WMRRA Round 1 – Pacific Raceways
Cold, clear, and sunny
650 SS Twins – 3rd
600 TFS – 8th
750 Supersport – 24th
750 Superbike – 22nd
Weekend began with our usual Adrenaline Freaks track day to shake out the cobwebs of a long, and freakin cold, snowy winter. Unfortunately, the day started off with some serious perfect storm type moments. First, yours truly forgets to renew trailer tabs. Second, yours truly forgets to put new registration and proof of insurance in truck. Although truck tabs and insurance were up to date, a 3 year old piece of paper didn’t cut it with the friendly (not) WSP (Gestapo). So after a delay, a $900 ticket, and an urge to strangle a peace officer, I arrived at the track late.
First session, the track gets a fresh coat of gas with an oil back, around the majority of the back section. Mmmmm….should I even try to ride today? Is this karma? Well, after riding a broom for a bit, the track went hot. I can’t say enough about Adrenaline Freaks Track Days staff as they managed a really bad situation in an efficient and effective manner. They got us all out on the track as quickly, and safely, as possible. The rest of the afternoon was relatively uneventful as I was able to stretch out the legs and break in the SV motor that Dave Alexander, at Fluid Suspension Science refreshed for me a couple weeks ago.
Race 1 – 650 SS. The grid was small and having a row 1 spot, I was feeling pretty good. My lap times from practice were not all that great, but I was hoping the race would inspire me a bit to grab some more go. The board goes up, the light goes out, and literally everyone heads into T1 as I’m thinking, “How can I possibly be such a horrific starter?” I slotted in the back and just tried to see what the next 10 laps would give me. Much to my surprise, my pace in 2-4 was horribly slow, but I had some good mojo from 5 thru the bus-stop. In a couple laps I found myself in 4th and in a three way battle to decide the podium. I say three way as Mr. Finken was checking out.
The 209 of Todd Sparrow, the 281 of Brian Jeffrey, and me exchanged positions several times during the race. The exchange was very fun on the bike and hopefully provided some excitement to watch. Often times the SV class gets pretty spread out so refreshing to see some tight racing. In the end, Todd edged me out for 2nd due to my slow pace in T2-T4, and my near lowside in T3 on the last lap. I was however, able to hold of Brian for a podium finish by fractions of a second. I have to give a kudos to the WMRRA staff for biting the bullet and changing to the AMB scoring system. Very cool, very accurate, very timely. Way to go WMRRA. Congratulations to Nick Finke for the win, Todd Sparrow for 2nd, and thanks to Brian for the push to get me out of my long winter nap.
Race 2 – 750 SS. This race is back to back with SS twins and man I sure was thinking how strange the GSXR felt after being on the SV for the last race. But thanks to our PNWRidersRacing.com manager, Katie Perry, the 750 was warmed up and ready to go in the pits as I came in, changed bikes and got ready for another 10 laps. My grid slot for 750 SS was 4th mid pack, but on the inside wall so T1 would be interesting. The board goes up, the light goes out, and….. yeah, I’m a crappy starter. Nearly last place in T1 so I guess my concern about getting pinched in T1 was pretty pathetic. This race for me was really more of a test and tune. I was able to make up a few paces but gearing issues and bike feel plagued me to the end of the race. A race that was cut short due to a crash in T3…. Corson, glad your okay, and look forward to seeing you back out there for round 2.
Race 3 – 750 SBK. This race had me gridded for second wave and the outside. Again, I really just wanted to focus on getting a better start, reducing my lap times, and getting some saddle time. The start had me second guessing myself as it ended up being a single wave and I wanted to be absolutely sure I wasn’t going to ram someone. Again, bad start but, more due to my paranoia than anything else. In this race I focused on a few items like getting out of the bus-stop faster. I was able to pick off a few people and get my lap times down. Still 3-4 seconds away from goal, but better. I finished just behind my team mate in this race although failed to make top 20. Lot’s of focus on 750 gearing and pace is needed for next round.
Race 4 – 600 TFS. I had a decent grid slot for this race and my start was 10x better than previous three races. I was in fact, able go into T2 in 4th place I think. However, in this class, the older inline 4’s, and the 1st gen SV Superbikes have so much more speed on the straights, that a Supersport SV is really doomed from the start. I wanted to keep the inline’s in sight for as long as possible and see if I could hold off any inlines that were behind me. I was unsuccessful at both. Mainly because the more I pushed, the more I began to slide around. Given the bike is setup for a much heavier rider, I’m looking for some improvement in corner speed at next round after Dave has a chance to work his magic. I will say the Bridgestone tires work very well and while I did have some slides, they were nothing that I would call scary, or surprising. I just need to dial in my suspension and quit making the tires do all the work.
I want to thank all my sponsors, team mates, friends, and family that make this addiction of mine a reality.
WMRRA club, staff, riders, volunteers
Bridgestone Tires, and Troy McCrae of Pennell Powersports
Motorex USA
Vortex
Adrenaline Freaks Track Days
Dave Alexander – Fluid Suspension Science
Studio819.com – Brandon Bones, a magician with the lens.
PNWRiders.com, and Katie Perry – the best manager in the paddock.
Teammates – Kevin Klemmer, Eric Featherstone, Chris Sarbora, Chris Fratini
See you all next weekend at PIR for OMRRA Round 1.
