| Author | Message | ||
     Paint_shaker |
LWT SOLO 20 (20 Laps)... 4th place out of 6, 1 run off, no crashes (for me) and a low PSI tire issue. Many Thanks to Gainesville H-D/Buell & BuellGator, Cody's Roadhouse Restaurant and My Dad and Mike in the pits!!! More later! (Message edited by Paint shaker on March 07, 2009) | ||
| Rubberdown |
Was it fun Man??? I know it was! Way ta go! | ||
| Gearhead |
Congratulations and welcome to the land of insane fun!! I wish we were racing now in the Midwest, I can't wait! | ||
| Duggram |
Good for you! Congratulations! Are you addicted yet? | ||
| Gentleman_jon |
Very excellent! | ||
| Not_purple_s2 |
Awesome! Especially for a first race. I'm gonna have to take a day off and go see you run. | ||
| Paint_shaker |
Sunday Race Results... HWT Super Stock; I started from the pole and stayed out in front for the whole race... BUT........ I was the ONLY rider in my class! It was kinda anti climatic to know all I had to do was finish. But a win is a win! LWT Super Bike; I started 4th, made it as high as 2nd and finished 3rd! I was hanging with the rider who passed me for 2nd til I got caught in lap traffic. More to come! | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
BUT........ I was the ONLY rider in my class! doesn't that piss ya off! all that money spent and no one shows up to race. A win is a win!! Hell, I've got 3 AMA #1 plates that way!! WOOO HOOO! I hope I can defend my #1's against myself this year..... I'm gonna kick my own a$$!! LOL | ||
| Gearhead |
Paint_shaker, You don't have control over who shows or doesn't show up. Take the win knowing you were there and prepared to be successful. I too have learned that racing is as much a numbers game as the racing itself! Congrats!! | ||
| Redbuelljunkie |
Hell, maybe I should get a license and run with you in HWT Super Stock! I wouldn't mind finishing second. Did you get your photos?... we want to see. | ||
| Rocketsprink |
Wolf. Planning on doing the Mid Ohio race in September? I plan on being there. Trying to get some racers from the Midwest region from CCS to head down that way. Gearhead. Are you in!? | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
I dropped over a grand last year on that race..... thats not in the budget this year..... in other words.... maybe. | ||
| Paint_shaker |
I would like to preface this with the following... We started the race weekend with a suspension mess!!! The settings were all wrong, but by Sunday we were on the right path!! Sat Race Report; No real issues during practice. Started 6th (dead last) for my 20 lap LWT SOLO. Managed to get to fourth and stay on the tail of 3rd and 2nd for quite a while. The bike started feeling a little "loose", kinda like low PSI. A short time later while leaned over with a knee down in turn 8, the front slid on me. I managed to save it and keep going. Meanwhile, 3rd and 2nd were slowing pulling away. SO I get back in the game. But something just wasn't right. The tires were not sticking, or were losing grip where I should have had grip. To top it off, I came in too hot in turn 3, ran off and re-entered turn 5. No harm, no foul as Nobody was near me when this happened. I stayed in the race, but with my confidence shook, I resigned myself to finishing the race. Upon completing the race and checking tire pressures, it was found we somehow LOST PSI on the track. The tire wear showed this as well. I finished my first race 1 lap down overall, and 4th out of 6 in my class. I also managed to pass 1 expert. After the race we turned our attention to the suspension. We consulted with the Pirelli guy, made some phone calls and ultimately ended up with the Higbee settings. We also put a new rear tire on (thanks BuellGator & Gainesville H-D/Buell). Sun Race Report. First practice; With new suspension settings and fresh rear rubber, we came in after 4 laps to make sure the tire PSI was correct. It was and we had no further PSI issues. Second practice; The front tire slid on me once in 13. This was NOT a tire issue, but caused by 2 slower riders side by side and both checking up. 1st Sprint HWTSS; I started on the pole for my class and finished 1st (no other entries, ha!). 2nd Sprint LWTSB; I started 4th, worked my way to 2nd. Got passed, but was able to keep on his tail. Got caught up in lap traffic, that the 2nd place rider was able to get around and finished 3rd. The bike handled well on Sunday, it was mostly the knucklebrain attached to the throttle!!! I would like to thank Gainesville H-D/Buell, Cody's Roadhouse, Paul, Mike and my dad in the pits. Also to Wolfrider for tracking down Henry Duga in Daytona and locating a part for me and Smoke for getting the part to me! All in all, not bad for my first weekend 2 Podiums, 1 near podium and a whole lotta fun!!! Can't wait to do it again!! | ||
| Rubberdown |
Way ta go PS! Were they running other classes in your races? In the 600's there will be 25-50+ bikes out there starting in 2-3 waves. I hope you got to race with some big groups for the thrill. I guess I'll find out at VIR how big the races will be this year. Really glad you good weekend and a good start to racing. "Hi" to Pops! | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
Try dropping your forks in the trees. I talked to the suspension man at LVMS and said it would increase the trail and help keep the front end from sliding. Keith from Dark Horse Moto just did it on his R and says it helped to keep the front end planted. Glad you got your part.... I thought about getting Erik to sign it.... but then I may have kept it! LOL | ||
| Paint_shaker |
RubberDown, For LWT SOLO I was out there with the LWT Ex and LWT Nov. For the HWTSS I was out there with WSS, HWTSS Ex & Nov, V6HW, V7MW. For LWTSB I was out there with LWTSB ex and nov and DSS. I thought about running with C SS (600s), but am glad I didn't. It was red flagged on the 2nd lap and they had 3-4 DNFs. However, I may give it a shot later in the season. I'll be sure to say hi to Pops. | ||
| Paint_shaker |
The Pirelli Rep advised to keep the warmers on from 1 hour before first practice until after the race. We set the PSI after an hour on the warmers, but then went back and checked it again later and the PSI was higher (on the heat longer) so we let some air out. It was not noticable in practice as I wasn't on the track long enough, but about halfway through the SOLO 20 I could feel the tires go away (as the PSI dropped). I was thinking I may have overcooked the tires by keeping the warmers (tyre sox) on all day, with two 10 minute practices and one 27 minute race spread over 6 hours. But now that I think about it, we probablly just played with the PSI too much after the inital setting. It also did NOT help that my suspension settings were completely wrong. Even with the low PSI, it was not a lost cause. I now know what it is like to be dragging a knee and have the front AND rear slide. I know how the tires & the bike will react and that I am capable of keeping the bike from going down. Even with the PSI that low (I believe it was 24f/26r) I was still turning lap times of 1.30 or less with a fast time of 1.28. But I was fighting the bike the whole time, which wore me out pretty good. After the SOLO 20 we did 3 things; flip the front tire, put a 190 on the rear and apply the Higbee settings. Leon looked at us sideways for wanting to put a 190 on there, but I found it helped a good deal. For Sunday we again set the PSI after an hour on the warmers. This time we used the tire warmers without the "coozie covers" and also unplugged them intermittenly throughout the day. After the first practice the PSI was right on! We did a minor adjustment to the suspension and that was it. The bike felt better & the tire wear was better. However after sliding around during the SOLO on Sat, my confidence was down a bit and I was not trusting the front tire. My entry speeds in nearly all corners was down (especially T-3 & T-13). Despite all that, I managed to move my braking point up for T-1 and seem to be carrying more speed through T-1. I am also at or near WOT through T-2 & T-12, both of which are kink type corners. Being the only Buell at the track, we had a steep learning curve. But we adjusted and look forward to the next race April 19 which is at Jennings! | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
I would ask around about leaving the tire warmers "ON" all day. I was told 45 min should do the trick.... Check you PSI as soon as you come off the track.... If its dropping you need to ride harder...lol... or add a little air. Drop them forks in the trees! | ||
| Rubberdown |
Pirelli told me "leave the warmers on, you cannot cook these tire". They have been like glue for me. I typically run Pirelli hot temps of 32f 27r but always ask the tire guy for their recommendations. | ||
| Paint_shaker |
Pirelli guy recommended 32f/28r, set after one hour on the warmers. I set 32f/29r after 1 hour. The PSI was checked several times after that while on the warmers and it was found the PSI went up, so we let some PSI out. Apparently too much PSI was let out and we lost both heat and PSI once on the track. The Tyre Sox are the inner heater and the outer coozie. We used both Sat and the rims were very hot to the touch. On Sun we didn't use the coozies and had better results. Wolf, I'll check on the trips, but they appear to be the lowest they can go. The 190 rear tire raised the rear. Oh yeah, thanks to BadWeb!!! Without it, I would certainly be way further back from where I am at now!! | ||
| Xoptimizedrsx |
as soon as I get the forks in. I'll put them in and it will be ready to pick up. all the things are done we discussed besides the header mod. I need the gaskets for race applications. I may have time to dyno it out if they ever get my dyno disk to fire up my laptop on the dyno. see you in the pits at the track. mike |
