GPTECHMAN
12-17-2007, 02:22 PM
Well here goes...
Checked the weather constantly this past week seeing if it was doable. I hate riding in cold temps and it has always been a difficult mental block to over come, but hey if Will Eikenberry can do 24s on a 600 in the snow then I should be able to go 30s. I looked like it would get almost 60 so I thought that was fair game. Funny thing was Jared and Shaggy said there would be trophies and I never got one of those so I thought it would be fun. Was debating not racing this month and going to novice next year for TRE, but that is just too much of a commitment that I wasnt ready for financially. I thought that I would get much faster by going to expert and would rather do that since its easier than trying to push myself.
Needed to get new rubber somehow and am planning on changing to Pirellis since I have always have good experiences with them. Plus trackoholics west had good pricing on them and they are local.
Got some new rubber on friday night and was trying to get crap together before leaving sat morning. I didnt want to get there at 8AM because accuweather sad 22F real feel 17F....um.....FACK that!
Rolled out at 8Am from Jared Cosgrove Performance's place. bill. had other pressing issues to tend to and handed off the torch.
Jared went from Lindemann's cracked out suspension adjustments back to Evan Steel's numbers as a working baseline. We tweaked a little here and there and thought that it would be a good start. Used the michelins for comparison purposes...running out of tread but felt very good on track despite the cold temps and the PR5 rear.
Did a 1:31.05 in my first session with about 10 laps out. It felt good...
Next session we threw on the new rubber and kept the settings...maybe a little stiffer compression...but it was jsut a trial run for the new tires...never ridden them before.
They instantly felt waaaaaay better than the michelins...and seem to soak up the bumps in 8 and 2....thank goodness.
I ran my best lap trying to keep up with some fast guys as they passed by me mainly toye. I felt like I was pushing to keep up but nothing too crazy..just a little longer on the gas and a little later on the brakes here and there.
Still comfortable, but more pushed.
Felt good with the 1:29.04 and didnt want to run another session on my tires...signed up for practice starts which were horrible yet again...it will come around but I just need more practice.
Felt pretty confident for race day, I knew I had pace and it was my race to lose. But I also knew that Chris would take the holeshot as he has sick starts. We got away and I once again got motored on the start and had to play a little catch up. This one girl rocketed past me like I was in a 6th gear bog...she was in second and I was in thrid off the start. This wasnt really in my game plan and had to pass her up on the inside before Chris checked out. I was able to make up some time and catch up to chris on the 3456 section. I felt comfortable at the pace we were going at so I stayed back and knew that I wanted to make a move half way through. But as the race went along I found myself back in a trackday mentality just content staying back(right around lap 3)...I got a sh!tty drive out of 9 and Chris motored a gap on me and knew that this was the time I needed to make a pass. I closed the gap on the brakes going into 1 and made my push. Caught him in 6 as he had a bobble. and started trying to "find my rhythm"
Put in a good two laps and crossed the finish line 3.5 seconds ahead. I had good splits and was progressively faster and faster.
1:30.957 1.557 98.948
3 3 1:30.297 -0.660 0.897 99.671
4 4 1:30.042 -0.255 0.642 99.953
5 5 1:29.620 -0.422 0.220 100.424
6 6 1:29.400 -0.220 Best lap
Im pretty sure I can get down into the 28s in my first expert race.
Overall I think I am pretty happy with how my Novice season went. Im not realy talking about the finishes, but the times that I was able to drop were what I really needed. I was in a really bad slump and it was just perfect timing that evan brought my bike up when he did.
Things I learned from my novice racing
I suck at starts.
I can actually pass
I love new tires
I love tire warmers
I love allans honda generator
I think jared is the next Stig :)
bill. is the highest winning crew chief ever!!!!
Thanks for all the support that everyone has given me it make it possible.
The list will be added to but this was just off the top of my head.
Checked the weather constantly this past week seeing if it was doable. I hate riding in cold temps and it has always been a difficult mental block to over come, but hey if Will Eikenberry can do 24s on a 600 in the snow then I should be able to go 30s. I looked like it would get almost 60 so I thought that was fair game. Funny thing was Jared and Shaggy said there would be trophies and I never got one of those so I thought it would be fun. Was debating not racing this month and going to novice next year for TRE, but that is just too much of a commitment that I wasnt ready for financially. I thought that I would get much faster by going to expert and would rather do that since its easier than trying to push myself.
Needed to get new rubber somehow and am planning on changing to Pirellis since I have always have good experiences with them. Plus trackoholics west had good pricing on them and they are local.
Got some new rubber on friday night and was trying to get crap together before leaving sat morning. I didnt want to get there at 8AM because accuweather sad 22F real feel 17F....um.....FACK that!
Rolled out at 8Am from Jared Cosgrove Performance's place. bill. had other pressing issues to tend to and handed off the torch.
Jared went from Lindemann's cracked out suspension adjustments back to Evan Steel's numbers as a working baseline. We tweaked a little here and there and thought that it would be a good start. Used the michelins for comparison purposes...running out of tread but felt very good on track despite the cold temps and the PR5 rear.
Did a 1:31.05 in my first session with about 10 laps out. It felt good...
Next session we threw on the new rubber and kept the settings...maybe a little stiffer compression...but it was jsut a trial run for the new tires...never ridden them before.
They instantly felt waaaaaay better than the michelins...and seem to soak up the bumps in 8 and 2....thank goodness.
I ran my best lap trying to keep up with some fast guys as they passed by me mainly toye. I felt like I was pushing to keep up but nothing too crazy..just a little longer on the gas and a little later on the brakes here and there.
Still comfortable, but more pushed.
Felt good with the 1:29.04 and didnt want to run another session on my tires...signed up for practice starts which were horrible yet again...it will come around but I just need more practice.
Felt pretty confident for race day, I knew I had pace and it was my race to lose. But I also knew that Chris would take the holeshot as he has sick starts. We got away and I once again got motored on the start and had to play a little catch up. This one girl rocketed past me like I was in a 6th gear bog...she was in second and I was in thrid off the start. This wasnt really in my game plan and had to pass her up on the inside before Chris checked out. I was able to make up some time and catch up to chris on the 3456 section. I felt comfortable at the pace we were going at so I stayed back and knew that I wanted to make a move half way through. But as the race went along I found myself back in a trackday mentality just content staying back(right around lap 3)...I got a sh!tty drive out of 9 and Chris motored a gap on me and knew that this was the time I needed to make a pass. I closed the gap on the brakes going into 1 and made my push. Caught him in 6 as he had a bobble. and started trying to "find my rhythm"
Put in a good two laps and crossed the finish line 3.5 seconds ahead. I had good splits and was progressively faster and faster.
1:30.957 1.557 98.948
3 3 1:30.297 -0.660 0.897 99.671
4 4 1:30.042 -0.255 0.642 99.953
5 5 1:29.620 -0.422 0.220 100.424
6 6 1:29.400 -0.220 Best lap
Im pretty sure I can get down into the 28s in my first expert race.
Overall I think I am pretty happy with how my Novice season went. Im not realy talking about the finishes, but the times that I was able to drop were what I really needed. I was in a really bad slump and it was just perfect timing that evan brought my bike up when he did.
Things I learned from my novice racing
I suck at starts.
I can actually pass
I love new tires
I love tire warmers
I love allans honda generator
I think jared is the next Stig :)
bill. is the highest winning crew chief ever!!!!
Thanks for all the support that everyone has given me it make it possible.
The list will be added to but this was just off the top of my head.