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WERA ’12, Round 5&6 – Pittsburgh International Raceway (A Wet BeaveRun)
Heading to Pittsburgh International Raceway Complex (PIRC, formerly known as BeaveRun), it was going to be one of those weekends. We had a single digit lead in both the WERA 600 Superstock and 600 Superbike class championships – and with this final round on the WERA North Central schedule being a double-sprint weekend, every point mattered. Being one of "those weekends" was indicated by the weather. It was certainly going to rain on Saturday. And it was likely not going to rain on Sunday. Normally I would skip the Saturday Solo race (as it's not for points) and just focus on Sunday. We couldn't do that however, as everyone was planning on running in the rain, especially Rick Lind who sat in 2nd in both classes and is an excellent rider, especially in the rain. I had been caught a little off-guard in the last race at Nelson Ledges, with Brad (Burns) edging me out on the last lap for the win. I attributed that to him riding really well, along with me not being mentally up to speed, leading up to that last race. I wanted to make sure that I was fully prepared for both wet and dry conditions heading into this weekend, to try and avoid that from happening again against anyone I would be racing against.
Backing up and leading into the weekend, Joe and I left Friday morning and met up with Doug at Honda East to drive the rest of the way together. Doug hadn't been with us all season with his back surgery, so it was a welcome sight to be heading to the track with our core group together again. It was several years prior that Doug had sent a simple email, offering his services and jumping in to help dad and I with our program. He had been a welcome addition from that point on and has helped build the team to what it is today. It was certainly good to have him back.
There wasn't a Friday practice, so we got into the track around 2:00pm and set up shop, just before a monsoon proceeded to drench us for a good hour or so. We had the canopies up, but none of the buckets full of water to hold them down. To paint a picture of not-one-of-the-smartest-things-to-do, I was out in the middle of a field (that's where the track had the hose), filling up buckets while it was pouring, along with thunder and lightning. Brilliant, right? We got the canopies tied down which was key, as a couple other peoples' canopies nearby got mangled in the storm. Even with the buckets, we were standing under the canopies, holding and keeping them from blowing away. It was definitely one of the better storms in recent memory. Here we thought we'd get things setup before the rain, but we'd have been better off leaving everything in the trailer from the start.
Stymie (Matt Spannan) and Jillian had shown up shortly after we were setup ("setup" being a loose term), just missing the worst of the storm. We went to the hotel to change clothes and by that time the nasty weather had run off. We went back to the track to do a few things on the bikes and then dinner, drinks and back to the hotel to prep for what we knew was going to be a wet Saturday. Jillian was already laying down some harsh smack about the upcoming pit bike race on Saturday and trying to feed us with pastries to slow us down. I was onto her ..
Up early Saturday morning, we got to the track and it was of course raining. Fortunately Aaron had been a big help and had rain tires that I was able to get from him. Gina (also a big help) had run and picked them up from him on Thursday before we left, so we'd be good to go. Once the rains were mounted, we sat and waited for practice. For me, my rain experience had dropped off in recent years. Early in my racing, I had run a fair bit in the rain, but it had been 5-6 years since I had last raced in all-out wet conditions. Today was all about damage control in the point standings and getting back up to speed in the wet.
I went out right away in the first practice, getting as many laps as I could. It wasn't raining too hard in the first session, but it came down harder as the morning progressed. Times started at 1:20s, then to 1:17's, then to 1:15's and 1:13's. Times in the rain are usually pretty hard to gauge, as the conditions on how wet the track really is play a big part in track conditions overall. However conditions were fairly consistent throughout the morning which was encouraging. I didn't know the times of anyone else, but I didn't get passed. That was good, I suppose .. Over lunch I asked Rick if he wanted to sit out the rain races and just race tomorrow. He laughed. I knew he wanted to race in the rain. Damn, I would have to as well now. :)
First race was 600 Superbike. Full wet conditions. I had a good launch and led into T1. Rick Lind, the rain master was behind in second. I built a bit of a lead over the first half of the race, which I was pleasantly surprised about. It didn't last too long though, as a lap or so later, a yellow R6 came by and took the lead. I wasn't sure who it was (I was later told a PIRC local with some good laps in the wet around there), but he was riding well. He wasn't in the points chase, so it was fine to let him go.
Looking back coming out of T10, I had a good size gap to Rick heading to the white flag. I apparently took the last lap off however, as Rick would close up big time. As I came out of T10 for the final time and took a casual glance back, I didn't see Rick. Crap, he must be close! My drive onto the front straight was already shot by cruising through T10, but I hoped it was enough. I twisted the grip as much as I could, hoping I'd have enough as we crossed the line. As I passed the checkered, Rick just came sailing by. Phew. I would get 2nd by a tenth of a second. Way too close.
Rick came over afterwards and we congratulated each other on a good race. We talked lap times and I had done 1:08's early in the race, and then dropped into 10's. Rick had done 10's, but put in a 1:07 on the last lap to make up 3 seconds in just that one lap, which was impressive. The guy who won had done a 1:06, so we were all somewhat close. I think there were 6-8 expert bikes in our race total and I was happy to be competitive in the rain again. I didn't have any moments during the race and the tires worked great, so I knew there was more time that could be found. On the flip side, the more upright position wasn't helping my wrist any. It was painful already and the thought of landing on it in wet conditions wasn't something I was particularly keen on.
The second race was 600 Superstock. It was later in the day and the track was still wet, but a dry line had started forming. Ian (Tetrick) was in this race, a real nice, fast kid. On the green flag, Rick got the holehot and I followed in 2nd. It wasn't long before Ian came through and passed both of us taking the lead. Ian's super smooth and in the wet, he was riding great. I had little confidence in the front end with the dry line, as I could feel the front tire flexing with the big blocks on the front of it. I settled for 3rd behind Rick, minimizing damage in the points.
With the rain races behind me, the "official" last race of the day was the pit-bike race. LeMans start. About 10-12 little bikes. The fifties started up front, the slightly-bigger bikes (like mine) started in the middle, while the Zuma's (like dad's) started further up the straight away. It was a 3-lap race and after everyone ran to their bikes in full-gear, I hopped on and took off. I had an early lead, before Stymie came by on his 150cc pit-bike killer about 2.5 laps in to take the win. Way too funny to watch grown men on little kids' bikes. And where was Jillian? Good question. She had been talking like she was going to ride and she was nowhere to be found. Disappointing to say the least. :) To make matters worse, Matt threw a #1 on his scooter for Sunday, which just rubbed it in. Harsh! :)
After the races had wrapped up, we headed out to dinner. Stymie, Jillian, Gene (Burcham), Garry, Bill (Sweeney), Joe, Doug, Nick and I, among others – about 10-12 total all hit the local Italian place for dinner. The Trauttman's were at a nearby table, as were Tom (Hughey), Terrance and company from WERA – so we spent much of dinner watching the pit bike race from Terrance's phone, as he had it all on video.
Sunday morning came and the track was 90-95% dry. Into morning practice and I was quickly up to speed, a bit surprisingly – as sometimes running a slow pace in the wet means it takes some time to get back up to dry-track pace. The first session showed some mid 59's, which was a good start. Dad was out on track now as well (he didn't need to race in the wet on Saturday) and was getting back up to speed on the SV after not having ridden in awhile.
Leading up to the last practice session, we had a couple changes to try out on the bike. It was sprinkling a little in the pits, but seemed to stop right at third-call for our group. Helmet and gloves on, starting the bike and out I went, it of course started sprinkling more right away. Everyone had their hands up on the out-lap and we all proceeded to do a parade lap before coming in. Oh well – the change would have to be tried in the first race.
The schedule for Sunday was the same as Saturday. 600 Superbike was up first. Off the start, I led into T1 and worked on putting in some consistent laps, but a red flag quickly stopped the race and we all headed back onto hot-pit. It was only a few minutes of down time, so back out we went to grid up. I didn't have the best of starts for the rest of the day, as Rick got off the line quicker than I did. I was able to brake a little later and sneak into the lead by T1. I just tried to ride error-free and keep an eye on the gap back to second place. I made sure to keep it clean for the remaining laps, with the championship on my mind. We crossed the line first and with that, clinched the 600 Superbike Championship. Rick, Brad and Sweeney were dicing it up for 2nd and 3rd place for much of the race.
Second race was 750 Superbike. This race had Stymie, Arnie (Hastings) and a couple other guys on 750's. Brad was also in this race, but he had to pull off before start with some mechanical issues. I started from the second row and on the green flag, had a good launch into T1. I was on the outside and in front of me, Arnie went from the inside to the outside to setup for T1. With he and Stymie there, I dove from the outside to the inside and was able to just get by Stymie to slot-in behind Arnie heading into T1.
I followed Arnie for the next few turns, almost throwing the bike on the inside of him into the fast, left-kink. I held off and that killed my drive onto the back straight where Stymie got by. I chased both of them and got back by Stymie on the brakes heading into T1. The following lap I was able to hang on, exiting T10 up onto the front straight, about 10 bike lengths or so behind Arnie. I felt good on the brakes into T1 and was able to pass Arnie there. With the lead, and a couple clean laps, we were racing along before another red flag came out. This time, we were past halfway so they called the race. Bummer, but we were able to get the win.
Last race for us was 600 Superstock. Lining up, I was able to lead into T1 and build a good lead by lap one. It sounded like there was again a good battle for 2nd between Rick, Brad, and Bill, along with Ian all dicing it up. Rick captured the race on his GoPro and I'll post it below, as it gets pretty exciting around halfway. With the win, we locked up the 600 Superstock Championship, capturing both 600 classes which was cool. See the video from Rick here:
My dad had entered into two races, finishing 2nd and 4th respectively in them. He certainly had to work in both races. Gridded further back, and going against not only more SV's, but more SV's with motor work done to them, Doug and I joked that some guys got tired of having to battle with a stock motor. The grids were good though, with plenty of fast guys. Of course Joe was disappointed at not doing better, but he hadn't raced nearly all season up until this point.
In the end, the weekend was challenging, putting yourself in that mental mindset of rain racing and dry racing isn't always the most fun thing to do. As for the season, it's been a big succcess for me, for reasons different than usual. I wasn't sure if I could win a race with how things have been, let alone stick through a season and win a championship. I've often not put a ton of stock into the championships; more into race wins – however for me, both were important this year to get back to. I wasn't and may never again be 100% on the bike, but we were competitive against some fast guys and kept the bike on two wheels when needed as well. Sure I didn't go AMA racing like I had wanted, but with how that scene is currently, the lure and ROI to do it simply isn't there like it had been several years ago when I did my first race at that level. I had a great deal of fun making new friends at the track this season and racing against new faces as well.
A special thank you goes out to my dad and Doug for all their help this weekend, as well as throughout the season. Thanks to Aaron as well for the rain tires, as they were clutch when needed. Thanks to Nick from STG, as he tagged along with us for most of the season, learning to ride on the track in his first season. Thank you also to John and Sheri (Ma) Trauttman for their help as well when Joe couldn't make it to the track. All the little things that go with racing and people helping each other is what this is all about.
As for what's next this year, I'm not sure. I'm bugging the surgeon in San Diego about this second surgery, but still haven't gotten anywhere with it so who knows. In the meantime, the Grand National Finals at Barber are happening next month and I'd love to get back to that event again. Going to that event in the past has been great – some of my best memories in racing. And last time I was at Barber, we were testing the Dunlop spec tires when our plans were to go Pro Racing, but now that I'm back on Pirelli's, I know my level of comfort on them will drop the lap times closer to where I need to be. Hopefully I can find a few seconds to be competitive with the local fast guys down there. We'll see.
Lastly, a special thanks to my sponsors from this season. Zipfizz Energy, Animal Aid Foundation, Honda East of Toledo, SportbikeTrackGear.com, Pirelli, Oakley, Jamie Hanshaw Engines, Pit Bull, Dynojet, Sharkskinz, Worldwide Bearings, NGK, Motul, GP Tech, Chicken Hawk, Samco, Full Spectrum, Motion Pro, MC Designs, Knox Armour, Spider Grips, Bell Helmets, RS Taichi, Spiegler, Detroit Custom Paint and MotoSeries.
Thanks for reading.
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About This Entry
- You're currently reading "WERA ’12, Round 5&6 – Pittsburgh International Raceway (A Wet BeaveRun)," an entry on Witchkraft Racing.
- Published: 09.11.12 / 5am
- Category: Race Reports
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It sure felt good to be at the track again helping with everything. You were riding really well in the wet and especially on Sunday. Very fast and in command. You finished with a full front straight lead in the 600SS race. Now that is focus and perfection to get that far ahead. Congrats on the dual Championships. Well earned.
Thanks Doug. Was great having you back there and being able to focus 100% on riding. Big help for sure.