Race Report

My weekend started off with an interesting change of pace. I was a guest instructor at the PSSR track day held the Friday before our race. I really quite enjoyed the day. It was refreshing to be at the track without the stress of it being race day. The PSSR staff were welcoming of me, and all the students I talked to were very enthusiastic. It was a bit of a shock to be on the track with non-racers that didn't yet understand the capabilities of modern sportbikes. I felt that I made a difference to a few riders, and instructing is something that I will probably pursue to do more of in the future.

We had Saturday off, as it was basically vintage day. I sort of felt sorry for the vintage guys, because I was miserable about the weather enough under my tent working on my stuff. The poor guys were doing Le Mans starts in that rain and wind! Pretty cool to watch though, if you ever get the chance. Maybe Geo Pestes will turn his killswitch to 'on' next time before trying to bumpstart his bike until everyone's in turn one (he got the anti-holeshot though!).

The weather on Sunday pleasantly turned out to be better than it was supposed to. I was happy to see the hints of a partly clouded sky the was just becoming lit when I went out to my truck in the morning.

I did the 750 Superbike qualifier in the morning on my 600 to blow the cobwebs out before the races that mattered for me. I wheelied badly off the start, and filed into turn one in around 9th or 10th. In only four laps I had worked my way up to 3rd and closed a huge gap to second to finish on his back wheel.

600 Superbike qualifying was quite the show. One fellow flicked himself up and onto his head on the warm-up lap. We waited on the grid while they tended to him, and let us loose for another warm-up lap when it was all cleaned up. Problem is that nobody told us it was raining in turn one (it wasn't raining on the start grid). I came a whisker from stacking it up on my warm-up lap, and many others did the same. The qualifying race itself was very nerve wracking, as the track wasn't wet enough to look wet, but was very slick. To make matters worse, it was only on the one end of the track – so you sort of had to guess at where the traction was and wasn't. I won the qualifier, but not by much, and it was not fun at all.

The 600 Supersport qualifier was more like I prefer them to go. Although I was gridded on the 3rd row (as my motor blew up while leading in the previous race meeting of this class) I still managed to pound my way into turn one in second place. Matt Zurbuchen got the hole shot, but I caught up and passed him going into turn 4 on the first lap. I wasn't challenged after that and won comfortably.

After some tire changing and minor stressing over the weather at lunch (as it had misted hard enough that the first couple races after lunch were wet) it was time for our 600 Superbike main. Thankfully the track was completely dried out. I hit the start pretty well and led into the first turn. I rolled around at a decent pace for the first 5 laps, then took a look back at the halfway flags. I had a pretty good lead ahead of Matt Zurbuchen and Mike Sullivan, but felt I could step it up a notch. I put my head down and clicked off a couple fast ones before catching up with the first of the backmarkers around lap 7 or 8. I sliced through traffic fairly well for a few laps, and finished with a huge lead. My clutch had started slipping driving off of turns 4 and 9 though, and I was worried about it lasting another 10 laps for the next race, without costing me too much time.

Finally it was time to run the 600 Supersport race, and I was happy that the track was still dry. The whole club really was lucky that day, as the entire time we were threatened by the weather, but managed to just miss it for most of the day. I didn't get as good of a launch at the drop of the green flag this time (I was trying to be a little easy on the clutch) and slotted into second place for turn one, behind Matt Zurbuchen. I drove around the outside of Matt in turn 3 and squeezed in between him and the curb to take the lead going into turn 4 of the first lap. From there I strung out a small lead (just long enough to mostly eliminate the draft) and held it there. I took a look back a couple times to see where we stood, and it was always the same. My clutch was slipping much worse now, and I feared it was going to give it up for good. Coming off of the driving turns it would spin up almost to redline, then drop back down suddendly, then right back up again before I shifted. I knew it was costing me time, and I wanted to take it easy coming off the turns, but I couldn't make myself. I just wrung its neck for the rest of the race hoping for the best. Matt kept me honest that race, as it was difficult to keep my quick pace, and get through the traffic without any hold-ups to maintain my lead for the win.

I was very pleased to win both the 600 races once again. Aside from the one race where my motor blew up while leading I’m undefeated in both the 600 classes this year. My wins put me back into the lead for the club's season championship as well. If it weren't for the zero points of the DNF race my lead would be almost insurmountable. Instead it's still a close one, but I've got the upper hand going into the final race meet of the year.

A very special thanks goes out to SBS Brakes as I truly feel that they have made a significant difference in my speed and confidence. They work better the hotter they get, have little to no drag, and are very soft during light lever pressure situations. You can safely drag them a little if you're in too hot without worry of them biting when you don't want them, but have all the power and then some for when you're straight up and down. I highly recommend them.