Race Report

First off: Welcome back to schmidtastic.com. We’ve been down for a bit now, but back up and running now thanks to my trusted wrench – Andy Nelson - for donating some hosting services. Shake and Bake, Andy (Oh yeah, and CrystalTech hosting blows). It’s felt like a very long off-season this winter, and I’m happy to be back on the bikes. Of course, I’m not complaining of the time off, as I’ve really been quite busy with work.

Ice racing was a bit of a write-off this winter. The organizers of the event “out-rednecked” themselves by putting a couple trucks through the ice trying to plough off the racing surface, so that set them back a couple weeks. Then with some uncooperative weather it severely cut the season short. I started getting more and more comfortable through our one day of ice racing, and ended it with a win.

Last weekend we started off the OMRRA season down in Portland. I always love hearing about the hype going on about who’s going to be fast this year, and who’s riding in what classes and all that jazz. It’s quite funny, because it seems as though people try to get into my head going on about all that stuff, when all it does is motivate me. It’s kinda like feeding the monster I suppose. You’d think they’d learn after a while….

So practice was pretty much a wash out prior to the races. Pirelli has a completely new front and rear tire this year with different profiles, heights, carcasses – the whole package. It’s all good as the tires have turned out to be straight up WICKED, but without the practice time I had to start the race day still playing with ride height front and rear, and gearing as well since the circumference of the rear tire had changed. Not to mention I had completely new bikes that still needed some suspension tuning and whatever else.

The morning qualifying heats were essentially practice/test/tune sessions as far as I was concerned. I knew all my competitors had been practicing for a month, and really expected to just hang on while remembering the fast lines and turn points and whatnot. Well I did just that, but while leading every single lap of all my heats, winning them all comfortably and securing pole position for the afternoon mains.

I felt a little better over lunch as the bikes seemed to be working relatively well. I made a few slight changes that I knew would be going in the right direction, poured in the race gas, and changed out the old tires for some fresh new Pirelli DOT’s. The bikes only had a few sessions on them as well at this point, so they are still breaking in and making more and more power.

In the 600 Supersport race it took me a little while to get my groove on. Being the first race out of the box for me I had a lot of bugs to work out. I slopped my way around the track for the first few laps before figuring it out. Just before getting into the lappers I took a look back to see who might have come with me. I had a more than healthy lead so just picked my way through them safely to win by a large margin.

I anticipated more of a race for the lead in the 750 Supersport class. I went at it pretty hard for the first half of the race, trying to make it hard for anyone to come with me. The entrance to turn 3 was quite slippery for the first half of the afternoon, and on three different laps I almost lost the front end going in there. On one particular lap I actually crossed the front up twice going into that turn, but magically managed to save it. The new Pirelli DOT’s are obviously very good tires. Up until I caught up with the lappers I ran every lap at a 1:07.5 pace. That’s a bit faster than I’ve gone before on the 750, and plenty fast enough to stretch a large lead out on my competitors. I again won by a large margin.

The 600 and 750 Superbike races turned out to be repeats of the Supersport events. The DOT tires were working so well that I didn’t even bother putting slicks on for the Superbike events. I just left the DOT tires on for the same results.

At the end of the day I led every single green flag lap of every qualifier and main for the whole day, won all four races by large margins, and again set the fastest laps of anyone at the track despite running a Supersport 750 on DOT tires and a largely stock motor. I’m confident that I will be able to go significantly faster at the next event. My motors will be fully broken in by that time, and I’ll have blown all the cobwebs out of my system for sure. There’s still a couple places on the track where I’m not happy with my speed, so I plan to sort those out whenever I’m able to secure some practice time.

I’m racing the first WMRC event in Mission, B.C. this weekend and quite looking forward to it. The Suzukis are working well, and it will be nice to see all my friends again down there.

Newly on board this year as far as sponsors go are Orca Bay Suzuki based out of Port Coquitlam, B.C. They’re a dedicated Suzuki-only shop where they carry every product from cars, bikes, generators – the whole package. The shop is very modern and presentation oriented. Be sure to come out for the dealer/demo day we’re having there on May 5th. http://www.orcabaysuzuki.com

Big Top Powersports out of the Abbotsford/Chilliwack area is looking after my off-road dirtybike duties with a new RMZ-250 (you’ll be hearing more about my off-road adventures in upcoming schmidty reports). Their shop is just off the highway and they are the inventory kings. If you’re into ATV or dirtbike products, bikes, accessories; that’s where you need to go to get hooked up. We’ll be doing a dealer day there as well, probably in early June. I’ll keep you posted. http://www.bigtoppowersports.com

Suomy helmets are now on board and I can say that I couldn’t be happier with the new lids. Not only are the graphics so insanely bad-ass, but the fit, finish, and overall quality of my new SPEC1R-Extreme helmets are off the scale. Check them out at http://www.suomy-usa.com, or drop by next time you are at the track. I guarantee you’ll love them.

See you soon. And remember; if you’re not on the gas, you suck.