Brian's OMRRA Race
May 1/2, 2004

Summary

• 1st place in 450 Supersport (of 10)
• 7th place in 450 Superbike (of 16)
• 16th place in Middleweight Superbike (of 28)

Preparation

I took the front forks from my old bike and put them on the new bike to try to get rid of the front wheel chatter problems I had at the April race. I also noticed that I wasn't braking as late and as hard as I was last season, and didn't realize until I was swapping the forks that maybe the softer feeling springs in Scott's forks had something to do with that.

I also found that one of the bolts holding the subframe on had disappeared during last month's race, and the one on the other side was loose. That makes two times I've bought race bikes with parts not fully attached.

My friend Tony needed a ride to the airport on Friday night. He was going on vacation to Bermuda, and Julie and I took care of his dog, Baron, for the week. So Tony got us a pizza dinner, then I drove him to the airport. We stayed at Tony's house for the weekend.

Saturday May 1 Morning Practice

Saturday was a sunny, warm day. There were two practice sessions in the morning, then there was an endurance race in the afternoon. My race budget doesn't include any endurance racing this year, so it was just the practice sessions for me.

Sunday May 2 -- The Races

Another warm and sunny day, the temperature eventually got above 80 degrees.

The morning qualifiers went fine. I'm getting a little better with the clutch on this bike, so my starts are getting a bit better. I won the 450 Supersport qualifier, and did OK in the others.

Over lunch I noticed that one of the wires holding the sheet aluminum belly pan on had broken. With that side loose at the front, the aluminum was ripping apart on the other side.

In the 450 Superbike race, I got an OK start, but SV's do have more torque than FZR's, so a lot of them went by me in the first hundred yards. Then there was some pretty wild riding going around the first couple corners. Since I'm never going to beat the top SV's, I took it pretty easy on the first lap to let everybody string out a little. I passed 3 or 4 SV's in the first few laps, then caught up with Jim Gibbons (709) and Kevin Pinkstaff (721). These guys had a race of their own going on, just as they did in April. They finished in front of me in April, so I wanted to try to pass them this time. I did manage to get around them after several laps, but it was only good for 7th place out of 16.

I put some more gas in bike, and started to worry that I was going to run out with two more races to go. Bill Laupp's bike blew a head gasket on Saturday, so I asked if I could buy some gas from him. He said he wouldn't sell it, but he would give it to me for free. Thanks, Bill!

The Middleweight Superbike race went pretty much the same. I picked off a few bikes, then had some fun chasing someone that I could never quite catch. Unfortunately, he went off the track in turn 2 for no apparent reason.

After the Middleweight race, I noticed that my left boot seemed to have some oil on the toe. I checked my bike and found that a small amount of oil was coating the engine below the countershaft cover. I took the countershaft cover off and found definite signs of oil leaking from somewhere near the countershaft. It also looked like there were a lot of shavings of plastic or something accumulating in there... plus the chain had suddenly gotten very loose.

With not much time to analyze the problem, my best guess was that the chain was reaching the end of its useful life, and that somehow the looseness of the chain was causing the oil leak. It's pretty common for chains to suddenly stretch a lot as they wear out. I also hoped that the shavings were from the chain hitting a plastic guard on the shift shaft. If I tightened the chain, I hoped the bike (and now-suspect chain) would make it through the race, but I would watch for any sign of additional oil leaking.

By this time, I only had about 20 minutes before my next race. I sent Julie to fetch Les Green to help put the countershaft cover and shift linkage back on, while I tightened the chain. We got the bike together and I got suited back up just as the "second call" was given. Without Les's help, I wouldn't have made the race.

I got a slow start in the 450 Supersport race, and ended up fourth going into turn one. Geoff Ford had gotten a great start, and led Rocky Sloan, Dan whats-his-name, and me through the first several corners. I took it a little easy the first couple laps, checking my boot and the left foot-peg for any signs of oil. I passed Dan and Geoff, then followed Rocky for a couple of laps.

The bike seemed to be running fine, and there were no signs of oil, so I passed Rocky and went on to win!