Race Report

I hadn’t raced at a “new to me” track in quite a few years, so I was pretty excited about heading up to Edmonton for rounds 3 and 4 of the Western Canadian Championships. The weather was supposed to be good, I was travelling with some friends, and I was heading into the weekend with the points lead.

Friday practice took quite a while to get under way. I’m not sure if adjustments with the new scoring system the club was using or the influx of extra riders they were dealing with due to the elevated importance of this event were factors, but we didn’t get rolling until almost noon! That was a first for me. They ran sessions straight through lunch though, and well into the evening, so we still got a chance to get a bunch of practice in. I played quite a bit with gearing and my front end set-up.

The track’s quite short, with a lot of second gear turns with only short squirts between them. There’s really not much of a straight to speak of, and it’s critical that your bike works well on the brakes. Although it’s only a short lap, there’s quite a bit going on, and where you place the bike on the track is quite important in a few of the turns. It was a real challenge learning the track in one day.

It was a double header weekend, with really only one race each day meaning anything to me. I’m only going after the Pro Superbike championship, so the last race of each day is the whole purpose of my trip. However, in order to best prepare for that race I thought I’d better run another couple classes to get a feel for the start and how to work through traffic.

There’s a ridiculously short shot between the start grid and the first turn. Making up much for positions there is almost impossible. My efforts were further challenged by the fact I was gridded DEAD LAST for each and every race I entered. I have a feeling someone making the grid sheets heard I was the “out of town fast guy”. Oh well. Play the cards you’re dealt I guess.....

I entered a “senior” race for the first time in my life! It was a good opportunity for a test run before Open Sportbike though, and of course before the Pro Superbike race. In the first lap I started slicing through the field. There are really only a couple places you can pull off a pass at this track. Learning them was important, as what I was doing was trying a pass in a place it was unlikely, but then it’d mess myself up for an opportunity that would have been better a turn or two later. “Patience, Daniel-son” I had to say to myself. I ended up making my way up to third, and found a huge gap up to the two leaders. It took me quite a few laps to run them down, but I did with about a lap to spare. I sliced through the both of them and took the lead on the last lap for the win.

Open Sportbike was going to be my first real test against the best of the competitors the place had to offer. Again, my start was challenged by the fact I was gridded dead last, but I started clipping off positions immediately. I’m sure it was quite the scene from the spectator’s perspective. There’s a great grandstand that oversees the entire lap. I almost wish I could have watched the events unfold from there! By the time I worked my way up to second the resident fast guy, David Stokowski on his ZX-10, had already established a large lead. There was nothing I could do about all the open track in front of me with the number of laps I had left. Second was the best I could manage.

The final race of the day, Pro Superbike, was a carbon copy of Open Sportbike. Same story, same result. The only consolation was that by finishing where I did, it would earn me a decent grid spot the following day. They establish the grid based on season points. Since I had none the first day (along with quite a number of other people mind you) I was in the back, but after some decent finishes on Saturday I should be well up the grid on Sunday.

I decided not the run in the senior class on the second day to try to save myself for the important races. All the hard braking into slow left hander’s on this track is quite hard on the left triceps and shoulder. I was starting to fatigue at the end of Saturday, and I didn’t want it to hamper my result on Sunday.

Starting from the second row I got a decent start, and quickly found myself contesting for the lead. In turn two of the first lap I made the pass on the brakes inside two riders to take the lead. I circulated for nearly the entire race with the sound of a big ZX-10 always on my rear tire. I knew my pace wasn’t that strong, and I hoped to get a chance to follow for a bit to learn the nuances of the track. I got my chance after the braking zone at the end of the only kinda straightaway on the track in turn two. I was passed for the lead, and only had one lap to both learn a trick or two, and try to regain the lead for the win. David ran a really clean lap though, and as we neared the final section I wasn’t in a position that I could safely attempt a pass. He must have thought that I was breathing down his neck though, cause into the last passing zone he out-braked himself and tucked the front with only 1 turn to go. I was gifted the win.

The final Pro Superbike race on the weekend was my chance to really show my mettle. I got off the line quite well again, and slotted in right behind Stokowski to begin the lesson. He ran a really strong pace, and it was everything I could do to stay on him. When I’d finally hit a lap just right and make some ground to him, the next lap around I’d apex just a little early or have to make a steering correction mid-turn that would cost me time, and I’d lose some again to him. I slipped back about a second around half way and thought he was maybe going to ditch me. I managed to click off a couple smooth ones though and brought him right back again a couple laps later. It was turning into a real barn-burner! Unfortunately though I made a couple of bad mistakes in the next couple laps and I lost the pull I was getting off of him. From there it was over. We’d completely dusted off the rest of the field in the process though, so a safe second was a gimme.

I had really hoped to win both the races that mattered, but it just wasn’t meant to be that weekend. David rode really strong on his home track, and it would probably take another visit to the place to really feel at home enough to click off lap after lap of clean turn-in’s and apexing at just the right spots on the curbing. But by the end of it all I’d managed to stay with the lap record holder and give him an honest run for his money. I lapped within .3 of a second of the all-time record for the place, and I know there was time left on the table in a couple of the turns.

Big thanks go to my buddy Geoff Klassen and GP Suspension for working with me to get my forks sorted out after they consumed the bottoming bumpers down in Mission. If it weren’t for them I never would have been able to run at any kind of a pace.

Unfortunately on the way home the transmission in my truck packed it in. It made for a long drive home (Edmonton’s pretty far as it is, never mind trying to do it with only 1 gear), but good conversation with my buddy Austen kept it entertaining. Now it’s time to spend a day under my truck with my bud Geoff wrenching a new tranny into the truck; good times!

Stay tuned for the report coming up from Portland International Raceway two weeks later (I’m working off a little backlog of reports right now......).