brakstad
05-21-2008, 03:04 PM
Another awesome race weekend at Willow Springs big track! Weather was very hot (103 degrees) and windy as hell... This was my first full race weekend in the expert class. Entered 3 races; F40 lightweight, 600 Superstock, and 600 ModProd. Superstock and ModProd were the first races where GPTechman and I went head to head!
Did a full practice day on Saturday. Have been batting with a mysterious oil leak from my left side case cover over the last few months. Found a hairline crack in the cover and had replaed it with a Woodcraft case cover prior to heading out.. Unfortunatley there was still some oil leaking, but not as much as before, and it was coming from a slightly different place. Took the cover off and found a damaged o-ring. Sent crew cheif bill. on a mission to find a replacement in Rosamond. He came back with the required part (thanks bill.!) and I got that installed in the afternoon. Finally, oil leak fixed!
Last session I started having a clutch problem, seemed to be slipping in 5th and 6th gear... Was concerned with that, but did not get anything done to solve it.
Sunday morning I went out for the first practice session and still had the clutch slip problem. I thought I had probably smoked the clutch during some of my race start simulations. Then, like a miracle, Mr. Shaggy arrived on the scene! As I described my problem to him, he immediately diagnosed the problem; clutch cable was to tight and not fully dis-engaging. A swift adjustment and out I went for the last practice session... Problem solved; big relief!
My first race was the F40. I was pretty nervous going out, but that all changed once I got to the start grid.. Got a good start and was in second place after passing a guy on the outside of 4B! I maintained 2nd for a while, then the freight train stared coming through.. Slipped to 6th in the second half of the race, but kept the guys relatively close to me. First 4 laps in the 29's, last 3 in the 28's. My fastest lap was the last lap; 1:28:456. 2nd place was less than 3 seconds away, so I was pretty stoked with my performance...
Now the wait for on for the showdown with the legendary Techman! We lined up side by side on the grid.. I got a fairly good start and was infront (of him)going into T1. My pace on the first 4 laps were in the 29's, then the last 3 I slipped to 30's.. Temp was hotter, and my rear tire started slipping in T2 so I had to back off a little. I did have a pretty comfortable lead over him by half distance, but then he started reeling me in, running some mid 28's himself! By the last lap he was on my rear-wheel and the battle was on! I did not know that he was there, but I new that someone was close. Slipping like crazy in T2 and did not get a good drive out.. Took a rather defensive line into T3 without realizing that Techman had to take evasive action in order to not collect me in the turn.. He stayed on he the rest of the lap and I crossed the finish line 3 hundreds of a second ahead (in 10th place, 7 seconds back from 9th).
I flipped the rear tire ahead of the last race in order to regain some traction in T2, T8, and T9. This race (modprod) was the second head to head battle with GPTech, we lined up on same line again (he 9th, me 11th). I got a really good start and was 2nd out of T1! Got passed into T2 and again (forget where) and was circulating in 4th. Pace was better again with the following lap times: 29, 28, 28, 29, 29, 28, 29. Good traction and no problems. Field was pretty spread out; crossed the line in 4th with 7 seconds up to 3rd and 11 seconds down to 5th. Techman had some equipment issues that prevented him (or at least distracted him enough) from riding as fast as he could. He ended "cough" 23 secs "cough" behind me :lol:
All in all a great race weekend! Will miss the next one due to travel, but should be ready for more head to head action in July!
Thanks a bunch to everyone that came out to watch/help! I've said it before; it makes such a huge difference to have friends around helping, cheering, taunting, etc.. Shaggy, Jared, Melissa, Adam, Jerry, Deno, Janell, Bill., Sean, Allan, Theresa: Big thanks to all of you!!
Until next time....
Did a full practice day on Saturday. Have been batting with a mysterious oil leak from my left side case cover over the last few months. Found a hairline crack in the cover and had replaed it with a Woodcraft case cover prior to heading out.. Unfortunatley there was still some oil leaking, but not as much as before, and it was coming from a slightly different place. Took the cover off and found a damaged o-ring. Sent crew cheif bill. on a mission to find a replacement in Rosamond. He came back with the required part (thanks bill.!) and I got that installed in the afternoon. Finally, oil leak fixed!
Last session I started having a clutch problem, seemed to be slipping in 5th and 6th gear... Was concerned with that, but did not get anything done to solve it.
Sunday morning I went out for the first practice session and still had the clutch slip problem. I thought I had probably smoked the clutch during some of my race start simulations. Then, like a miracle, Mr. Shaggy arrived on the scene! As I described my problem to him, he immediately diagnosed the problem; clutch cable was to tight and not fully dis-engaging. A swift adjustment and out I went for the last practice session... Problem solved; big relief!
My first race was the F40. I was pretty nervous going out, but that all changed once I got to the start grid.. Got a good start and was in second place after passing a guy on the outside of 4B! I maintained 2nd for a while, then the freight train stared coming through.. Slipped to 6th in the second half of the race, but kept the guys relatively close to me. First 4 laps in the 29's, last 3 in the 28's. My fastest lap was the last lap; 1:28:456. 2nd place was less than 3 seconds away, so I was pretty stoked with my performance...
Now the wait for on for the showdown with the legendary Techman! We lined up side by side on the grid.. I got a fairly good start and was infront (of him)going into T1. My pace on the first 4 laps were in the 29's, then the last 3 I slipped to 30's.. Temp was hotter, and my rear tire started slipping in T2 so I had to back off a little. I did have a pretty comfortable lead over him by half distance, but then he started reeling me in, running some mid 28's himself! By the last lap he was on my rear-wheel and the battle was on! I did not know that he was there, but I new that someone was close. Slipping like crazy in T2 and did not get a good drive out.. Took a rather defensive line into T3 without realizing that Techman had to take evasive action in order to not collect me in the turn.. He stayed on he the rest of the lap and I crossed the finish line 3 hundreds of a second ahead (in 10th place, 7 seconds back from 9th).
I flipped the rear tire ahead of the last race in order to regain some traction in T2, T8, and T9. This race (modprod) was the second head to head battle with GPTech, we lined up on same line again (he 9th, me 11th). I got a really good start and was 2nd out of T1! Got passed into T2 and again (forget where) and was circulating in 4th. Pace was better again with the following lap times: 29, 28, 28, 29, 29, 28, 29. Good traction and no problems. Field was pretty spread out; crossed the line in 4th with 7 seconds up to 3rd and 11 seconds down to 5th. Techman had some equipment issues that prevented him (or at least distracted him enough) from riding as fast as he could. He ended "cough" 23 secs "cough" behind me :lol:
All in all a great race weekend! Will miss the next one due to travel, but should be ready for more head to head action in July!
Thanks a bunch to everyone that came out to watch/help! I've said it before; it makes such a huge difference to have friends around helping, cheering, taunting, etc.. Shaggy, Jared, Melissa, Adam, Jerry, Deno, Janell, Bill., Sean, Allan, Theresa: Big thanks to all of you!!
Until next time....