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The main issue I was trying to address is that my front brakes are dragging, which slows me down, and also makes the brake rotors and the whole braking system hotter than it should be. I tried filing down the brake pads so they would have a little more room to "float" in the calipers, and I removed the pad springs (for even more "float"). I also cleaned out the master cylinder and replaced all the seals and springs in it.
I also changed the oil and drained the coolant (just water with WaterWetter(tm)) and replaced a broken bodywork mounting tab.
I spent Friday night at Tony's house with my dog, Whisper. In the morning, Tony made me some nice cinnamon tea for the road.
It was a hot (90 degrees) and sunny day. The track seemed a little slippery again, but not as bad as in June. Things ran on schedule and I could have gone out for 5 sessions, but I skipped the last one because I was hot and getting a little tired. I tried a few different things going through turns seven and eight and they seemed to work well, but no-one was timing me to see if it was really working or not.
The motor was running fine, but the bad news is that none of my changes to the front brakes seemed to do much good -- the brakes still drag more than they should.
After the practices, I met up with Julie and her parents, Jan & Oscar, and we all went to the park and ate a picnic dinner while watching Julie perform in the AHTC production of Cinderella. Bud Reece showed up, too, and we all had a wonderful evening. Then I returned to Tony's house and spent the night there again.
Tony made tea for me again, then it was off to the track. It was another hot and sunny day.
In the 450 Supersport qualifier, I got my best start ever! It felt really cool, but of course Scott Soper started even faster and beat me to turn one. Stuart Johnson put a nice move on me to pass in turn three. In lap 2, he used a similar move on Scott and led the race until the back straight, where Scott motored back past him. I followed Stuart around and came in third.
Julie and her parents arrived, and I suddenly had a large fan club!
The Middleweight Superbike qualifier started with a little adventure. I got the timing wrong and started slow. Meanwhile Rocky Sloan, who was gridded right next to me, popped a wheelie and sort of fell over toward me, so I let off the gas to avoid running into him. After the slow start, I ended up chasing around an SV, and came in 7th or so.
I got another mediocre start in the 450 Superbike race, but then managed to pass several people on the brakes going into turn one. I passed a few more bikes, then caught up with a red SV that I couldn't seem to get around. I finally made my first real "stuff" pass going into turn 9 on the last lap to beat him to the checkered flag. That was fun!
Julie's parents had heard me talking about how Stuart had switched to the same race gas I was using, but was using a stronger mixture of it. They offered to sponsor me for two gallons to make a batch at 1:1 (I usually run one part VP U4 to three parts pump gas). After lunch, Julie volunteered to sing the national anthem and did a wonderful job. What amazing support I had at this race!
In the 450 Supersport race, I wished I could have gotten a start like I did in the qualifier, but I ended up following Jim Kennedy into turn one. I heard Stuart right behind me in turn two, so I gave him a little room and he passed me on the inside of turn three. I expected that, but I didn't expect Stuart to then swerve out and pass Jim on the outside! I think Stuart ground off a fair bit of his footpeg with that maneuver.
I got past Jim going into turn seven, and started trying to close the gap to Stuart. On his second trip through turn three, Stuart slid the back tire and nearly hi-sided just a few bike-lengths in front of me. He flew up out of the seat and came down straddling the bike. Somehow he kept it going and made it through turn four. I was catching him on the back straight when a piece of his windscreen, which he had broken with his helmet, fell off and nearly hit my helmet. I got by him, but then he drafted back past me on the front straight.
On the next lap, I drafted past him on the front straight, but then he came back up even with me on the inside and took the line into turn one. After that he kept me behind him for several laps. I would catch up with him in the seven-eight-nine area (so my changes there were probably working), but then he would pull away a little in the first couple corners. I was really enjoying the chase. Then, when I was passing a 125 going into turn four (that Stuart passed between turns two and three), I realized that there was a waving yellow flag at the turn four corner station, and I probably shouldn't have just made that pass. I slowed to let the 125 by, but I looked back and it was way behind me, so I just kept going. I would have passed it on the back straight, anyway, and it was racing a different class, so hopefully the turn workers weren't too mad at me.
With the moment's hesitation, the gap to Stuart had grown a bit, but over the next couple laps I closed it down again. Finally on the last lap, I tried to take a "big drive" line in turn four and managed to pass Stuart just before turn seven. I'm not sure if there really is a "big drive" line, or if it was that stronger mixture of race gas, but it got me past him! I knew he would try to go back around me, so I kept it tight and a little slow through eight and into nine, and managed to hold him off to take 2nd! That was a fun race!
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| Rounding turn nine - photo by Julie Bucknam |
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I skipped the Middleweight Superbike race because I was worried about heat exhaustion hitting me again. I stayed in the shade and tried to stay cool. And drank my 5th quart of water for the day.
While the bike and I were cooling off, I thought I'd better top up the radiator, since it looked like I'd lost some water out of the expansion tank again. But I could only put less than a cup of water in, so it really hadn't lost much. That was good news after some of the problems I'd had in previous races.
In the 450 Superbike race, there was another SV (or maybe the same one as the heat race?) that I just couldn't seem to get around. I think he could hear me coming, because I'd take a wider line going into a corner, and he would drift out. The next lap, I'd try the inside at the same place, and he'd go in tight. It was frustrating but, hopefully, educational. Finally on the last lap I did the turn nine "stuff" pass again, and it worked again -- what a sense of satisfaction! That was good for 6th place.
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| Exiting turn nine - photo by Julie Bucknam |
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After the race, I felt tired and hot, and my big fan club had all left immediately after the race because they had to get to Cinderella again, so I had to pack up on my own. Les Green helped me with the canopy and the bike (which is our usual procedure). I thought about staying for the trophy presentation, but it seemed to take forever to start, so I picked up my 2nd place plaque and left.
I had to stop at Tony's house to pick up Whisper. By the time I got there, I was feeling heat stroke symptoms again. I ran a bath of cold water and stayed in it for as long as I could stand, then went down and tried to relax on the couch and force more water down. I discovered that forcing water down is bad, and after a while it came back up -- yuck! Eventually I started feeling better, and I drove home to Oceanside. It was 8:30 by the time I got home and I was exhausted. I called a few people to let them know I made it home, then went to bed without unpacking anything.
Now I'm not sure what to do about heat exhaustion -- I drank A LOT that day and still got it. I guess I may just be getting out of shape and need to do more exercise that involves long, high-intensity workouts. On hot days. With a parka on... sheesh!
Thanks to Julie's parents, Oscar & Jan Sander, for the extra race gas and the fan support.
Thanks to Tony for letting me and Whisper stay at his place.
Thanks to all the OMRRA turn workers, registration folks, and other volunteers who made this OMRRA race weekend possible.
Bill Laupp decided to convert his SV-650 to a SuperBike, and he gave me his somewhat worn tires to use on my street SV - thanks, Bill!
Thanks to my sponsors Inside Line, Bridgestone Tires, and Lockhart-Philips USA.
My most special sponsor is my wife, Julie!
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