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WERA Round NE – BeaveRun Recap

We won our first 600 race (two actually)!

Watch 750 race video here. Filming by Jeff Kovack, I'm the red bike just in front of him. Watch the last lap especially.

To prelude the weekend, my dad and I almost didn't make the ride to Pennsylvania. It wasn't an official WERA North Central round, but it was a North East event. Since we liked the track and had done well there earlier in the year, we thought we'd make the trip.

We arrived at the track late Friday night. Up and into practice Saturday morning, we were up to speed and into the 1:00-range by lunch time. I signed up for both the Middleweight and Heavyweight Solo races, finishing 3rd in both. Sam Gaige won both races convincingly. I started from the 6th and 5th rows respectively (in signing up for the races that morning), so I was glad to move to the front throughout each race. I had another great dicing with Jeff (Kovack) in the MW Solo. We went back and forth a handful of times and it was good fun. We got into the high 59's in both races, but I was a little disappointed at not going faster. I wasn't riding as well as I wanted to and felt tight and uncomfortable in both races.

That night my dad and I talked at dinner. We had made some suspension changes earlier in the day that we were unsure of. The next morning we would go back to our original settings and work from there. I was focused on challenging for a win. Normally I've been focused on lap times – getting a certain frame of where "I needed to be". I kept telling myself I didn't care about lap times now; I cared about winning – whatever the times were. This was it. There were a lot of fast North East guys in attendance, but Sam was the man to beat. He had posted the fastest times so far, but I had been able to beat him before – so this was our chance. Of course fellow North Central guys like Kov and Agnes would be running up front as well, not to mention guys like Blake Kelly, James Rispoli, J.P. Shanin and Tony Leone – all who were moving quite fast throughout the weekend.

My dad and I were at the track early Sunday morning and ready to go. We posted the fastest 600 time in each of the three practice sessions we were in. The bike felt good, and I personally was riding better. I worked on technique and was much more relaxed on the bike, which was clearly helping. We had Kirk and the crew at Racer Supply mount up some fresh Pirelli rubber during lunch. We were ready to go.

The first race of the day was 600 Superbike. We were gridded on the outside of the 3rd row. After a red flag on the first lap, we regridded, restarted, and I had a decent start into T1, although still 7th after the first lap. I pushed and passed someone each lap. I worked my way up to Kov who was a couple seconds behind Sam in the lead. I was able to pass Jeff under braking, on the outside of turn 10, and then set out to try and catch Sam. We were already into lap traffic which wasn't helping things. Sam was catching most of the guys on the straight and I was pushing to pass them in some less than ideal areas. On the second to last lap, I had a bit of open track and was able to close up to Sam . We both came roaring up onto the front straight when Sam got held up by a lapper. The guy had missed a gear, wheelied his bike and Sam had to check up. This allowed me to get within 5-10 bike lengths of him on the front straight, as we saw the white flag wave. Going into T1, Sam was passing the lapper and I came alongside both of them and passed Sam for the lead. Before I had time to realize I was actually leading a 600 race, I was more concerned about running a clean lap and not making any mistakes that would easily let him back by. I kept things in line, didn't make any mistakes, and took the checkered flag first. Phew, what a feeling. I could see my dad on the guardrail excited, jumping up and down. It was great. We set the fastest time of the race (and the 2nd fastest overall time of the weekend), and had made great progress starting back from the third row.

750 Superbike was the next race. I had a solid start and was 3rd behind Agnes and Rispoli. Rispoli was trying to get around Agnes, which in turn made it tough to get by either of them. Kov. was right on my tail, so we basically had a 4-bike freight train the entire race. I was doing all I could to make something happen, but I was getting left behind on the straights. Agnes was on his 750 and Rispoli weighs 130 pounds. I would claw back through the tight stuff, but lose it all when the track opened up. I looked down at my laptimer and I was going a good second slower than in the 600 race. If I could just get in front of them, I would check out. Frustrated with two laps to go, I figured I would just be settling for 3rd place.

Things got interesting on the last lap however. Rispoli made an attempt to pass Agnes in T1. They were side by side and it didn't work, but it let me gain some ground on them earlier in the lap than I had been. Agnes ran ride through T2, and Rispoli snuck up the inside of him, taking over the lead. By now, I was about two bike lengths behind Agnes. Going through T4, I squared it off and carried a touch more corner speed, trying to get a drive into T5, which is a good passing spot. Agnes had been able to out-motor us to the spot before, but he had a slight rear-end slide exiting T4, which allowed me to stay just close enough to force a pass into T5, taking over 2nd place.

Rispoli was about 4-5 bike lengths ahead by this point and I closed right up on him coming through T7 and onto the back straight. I knew to keep him within passing distance I had to stay in his draft. We went through the left kink, then the right kink, where I had the throttle pinned in 5th gear with my knee down (quite a rush). Rispoli sat up, braked, and I waited a hair longer, diving to the inside and making the pass. It wasn't over though. Coming out of T10 and onto the front straight was where he and Agnes were hanging me out to dry the previous 9 laps. I pinned the throttle, clicked up through the gears and ran as hard as I could up to the checkered flag. I was waiting for him to come buzzing by, but it didn't happen. We won a second race, which was awesome. As it turns out, the finishing order of the top 5 was quite close:

Pos.	#	Name	Laps	Race Time	Diff.
1	48	Eddie Kraft	10	10:08.740	-
2	71	James Rispoli	10	10:08.790	-0.050
3	7	Jeffrey Agnes	10	10:08.987	-0.247
4	30	Jeff Kovack	10	10:09.463	-0.723
5	27	Blake Kelly	10	10:10.283	-1.543

As an added bonus, Kov has the whole race on video, which you can see here. We had a transmission issue cause us to DNF/DNS our third and fourth races respectively. I had a great launch in the third, 600 Superstock race, filing in 2nd place behind Sam into T1. After pulling in on that lap, my dad and I stood in the pits with mixed emotions. We were still excited from winning the first two races, but disappointed with the DNF. It's all part of racing though.

Overall, the emotions of winning that first 600 race felt just like when I won my first race ever and it's something I'll always remember. All the hard work both last year and this year. The people that have helped us along the way. The long nights in the garage. The many nights of driving back and forth to TRS where James made sure the motor hung with the latest 600's. The money spent; and the times when I questioned whether or not I could do it. It all paid off and crossing that finish line ahead of everyone else is something I just can't adequately put into words.

It seemed that everyone knew this was our first win. As competitors, Sam and Kov came over and congratulated me. People who were just watching the race came over and said the same. Even the WERA officials congratulated my dad as he stood on the wall watching the finish of the first race. The look of excitement and pride on my dad's face afterwards truly tells the story. For two guys who don't always show a lot of emotion, as soon as I hopped off the bike, I gave him a big hug and said, "We did it!" Both a little misty-eyed, you'd have thought we just won the MotoGP championship. It was just two races; but both were both hard-fought. Nothing was given to us. We didn't start from the front and cruise to a win. We worked for it. The taste of winning is pretty good; and I hope we can taste it again before the season's over.

Cheers,

- eddie

Tuesday, September 4th, 2007 | POSTED AT: 6:02 AM
FILED UNDER: Race Reports, Video

4 Comments on “WERA Round NE – BeaveRun Recap”

Jeff Kovack wrote on 4 September, 2007, 10:59 PM
again. kick ass weekend eddie. congrats on your wins and its always a blast racing with ya… every weekend keeps getting better and better… i had a blast at the beav!!
Eddie wrote on 5 September, 2007, 7:06 AM
Thanks Jeff. Agreed. The racing keeps getting better and better. Good luck at Nelson this weekend!
Doug wrote on 6 September, 2007, 8:13 AM
Wish I was there jumping around with Joe. I was wondering when you would be on top of the box? All those wins on the SV have helped you know what to do when you get to the front. The 600SB race has got to be one of the best wins I could have ever imagined for you – 7th to 1st. Now THAT is “kicking bootay” !
Eddie wrote on 6 September, 2007, 9:38 AM
Thanks Doug. It was a blast. Hopefully we can do it again soon. :)