Race Report

The weekend started out about as normal as any other weekend: no sleep, putting a motor in the night before practice day, etc. We did manage to get to the track and get teched in time for the action though, so I was feeling up.

About 3 laps into Friday's practice session, my bike stepped out in turn 3 which really surprised me because I wasn't really on it yet ... I was still breaking in a new motor. Turned out that the seal on the output shaft blew out and the motor was gushing oil all over my back tire. I got back into the pits safely and we managed to get it fixed up for the afternoon practice. My team mate was having some real troubles getting his GSXR 600 sorted out on the Portland track and suggested me riding it to try to sort out the problems. He used his R6 for the weekend and I had a 600 to ride. I got signed up for that class Friday after everything was done. I hadn't ridden a 600 since last year and wasn't sure how well I'd do, but I was definitely interested in finding out. I only had one practice session on it before qualifying Saturday afternoon.

Qualifying went well in both my classes, I posted times that would put me on the second row for both Pro Sportbike and Unlimited Superbike (1:10.3 and 1:08.4 respectively). However when they hauled the 600 off to check if it was legal, it went over the 112hp limit by 0.5hp. The bike had posted 107hp on a dyno before, and I didn't have time to check it on Saturday, so I had to start from dead last (row 9) in Sportbike on Sunday. We did some testing and found out that pouring in some cheap Arco would choke it back to 109hp. Problem solved.

I got a decent start in the Sportbike race but got stuck in a traffic jam in turn 1 and lost a lot of positions. I couldn't believe the string of bikes ahead of me as I went through turn 3. I was moving forward through traffic fairly quickly and I think I was up into 22nd or something like that after the first lap. I just kept the hammer down for the whole race. Every time I got by another group of riders I'd get all excited as I looked up the track at the next group. My pit board was telling me what position I was in and I'd subtract the number of riders in the group I was catching down the straight to get me motivated. It all worked out in the end, I finished 9th after it was all said and done. I would have liked to have kept my grid spot and gotten the chance to race for the lead but going through traffic was pretty fun, and I think it gave me an aggressive confidence boost going into the Superbike races that afternoon.

The first Superbike race went well. I got a decent start and battled with a few guys including almost a race long battle with Mike Cicotto. He'd motor up alongside and in front of me down the straight and I was blasting by on the brakes into turn one almost every lap. In the end I cooked my tire trying to stay ahead of his incredibly fast bike and he got me. I finished 7th. Later I found out that his bike was a little too fast and he was DQ'd from the second leg. Race 2 didn't go quite as good for me. I finished 9th and couldn't understand why my times were about 1 to 1.5 seconds off the pace I ran earlier even though I was sliding the bike all the way around the track. At one point I almost lost it coming out of turn 3, the bike shook so violently as the tire tried to hook back up, both my legs got kicked off of the pegs and the seat was just slamming me on the insides of my thighs. So many people were trying to tell me how good of a save I made after the race, I honestly don't have a clue how it stayed on two wheels. Later I found out that the seal for the clutch push rod that is located just in front of the output shaft was leaking badly. The whole rear left side of the bike was hosed in oil, including my boot and inside of the swingarm. That explained the poor lap times.

We packed up our stuff and headed down to Willow the following Tuesday. We made it to Stockton, California and spent the night there Tuesday. Wednesday morning when we woke up we heard that the race was cancelled and headed home. Those damn terrorists, they sure made a mess over here. I have a feeling that the people responsible for Tuesday's attacks are going to get what's coming to them though. My heart goes out to the casualties of September 11th.