what a first season...wsmc

[shaggy]

well, the 05' season is officially over and and I've had plenty of time to reflect on my racing experiences.

First off, I met only 2 of my 5 goals I laid out for this season:

:( rookie of the year: 17th... only competeing in three races killed my hopes for this (obviously)

:( Toyota 200: Easily could have qualified, except for the f'ed shoulder...

:( top 100 in points: finished the season 123rd (actually I'm really happy I got 123rd out of 333 with only 3 out of 9 race weekends under my belt!)

:banana: My goal was to run low 28's or high 27's by the end of the year. A 1:27.002 back in June was absolutely incredible, still stoked on that one.

:banana: I hoped to run mid pack with the experts, goal was a top 10. When I got 5th in June I was absolutely blown away! still stoked on that one too!

well, my shoulder is back to about 80%, and I'm back on the bike finally just cruisin around, first real trackday will be pahrump end of the month, cann't wait. Lessions learned: racing is expensive, lots of work, takes up a lot of your time, it's expensive, you cann't do it without friends to help, sponsors are super important, it's expensive...but most important it's the coolest thing I've ever done!

I'm not sure when I'll return to WSMC, right now the money issue is keeping me away and I really need a new bike to compete with Dustins new ride:cool: but I hope to be out in the solo GTU series starting in April.

Gotta thank Andy from ACTracing.com for hooking me up with awesome leathers (new sets on the way), Takeit2thetrack.net for the loads of tracktime, Goodridge and Ado for all the help, Dunlop for paying me back when I was a novice, Bryant and Jae and Buymoto for all your help (Jae was so loving in the hospital!), Jared for keeping me on my toes, Carol for always being there for me:wub: and the rest of you for supporting me!

[ninjanick]

If you don't mind me asking ... how much did you invest in your first season?

[wanderer]

If you don't mind me asking ... how much did you invest in your first season?

if you don't count your bike, a full season oh you're probably looking around 5-7K.

tires, tires, tires, reg fees, tires, transportation- buy a used RV add more $$$ bike maint, TIRES, food, water. it's amazing how much you spend. oh and don't forget TIRES.

and that's IF you don't stuff your bike. then add another 5 grand or more to that.

but it's cheaper than a heroin addiction!

[pulse]

hey you were awsome to watch and i could only imagine where you could have finished up if you made the whole season. congrats on what you did accomplish, which is more than most could ask for, thanks for all the help along the way with all us other new racers adn hope we can help as much as possible in the future. hope to get to race against you soon:) , or at least be in your race for that matter:ha: .

[CPM F4]

It's amazing what you accomplished in such a short time. The video you made of your April race is helping me learn how to go faster. Thanks for all of the pointers and I can't wait to ride out on the track with you.

[sandogn]

Awesome-

Here is a summary of my 1st year riding..........

I got my 05 R6 in April, it was awesome. Never had I experienced something so fast and I was riding the thing like I stole it. I honestly thought that I would be able to take street corners at 60 and rode every day on the streets to build my skills. I had no throttle control and had not even heard of the word smooth yet, so with my cowboy boots on, jeans, and a Harley jacket I was out to be the fastest thing ever to hit the road. And that is exactly what I did twice in the first month and a half of riding.

The first crash was when I was trying to tear up a super twisty 7 springs road here in AZ (a road that freaked Jerry out) and I saw sand, grabbed brakes, and lowsided. Picked the bike up, nothing damaged rode away.

Second crash is when I power lowsided going through a corner at 60 mph in an industrial park. This one was really funny. When I read TTW2 I learned that it is best to be on the gas and roll on while going through a corner. Well I interpreted this as rolling on pretty quickly to wide open around the apex. Yes I know that is retarded now, but at the time it seemed like it was working. I took a few corners with some good slides, but this time I just low sided. And yes I was wearing the jeans and the Harley Jacket. Anyway the only thing that broke was by brake lever and I had some scratched up fairings.
I also had some nasty road rash.

Shortly after this I got a set of leathers. Now the fun could really begin. I felt even more invinsible and decided I needed to drag a knee ASAP. So off I went to Rattle snake cove to carve the canyon. I quickly found out that knee dragging is not so easy. I was trying all kinds of stupid stuff and could not do it. I really sucked. The first time I started scraping was when I was following Jeryy on White Spar road. I thought I was doing pretty well and then the bastard just takes off. After watching him disappear my eyes really opened to how slow I was going. Determined to catch up a little I then started scraping the hell out of my right puck in every RH turn (the lefts have huge cliffs on the edge).

After realizing how much I sucked compared to Jerry I had to take drastic measures. I sought out huge empty parking lots where I could practice turning and become comfartable with sharp lean angles. This was the best thing I have done. The slow speeds in the parking lot make knee dragging hard to do without being smooth and having precise throttle control. I was a slow speed turning master. It showed, the next time Jerry and I went to White Spar road I was able to keep pace.

So around this time I decided the track is where I need to be. So Jerry took me to willow in the fall for my first track day. It kicked ass! The other guy with us said he would be anything but slower than me and I passed him in the first session and lapped him in the later sessions. Everything was great until a crash in turn 1 at the end of the day wrecked all my body work and clipons.

Oh well, It was a good excuse for race body work and I was ready to roll for my second track day at the new Pahrump track the next month. That was super fun, by the end of the weekend I was much quicker and had finally regained some confidence that I had lost when I wrecked at Willow.

One week after my second track day was my first race. I was totally pumped up for this. It could not have been better. My only goals were to pass the school and to finish the race, position was not even a care. I ended up finishing 11th which was cool becuase I moved up in the field of 23, but the coolest part was being there to see Jerry and Jared win. That race was by far one of the most fun things I have ever done. I am totally addicted and can't wait for the next.

Long story short, I did one more track day after that at Firebird in Dec where I was doing pretty well in the race group (I was riding around mid pack) and feel very satisfied with my progress in 8 months of riding. Can't wait to get faster. And don't even get me started with my MX and Motard plans.

See you guys at Pahrump in Jan.

[Kurt'sSV]

if you don't count your bike, a full season oh you're probably looking around 5-7K.


I spend a lot less than that in a year of racing, but I know how to do it on the cheap. :thumbsup:

Hope you can get back out there soon, Shaggy.

[shaggy]

I averaged about $4-5 hundred dollars a month, thats with tires, registration, and gas. Registration alone for 3 races is like $200, $270 during the summer with solo gtu. Tires went from $100 take-offs to $300 gp's. Gas for the bike and truck is $75 a weekend. crash repair wasn't even that bad, just 5 months outta everything...

yeah, on a 600 or bigger your looking at around 6K minimum...

Kurts lucky! he gets tires for cheap and they last a couple months! race a SV!

[trackpimp]

right on Shaggy..

See you out there Bro!

[argh6]

Jas, I think it is awsome, but not incredible, that you performed so well. I have know you your whole life, and I've always known that you have so much natural talent on any number of wheels (God help them all if you could aford to race cars!) that success is a given, not a struggle for you.

I do want to say that there is no way I could be where I am at racing without your inspiration and guidance. I can even pin-point where you helped me the most. My biggest problem has always been front end confidence, but all I needed was to hear you say "the 208 will stick" or "this is going to mess with everyone's heads" because I trust you. Thanks for being the bigger little bro!

[afrothunder]

Jas, I think it is awsome, but not incredible, that you performed so well. I have know you your whole life, and I've always known that you have so much natural talent on any number of wheels (God help them all if you could aford to race cars!) that success is a given, not a struggle for you.

I do want to say that there is no way I could be where I am at racing without your inspiration and guidance. I can even pin-point where you helped me the most. My biggest problem has always been front end confidence, but all I needed was to hear you say "the 208 will stick" or "this is going to mess with everyone's heads" because I trust you. Thanks for being the bigger little bro!awwww... how cute. :wub:

[argh6]

awwww... how cute. :wub:

Whatever!!!:hammer:

[Kurt'sSV]

hahaha. Sounds like something I'd say to my little brother (who's a better rider than I am), if he wasn't such a punk.

[GPTECHMAN]

awesome season!!!