Race Report

Man, did it ever feel good to finally get to Portland to begin the real season of racing. The bikes were far from ready (the 600 bodywork, frame, motor, and wheels were all in different locations of the city as I rolled into town around 2am), but what do you expect?

I spent the day on Thursday scrambling around town and working feverishly in my friend Dale Pestes’ garage putting the 600 together and adding a few required parts to the 750. We got access to the bodywork on Friday morning and got it bolted up just in time to begin some instruction that I did for the novice school.

Teaching novice school was something that I found actually quite enjoyable. I was part of a really great group of students that all kept a cool head, picked things up really fast, and had an excellent attitude. It was a really cool way to meet some people fresh to the sport that I know will continue to be my friends for some time. Heck, I even ended up borrowing a muffler from one of them for use in the races on Sunday! I wish that I had the opportunity to take part in the classroom session, as I feel that my value in teaching them to go fast is better communicated verbally than at the extremely reduced pace in some of the novice riding drills on the track. Maybe next time…..

I ended up getting some good practice in, between Friday afternoon and Saturday before the torrential rains hit, but still not nearly enough to get the bikes totally figured out.

Sunday rolled in with some stellar weather to kick off a great atmosphere to start the race season with. The racing part of the day started out just fine as well. I had pole for the qualifiers of both my 600 races because I’m the existing champion in those, and was gridded WELL to the back of the 750 grids because I never entered a single one of those races all last year. I took the holeshot in the 600 SS qualifier and strung it out for a win to secure pole. The 600 Superbike quali started out the same, but I couldn’t keep the 636 and R6 Superbikes of a couple of my competitors behind me for the whole 4 laps – I ended up in the third spot on the front row for 600 Superbike. Both the 750 classes ended up the same, with me winning to take pole. The starts were very crazy in both of them, having to knife my way to the front in the first few turns. I hit one of my friends and fellow competitors while attempting a pass in the first lap of one of the qualifiers. Luckily neither of us went down, my apology was accepted, and a broken clutch lever was the full extent of the damages.

The 600 Supersport race was a little disappointing. After taking the holeshot and setting the pace for the first 5 laps or so, I brought one of my competitors with me as we left the rest of the field. Unfortunately I had atrocious luck picking my way through the backmarkers, and had nothing for him at the line. I finished 2nd.

The 750 Supersport race was a little more exciting. This time it was four of us that broke free from the pack. I led for most of the race, until being passed for the lead. Soon after that I lost touch as we came up to a group of backmarkers. I didn’t have anything for the leader as we were going through traffic too heavily to make a good run for any distance on the track. I ended up going back and forth a little for 2nd with my buddy Mike Sullivan for a few laps. I thought the white flag was the chequered flag when I went by and started rolling out of the gas. Luckily I saw that nobody else around me had pulled their heads up from behind their shields and I decided to stay in it. I just tooled around for the last lap at about 90% still not sure if it was over or not. Luckily I managed to hold onto my position through the confusion and finished 2nd. It’s too bad though, because I could have made a charge for the lead on that last lap through traffic if I had known better. Oh well.

750 Superbike was the way that I like them to go. I was a little disappointed at this point for winning a race so far, and really put my head down from the start. I took the holeshot and peeled off a nice early lead to win by a sizeable margin.

The 600 Superbike race was actually a really exciting event, even though I didn’t win. I had a great battle with my competitor for the lead on his 636 Superbike, but couldn’t quite pull him at the line for the win. I also didn’t realize that we brought a third rider with us when we left the rest of the field. I was too focused on the race for the win to realize we had another rider to think of until as I crossed the line for the last time. A third 2nd place finish was the final result.

Although I’d rather have three wins and a 2nd than the other way around, I was there for the win in all my races despite the fact that I still have stock exhaust systems. I’m really looking forward to next time out when the bikes are about 6 pounds lighter and make 5 more horsepower. Not to mention that the 750 motor is totally stock at this point. I just can’t wait!

Currently OMRRA is having to go through the process of determining how to penalize or deal with riders that forget to switch their transponders from one bike to the next. Everyone was getting used to the new system, and in the haste between my two last races the AMB unit didn’t get swapped over from the 750 to the 600. Even though everyone knows that I finished 2nd, including the scorer in the tower, the club president, referee, any my fellow competitors that signed my appeal/petition to reinstate my hard fought finish and associated points (included those that finished in front and behind me), there is a review of how the situation is to be dealt with. Currently there are no provisions in the rulebook that state the requirement or disciplinary actions associated with not having a transmitting transponder while racing. During rider’s meeting there was no mention of disqualifications, only a black flag for non-transmitting bike (of which I did not receive). I was let to continue and finish the race as if nothing was wrong. A disqualification from a race is one of the most severe penalties that can possibly be assessed onto a rider, and in my opinion should be saved for flagrant technical or sportsmanship violations. Precedence is being set by the outcome of the club’s decision, and I sincerely hope that it is not determined that every OMRRA competitor that forgets their transponder for the rest of the year will be disqualified from their races.

Stay tuned, as I’ll probably provide an update based on the result of the club’s decision. I hope everyone had a great time watching the races last weekend, and I appreciate all the support and encouraging words by so many through some of my challenges. Thank you to my friends, sponsors, fans, and family.