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JBall SV1000 racer - intro
The Race Story - Part
2 (Nashville)
The Race Story - Part
3 (Grattan Raceway)
The Race Story - Part
3 (Grattan Raceway)
The Race Story -
Part 4 (Finally got it painted!)
The Race Story -
Part 5 (Race Report Nelson Ledges....and crash!)
The Race Story -
Part 6 (Finally got it back together)
The Race Story -
Part 7 (My Road Atlanta.......)
The Race Story -
Part 8 (Going to Daytona...2005 season is near)
Some facts and figures
(2004 season)
JBall Grattan Sportsman Event (www.grattanraceway.com)
Grattan Raceway is in central Michigan near Grand Rapids and is one
of my favorite tracks. It is a rolling circuit with a variety of
corners, elevation changes and a long straight. It is fairly safe
with runoff in most of the corners. There is a small hump where you
the bike gets very light and you'll get a bit of air under the rear
tire. It is also unique in that it can be run in both directions
with each having a very different character.
I went up for the Sunday events only. It rained heavily the night
before and I skipped the first practice which would have required
rain tires although the the track was drying up. The second practice
showed two wet spots that would be there all day, but DOT tires were
the correct tire choice. The first race was Senior Superbike and I
finally got to use the power of the bike when I made a pass on the
straight. I was running down the next position but there was still a
wobble / vibration on the straight which prevented use of full
throttle in top gear. I ended up 7th out of 8 experts.
My two races were back to back so I went out immediately for
Heavyweight Twins Superstock. I had a decent start and again managed
to pass with motor and also to hold off one of the 650's that tried
to make a pass coming on to the straight but was 30 yards behind by
the end of it. I ended up 5th out of eight.
Erin, my traveling companion for the weekend, had a less successful
weekend when he crashed his TZR-250 in the bowl turn which happened
to be where I was watching. He was not hurt but a bent bar and
rearset ended his day prematurely.
Virginia International Raceway, WERA Cycle Jam
The Cycle Jam is one of the summer highlights with lots of races and
big grids. It combines a Sportsman event for all regions, an
endurance race, and a National Challenge event. It starts with a
Thursday open practice, a four hour endurance race on Friday,
Sportsman races on Saturday and ends up with National Challenge
races on Sunday. The endurance race and some of the 600cc classes
had over 50 bikes on the grid. VIR is a top notch facility VIR in
southern Virginia with some big elevation changes and 17 numbered
corners (and a few without numbers) and a long straight. It's also a
950 mile round trip (man, the gas bills will be a killer this
summer).
I traveled on Thursday since I had returned from a business trip to
Japan on Wednesday afternoon. After the Friday morning practice I
tore off the front end and took the forks to Mike Fitzgerald of
Thermosman Suspension for the upgrades which had been planned since
the beginning of the season. The consensus is the stock fork
internals are pretty much junk for racing and so far my only change
had been an oil change from 5 wt to 8 wt race oil. (8 wt made as a
mixture of 60% 10 wt and 40% 5wt.) Penske valving was installed
along with new oil, and a 9.0/9.5 kg/cm straight rate spring
combination. Front sag was set at 1-7/16" which indicates I may need
to change the 9.0 spring to a 9.5. One of the nice things about
working with Mike is that once all the money has been laid out he
will help you with adjustments and additional tuning that may be
needed. My general philosophy for suspension is that once you get it
set you shouldn't really have to monkey around too much, but right
now I am still in the monkeying stage.
While the forks were being done I helped my friend Pete with his
endurance effort. It was about 90 degrees F. with a track
temperature of about 135. Lots of the endurance riders could only
manage a half hour at a time and a couple were treated for heat
exhaustion. Amazingly some riders ran stints of over an hour,
including one rider on a big tanked SV-650 that ran an hour and a
half straight. Pete's effort ended up fifth in middleweight
Superbike with a steady run by each of the three riders. My big
moment as a crew member was getting to push start their GSXR-600
three different times when it would refuse to restart after the fuel
stop. (WERA rules require motors be off during refuelling). Many
fuel injected bikes had trouble restarting which I attribute to fuel
vaporizing in the fuel rail. Sometimes two or three pushes would be
needed and it felt like my heart would explode!
Saturday was also hot but at least it was clear. Practice with the
newly installed front end went well and lap times dropped a couple
of seconds. The high speed wobble is still there but will just have
to be ridden around. (It may be related to vibration from the
fairing and a new stiffer fairing stay bracket will be fabricated
when I go home.) The practices are always tough with the big four
cylinder bikes but I felt comfortable.
My first race was Senior Superbike. There were 19 bikes on the grid
and I started in the middle of the pack. I had a good start and was
tenth after the first corner. It was here that my season really
started to come together. I was behind four bikes but we were all
running together. I put my head down and started riding with the
aggression that road racing calls for. I passed for ninth going into
T7 under braking. I passed another bike in the esses at the top of
the hill. I got another going down the Roller Coaster ( a down hill
double left into a right hander sort of like the Corkscrew at Laguna
Seca) and got another guy under braking going into T1, all in a lap
and a half. After that I ran away from all those guys and I ended up
in sixth. I was stoked.
Picture by Tony Fugere. I am number 180, number 14 is also a SV1000,
one of the Bell's Suzuki Brothers, fast! I came in
and got a drink of water from the "crew" (my God-son Tony who rode
his BMW Funduro from North Carolina) and then immediately went out
for the Heavyweight Twins Superstock Sportsman race. The start was
not quite as good with two huge wheelies. However I recovered and
passed a couple of bikes into T1. After that I ran behind a couple
of SV-650's. They ran better in the turns but I kept up and regained
ground down the very long straight where I saw 164 MPH a couple of
times! On the last lap we came up behind a Novice back marker. I
could see the situation developing and one of the guys got balked
for a second coming onto the final straight. I blew by him and the
Novice at the same time with about 20 MPH in hand. He had no answer
for that and being on a 650, had no chance against the big 1000 on
the straight. I ended up 10th out of 19 bikes. He was shaking his
head in disgust as we went around for the cool down lap because he
knew he got snookered.
On Sunday I matched my best time of a 1:39 from the Saturday races
in the AM practice. My race for the day was Heavyweight Twins
Superstock National Challenge and I was feeling ready for battle.
After the grids were up there was an announcement that our race had
been reposted. I went up and got my revised grid position which
changed because they had originally put the Superstock twins in
front of the Superbike Twins but then reversed that position. We
went out for the hot lap and pulled into our starting positions.
Several bikes rode up to the front of the grid where our original
grid spost had been. Two guys realized their mistake and pushed
their bikes back to the right spot but the one rider that couldn't
do that because he got there too late was class leader Tray Batey.
The grid officials sent him out and then started the race,
essentially giving him a 3/4 lap penalty. Goes to show even a
veteran can make a mistake once in a while.
Once again I got a good start and made a couple of passes into T1. I
managed to pick off a couple more bikes through the race although
some were Superbikes so the passes were not for position. Any pass
you make in a race is satisfying though, even if it isn't doesn't
count in the final standings! On the last lap I did pass for
position using a back marker as a "pick" and then making a hard
cross-over braking move into T7 . I also had the thrill of chasing a
250 GP bike from the last turn to a finish line pass. The straight
actually has a dogleg at that point and I passed him on the outside
with about six inches to spare. He came by on the cooldown lap and
gave the thumbs-up sign that the pass was cool. I ended up fifth in
class and in the Suzuki money for the first time. This will probably
be the only time I beat Tray Batey, which I attribute to just being
alert and listening to the announcements. I'll take 'em any way I
can get 'em.
All in all the weekend was great. I am finally riding hard with good
results to show for it. I am getting used to the SV1000 and seem to
be sorting out the inevitable teething problems of a new ride. There
was also a lot of the true high point of the racing experience,
which is the comradery with your pit mates and the mutual assistance
everyone both gives and gets. A big thanks to all my friends who
helped make the weekend a success.
Rubber Side Down to all.
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