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WERA Round 2: Grattan CCW Recap (Gone with the Wind)

"Eddie, I've got two students for you in today's Pro School," said Mike Massara who was running the day's events. Oh, okay. I enjoy helping guys new to riding on the track and racing get up to speed and become better riders. I just didn't know heading to the track that I'd be working in the Pro School. I had no problems with it, as I had a good time with Steve and Will – the two guys I worked with throughout the day. They seemed to have a good time and I think they learned something from the constant stream of info I was trying to give them. The only bad side is that going into a race weekend, it's difficult to go from pacing speed to race speed. It was a small bump in the road but my dad and I ended Friday knowing that our weekend would just really be starting on Saturday.

Saturday morning came, Doug arrived and I think he brought a bunch of wind and some rain with him. We readied the bike, went out for the first practice and as soon as the 25+ bikes moved to get on track, it started raining almost on cue. The majority of us pulled off on that lap and everyone else on the following lap. Not much practice to be had and the rest of the morning would have the wind blowing hard and trying to dry the track for the afternoon's races. We would head into the 20-lap solo race without much except for the circulating laps of Friday.

For the Heavyweight Solo (we moved to the HW race on the chance the MW race might still be wet), we finished 3rd behind Jeff (Agnes) on his 1000 and Eric (Spector). The bike felt awful. It was pogo'ing, hopping and squatting all around. It was nearly unrideable. After the race, we went back to the basics. We checked our sag numbers and found out that we were too soft at both ends. We got back to our baseline "numbers" and would see how that felt on Sunday. My dad also talked with Garry who was at the track and compared some notes on some damping settings we'd later look at.

Sunday morning was cold as it dipped below 40 degrees the previous night. The first round of practice was scarce with most electing not to ride. We skipped the first group and went out in the second. Immediately the bike was better. It tracked and it turned; it was a night and day difference. The third practice continued to improve as I easily beat my time from Saturday's race and was at a 1:25.0 in the still-cool conditions – and was second on the time sheets behind Jeff (Wrobel). I was pretty sure Robert Jensen was the quickest unofficially, as he was in attendance and not running his transponder. I ran around with Wrobel throughout the practices, which proved beneficial. More so for him I'd say, as he was railing by the end of the sessions and up to the speed he had from Saturday, while we were now breaking into new ground in terms of finding time.

The races went off and weren't great, but weren't terrible either. Jensen cleaned house all day. Wrobel was behind him and James (Dilinger) ran 3rd through nearly all the races. Jensen got into the 1:20's (new CCW lap record), with Wrobel and Dilinger in the 1:21's and 1:22's. I dropped a good second in the first race and eventually got back into the 1:23's, but it was a far cry from the 1:23.0 we did last year without any practice and just showing up on Sunday to race. Everyone else behind us was in the 1:24's and 1:25's, but I still wasn't at the pace I wanted to be at.

In terms of the races themselves, I finished 5th in 600 Superbike, setting up Spector on the last lap for a good draft pass to the line. I finished 5th again in 750 Superbike, racing a bit with Randy Sherman on his 750. 600 Superstock was a 6th place finish, but with small controversy. I found myself racing with Spector again and being passed by him about halfway through the race. I stayed with him for a couple laps, sat on his back wheel and was going to do the same move I did to him in the first race. However as we're fast approaching the scoring tower, I see a checkered flag! What? I came in and asked the officials if I missed the white flag (I knew I didn't) and they said Dan (the flagger) missed giving it. He also missed throwing the checkered flag for Jensen who won the race and ended up doing an extra lap himself.

Of course in hindsight I should have passed Spector earlier, but the plan was to wait and get him when he wouldn't be able to get back by, as I did in the first race. My dad was hot about it afterwards, even with it only being for 5th place. Mainly because this wasn't the first time Dan's messed something up when working the tower. He's generally at all the Grattan rounds and is good for at least one blunder per event unfortunately.

750 Superstock was the last race, and with a 4th place result to end the weekend. I was able to chase down Jeff (Agnes) and then put in consistent laps, getting back into the 1:23's. I was able to at least keep Dilinger in sight for most of the race and was more relaxed in this one, which translated into better lap times.

Not long ago, I was rolling and consistently improving, but right now there's a switch I haven't been able to flip on quite yet. I'm running decent, but not good enough. I don't want to be challenging for top five positions, I want to be back up front. It's one thing when there's a Robert Jensen who comes by to chase contingency money and makes a living doing this. But with everyone else, I expect to be competing with them and pushing for wins. And so far that hasn't happened. Yeah there's the excuse that we didn't get a lot of good practice in, but there's still something that hasn't clicked and it has me riding around too conservatively. Hell, back on the '05 R6 I was sliding that thing around and it felt comfortable. Yet so far in two rounds this year, I've been riding around with perfect traction. That's not pushing it enough and not going to cut it on a 600. I don't know what else to do besides keep pushing and see what happens.

A big thanks to my dad, Doug and Aaron (Bagwell) for their help all weekend. We had a great time hanging out at the track, as well as at the Grattan Bar with old friends Wes and Jan Swain. Thanks also to Jeff (Kov) for the great photography that you see here, as usual.

Photography courtesy of Jeff Kovack – http://www.viphotography.ca

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009 | POSTED AT: 9:08 AM
FILED UNDER: Race Reports

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You're currently reading "WERA Round 2: Grattan CCW Recap (Gone with the Wind)," an entry on Witchkraft Racing.
Published: 05.19.09 / 9am
Category: Race Reports