Round 5, HPR, July 30-31

Sorry for the delay of the write up...

The big change for this round was that I switched back to Pirelli tires. I tried for half of the season to get the Continentals to work for me and even after all the suspension tuning, I just couldn't get the confidence I need in the rear tire. I'm definitely not saying they are a bad tire, I just couldn't get them to work for me. I did feel bad switching only because I think the MRA Continental vendor, Mike Applehans is such a good guy and would go out of his way to help anyone. But in the end, I had to go back to the Pirellis where I know the tires and how they act and I can get my confidence on the gas back.
Practice went good on Friday. Cory from Intermountain Racer Supply, the Pirelli vendor, gave me a set of take offs to practice on and set the bike up. It went well, had to make very few small changes and the bike felt great again.
Saturday I raced the Middleweight and Heavyweight Supersport races and faired ok, two 6th place finishes. Saturday had the addition of a one off 4 hour endurance race that the club does once a season. I hadn't planned on running it, but then got asked by a team of pretty heavy hitters to be the 4th guy on the team, so I said yes and signed up. The team consisted of Mike Applehans, Glenn Conser, Rick Gross and I. We made the whole race and did pretty well getting a 4th place finish, which is in the money! I've never won purse money at the end of a race, so it felt pretty good!
Sunday came around and it was hot as hell, as it had been all weekend, and the bike was running a bit hot. I made it through Thunderbike with a second place finish. I tried like hell to catch Pat Lansu in first, but I just didn't have it this weekend. He's a super fast, experienced rider with an ungodly fast bike. It's now my season goal to catch and pass him! I ran the Heavyweight Superbike race, but 3 laps in the bike was running really hot and it had burped water all over my boot, causing me to slip off the peg a few times, so rather than risk falling, or worse, putting water on the track and causing someone else to fall, I pulled in after 3 laps. So I now have a little work to do to get her to run cooler, but I think I have it covered.




Thanks to John Chadwick for the on track pictures, and Lacy for the pit shot.
Want to throw a big thank you to all my sponsors, and Cory and Intermountain Racer Supply for the Pirellis. Couldn't do this without all of your help!

Round 4, Pueblo, July 9-10

Ahh Pueblo... I have serious demons at this track these days. I decided to only go and race on Sunday for this round since I really didn't want to ride the track as it's in such poor shape. So, I went down Saturday night and pitted with my buddy John Burr (Viva la Walnut Room!!) to ride just on Sunday. I had to keep my points up in Thunderbike if I had any chance at the championship. Even though I was only there for one day it was still a shit show. John and I went out first thing Sunday morning for practice and about 6 laps in his bike showered his rear tire with oil sending him in the air onto his head, out cold, good concussion, end of the day for him. Luckily I didn't hit the oil that was all over the track at turn 7 (Keith Easton wasn't so lucky, but he and his bike were ok). The second practice was ok, I felt like I was familiar with the track to do ok in the races. Thunderbike came and I didn't have anything for Lansu or Galefke, but was able to get a solid 3rd place, so it kept me in the points. After lunch and a long rain delay I raced a shortened to 5 laps Heavyweight Superbike race and got 4th. All in all it was an ok day even though the track is bumpy and slick and I couldn't get any grip out of the rear tire. Round 5 is at HPR in a few weeks and I'm making some changes that I'm confident will pick up my pace and get me to the speed I need to make a good push for the championship in Thunderbike. Here's a few pics that Lacy took in the pits...




Oh yeah... and the motor ran strong, no issues! Gotta thank Kevin at Foothills, Bart at Faster, and Norm at Snug Harbor, for that! Thanks for all your help guys!

Rig

A couple of shots Lacy took of the van at Pueblo. Love my 69 Chevy!

No boom this time, thank god!

New motor is in and dyno'd. Made good numbers. Ready for Pueblo and to get Fish's bike back together.

Cool Pic

Here's a really cool pic that John Chadwick took at round 3 in the afternoon when the clouds were rolling in. He did a little work on it too. Thanks John!

Round 3, HPR, June 11-12

Progress! I worked with Dave Rose all weekend starting on Friday to get the suspension set up right for the Continentals. I still had some trouble with the soft compounds, but I did get closer to the pace that I want to be running. Got second in Thunderbike on Sunday as well as a 4th in Heavyweight Superbike. Still got more work to do. My motor is done and ready to go in the bike, so it'll be in there for Pueblo barring any dyno mishaps... Some picks that Roberta took. Thanks Ro! Sorry for the short post...

Round 2, May 21-22, PPIR

Well, round 2 was at Pikes Peak International Raceway. A lot of people are not into racing this track as it's a NASCAR oval with a real short infield track. Last year I had a really good weekend at PPIR so my hopes were high. Unfortunately things didn't quite come together as I'd like. I struggled a little with grip from the rear tire and my confidence wasn't where it really needed to be. Friday practice was pretty uneventful, spent most of the day getting used to the track and trying to set the bike up for the fairly slippery track.

Saturday, with confidence down, I pushed on and got a 8th in Middleweight Supersport, and 5th in Heavyweight Supersport.
Sunday was only marginally better. I got a 4th in Thunderbike and 5th in Heavyweight Superbike.

Now it's time to work on getting the new motor all together for round 3 back at HPR.