Race #1- Buttonwillow, March
23-25
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Off-season |
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The 2006 season ended in October,
but the winter months were not spent on the couch with our feet kicked up
flipping through hours of Tivo’ed motorcycle racing on SPEED TV (well maybe
some motocross)! Instead, with time on our side, we plunged into first
improving the bike. Besides the usual engine freshen-up, parts replacements
and repainted bodywork, we upgraded to:
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New paint
New triples
New quickshifter New rear sets |
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Second, we went about improving our
riding. In December, we signed up for a Rich Oliver Mystery School
Pro Camp which incidentally was also attended by Jeffrey Tigert, former AFM
#1 plate holder. This intense, 4-day camp was not for the meek. It not only
challenged our dirt riding and racing skills, but also our physical and
mental endurance through lots of riding and a series of tests that included
maxing out on sit-ups and isometric leg exercises. Among the many drills, we
were tested with one in which we were required to navigate two very different
tracks (flat track vs. motocross) on two very different bikes (four-stroke
TT-R125 vs. two-stroke YZ-80) in back-to-back riding truly forcing us to
separate the mind from the body. As a testament to the value of the Pro Camp,
Jeff would go on to win several races at Willow Springs Raceway the following
weekend, place 15th at the prestigious 2007 Daytona
200 and dominate at the AFM season
opener on his quest to regaining the #1 plate! |
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Sherwick
Jeff
Rich in the mix |
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We started our regular flat track
training at Hollister in January and went back in February for yet another Rich Oliver Mystery School
Fun Camp – they are so fun that we have now gone to six! Half the length
of Pro Camp and more low key, this was a great chance for us to bond with
friends (we went with a group of Keigwin’s
regulars) and also to get more feedback from Rich Oliver himself. Finally, we were able to put
everything together and test at Laguna Seca, Infineon, and Buttonwillow. We
ironed out a few problems, tried out our new OXTAR
boots (which by the way are EXCELLENT, providing much more feel and
protection) and our new transport. By the time the first AFM round was upon
us, we were ready to go racing! |
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Dirt track trainers on our new
trailer - guess what the “S” and “J” stand for? |
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Mar. 23- “Unofficial” Practice Day |
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An “unofficial” practice day on
Friday preceding the race weekend allowed us to fine-tune adjustments on the
quickshifter and also to realize a new personal best lap time by almost 2
seconds (2:00.4)! One of our pit mates (450 Superbike Champion Michael Lohmeyer)
recorded a heart rate of 194bpm during practice which must be close to his
max – amazing! We saw 161bpm which is about 86% of Sherwick’s max so we knew
that we could push much harder! This also correlated well with Sherwick’s
perceived effort indicating that he had at least 10% left to go faster!
{although heart rate is a good measure of physical exertion, it perhaps is
only weakly correlated to mental exertion which is also a strong component of
motorcycle racing; nevertheless, if one is mentally stressed, it would likely
lead to an elevated heart rate as witnessed in the comparison between World
Champions Valentino Rossi vs. Max Biaggi’s heart rates in the documentary FASTER} |
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Team JaS making adjustments |
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Mar. 24- “Official” Practice Day |
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The “official” practice day was highlighted
by consistent lap times that were faster than we’ve ever gone. In fact, our best
average for a practice session was 1 second faster than our best average during a race at this track. We knew
we were going well, especially since these were times recorded in traffic. We
had been placed in a slower practice group based on last year’s race time (which
was far from impressive). However, the slower group proved to be a great
opportunity to practice passing. We kept a careful eye on the fluids
and any leaks we had recently fixed - including a problematic clutch seal which
had been spraying fluid out of the open cover, onto the right footpeg, even back
to the swingarm which was too close for comfort to the rear tire! Now everything
looked clean and dry. We wrapped up the day with the usual tire changes. |
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Mar. 25- Race Day |
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Buttonwillow Raceway |
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The thing about road racing is that
problems are more the norm than the exception and if you don’t have problems,
you’re wise to wonder “when” they’ll surface, not “if” they will. That is
because racing is so demanding on the machine and body that one or the other
usually fails without fail! We were timely to the track and
started to prep for Sunday practice by checking tire pressures prior to putting
on the warmers (it is easy to forget so we have a big note on our electrical
strip). Upon checking the rear, we found that it was absolutely flat – as in
ZERO psi!! Within 5 minutes we had the rear wheel off and on its way to the Michelin boys who were just opening shop.
They weren’t expecting to change tires Sunday morning right before the races
but they promptly replaced both the valve and tire without question (to
eliminate all variables except the wheel). We were now in business! We hoped
it was a faulty valve or mis-seated bead but we weren’t absolutely certain it
was NOT the wheel. Recall last year when we had a cracked front magnesium wheel
which also sprung a slow leak – a very expensive problem to fix. Although we
discounted this possibility since the wheel hadn’t seen any abuse (such as
going off-track), we could not be 100% sure until we checked the pressure
again after the morning session and throughout the rest of the day – luckily, it
behaved normally. Alex Floria, the Michelin man himself, even stopped by to
make sure we were safe after he heard about the affair – talk about support! Race #1- Open Twins We were gridded on the third row,
10th out of 22 bikes near the inside of the track for the first race of 2007.
With a decent start, we were riding in 10th place after the first
lap. We rode at the tail end of the fast pack which pulled us along much
faster than in practice. On lap 4, a rider in front of us had a massive high-side
exiting We were now back where we started in
10th position, but ahead of riders who beat us last year. We were
poised for a great start to the season if only we could hold on to the
finish! Every time we passed by start-finish, Jami gave signals indicating
how far back the other riders were. A signal with her hands close together
meant they were right behind and one with her arms wide apart meant they were
at least 3 seconds behind. Her hands were never more than one inch apart during
the entire race which explained why a small mistake on the last lap cost us
two positions - we ended up officially in 12th place. A little
disappointing for sure, but a much better start to the season than years
past. The highlight of the day came when we saw our lap times – our fast lap
was a full 5-second drop from practice and more than 10 seconds faster than
last year at 1:54.9,
a fast time indeed! That’s a 94.0mph average! Yikes!! |
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Open Twins start
Wheelie bump |
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Race #2- 750 Superbike We were gridded amongst a sea of Suzuki’s
back in the 4th row, 17th out of 39 bikes near the
outside of the track. Our goal in this race was to play it conservative
because this would be the first time we ran three races in one weekend with
the latter two held back-to-back! Again, we had a decent launch and were
immediately in the mix by the second turn. We were being held up by a rather
“squirrelly” rider, who managed to “squirrel” right off the track at the exit
to the Bus Stop (turn 9). That was just the beginning of the chaos. Somehow
they managed to save it and were on a collision course back onto the track as
we tipped it in for turn 10. This time there was contact and we felt a small
bump in the rear. In the back of Sherwick’s mind, he figured the rider had
crashed while a yellow flag in the same corner the following lap seemed to
confirm it. After the race though, the rider miraculously appeared and
congratulated us for the “save” – apparently it was quite a wild ride but
Sherwick is now very used to the bike moving around (thanks to the Mystery
School!) and hadn’t a second thought! We later discovered some black marks on
our tail where the bikes had collided. We raced solidly in mid-pack,
surrounded by riders all the way to the finish. Unfortunately one of the
Ducati’s we were dueling with in OT managed a last second draft past
relegating us to 21st – another move we’ll have to remember for
next time! Race #3- Formula 40 This was the third class we were
competing in for 2007 and it was immediately after 750SB. This meant that we
would not have time to refuel, check the bike or even cool down before the next
race. We did try to cool the bike down by shutting the engine off (removing
the radiator fans for better air circulation while in motion also lead to
overheating while stationary). As the riders were pulling out onto the track
for their warm-up lap, we tried to restart the hot beast, still panting from
the last race. Its little battery tried four times to turn over the twin massive
pistons and it looked like we would have to pull out of the race without even
starting! On the fifth try with panic transforming into despair, she fired to
life! Next time we will use our Honda generator to help start the engine! We were gridded way, way back in 30th
position in the 7th row out of 29 riders. How is that you ask?
Many spots were left open as this was the last race of the day. Riders were
not able to make the grid for one reason or another. Nevertheless, we still
had a traffic jam entering the first turn and all the way into the second
lap! Usually by the third turn the field tends to spread out. But not this
time. We were riding shoulder-to-shoulder, two-wide going through the right-left-right
of Cotton Corners (turns 3, 4 and 5)! There was one rider to the outside of
us followed us through the entire series of turns, not letting up knowing
full well we could have easily pushed them wide, punting them into the dirt!
Unbelievable. We were glad to have survived this race with the aim of moving
up in the grid being achieved as we ended up in 16th, a major
improvement from 30th! |
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Scuff mark on tail
Close
racing…
…with many
riders behind |
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We were
very excited after the race as this marks another step upwards in our
progression towards being a better racer. But we are not satisfied. Before
the next race at Infineon in April, we have a few more track days scheduled and
of course some dirt tracking in store along with a few changes which will
hopefully improve the bike based on information we picked up from this race
weekend. Hope to see you there! |
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2006 taught us that “Crashing
Sucks”! |
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Enjoy the ride! –- Team JaS
Special thanks to: |
