to run the same tire we just torched, but bad in that it was now a harder compound than we normally run; and also again a tire we've never used before.

Saturday went better. We applied what we felt we learned from Friday to new changes Saturday morning. The new, harder front tire seemed to be working, but we still didn't have the tire that we had used all season. Fortunately it was so hot, it made using the harder compound tire easier to justify. Our main issue was getting the bike to track over the extremely bumpy surface, while still having it turn adequately. It's really quite impressive how one click of suspension damping; either in the forks or shock can make a noticeable difference out on the track. Suspension is a really cool (and often frustrating) thing. It's always a battle of compromise. If we make one change, it might be obviously better in one area of the track, but worse in another. It might help traction, but hurt turn-in. And some changes are easier to feel out than others. As a rider, being able to tell what the bike is doing and give accurate feedback on it is extremely important. This holds especially true in the 600 class where there's such a high level of competition.

There's a big emphasis on "accurate feedback". Sometimes knowing what the bike is doing is easy. Other times it's not. We dealt with the front end of the bike "pogo'ing" all weekend in the carousel. It never happened back in May, but it was happening now. We tried several things to try and cure it, but nothing seemed to completely get rid of it. I couldn't tell if the pogo-motion was related to compression or rebound; and whichever one it was, did we need more or less of it? Why wasn't it happening elsewhere on the track? Or was it and I just couldn't tell? Did it have anything to do with the speed of the bike in that section? Or how about the pavement being smoother in that section of the track than anywhere else? If we were tuning for the bumpy parts of the track, how could we tune for this non-bumpy part of the track? And if it could be tuned out, what if it wasn't compression or rebound? It's the list of questions like these that can make your head spin. It's also the kind that shows the value of track time and how important it is. Being able to focus in on one problem and fix it takes time. Individual, single-phase changes are what's needed to see if the bike is better or worse as a result of the change. And you need to be focused, because if you're going 1-2 seconds a lap slower, the bike won't react the same and you might end up going in circles.

My dad made a point to me during morning practice on Sunday. I came in one session and was telling him about a guy I was out there with that I didn't particularly want to be riding behind. I got caught up chasing him and passed him before coming in. He replied, "You’re not out there to race with someone; you're out there to tell me about the changes we made." He was right. Sometimes going out and running with someone who's faster than you is a good thing. They can pull you along. However in this case, I got caught up just chasing someone I shouldn't have been, and didn't focus on providing feedback. As speeds get faster and lap times drop, it's no longer about finding a couple seconds, but that one last second, or tenths of seconds, which become harder and harder to find. And that's where clicks can really make a difference.

Back to Saturday. We made progress in practice that carried into the Middleweight Solo 20-lap race. We finished 3rd behind Matt Lapham and Sam Gaige. We started the race from the third row, so finishing on the podium was nice. We dropped a solid second from Friday with a best lap of a 1:09.3. The fastest lap was done on lap 18, when I was hot, tired and ready for the race to end, which was also good. I was happy with the progress, but still looking for more time. We were half a second off the 1:08's from Nelson in May and really needed to get into the 1:07 range, considering Matt and Sam were rolling in the front two spots. You can see the first half of the race here, courtesy of Jeff (Kovack's) onboard video (I'm just in front of him for the first few laps).

Sunday morning started off really well. We were into the 9's by morning practice and either at or near the top of the timing sheets in each of the four practice sessions. We were on the tires from Saturday's race, still using the harder compound front we weren't accustomed to. Through Nik's findings, we were able to get a new tire that was the same compound we had been running all year. We also were adding race fuel, which would hopefully give us a little more speed. I was looking forward to the races.

The first race of the day didn't go as planned. I started 5th and passed Jeff (Kovack) a couple laps in for 4th place. As I was catching Randy (Sherman), I made a pass on him into T12. I ran a touch wide and gassed it to T13. Randy however squared off the turn, got alongside of me and turned the bike in. He said he thought he was past me. He wasn't. I jammed on the brakes, stood the bike on the front wheel, trying to avoid hitting his bike, but hit him. I then went down with the bike and rolled to a halt in the nearby grass, as Randy put his knee out, apexed T13 and continued on. As I tumbled, Jeff was right behind me and caught the whole thing on tape with the camera on his bike. He did a stellar job of avoiding me (thanks again Jeff).

After the race Randy came over and apologized. I was pretty pissed initially, but it happened – nothing could be done about it now. I had waited to pass Randy and do it cleanly; perhaps a little too cleanly as it gave Randy a chance to attempt and get back by me in the next turn. Rather than pull alongside him and "block pass", I shot through to clearly get past him. It forced me to run a little wide, but not too wide where I didn't have a good drive into the next turn, which is where he clipped me. It's just a shame as I've enjoyed racing with Randy up until this point. Fortunately the video tells the story and you can draw your own conclusions from that. In the end, it's a racing incident in which we got the short end of the stick. The silver lining was that we had gotten into the 1:08 range – all without a clean lap to push. Matt and Sam had again finished 1-2 and perhaps the most disappointing news was that I could have possibly latched onto them for some faster times during the race – not to mention losing out on a good chunk of points.

Repairs on the bike weren't too bad. Aside from some scrapes and bumps, I was alright. I rode the bike into the pits where my dad had already seen that I was okay and was pulling out spares from the trailer. He, along with Nik and James (who was there with Dave) helped us get the bike back together. We ran the bike through tech and were ready to go.

I finished the next three races with a 3rd, 4th and 7th. I ran behind Jeff (Kovack) for almost the entire first race before passing him on the last lap. That moved us up to 3rd where I almost closed the gap in the last half-lap to 2nd place, finishing on the rear wheel of Jeff Agnes, as we crossed the line. One more lap and I probably could have gotten by Agnes, but I had waited too long too pass Kov. I was right behind him for most of the race, but would get gapped on the front and back straightaways. Kov is riding extremely well, plus his bike is extremely fast. No excuses though. I didn't get by. If I had, maybe a 2nd place finish and 1:07 lap times would have been possible.

In the third race, finishing 4th was disappointing. Sam and I initially got stuck behind Randy again. Sam made the pass early and gapped us. I made one attempt at a pass, but it didn't stick and Randy got back by. I was checking up behind him in several spots (even hitting the brakes a couple times where I normally wouldn't), but just couldn't make a pass. I could tell he was braking really deep into T12 (where I passed him in the first race) so I wouldn't get him there again. I was extremely frustrated that I couldn’t get a pass done somewhere on the track; especially after he ended the first race for us. I should have just stuck the bike in there and passed him. I could have kept with Sam and maybe made it a race for 3rd place.

The last race wasn't worth remembering. I had an awful, double-wheelie start and was last going into T1. I moved up each lap and finished 7th, behind Dave and Kov. With a lap left, I looked behind me to make sure I had a decent gap, and just finished the race. Given the high number of crashes during the day in the 90-degree heat, I didn't want to end the day fatigued and doing something stupid.

Overall the weekend wasn't too bad. Aside from being taken out, we were running up front and had some respectable finishes. We didn't get down to the times we wanted to on Sunday, but we'll just have to do it next time. We've been able to get faster at each event and move further towards the front. What were considered really good results (top 5 finishes) at the beginning of the season have now become somewhat expected. Right now we're chasing after that first race win; something I think we'll be able to do soon.

One last thing I'd like to do is send my condolences to the family and friends of Jeremy Gordon. He passed away last weekend from injuries suffered from an accident while riding on the street in Wisconsin. As a former Michigan resident and roadracer, news of his passing hit hard to those who knew him, and our thoughts and prayers are with he and his family.

Tuesday, July 10th, 2007 | POSTED AT: 2:17 PM
FILED UNDER: Race Reports

2 Comments on “WERA Round 4 – Nelson Ledges Recap”

Eric wrote on 11 July, 2007, 4:00 PM
Humâ€¦Ok I have no idea what it takes to ride on a track but the video sort of shows when Randy came in on you he wasnâ€™t even in the correct position to enter the turn. It appears he came in quickly to block you instead of taking the turn properly. But what do I knowâ€¦
Eddie wrote on 12 July, 2007, 7:57 AM
Ha .. you’re not the first person to say that Eric. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was moving over to block me. I don’t think he knew I was that close to him, or else maybe he would have given me some more room.