Witchkraft Racing: The Search for Speed

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Viva … Ohio.

Monday and Tuesday of this week was spent at Mid-Ohio with Sportbike Track Time. It was wet all day Monday, so I helped out during the day and waited to ride on Tuesday once the skies would be clear. Monte offered to let me crash in his RV over the two-night trip which was a heck of a good time. We talked about all kinds of things – most all related to racing and the industry in general. There's no doubt Monte has a great deal of experience and a wealth of ideas when it comes to the motorcycle industry.

Tuesday consisted of temperatures in the mid-70's and lots of sun. The track started off quite green from all the rain, but came in pretty well after the initial round of track sessions. I was able to put in some pretty good laps, especially considering the varying range of speed in the advanced group of riders. Aaron (Bagwell) was there helping Jonas (McCluskey), so we compared notes most of the day, looking for good tire wear and a fast setup between the both of us. Our bikes aren't identical, but still fairly similar in that we're both riding modern Yamaha R6's with the same suspension pieces, for the most part.

Flying solo, I was focused on taking good setup notes and was able to try out a bunch of things with the bike – some of which were good and some of which weren't. If nothing else, it at least will show us what direction to head in when we return to Mid-Ohio, prior to the AMA Pro weekend in a few weeks.

The bike overall is fast and handles extremely well. It's a testament to Mark Rozema who built the motor and Garry Hayes who has tuned the suspension. And on that note, I'd just like to clear the air about some inaccurate information I've recently heard. For the record, it was 100% my decision to go with both Mark and Garry this year. I was actually in talks with both of them shortly after the 2007 season had officially ended, where we were already planning our 2008 season. While I had a good relationship with TRS over the past two years, I simply made a choice to try something different and go elsewhere for the 2008 season. Case closed, end of story. Anything else floating around is simply untrue.

Anyways, I came back from Ohio Tuesday night, unloaded and washed the bike and trailer in preparation for this weekend. A couple official days of work yesterday and today; and now my dad and I will be heading back down to Ohio later tonight for the WERA event at Nelson Ledges this weekend. Doug and Marion will be arriving tomorrow afternoon as well. We haven't been to Nelson yet this year, but I've always had fun there and it will be the next step in being back to 100% on the bike since the injury. While I'm rarely satisfied, I'm hoping a full day of practice tomorrow will get us into some respectabe times and started off on the right foot for the weekend. We will see soon enough.

Cheers and have a great holiday weekend,

eddie

Thursday, July 3rd, 2008 | POSTED AT: 2:44 PM
FILED UNDER: General