at...stupid random oil leaks!!!!!!!!!!!

well...I had written a report here but sponsorhouse decided to log me out in the middle of writing it and when I clicked save it got all lost...so basically now I'm too annoyed to retype it...

Well we are officially in the off-season and I'm definitely anxious to get back out on the track.  So far I have two returning sponsor (Suomy and Vortex) who I'd like to thank for a second year of sponsorship!

Well, as most of you know the off-season is a time of training and this one will be no different for me.  I've been at the gym about 5 days a week and have already gotten a lot of strength back.  My legs are definitely back up to where they used to be and I've really been owrking my endurance.  It really has helped that my buddy John has been coming with me too.  Going to the gym by yourself is really difficult to maintain!

I've also been putting my bike through a workout of sorts.  Barry at GP Suspension North has been taking care of my SV for a while now and we are almost done with it.  Fixed my bent frame, bent swing arm, bent forks and bent tripple clamps...long list of bent I know.   Soon he'll be putting a 750 shock on the rear and giving me all new internals which I can't wait for.  After that we might do a valve adjustment and a new clutch.  From there I think we should be ready for next year other than maybe a few new things from Vortex (clip ons, fairing stay) and I might be putting some new body work on it.

Just wanted to keep you all up to date about what I've been up to lately.  Check back for some pics of the bike back in action!  Also if anyone is seriously considering a cali trip give me a holler!

I'm just making this list to sort of get my gears turning in my head.  It will give me things to mull over when i'm not racing and by the time i get out on the track again i'll know i need to work on these things without even thinking about it.



-smoother on the brakes and downshifting into T2, probably a combination of stock/soft suspension and riding a twin but that doesn't mean i can't try to be perfect about it.

-slow down through T4 on street tires...they aren't meant to have that much lean angle or heat put through them...really i just need race tires and warmers

-push harder through T8

-better drive into and out of turn 7...maybe cut a tighter exit line from T6 which would let me cut through T7 a bit and then really hammer on the throttle up into 8

-harder out of turn 8

-push a little harder through T2 once i get my suspension worked out



these things i know for a fact will cut about 5 seconds or more out of my times.  I can't really push much harder through 3-4, in fact for my current set up I think i'm over riding my bike through T4 which is why i keep crashing there...and i know it's not cause i'm unsmooth...i'm very aware when I make mistakes with throttle control and lines.  My line through T4 is very tight and neat cause it's a corner i can actually push through with stock suspension.



Anyways...this list is sure to grow as I continue to push myself and my machine

Going into this weekend I was really really anxious and pumped.  It would be the first weekend that I'd actually be racing so I just couldn't wait to get out on the track.



Saturday was a really tough day for everyone at the track.  There was one airlift and two evacs I believe.  I missed one practice session and the one I did do only last a couple laps to allow us to get back on schedule.  Going into my first novice race I had basically one lap of the track at speed so this was not so good.  Also in the first practice I had a horrificly terrifyinly terrible tank slapper through turn 1 at about 140mph.  That stock suspension just couldn't handle the bumps on the outside line of T1 (someone cut under me going into T1 so I couldn't take the inside line like normal) and then chaos insued.  The bars were going nuts in my hands and the back end started fish tailing.  At that point I recognized what was happening and basically went limp from the waist up praying that the bike would settle down.  As I blew by a couple people in the braking zone the bike finally settled and I realized I was waaaay past my normal braking marker.  I hammered the brakes and shot past another 3-4 riders on the brakes.  I went a bit wide into T2 but then settled into a somewhat acceptable line.  FWEW!  After coming back from that session I definitely needed a pooper scooper for my leathers.



The Race

Horn sounds, bike is off the stand, line up, whistle blows, line up again, warm up lap.  I had no problems gridding up.  I was in the 8th row I believe so I was in the second wave.  Once they were clear through T2 the red light went on for us.  The light goes out and I do a freakin gigantic wheelie...DOH!  I started terribly...and I mean terribly.  Once I got the front end back down I clicked through the gears as we entered T1.  There was a group of about 3 I think that was to the inside of T2 so I went around all of them in one fowl swoop.  I had to take it relatively easy since I don't have warmers and I think was doing around 1:48 the first lap.  Second lap I really started to come alive and did a 1:44.676 which beat my old best by 2 freakin seconds!  The first half of the third lap felt really good and I could tell I was probably in the low 40s or maybe even under that...if I had held it together.  Braking down into T3 I felt really good and my line was nice.  Toes were sliding around three and I got some great drive into T4.  This is where it all went sour.  As I went on the brakes to go into T4 I settled into my line.  Bike went in smoothly and I felt my knee go down...then my toes...and then the bodywork started scrapping on the ground.  I was at maybe 5% throttle at that point and just holding neutral throttle getting ready to hammer it out onto the back straight.  Before I could even start rolling on the rear end comes lose and from there I'm sliding on my ass into the gravel trap cussing my ass off.  I came to a stop, jumped up and hit the kill switch on my bike.  I ran over to the cornerworker and told him I was fine and continued into the cornerworker station.  I was basically kicking dirt and cussing the whole way.  Why the hell did I just go down.  I know I wasn't on the gas and I know I have taken that corner just as fast before.  I didn't chop the throttle and didn't touch the brakes, that should have worked...but obviously didn't.  The whole time I was in the corner worker station I was rewinding my memory trying to figure out what the hell I just did wrong.  Too much lean angle?  Hit the bit of dust/dirt that was to the inside of T4?  Street tires were not cutting it for the speed I was trying to go?  Wrong profile rear tire?  I honestly still don't know what caused the loss of the rear but I am for sure switching to race rubber before the next race weekend.  I just can't stand not knowing if that street rubber is going to hold out anymore.  I probably was the one at fault but on race rubber I know it'll at least take the tires out of the equation.



Anyways, it was a really disappointing start to the weekend since I was finally starting to go really fast on that little SV (at least really fast for me).  I got back to the pits shaking my head and was now looking for ways to fix my bike so I could race on sunday.

Arrival/Conditions

    Well where to start eh?  Arrived at the track around 7:30am (kinda late) got through tech and registration fine.  It was pretty damp when I got there but by the time I was out for the first time there was a pretty dry line and conditions were okay.  Another racer had a doplar radar on his phone and there was this huge rain storm coming right at us so everyone was kind of cursing the weather man from the get go.  The rain wasn't hard...or even semi-hard.  It was just enough to annoy you and keep the track somewhat damp.  After about 11am, though, the track was mostly dry and times started to pick up quite a bit.  The sun started coming out as the day wore on and the track conditions were actually not half bad.  It was sweeeet.

    Turn 2 was pretty hairy for me today...stock suspension and all.  However, I did put a knee down on that turn for the first time ever!  WEE.  Anyways, I had a pertty gnarly little tank slapper coming out of T2 in one of the mid-day sessions.  I was coming out of T2, ran over the new patch, went through my usual line over the little gray patch and then all the sudden I hit a bump I'd never hit before.  Uh oh...my rear end is fishtailing at 100+ mph...not good.  I relaxed and hoped the bike would sort itself out.  Thankfully the bike finally settled down and I was back on my way around the track.

    Oil was also spewed on the track going into T3 and through into the entrance of T4.  One of our sessions was postponed until after clean up...which took a while.  Once the track workers cleaned up it was pretty good though.  We just had to take a tighter line into and through T3 than normal.



Improvements

    Today I really improved over where I had been the last couple trackdays and even the last race weekend.  I had a best known time last year of around 1:55 which is pretty damn slow.  With beating that time significantly in mind I went out and started every session really nice and easy and worked my way up.  By the second session I really started to go a bit faster.  Couple laps in I did around a 1:47 which was a new personal best.  The whole day I was lapping and passing people.  The only times I got passed were by a couple people and everytime they passed me I either passed them back on the brakes or went around them in the corner haha.  I guess they amped me up a bit.  One of the mid-day sessions I ran a 1:46 which was another personal best.  It seemed each time I went out I was getting quite a bit faster, which is exactly what I'm looking for!



O ya...i was dragging my bodywork..that's how cool I am...or how crappy hot bodies race bodywork truly is...you decide.



Ouch

    Well...what's a good day at the track without some drama right?  This time it wasn't me spewing oil...or anything mechanically related.  This time it was me thinking I could throttle just a bit harder at the end of a session while my knee was down, toes dragging, and bodywork scraping in T4.  Well it really didn't work out so well as I laid down about a 10 foot patch of rubber before the rear spun around all the way leaving me rolling and tumbling on the ground at 50mph.  I did a little back somersault onto my head and finally skidded to a stop in the gravel.  I got up...brushed myself off...and said a few choice words.  Could have been worse...and I'm really glad the people behind me were quite a ways off!



Damage

    The damage to me...is well..nothing.  The SV however didn't fair as well as I did.  The windscreen broke into a million pieces.  My left side rearset is toast, and my bodywork is a little fuckered up but whatever...it's hotbodies so it was fucked up to begin with.  Anyways, that's the extent of the damage so it's really not that bad at all.



Conclusion

    All in all it was a fun day, full of learning and progression.  Can't complain!!

Hey Guys,

The WMRRAs first round of the season was great for me.  It was my NRC (New Racers Clinic) so I didn't actually "race".  I ran practices and a race simulation.  I passed with flying colors, of course, and now am a full fledged novice racer! WOO!



So here's a funny story for you guys.  What do you get when you put two o-rings on with your oil filter?  A pit full of oil!  I guess when I changed the oil the night before, the o-ring stayed on the engine.  I didn't notice and so as  we were lining up at pit gate my bike starts SPEWING oil all over the place.  Soon after I was shrouded in a cloud of smoke.  Once I realised I was "that guy" I hit the kill switch and let out a bit "O SHIT!".  Please nothing bad, please nothing bad PLEEEEEAAASE nothing bad.  As I rolled it back into my pit the great fellows with me gave me this "uh oh" look.  Yup...great being a novice.  Anyways, we took off the fairings and realised it wasn't anything serious in terms of engine damage...just one lone bastard o-ring.  I ran around the pits trying to find some oil, SB was out so I actually wound up borrowing from Tom Marx (my awesome mentor).  Draining all the remaining oil out took no time considering I had probably lost 2 quats into my belly pan.  Once we removed the second o-ring and put the filter back on, the oil went in and we started it up.  Worked fine!  THANK GOD!  Anyways, after that we re-safety wired the oil filter and drain plug and I was ready to go for the next session.



Once I was actually out on the track I was a little hesitant to really pass people.  I was used to the track day mentality.  Although it only took a couple time of me getting passed on the inside to realise this isn't a trackday.  Once I got through that little mental block things started to click and I fell into a rythm.  I was pretty sure I was running with the top ten guys most of the day.  At one point I think I had lapped the vintage guys 3 times in one session.  So not too bad for me, specially it being the first day of the season.  One of the times lapping the vintage guys came around turn 8...probably 5-6 laps in.  Turn 8 as many of you probably know isn't exactly a fun place to push it.  You crash there and it's sky, ground, sky, ground, air fence OUCH.  It's abuot a 110mph left hand uphill slightly cambered turn with a big ass divit on the inside line.  So, coming up on the lappers I decided not to force anything up the inside and just wait til turn 9 or the straight away to pass.  I wound up going inside of about 4 of them in turn 9.  All went well with no drama.  I didn't really think much of it afterwards.  Later in the day one of the expert racers out in the NRC to watch us came up to my mentor.  I was like...uh oh what did this idiot do now.  He was actually complimenting me on how well I had handled myself and how I didn't try to force anything.  I was beaming at this point and I'm not really sure how my head fit inside the canopy.  I had been somewhat worried about passing before that day because I just had a serious lack of experience passing in corners.  Many trackday organizations don't allow the lower level groups to pass on the inside of turns so it was really exciting and fun to do it and do it safely.



Anyways, I think I've pretty much out typed myself.  I have a NESBA trackday coming up this weekend, and hopefully the weather holds out.  I seriously hate running DOTs in the rain and I can't afford rain tires at this point. Please pray to the weather gods with me...no rain...no rain...no rain!!!!







Estimated laptimes were probably right around 1:50-1:45.  It doesn't seem like I'm too far off from my goal and I definitely could push harder.  I'm really tentative in turns 2 and 8 though because my suspension is giving me no feedback.  Once I get my suspension done I should feel much more confident there.

So today I finally started transforming that yellow 2005 SV650S that so many called the Bumblebee from a road bike...to a race bike.  I have the front fairings off completely, took the reflectors off the front, removed the fender and cleaned it up, put in my HH pads, spilled some brake fluid all over my garage, removed a few other things that you are supposed to have while riding on the road...whatever that is.  Tomorrow I'm planning on taking off the tail, brake lights, rear mudflap, and a few other things.  Apparently I'm not supposed to have my race fairings until the 26th so that's not stressing me out at all...  :-0

What I have on so far:

Rear Sets

Exhaust

SS Lines

HH Pads