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2004 WERA :: A Third of the Way Through

LEARNING CURVES AND HARD KNOCKS

So far, so “not so” good. Going into the 2004 season, I had plans on winning races just as frequently as I had my previous year as an amateur. Winning my first 3 races at BeaveRun was a great start to the season. A mechanical problem on the Superbike prevented a 4th win, but I was still content, especially in setting the fastest time on a lightweight bike during the weekend. Driving home it appeared all was good, but BeaveRun’s lack of a technical layout would trick me into a false sense of confidence.

Grattan Raceway

Grattan was the next round – my home track. I went into the weekend expecting to win every race and BeaveRun led me to believe the suspension changes I had made over the winter had been improvements. The weekend was a disaster however – perhaps the worst I’ve ever had. Grattan revealed that every turn I had made in compression, rebound and sag were so far off from what I was used to that I couldn’t even get my head in the mindset to “ride around the problem”. Not only was the bike not handling the way I wanted it to (I’m very picky), but this took me out of my game mentally, as all I could do during the race was think about what wasn’t perfect with the bike.

I barely won my race on Saturday and then got just hammered on Sunday. The first race on Sunday set the tone for the day. We couldn’t get the new SV started or even bump started in time for the Heavyweight Supersport race. In the process of trying to bump it, we dropped the bike in the pits and you would have thought I landed on my head. I was totally out of it the rest of the day. My best lap time was 3 seconds slower than what I had run the previous year, and 2 seconds slower than what the fastest guys were running. Normally, I would have won these races but I flat out didn’t ride well. I should have been going faster than I was last year, but it was not to be.

I left Grattan extremely depressed. I can deal with the occasional mechanical problem, but the initial problems we’ve had with running two bikes, coupled with my horrid riding was enough for me to question if I had somehow lost my competitive edge. Over the winter, I somehow thought that I needed to make changes to make the bike and myself faster. I got way too caught up in numbers, rather than feel and it totally backfired on me.

WERA Cycle Jam: VIR

Virginia International Raceway and the WERA Cycle Jam were next. We had both bikes ready to go (and my suspension back to how it was last year) and I had prepped as well as I could to learn the track before actually arriving there. Onboard footage, a track walk, and later a few laps in the WERA National Endurance race helped, but it wasn’t enough to outperform the huge turnout of fast locals to VIR. Bell’s Suzuki and the Army of Darkness team had brought some AMA guys to ride their Suzuki SV650s, plus the combination of every WERA region bringing their fastest guys to the track made for a great competitive environment. Usually I’m pretty quick to learn new tracks, but VIR was especially tricky and a series of top 5 / top 10 finishes was all I could do. This was more a battle of survival, as extreme heat and over 120 crashed bikes throughout the event made the racing interesting to say the least.

By the end of the weekend, I was focusing primarily on the Supersport bike in which I had gotten 2-3 seconds faster a lap than I had on the Superbike. I left VIR content. I finally focused on riding the bike and going fast with what I had. I knew next time I would easily be able to drop 2-4 seconds off my laptimes and run with the leaders. The track finally seemed to click and make sense on the 12-hour drive home and if I could drop that much time on the Supersport bike, I should have no problem running up front with the Superbike.

Conclusion

Overall, the last two events have been a reality check. I maybe had it a little too easy early on and wasn’t forced to push myself like I should have. I rode a Hawk when I first started racing and I pushed that bike just about as far as it would go because I didn’t know any better. There’s a lot more speed to find in both SVs this year, and it’s going to be up to the rider to find it – chasing minute suspension settings or losing an 1/8 of a pound of weight here and there isn’t going to do it. Thanks to my dad who gave me a good kick in the ass and helped me snap out of my trance. We’ve got two of the best prepped bikes around and now it’ll be the riding that wins the races.

Nelson Ledges, Grattan and Mid Ohio are next on the schedule ..

Thursday, January 1st, 2004 | POSTED AT: 12:02 PM
FILED UNDER: Race Reports