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WERA ’14, Round 1 – Grattan CCW (Adjustments)

Leading into the 2014 season, we had plenty of new things to adjust to. A new bike would headline the list, along with a new plate and screws in the wrist from a third surgery this past February. Due to the switching of bikes along with rehab, we wouldn't have time to test our "Honda East Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R750" beforehand. While everyone was testing and riding down south, we were working on bikes and sulking. By the time May arrived, I had plenty of pent-up energy and was ready to let it out with some fast laps.

Friday and Saturday would make this goal difficult. Cold and wet weather on both days. I think we turned a total of 12-15 laps – and they weren't good laps. If we had the R6 still that I knew well, I'd have sat out both days and waited for Sunday. However I needed to get some laps on the bike!

Come Sunday morning, the weather would take a turn for the better. We practiced in the morning and were as ready as we were going to be. The first race of the day was A Superstock. This would be our first 1000 race. Stymie had an issue with his rear brake rotor partially breaking off (weird!), so he couldn't grid up, which was disappointing. Off the line, I was able to get the holeshot and lead from start to finish. The gap at the finish was 30 seconds.

Second race was B (750) Superstock. We led this race for the first few laps. I bobbled through 10A slightly, and Dave (Grey) was right there, passing into the bus stop. We were set to have another good race on our hands, between the two of us. I tucked behind him and through the sweeper we went. He led into the bowl and suddenly tucked the front, sliding off into the grass. I fought to not fixate on him and turned my head, finishing the corner. Fortunately Dave was okay, but it was disappointing as that would have been a good race. We cranked out the next 5-6 laps and were able to win by 5.5 seconds over second place. There were about sixteen bikes total.

We were making changes in between every session on the bike. She was hard to ride at first, but slowly getting better. She was a tank in the front, and soft in the back – so dad, Doug and Aaron were quickly making changes at every opportunity we had. I would detail an entire lap of what I was doing, along with what the bike was doing – explaining as best I could. We were making progress and watching the lap times continue to drop confirmed that.

Formula 1 was next up. This would be a tough one, but I was looking forward to a good battle. Both Stymie and Gene Burcham would be in this one on their GSX-R1000's, along with Steve Palella and a number of others – twelve or so total. Starting from the back row, I went from 5th to 3rd between 10B, 10A and the bus stop. The order was Stymie, Burcham and myself. I followed them both for a couple laps and was able to get by Gene into the bus stop. A lap or so later, I was able to get by Stymie in the same place.

I led for the next few laps, waiting for Stymie to blow the doors off me on the front straight. That didn't happen though, so I must have been getting enough of a gap through the back part of the track to even it out. I knew he was close still, by the signs dad was giving me at the guard rail.

On the last lap, I made a mistake going into T2, running wide and almost onto a little stream of water that could have made things real ugly. This killed my drive out of T2, and I knew Stymie had to be closer than on previous laps. Onto the straight, I tucked in as best I could and kept grabbing gears. I raced to the flag and didn't see him go by me. I looked back at the checkered and he was right there. Turns out the gap at the stripe was .042 seconds, with the three of us all covered by under a second. Phew. That race was a blast. I wish they were all like that.

B (750) Superbike was the last one for us. We got the holeshot and led from flag to flag. Dave finished second and the gap from him to third was 17 seconds, with a total of 27 riders between experts and amateurs in this one.

Overall, this was a great way to start the season. Without laps beforehand, we jumped in head first. The bike was good and my wrist was good, showing the winter work has paid off so far. All in all, I'd say we adjusted fairly well first time out. A sincere thank you to my dad, Doug and Aaron for all their help. They were so dialed in, they even practiced a shock swap in between sessions, just in case we wanted to try the other shock in between groups. It sounds cliche to say, but the team aspect of this sport is such a big factor and we all work extremely well together.

Road Atlanta is next up on the race calendar. This will be a tough one, as Road Atlanta favors big engines. Their back straight is one of the longest straights in the country and the 1000's will certainly be able to stretch their legs and drop the hammer on our little 750. We'll see what happens.

Thanks for reading.

Sunday, May 11th, 2014 | POSTED AT: 5:00 AM
FILED UNDER: Race Reports

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You're currently reading "WERA ’14, Round 1 – Grattan CCW (Adjustments)," an entry on Witchkraft Racing.
Published: 05.11.14 / 5am
Category: Race Reports