Friday was a lapping day - a big round of thanks for the Motorcycle Roadracing Association for making that happen! Unfortunately we couldn't make lapping day so we arrived bright and early Saturday morning. When we pulled up the lot was already full of campers and trailers but we managed to find a spot to sneak in and set up. That's a sure sign of success - when you arrive early on Saturday morning to a packed pit and camping area!
We put our bike through tech and while Roger (our team rider) attended the rider's meeting I set up our pit for the weekend. After the meeting we got the bike prepped and Roger made his way out on to the track for morning practice.
It's important to remember that we're new to road racing, but not necessarily new to motorcycle racing. Roger has raced enduro, motocross and has even drag raced motorcycles with much success. However the skills used in road racing are different than what he has used in the past so there is a lot of learning and unlearning we have to do as we get into this.
We switched our shifting on this bike to GP shift (which is backwards from normal shifting), braking and braking points are different, angles into and out of curves are different, and sliding the back tire doesn't really exist here like on dirt. Add in the amount of lean the bikes take to make the corners and the 'slightly' additional weight we older guys carry and have to adjust for and well, no wonder it will take us a while to get comfortable.
Our races on Saturday went as we expected and we met our team goals in those races - don't get lost, get comfortable on the bike and on the track, and make it back to the pit safely. Saturday afternoon and evening we made a few adjustments to the bike and Sunday those adjustments really helped. We shaved off 5 to 8 seconds per lap with the tweaks we did, and that made Roger a bit more comfortable on the bike, which in turn made him a bit faster on the track.
With our races out of the way early on Saturday we were able to watch the main event Saturday afternoon - the 4 Hour Endurance Race. There were 3 categories - "Pony Express" (multiple bikes and riders with one transponder being used as a baton between riders), "True Endurance" (one bike with multiple riders), and "Titanium Butt" (one bike one rider). There was a pretty bad crash just about midway through the endurance race but thankfully broken bones will mend. The endurance race ended just before the sun slipped over the horizon. A big thanks for the corner workers for putting in a long day on the track.
Our next round will be in Pueblo, Colorado. We'll have to camp that weekend because our trailer won't be ready in time. Too bad - it's always hot in Pueblo!
Now that we're back to racing (and hunting season is over) I'll keep the blog updated better. I'm working through the videos and pics from the weekend and I'll post those as I get them ready. You can always catch us on Twitter ( @GeezerGears ) or on Instagram ( geezergears ).
See ya' at the track!
Pops
No comments:
Post a Comment