[size=18]Fri August 8th 2008:
I removed the wheels last night and took them to the Ridestream racing shop so they could be taken down to Pacific Raceways. My friend was kind enough to take the wheels down to the track to get new tires installed by our local Bridgestone Rep Troy. Originally I had the Dunlop d208 Dot race tires. They were horrible. I had immediate high speed instability down the straights. It was actually quite scary and I only used them for 10 laps. That’s how bad it was.
I got my wheels back this evening with Bridgestone BT-003 DOT Race tires and installed the rims, proper torque, etc. Then I prepped the bike with normal servicing and checks, per my checklist, and verified that I had the required tools, gear, paperwork and medical release. I loaded the bike into the truck for the night.
Sat August 9th 2008:
I woke up as I normally do at 4:00 am and built myself a nice cup of Illy for the road. I peeked out the front window and... dammit! Its effin raining. Of course it rains on race weekend. Figures. I drove the 45 minutes to Pacific Raceways and got there around 6:00 am. The track manager was at the gate doing something and he let me in. I paid my ten bucks later as I know it cost a chunk of change for WMRRA to rent the track.
I found where my fellow racer friends were pitted and snagged a spot next to theirs, which was great because that put me close enough to steal power from the track facilities. I didn't bring my generator because it is to big and noisy.
By this time, early AM, it was pouring rain and the bike was getting a total washdown as I set up the EZ tent. I was soaking wet within minutes, but I finally got the bike out of the truck and set up beneath the tent. Being soaking wet reminded me of standing in the rain for hours in the witch's graveyard on Church Bends at the Southern 100. Since it was still pretty early, I just fired up the truck and put the heater on full blast in hopes of drying out. It helped a little, but not much.
7:00 am: I check in at the registration desk then return to Tech for a gear check. They actually went through my gear carefully just to make sure it was all up to par. They signed off. I returned with the bike and breezed through that portion of tech. I went back to my pit area to wait for the 9:00 am practice session and was hoping for it to dry out since I did not have any wet tires. I don’t think the DOT’s will work very well in the wet.
9:00 am: Practice 1, weather, wet!! No go for me.
11:00 am Practice 2
It was finally dry enough and time to scrub in the new tires. My first lap out they felt ok, seemed slightly greasy as I expected. By the third lap, all was good and I immediately fell in love with the Bridgestone’s. The feedback is great and the grip was phenomenal, especially in turns 3 and 4, my weakest points on the track. My turn in seemed a bit faster than when I was on the Pirelli’s. In turns 5, 6 and 7, I seem to have gone faster. Got about 6 laps total in on the practice.
2:10 pm Race Time (6 laps)
I grid row 9-3. Gridding position is determined by registration date and I registered 2 hours before closure the previous Tuesday. Due to the number of racers they split the start - the first half use the light system, the second half use a flagger 2-3 seconds after the light. This avoids major carnage into turn 1 which is a good idea considering there are 50 bikes going into turn 1 at almost the same time.
At launch, I immediately got boxed in but am able to trudge my way through turn 1 without incident. Heading down the hill into turn 3 I got passed by a few bikes. That is definitely my weakest point on the track, a fast down hill to a sharp right into turn 4 and then a sharp left. Heading into turn 5 I catch the bikes that passed me. I go into 5 fast without much brake, down shift prior to turning in right hand to 6, then sweep left into turn 7 and up the hill at about 90 mph (just a guess) into turn 8 then a smooth round in turn 9. Turn 10 (the “bus stop”) is a sharp right hander and then wheelie down into the straights /death chute back to turn 1. After a few laps, I feel comfortable with the tires and start making passing bikes in turn 2, 8, 9 and the straights. I was able to pass a liter bike going into the death chute. By the last lap I had moved up from near dead last to 21st position. Not bad considering the number of bikes in the pack.
Sunday August 10th
Today will be a good day. My father is coming down to be a spectator which is great because in my 16 years of dragbike racing, no one in my family has ever been a spectator at an event. Heidi’s family from Utah, her sister's in-laws from Brazil, and her Grandmother from up North will also be there. Wow.
There are delays and once we are finally able to run, they only give us 6 laps. We grid in the same position as Saturday and off we go. I get a great shot through an opening and gain 5 positions into turn 1. The traffic was heavy and bikes were literally inches from each other. I remember to commit, hold my line and don't do anything erratic. The front of the pack is away and we make our way around the track. I exit the bus stop, make a pass on the outside going into the “death chute”, and then all I see is smoke, and lots of it. As I head down the high speed straight, I see dust and smoke off in the outer run-off of turn 2. It looked like a jet had crashed (in miniature). As I made my way through the waving yellow flag I see oil sprayed from the inside to the outside of turn 2. My friend Jenny was behind the bike that we thought at the time blew it's engine. We are red flagged and stopped. Finally we are told to go back to the pits. We get there and we start to frantically install our tire warmers. By the time I get them on, we are then told to go to the gates, so I pull them off and away I go. We get another warm-up lap and re-grid. Off we go and immediately there is a bike down in turn 1. We continue the race and come around for lap 2 and again another bike down in turn 2. They finally called off the race. There was a total of 5 bikes down, including the culprit bike. This really sucked as I had my own fan club there all watching and waiting. Oh well, maybe next time. Standings in the end are not listed, but the heat does count. In the end, we find out that the bike that we thought blew an engine, did not. The rider had previously stripped the oil drain plug, reinstalled it with silicone and then safety wired it.. No kidding. He left the track in a hurry. I think his racing days are over with this organization..
Tony
Track mapping here
http://www.2-fast.org/images/pr-2002-aerial.jpg
