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Inside Line Motorcycle Racing | |
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As usual, procrastination kept me from getting too much done over the winter.
In March I finally took the forks in to GP Suspension to get a leaky fork seal fixed. At the end of March I finally started working on some of the other stuff that the bike needed.
I replaced the caliper seals in the front brake system because I had more brake drag than I wanted. That ended up being a bit of a drama because the brake system didn't seem to want to bleed properly after I put it back together, and didn't seem to be working very well. Finally I figured out that the bleeder bolts were leaking and I swapped them with some other ones. I still don't know why they were leaking, and I'm not 100% sure that the right side one is not still leaking ever so slightly.
I also made quite an effort to find a radiator tester to see if the header gasket problem that I suspected was really a problem or not. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any place in Tillamook that had one that would fit on my radiator.
Between the possibly dodgy brakes and the known risk of a head gasket problem, I was pretty stressed out in the days leading up to the event.
It was great to see all the familiar faces among the volunteers and racers at the track. Lots of things are different this year because we have changed to setting up our pits on the inside of the track. That meant I had to hang around for quite a while outside the track waiting for a break in the morning Novice School to cross the track and unload the bike.
We only got two 20-minute practice sessions, but it was well worth the trip.
The brakes started out a bit spongy, but after a few laps, they firmed up and seemed to be working as well as ever. I didn't have any radiator overflow problems on Friday, so everything was looking good on the bike.
The weather was nice, and our practice sessions had a few crashes, but we ran the full 20 minutes both times.
I had mounted some new Bridgestone BT-090 tires. These are supposed to be stickier, higher-technology tires than the BT-56SS tires that I ran all last year. I did find out that they start out very slippery when new and take quite a while to "scrub in". By the second session the slipperiness was gone, and they seemed to be working as well as the old 56's. Unfortunately, I didn't feel like they were really working any better than the 56's, and they seem to be wearing out much more quickly.
By the second session I was starting to feel like I was pretty much "back up to speed".
I also picked up some VP race gas and the replacement battery that I had ordered from EDR Performance at the track. The battery in the bike was of unknown age, and was the 'old' style that you have to occasionally add water to. One of the water caps was damaged, and I figured that if I ever crashed, I'd end up with battery acid everywhere, so I had ordered a sealed battery from Eric at EDR a couple weeks before.
That evening I stopped by the Beaverton Honda/Yamaha shop to try to pick up a replacement radiator cap in case that was my radiator overflow problem, but they didn't have any in stock. Then I went to my friend Bud Reese's house. We went out to dinner, then I spent the night at his house after we watched Good Morning Vietnam on his DVD player.
Bud made me a nice breakfast, then it was off to the track. The morning started off chilly (34 degrees at Bud's house at 6:30AM), but the day just got better and better, eventually getting up to around 65 degrees.
After going through registration and tech inspection, I realized that the radiator overflow tank was nearly full, meaning that at least a cup of the 2 quarts of water in the radiator had come out and not gone back in. I spent a few minutes filling the radiator back up and draining most of the overflow tank, then went out for our short warmup.
The Middleweight Superbike qualifier was the second race of the morning. When I tried to start the bike in the pit, the starter went wuh, wuuuuuh and stopped. Argh, dead battery! I guess it's good that I had just bought a new one! Of course, you can't put the new one in in the less than 2 minutes I had to get out on the track. Les Green gave me a push to get started and I made it out for the tire warmup lap in plenty of time.
Unfortunately, when I pulled in to my position on the starting grid, the bike didn't want to idle and it died on the grid. The starter still didn't work, so I put my hand up and quickly pushed the bike over to the side of the track. Luckily for me, one of the bikes behind me was leaking oil, so there was a delay while the oil was cleaned up and his bike was moved off. Bill Laupp helped me push start the bike, so I was able to start the race normally. Julie arrived from Oceanside just in time to see all this starter drama
In Middleweight Superbike I'm not really racing so much as out to have a good time. Bikes up to 600cc's are legal in this class, so my 400 is not really competitive. I got a slow start (should have practiced starts a few times!) and eventually caught up with Stuart Johnson, another 400 rider. We diced for a lap at the end. I finished the heat race 9th of about 20 bikes.
After the qualifier, Les helped me install a fully charged spare battery that he had. I could have tried to charge up the new battery I had picked up yesterday, but it was a lot easier to just put his "ready to go" spare in.
The 450 Superbike qualifier was my next race. My start was slow again. I ended up finishing 7th or 8th. Les's day ended during this race when his newly-superbiked GS500 engine started pushing a lot of oil through the crankcase breather. What a bummer! Luckily he got safely off the track (without falling due to an oily back tire).
Then the 450 Supersport qualifier came shortly afterwards. My start was a little better, and I ended up 2nd. Scott Soper still pulls quickly away from the rest of us. I diced with Stuart a little, and it seemed like my bike may be a little bit faster than his on the straight, but nothing like Scott's.
After lunch, during which I did the "drain the catch tank, fill the radiator" drill again, the Middleweight Superbike main race was the second race of the afternoon. I got an OK start, and Stuart and I ended up together in the middle of pack going through the first couple turns. He and I had a lot of fun passing each other through the race. Toward the end, I "scraped him off" by getting a lucky pass on a novice rider on an SV.
We had over an hour before my next race, so I ended up borrowing a radiator cap from Brent Prindle. I thought his cap might prove whether my problem is a defective cap, or a head gasket problem.
In the 450 Superbike race, I ended up 7th out of 13. I think I even beat several SV650's. However, Stuart told me that every time I got in front of him, I was dripping water in his face. He wasn't too happy about it -- sorry, Stuart! The other radiator cap was worse!
There was only one race before I had to be back on the track for 450 Supersport. Dan Baisch happened to be near my pit, so I enlisted him to help. He got the bodywork removed so I could get the radiator cap off. "Do Not Remove When Hot" is what the cap says. It's entertaining (and dangerous, of course) -- when I took the cap of a fountain of hot water shot up and hit my canopy. Whoosh! By this time, Brent was over helping out. I ran out of water trying to re-fill the radiator, so Brent found some more. I got the old cap back on and the overflow tank mostly drained, then Dan put the bodywork back together while I put my helmet and gloves back on. I made it back out to the track with almost a whole minute to spare!
I got my best start of the day in the 450 Supersport race. Jim Kennedy also got a good start, beating me to the first corner, and of course Scott was leading all of us. I passed Jim between turns 3 and 4 and set my sights on Scott. I kept him fairly close through the rest of the lap, but he started pulling away on the front straight. After another couple laps, he disappeared off into the distance. Shades of last year!
Stuart must have been right behind me for those first couple laps, and he soon came around me braking into turn 1. He sure can brake late on that one! I seem to get a better drive out of turn 4 than he does, though, so we went back and forth a few times. I was leading him on the last lap, so I got 2nd place. We really had a good time racing each other! And Stuart says I didn't leak water on him that time. I think Jim was following the two of us, but his motor went out on the last lap - phooey!
With the radiator cap swap, I can now be fairly certain that I do, indeed, have a head gasket problem. I've got less than 3 weeks before the May 10/11 races to get that taken care of. Bleah.
The good news is that despite the troubles, the bike ran well enough to make it through this weekend, and I'm happy that I was able to get back down to fairly good lap times.
I'm looking forward to the 4-hour Endurance race on the 10th -- Bill has invited me to help ride his SV650 along with Les and maybe Martin Buehler.
Special thanks to Dan Baisch and Brent Prindle for helping me swap radiator caps in a big hurry between the 450 Superbike and 450 Supersport races! I couldn't have done it without them.
And special thanks to Les Green for loaning me his spare battery! He's been a great "pit neighbor," and I'm sorry his day didn't go better.
Thanks to Bill Laupp and some of the starting grid volunteers for helping out when my bike died for the Middleweight start.
Thanks to Bud Reece for his nice guest room and breakfast.
With the updated Bridgestone Tires contingency program this year, I think my 2nd place finish was worth $50 of tire coupons -- thanks, Bridgestone!
Thanks to all the OMRRA turn workers, registration folks, and other volunteers who made this OMRRA race and practice day possible. It was a challenge with all the changes this year, and everything worked out fine -- good job!
Thanks to my sponsors Inside Line and Lockhart-Philips USA.
My most special sponsor is my wife, Julie!
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