| Author | Message | ||
     Jprovo |
SFMC(Eric) Thanks, I'm hoping to get down to 1:59.XX soon hopefully by the time I get out of novice. It's all about tracktime. Matty's running 1:46-1:47's on Erik's Blast at WSMC, and 1:54 is the fastest for a Stock-Engined Blast at Willow that I recall... I don't know if anyone has brought a Blast to the northern tracks. | ||
| Jprovo |
Congratulations to Chris Matty!!! Chris earned the second place ranking in WSMC 0-500cc singles with a total of 56 points!!! Chris has also earned a 44th overall finish in WSMC points with over 350 competitors!!! James | ||
| Mmelvis |
Jprovo: Great write up on your first race. Keep having fun and Welcome to the addiction (racing). Have a great day | ||
| Sfmc_x1 |
Alright, the KV seems slow and my thread is burried in the suspension catagory. Since this project is going to be a single I'll start spaming you guys with my questions. I'm putting together a race project, I understand that the updated shocks on the tuber's are shorter, and that during the recall the front shock mounts were replaced as well. What were the significant changes in the design of the front mount, and will a newer Showa rear shock bolt up to the older rear shock mount and give me the expectation of a higher rear ride height? Also was there any change in the geometry of the swingarm shock mounting arm/location from steel to aluminum? On the other hand, who still supplies the old BMC race front shock mount that lifted the rear originaly, is it still available, is there an after market option available not from Buell? Thanks in advance. | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
Welcome Eric! First, dont get discouraged if you dont get immediate answers to your questions here. Only a few guys here are familiar with the tubers (and they dont post everyday) so you may have to go back and forth between the twin side and single for all your answers. There are some pictures here of the beast you are building. Good luck. (Message edited by gearheaderiko on December 30, 2005) | ||
| Sfmc_x1 |
No prob, actually I see the "thumper forum" as being a little bit more lively, that being the reason I decided to field the question here.  | ||
| Ezblast |
http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/bulletins/NewShock95-00.pdf So far - more to come. GT - JBOTDS! EZ  Swing arm answer http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/3842/103740.html?1111458052 Has to do with matching the proper front mount. http://www.badweatherbikers.com/cgibin/discus/show.cgi?tpc=3842&post=45163#POST45163 (Message edited by ezblast on December 30, 2005) | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
Nice work EZ! PS The Works Performance website has an application guide that lists the stock shock lengths for many brands (including the Buells). | ||
| Jprovo |
Mmelvis, Thank You. I'm happy to joing the fraternity of addiced Racers. I can't wait for next month's Races. Have a Happy New Year, James | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
The 5 Blasts racing this weekend! All engines are bone stock except for #'s 818 & 763. #565 still has the stock exhaust! Most are near stock Blasts (except #818-S1 chassis). Despite the frigid temps and high winds (45deg. with 45 mph winds) everyone turned in normal lap times which was quite amazing. (did I mention the wind was really blowing). Sadly I didnt get to see the race as my time was spent trying to start #763 which was reluctant to start due to the cold.It did eventually with about 15 seconds to spare!James (#763) didnt panic and turned in his best race time yet (though in practice, without the wind, he was 5 seconds faster).  (Message edited by gearheaderiko on January 16, 2006) | ||
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| Ezblast |
Enough there for a SLO ride! - lol GT - JBOTDS! EZ | ||
| Mmelvis |
Good to see the great turn out | ||
| Jprovo |
January Race Report: I showed up to the track on Saturday morning with the intention of going my mandatory cornerworking for the day. Basically, you sit on the side of the racetrack, watching the racers go by while the real cornerworker does the work. It was predicted to be a cold, windy, rainy day, and I really didn’t think that I’d benefit from practicing in those conditions, so it was an ideal time to get my cornerworking out of the way. If you’re smart, you use this day as a way to watch lines in corners that you are having trouble with. I concentrated on watching the omega section turns 3-4-5. http://www.willowspringsraceway.com/visitorinformation/nineturns.asp It is the most technical section of the track, and maintaining speed through the omega allows you to get a good drive down the hill and around turn 8 and 9. Watching this section of the track REALLY helped me out. It’s amazing how fast the fast the real fast guys are through this section. One rider was actually pulling a wheelie up the hill coming out of turn 3. I don’t think I’ll be doing that anytime soon J After cornerworking, I helped the local BRAG president; Tim Hurley put a new tire on his Blast racer. There were four other guys racing Blasts! Tim Hurley, Jim Chaconas, Mario Vindeni, and Patrick McGinley. Unfortunately, Matty wouldn’t be able to share the bike with me because his race was right before mine, and I wouldn’t have time to switch number plates and transponders and still make the warm up lap. It was COLD on Sunday morning, and I couldn’t get the race bike started until the second practice session. It was a great practice with a few Blasts on the track. I followed Mario around for a few laps, and then tried to get around him in turn 2. I finally made a pass stick in turn 3 (where my cornerworking observation paid off), and put my head down for a few quick laps before the session ended. I ended up running a 1:57.2, my fastest lap to date by over 5 seconds. I’m much faster when I have people to chase. I think it’s like a dog chasing a rabbit… Since ey race was race was one race after the 500 singles race, I couldn’t watch the Blasts race the Ascots, but, I had time to put my race face on. Well… I would have had time if the bike had started right up. Erik ended up bump starting me, and I made it to the grid about 10 seconds before they let us go out for the warm up lap. Throughout the whole warm up lap I was chuckling to myself about how close I was to not making it out on the track on time. When I got to the grid, I was calm and ready to race. My goals were to beat my previous best race lap time, and not get lapped… Boy was it windy out there, the wind hit hard about half way through turn 8 making me want to back off, but killing the front straight speeds. I ended up loosing the pack going into turn 8. I have to keep from backing off there. After about 4 laps, I realized that I probably wasn’t going to get lapped, and really started trying to catch the Aprilia that had to be 10 seconds ahead of me. I ended up finishing about 8 seconds behind the Aprilia, and bested my previous best race lap time by over 2 seconds. All in all, I had a great weekend. Hopefully after next month’s races, I’ll have earned my provisional expert license, and will be able to race against 500 singles racers that are more my speed. http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=24833 | ||
| Jprovo |
Now, if Buell would just take a cylinder off the XBRR, sell it to me for $10,000 and let me race it in F-singles... One can dream, right? | ||
| Ezblast |
Nice racing! 2 seconds is good! GT - JBOTDS! EZ | ||
| Naustin |
That's really cool. It's amazing that just cornerworking and studying those lines earned you five seconds on your best lap!  | ||
| Mmelvis |
Jprovo: great race report..that sounds like a great track. Gearheaderiko:Where did you get the side stand for the bike in picture dated January 16, 2006 - 01:15 pm | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
It is a 'Golden Triangle' made by Motoboss and given a bend (with heat) in the middle to shorten it for the Blast. $15-$20.(on sale at Cycle Gear right now!) Its more convenient to use than a bike stand when you are by yourself and it can also be thrown under the seat strap and a bungee cord for daily use! Other brands make this triangle, but some would have to have the pin ground down as it would be to thick for the Blast axle. Of course it would make for a fine metal shop project in high school. | ||
| Jprovo |
February Race Report: I drove to the Track Saturday morning with threats of snow and rain in the forecast. On the way up, there was a traffic warning sign that Angeles Forrest road was closed to Palmdale, and I knew that there had been some serious snowfall the night before. On the pass over the 14, the smow covered mountains were awesome, but I held out hope that the track was dry. When I got to the track, everything was COLD. There was ice on the ground in places, but the sky looked clear, and I knew that it would warm up and get better. At the track I ran into Tim and Candice Hurley from the Brag group. Tim was getting his Blast ready, and the Finnerty brothers from San Diego were there with an FZR 400 to race. I went out for the first practice session and it was cold, but dry. My goal for the day was to go faster than I had previously, and to get a tow behind some of the faster Ascot riders al learn. I was going faster and faster every session. I found the slowest Ascot rider and followed him around the track, seeing what I could learn, and where I could make up time on him. By the third session I had bettered my previous fast lap by about a second, as was feeling pretty comfortable on the track. I was slower in the fourth session, but I was still only tenths off the Ascot rider in front of me. I was slower in the later sessions as the day become more overcast, but I was still having fun out there and learning. Traffic was a huge issue. There were a TON of SV650 riders in lightweight practice, and the speed differentials are so high that they we getting really aggressive in passing. I got chopped a few times in corners, but most of the riders were passing cleanly. The benefit was if the passed right before a turn, I could try and hang with them through the corner, and learn some more about what I am capable of doing on the track. All in all Saturday was a good day. I learned a lot more about the track and set a new personal best lap time. Sunday started off rainy and wet. I was a wimp out on the track. My tires had four Saturday practices on them, one track day and four races, and they were starting to look scary. The way the Blast handles, it kind of wobbles around the track in the high speed areas, and in the rain your brain interprets every chassis wiggle as tires loosing grip it’s distracting to say the least. I spooked myself pretty good in the first practice session, so in the second session, I backed off even more, which was a mistake because the rain had stopped and the try was drying out. The first race of the day was 500 singles as a third wave to Formuls Twins Lightweight (all the Fast SV guys like Zoran we running in it) and 500 Super Stock, I knew it would be a cluster, and was glad I wasn’t racing. A friend of mine, Chris Matty wanted to run the bike, I leant it to him. The 500 singles field was quite large this month with 4 Blasts and 4 Ascots. Chris is a great racer. Even with the shagged tires, and the amount of traffic, he managed to run 8 seconds a lap faster than I did the previous day and finish in second place. My race was race 12. My goal was to finish the race. If I finished the race, I could get out of novice, and not have to “race” Aprilia and TZ 250’s, and I could work on racing guys on 500 singles. I finished fourth, my best finish to date (of course there were only four guys running) But I managed to finish the race, and get my provisional expert license. Next month’s goal – Don’t finish Last!! | ||
| Ezblast |
Good job there James! Yeah - Matty is a great racer, however, you keep cutting seconds off your time and you'll be pulling in wins soon enough! Great job and thanks for the report - keep it up! GT - JBOTDS! EZ | ||
| Naustin |
Thanks for the good read! | ||
| Mmelvis |
Great write up and congrats on getting out of novice. | ||
| Mmelvis |
Well just got back from Moroso Motorsports Park and had a good race. Raced in Amateur Ultra Light Superbike and had a great time. The track was a lot of fun, many turns and long straights. The day started out nice, sunny and 80 degree weather. Have to remember to bring sun screen next time, I got sun burn bad. The group was a large once again, USGPRU bikes, AM and Ex Ultra lights, Ex and Am Vintage behind our group, I started out in row 9 2nd wave of the race. The race started out great the first turn is a wide left hand sweeper wide enough for 6 bikes across. The track then narrows down to about 25 feet for the first back straight. The picture of the track is below all I can say is I was grinning from ear to ear on this track. I ran better here than I did at Homestead, did not get lapped by the USGPRU until lap 3. Anyway I brought up the rear of my group once again but my times are improving, need to look into getting more power out of the bike now. There was quite a bit of interest in the Blast at this track, more than usual. Met one person who asked if the bike was from Italy, the guy happened to ask just as 2 big Harley people were talking to me. The Harley guys spoke up and informed the spectator that it was an AMERICAN made motorcycle. Anyway it was nice to see people asking about the bike and showing interest. In all I spent about 2 hours speaking people about the Blast, yes my stickers are still on the bike and I like them. Have to say thanks to Eric, Matty and James for the heads up on the fairing, bolted right up and did not have to take off the headlight. Also thanks to all the members of the board for all the questions that have been answered over the years. Proofs below from the track photo person (Lisa Theobald) who once again made me look real good. I will post official results when I get them off the CCS site, Have a great day    | ||
| Jprovo |
Congrats Mmelvis. I Look forward to hearing more about your racing adventures. That looks like a fun track. Is there a lot of elevation changes?? James | ||
| Ezblast |
Bravo - very nice indeed! GT - JBOTDS! EZ | ||
| Mmelvis |
Jprove: The track is Florida flat, there is some slight banking but that is it. The track is very rough on the suspension. The are a few places on the track where you are under full braking and have a quick switchback. Cutting across rumble strips changing directions bottomed out the front end many times here. A very technical track. Ez: Thanks, forgot to mention you in the above post, you have been a great wealth of knowledge. |
