California State Championships Race 3: Willow Springs Raceway, 18-19 September 2010

If you've seen the movie INCEPTION, you know about The Kick. The Kick is something that upsets the equilibrium of a dreamer to wake them from a dream. You've felt The Kick if you've ever dreamed of falling and then suddenly woken up. This is the best way to describe our dream which then transformed into a nightmare. We kept waiting for The Kick but it never came. However, our dream did have a satisfying ending (check out the video at the bottom).

It began pleasantly with a 3^rd and 2^nd place in our two main classes (Open Twins and Formula 40) for the California State Championship with even a 7^th in Formula 1, the big boy’s class! We were confident with these results entering round 2 which would be at a track we knew well but hadn’t raced at for 10 months: Infineon Raceway. We were not quite up to speed but managed to register a pair of fifth places before we lost our gearbox. We were optimistic with six weeks between rounds and we were even leading the Open Twins class. We did not lose our faith even when the bottom-end repairs then lead to top-end work when we found that the pistons and cylinders were scored. However, finding the necessary parts proved to be not so easy, especially with a rare motorbike while the country of origin was on holiday for the month of August! Although we finally got the motor together, race day was fast approaching and we could not get the engine to run. We spent hours and hours in the shop with the bay area’s best Ducati mechanics, on the phone with the nation’s top Ducati tuners and still the motor would barely idle while making underwhelming power- it was over 40 horsepower down when we were expecting a power increase with the higher compression pistons we had installed.

During the engine break-in which we was done at Willow Springs Raceway, the throttle response was slow and unpredictable, bogging when the throttle was applied at the apex and then exploding well after the exit, hitting like a 2-stroke! It sounded like a smoker with emphysema and coughed up black smoke. Some tuners were saying it was lean (based on the dyno results) while some insisted that it was rich (based on the spark plugs). All components of the bike (air, fuel, ignition, electronics) had been checked (or so we thought) but the only outcome was many sleepless nights for everyone involved. We found ourselves standing at the 11^thhour- 11:59:59 to be exact- still scratching our heads.

In the end, we took the bike to Mauro Deviasso of Trail Tricks, WSMC Open Twins points leader, who just happened to be our main rival in the CA State Championship! Coming into the last round at Willow Springs, we were leading by a mere two points over Mauro and I should be the last one he would want to help! Nevertheless, Mauro being the true professional that he is, spent the greater part of the day before the race weekend troubleshooting our bike while his own steed waited for new fairings (he had highsided at Infineon, breaking his wrist). In the end, we still couldn’t find the problem and would just have to race against each other: Mauro with a semi-healed broken wrist and us with a broken bike! We limped to the starting line and raced with an open mind and bleeding heart, searching for innovative ways to move two wheels around the 2.5 mile road course.

Lots of motor work = Lots of things to go wrong

Lots of things to go wrong = Lots of challenges

Battle of the Twins Heavyweight What was intended to be our “practice race” became our “practice”…period! We had zero laps on Friday, six laps on Saturday and only ten laps Sunday morning. To add insult to injury, the starter was starting to fail due to constant re-firing when the bike would stall… and the high compression pistons did not help matters. Eventually the starter failed and we scrambled to find an alternate method. Due to the slipper clutch, conventional bump starting would not work but luckily a couple of vintage racers, Chuck Burnett #166 and Russ Stranger #650, came to our aid offering their race bike rollers! Hot off the tire warmers, we maneuvered our 1098 alongside their rear-wheel-drive van with our wheels straddling the rollers. Jami accelerated to 40mph before I popped the clutch in 3^rd gear. After a few tries, the bike fired right up! Now we only had to keep the engine above 4000rpm to keep it from stalling on the grid! We were slotted in 5^th place (2^nd row, outside) and managed to move into a solid 4^th position for the first four laps, but soon our clutch began to slip after which we were relegated back to 7^th.

Formula 40 We changed out the clutch pack before our next race but the outcome was even worse and we limped off the track after only two laps with a smoking clutch. Keeping the engine revved above 4000rpm had the undesired effect of generating a lot of heat and Ducati dry clutches do not take to that kindly! Our unfortunate DNF put us in 4^th for Formula 40 Heavyweight for the championship.

Open Twins We would have to beat our friendly Ducati tuner, Mauro Deviasso #171, to become Open Twins champion. He had beaten us the first round, we returned the favor during the second round and now we would have to fight for the title when both of us were not 100%. Mauro started on pole due to his points lead in the home club (WSMC). We started one row directly behind him. Former AFM #1 plate holder James Randolph, AMA pro Shawn Higbee and local front runner Matt Cusumano took off but Mauro and I were immersed in our own battle. We were faster than Mauro (due to his wrist) in the slow sections of track demanding quick transitions while we lost time on the straights (due to our lack of power). We made a pass, he passed us back. We showed him a wheel, he cut it off. We were nose-to-tail until the last lap when we made one final attempt to outbrake him going into 3. Mauro was on the outside but it was clear he was not going to let us through. We could have let off the brakes but both of us would have been in the dirt. Our failed attempt cost us 0.9 seconds which is exactly how much we came to winning the California State Championship. Final result: 2^nd in Open Twins Heavyweight.

Following the race weekend, we took the bike to Mauro who was not only a genius engine tuner but also a suspension wizard. With some time, he was able to discover the root cause of our engine troubles. He quickly made the repairs along with some suspension improvements and now The Beast is working better than it ever! Even though the 2010 State Championships are wrapped up, we will bring back the fight for the last Willow Springs round in November when both of us are properly healed!