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WERA Round 3: Nelson Recap (We Did This Well?)

I wrote this down on Tuesday of last week. It was my goal for the weekend.

My dad and I headed down to Nelson late Thursday afternoon. We arrived around 9:00pm after some construction detours and setup shop for the weekend. Off to the hotel and ready for Friday practice. Doug and Marion would be arriving late Friday night, with Aaron coming out with his two boys Saturday morning and adding to the team effort as well. Tom (Beagle) would be heading down Saturday night to race on Sunday, while Gina and Maggie were headed up north for the weekend to spend time at her parent's cottage. Gina's dad is big into fishing and Gina would eventually catch two keepers over the course of the weekend (a 14in. bass and an 18in. pike), so the pressure was on for me to catch something of my own.

The mentality going into Friday practice was much more focused and determined than it had been so far this year. I wasn't going into the day trying to ease into good lap times, or get comfortable with the bike. I had spent two full days at BeaveRun a couple weeks ago and had done that already – really getting comfortable on the bike, trying some suspension ideas and pushing more so than I had been.

I knew the gearing change we would have this time around would be better, and the setup of the bike was much different than it had been the last time we were here. Different springs in the front and different clicks in the back. I was confident it would work and that we wouldn't have to make any drastic changes. In fact, the bike was now much like the 2005 R6 I rode back in 2007 and had done some of my best times with. This day of practice was for pushing and establishing a good baseline so I wasn't trying to find big chunks of time on Saturday and Sunday to be competitive.

My best time on the 2005 R6 around Nelson was a 1:08.6. My best time on the 2008 R6 so far was right around there. In fact, it might have been nearly identical. And this bike is faster and more advanced than the 2005 bike, so the rider needed to step it up. By the second session after lunch, I was down to a 1:08.5 riding by myself which was solid. However, Sammy and Jeff (Wrobel) was also in the 1:08 range. In fact, they were a few tenths faster than I was. Nonetheless, this was a good start to the weekend. After working on a couple spots, we called it a day.

On a side note, my dad had decided to ride – taking the SV out of retirement (which didn't last long) and putting in a number of laps. He had a big smile on his face after every session and I could tell he loved being back riding again. I could also tell he was wiped out by the end of the day.

Friday night entailed grilling at the track and Wrobel and his "girlfriend" Amanda (Blake's sister) trying to feed me beer so I'd be hung over for Saturday's race. It's nice to hang out at the track after the day is done and not be rushing to go out and eat, or get back to the hotel. We hung out with everyone for several hours before getting back to the hotel around 8-9:00pm.

Saturday practice went well. With Doug and Marion now at the track, we setup shop and went out for three of the four sessions. Times were good and we were ready to go for the race. I'd say Sam, Jeff and I were all a step ahead of the guys who didn't do Friday practice, as we were already doing times the others weren't quite at yet. The rest of the morning was uneventful. The bike was great. Solid and planted over the many Nelson bumps, cracks and bruises around the track. The problem of the bike running wide that we had last time here was completely gone. I could get on the gas sooner everywhere. And the gearing change was noticeably better.

Aaron arrived before lunch and has always been a big help. He knows the R6 extremely well. He's not only raced and been friends with us for years, he's worked with Jonas at all the AMA events, so he knows exactly what needs to be done. Checking tire pressures several times to confirm they aren't getting too high, looking over the bike for anything loose or missing, taking the Zuma out to specific spots on the track and evaluating how I'm doing compared to the competition. Between him scouting one section of the track and Doug another – they both provide great information on how I can go faster because they've both raced. Whether it's a better line, different body position or anything else – it's invaluable information. And with my dad running the watches and ready to make any necessary suspension changes, we really are a great team that works well together. And we would need to be. Sam had a fleet of help for the weekend, spare bikes and Mark Rozema (ex Chaz Davies crew chief who is currently working with Melissa Paris in the AMA/WSS at Miller). He arrived in Josh Hayes' RV if that's any indication. Mark is a real good guy (having worked with him before) and is a top-level talent in the AMA paddock and I know he was making sure Sam was well prepared and ready to go.

As for the race, I was apprehensive about it because I was tired – really tired for some reason. I hadn't slept well and even Red Bull wasn't keeping me awake. However the race couldn't have gone better. Starting from the second row, I got the holeshot and led into T1. I blocked out the sleepiness and did the proverbial "put my head down" and did 1:07 lap times in five of the first six laps. Well, I've never done 1:07's before. In fact, only about six or seven riders have ever done 1:07's on a 600cc machine around Nelson. At the time, I thought the lap timer had to be wrong, but in fact, I had gone quickly enough where I completely broke out a huge gap and by the fifth lap, I was getting the "safe lead" sign over at the wall before I knew it. I figured it would be a dog fight the entire race with Jeff and Sam. It turned out I was fortunate and able to outrun both of them. Jeff finished 2nd and Sam uncharacteristically crashed in T4. He was alright and the bike damage was minor, fortunately. The only drama in the race was an ambulance out on the track for an incident in the carousel, where we all had to pass it twice in a couple sketchy places. Needless to say there were a couple slower lap times when riding around an ambulance at a buck, forty.

My dad decided to enter his Solo 20 race, which he did absolutely phenomenal in. First time back and he wins it. He and three other guys had a four-way nose-to-tail race the entire time for nearly 20 laps. He started out in 3rd, worked his way to 2nd, and with about four laps to go, passed for the lead and cleared a relatively safe gap to seal the victory. He almost equaled his best time from last year just in this one race. And he beat his main competitor who had beat him last year at Nelson Ledges. Not bad for a guy who had just decided to ride on Wednesday, dusted the bike off and loaded it in the trailer. Later that night, he said he had his fix and didn't need to race on Sunday. He liked ending his weekend with a bit of money in his wallet – and after a race like that, who can blame him.

We celebrated that night with some good times, grilling burgers and chicken, followed up by Aaron, Wrobel and a group of us going for a track walk to try and find some additional ways to drop our lap times. I had helped Jeff at Grattan, where he checked out from me in a race. And in Friday practice here, Jeff helped me in one crucial spot where I was able to gain some time on him. He swore to never help me again. We laughed and went over our lines anyway. Back in the pits, everyone with us was pretty excited at the results from earlier in the day. I was cautiously optimistic. The Solo races are a great practice for Sunday, but really – things can change and now with everyone else getting up to speed, there were no guarantees for tomorrow.

I will say it was much less stressful than normal heading into Sunday, already doing competitive times where we wouldn't have to bridge a large gap to get where we needed to be. Our consistency continued as Sunday morning practice started. We skipped the first round, electing quality over quantity and working on a specific set of things in the second round of sessions. Once out, we were doing low 1:08's in the first session and a couple high 1:07's in the second which was a good sign.

First race of the day was 600 Superstock. I wouldn't let myself think about it at the time, but this was a Yamaha contingency-paying race with money on the line. I was more relaxed than normal and just wanted to go into the race and be smooth and let everything play out. I started on the second row, got a little bunched up on the start and was 4th or 5th heading into T1. Sam, Wrobel and Agnes were the familiar names in front. I was able to pass each of them, catching Sam last and taking the lead about 3-4 laps in. I knew he was close by and on the last lap, I tried to be a little too defensive/tight lined on the white flag lap, where he was able to get a drive through the kink and setup a pass on the inside of T12. He held his line, but I was able to get a good drive out of T12 and setup a drag race coming out of T13 ..

I'm right on Sam's back wheel through T13. Knowing the speed he was carrying in, I had a feeling he might have a problem trying to get a good drive out and onto the front straight. To my saving grace, he broke the rear end loose and knocked his foot off the peg momentarily. That was enough for me get alongside and just out drive him to the line. I don't know what the time difference was at the line, but it had to be tenths of a second. Great race. We had both done 1:07's and I knocked a couple tenths off my times from Saturday. Fortunately Sam's mistake on the last lap negated my mistake trying to ride defensively. Doug would later say the best defense is a good offense. I thought it was the other way around, but who knows. Looking at the times afterward, I had done all 1:07's except on the last lap, where I did a 1:08.2 – my slowest lap of the race. Doug was surely right on this occasion.

750 Superstock was next. It would be immediately followed with 600 Superbike in back-to-back races. I was on the front row with Wrobel and Agnes, rolling into 3rd by T1. I would be able to catch them and win that race, doing low 1:08 lap times. I quickly did the cool down lap, came back onto hot pit lane where the team was there to check pressures, add a splash of fuel and toss a bottle of water my way. It was hot out and I was baking in my leathers. A quick deep breath, back on the bike and out for the warm up lap of 600 Superbike.

After my slowest warm up ever (catching my breath and trying to cool down), I gridded up on the 2nd row and readied for the start. Sam, Wrobel, Agnes and Nathan (Dressman) were the guys in front of me. Nathan's always a dive bomber on the brakes, so we were three/four wide going into T1 – Sam getting the holeshot with Nathan stuffing it inside, myself on the outside of both of them, and Wrobel sneaking up underneath me. After a sketchy first few corners, I was passed by someone else and now in fifth. I worked my way up to second, where Sam had already stretched out a significant lead. Over the next two laps I closed up on him and could see he was now getting the "+0" sign on his pit board from Rozema and the team. In the process of chasing, I had done my personal best time and the fastest lap of the weekend.

For the next three or so laps, I chased Sammy but just didn't have anywhere to make a pass. He had cleaned up the one section I passed him earlier in the day and was real good everywhere else. On the last lap I had one chance, but it would have been pretty sketchy at the pace we were running. He crossed the line in first, with us in second, with Dressman and Wrobel fighting it out for 3rd and 4th. Another great race and again, I couldn't believe the lap timer, but the official timing confirmed it. A 1:07.3.

We had a bit of a gap before 750 Superbike, our last race of the day. After the last race, the rear tire wasn't working. It was spinning everywhere halfway though the race and I couldn't drive out of the corners. Doug touched the shock and it was extremely hot. So either the damping changed by the shock getting so hot or we had just toasted a tire. Normally a rear tire lasts all four races for us, but we elected to play it safe and put on a new rear tire for the last race, and put a fan on the shock.

The 750 Superbike was interesting. I bogged the start bad, somehow bumping the shifter into 2nd gear. Fortunately everyone avoided hitting me. I clicked into 1st and shot down into T1, already back in 6th or 7th place. I was going through T4 on the first lap knowing I was going to have to work for this one. I made my way up to 4th place, behind Wrobel, Dressman and Randy (Sherman). Randy was on his 750 and setup a drive on Nathan on the back straight. I was able to sort of get a double draft and follow Randy right past Nathan. Into 3rd and chasing Randy, I got by him on the brakes into T4. I then closed up on Jeff through the carousel and was able to pass him coming out. I tried to put together a couple smooth laps, closing out the race and able to win it.

My dad, Doug and Aaron were stoked after the races. So was I. It's great to win on Saturday, but to do it on Sunday. It's tough. Four wins and a second place was an absolutely great weekend for us. And against the competition of guys like Sam, Wrobel and Agnes – not to mention the Arnchu boys. A look at the timesheets shows that we were all moving and pushing hard. Last time at Nelson it was Sam and Matt Lynn who were into the 7's. This time we were able to move into that category. It's great for us to be able to put in times like that. It makes all the work and tough weekends worthwhile when it pays off like this. We joked that I should do what my dad did – retire after coming back and doing so well. I'm not ready for that quite yet. We've got BeaveRun this upcoming weekend and we'll see if we can carry over the momentum.

A common question over the weekend was people asking what happened with me. It's kind of funny. People always want to jump to other reasons when you're doing well. Wrobel got it at Grattan. I got it this past weekend. And the thing is, I've done respectable lap times here before, but getting that extra second was a little bit of everything. Gearing, getting the bike really dialed in, Pirelli's new front tire (which is the same tire the World Supersport riders raced on at Miller Motorsports Park a couple weekends ago), our total team effort throughout the weekend, working to stay in shape, and most importantly – getting my head back in the game. And it clicked. I wasn't riding around worrying about trying to not crash. I spent most of last season after coming back from the injury doing that. The biggest example was in the 600 Superstock win. With Sam nearly high siding coming onto the front straight on the last lap, I would have previously backed off and most certainly lost the race. With confidence in the bike and being aggressive on it, I stayed with it and the results are obviously better because of it.

So rather than coming back with a few fish, I came home with a few trophies. Good weekend all around you could say.

Results and laptimes from all the races can be seen here via MyLaps.

Thanks for reading ..

Monday, June 15th, 2009 | POSTED AT: 11:09 AM
FILED UNDER: Race Reports

5 Comments on “WERA Round 3: Nelson Recap (We Did This Well?)”

doug wrote on 15 June, 2009, 11:39 AM
1:07.3 in the second race of a back to back. And putting pressure on Sam to boot. Priceless. I liked how you power wheelied across the line too. And all this at Nelson Ledges…the bumpiest, knarliest, fastest one line track in the country. Outstanding.
Eddie wrote on 15 June, 2009, 1:10 PM
Yeah Sam and I both said earlier today that we don’t mind not seeing Nelson again for awhile .. not until September at least.
Nick wrote on 20 June, 2009, 8:09 PM
Nice job, must have been all that Tourist trophy racing you did.
Eddie wrote on 22 June, 2009, 8:00 AM
Good call Nick – taming the ZX-10 made the R6 a breeze. ;)

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You're currently reading "WERA Round 3: Nelson Recap (We Did This Well?)," an entry on Witchkraft Racing.
Published: 06.15.09 / 11am
Category: Race Reports