Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course:
July 7-9, 2017,
WERA/AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days
With the rumors that 65,000 people went through the gate last year, I knew that it was important for us to get to the track and set up early so we could claim our space. The crew arrived at the track between 10am and 3pm on Thursday, and we took our time setting up and visiting with friends as they rolled in.
The weather on Friday looked pretty bad, so I decided to forego practice and just hang out and relax. This track is one of the most unique tracks I’ve ever been to, in that it literally has no grip if there is even a hint of moisture on the track. Once the sun hits the track in the afternoon, however, it’s like someone flips a switch and suddenly there is an amazing amount of grip. Friday’s conditions were pretty bad for the road course, so I decided to goof around and check out some of what the event had to offer. Throughout the day, more of our crew rolled in to spectate and hang out for the weekend, so it was great to be at the track and not have a ton of stuff to do for once. The event had live music, pit bike races, the “Wall of Death,” vendors and OEM’s with bikes to demo, and so much more. On Friday night (and probably other nights too), there was a dirt oval set up with guys on everything from pit bikes to scooters and even street bikes, all circulating around this muddy mess of an oval. It was a blast to watch, and I’m sure it was a riot to participate in.
For a number of years now, I kept hearing about this event at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course called AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days. The plethora of stories ranged from insane swap meets, motocross and pit bike races (official and unofficial), vintage road racing, and maybe even a story or 12 that involved someone having a “few” too many drinks and doing something stupid/hilarious. With the track being so far away, it was hard for me to justify making the trip if I wasn’t actually competing, but that all changed when WERA and AMA agreed to add the WERA 600cc and 1000cc classes to the road race schedule.
Pic 2: Pit bike racing set up in the infield.
With the weather the way it was on Friday, I expected the morning practice sessions to be kind of dicey. What I didn’t expect was for it to be cloudy, hazy, and cool all morning too. That certainly didn’t help the track conditions for the morning, but I decided that I haven’t been to this track in a few years, so I really did need the laps, even if only at 50%. The first practice session was down-right scary. I couldn’t tell you how many two-wheeled slides I had that session, but I can tell you I had more in this one session than I ever have in my 10 years of track riding experience. It was a lesson on being smooth and having perfect throttle control. The second practice session had me rolling a little better, but the confidence in the track and grip just wasn’t there yet.
The second race of the day for me was later in the afternoon. The sun had peaked out of the clouds a bit more, so I was hopeful that the track would have more grip for me. My tires would be up to temp as well, so there were no more excuses for poor performance, it was time to get it done. I started on the second row for this race and got a pretty decent start. I was able to consistently circulate at the 1:39.x pace which is still a lot slower than what I hoped for, but I was consistent and had some good battles, so I had fun. I made a pass on the last lap, and quickly approached a novice back marker as I entered the carousel. In my head I thought I needed to get around the novice as quickly as possible to not let that rider back by. I made the pass on the expert about a half a lap earlier, but I didn’t know if he was close behind or not. I treated the situation like he was on my tail and made a decisive move to pass the novice on the outside of the last turn so as to not let the expert back around me. As I went around his outside, the novice pushed me way wide up onto the curbing. I was committed at this point and stayed in the throttle. As the curbing ran out, I thought to myself “get loose, it’s going to get rough.” I clipped the dirt and grass and then jumped back onto the track just as I passed the novice. I’m sure I spooked the novice pretty good and I had a pretty good chuckle about it in my helmet on the cool down lap. I finished in P6, which isn’t where I wanted to be, but I made forward progress so I was at least happy with that.
Sunday practice was shortened to 1 session on the schedule to get through the races a little earlier on the last day of the event. I went out for the session and did a couple of laps to loosen up, but that’s it. The track was already in better shape than it was all day Saturday since the sun was out right away, so I decided to pull in early and relax for a little while. My first race of the day was right after lunch, so I took advantage of the time with family and checked over everything on the bike. I started this race on the inside of the 4th row. I actually got a pretty good start and moved over to the outside of T1 to try to make some passes around the outside. As I entered, a rider dove underneath another which stood him up into me, causing me to have to stand up mid corner which allowed 3 more guys through on the inside of me. Even though I got off the line pretty good, I was now circulating in about 9th place. The difference between Sunday and Saturday, though, is that I knew the track was in better shape and I knew my tires were up to temp. I put my head down and charged toward the lead pack, making a number of passes as soon as I could. Halfway through the race I found myself in 7th place right behind my good friend Rick Lind, who just happened to be the guy who caused the domino effect off the start. I wasn’t sure how I was going to finish overall, but I was determined to at least pass Rick. Exiting the keyhole onto the back straight, I got a drive coming out and passed him and the rider in front of him on the back straight, bumping me up to P5. As I came around the next lap, I started to reel in the rider ahead of me when I saw a standing yellow flag at the entrance of the chicane (T2). Since it was a standing yellow, I was hot on this guy’s tail and was thinking about trying to put a move on him as I entered the chicane. Thankfully I didn’t because as we came through, I saw a bike in the middle of the track. We both went around the bike and continued on, but in my head I thought the red flag must be coming soon. As we continued to circulate, we never saw the flag, so I continued my pursuit of this rider in front of me. The next time we came to the chicane, which happened to be the last lap, the bike was still in the middle of the track and there was another bike off in the grass beyond it. Again, I thought the red flag is imminent, but I wasn’t slowing up until I saw it. I did my best to get a good drive out of the keyhole on this last lap. I was close enough that I was confident that I could make a move on the brakes at the end of the straight. However, this rider’s R6 is a monster and he pulled away from me instead. As we approached the braking zone, I wasn’t sure if I should make the attempt because I saw that we were making ground quickly on the same novice back marker from the race on Saturday. I could feel an evil smile form on the inside of my helmet as we approached the novice. I didn’t know if the rider knew I was behind him, but I was planning on making my move as we approached the novice. If he hesitated at all passing the novice, I was going to take advantage of it, and hesitate, he did. He acted like he was going to take the inside line in T9, so I set up around the outside. As we exited T9 and tipped into T10 under the bridge, I now had the inside line on the novice, who was still also inside of the guy I was determined to pass. I snuck through unscathed and finished the lap in what I thought was P4. However, I found out later that the bike in the middle of the track was actually the leader’s bike, which dropped me into P3 which I was very happy with. I was still only running 1:38.0’s, but again, I was making forward progress.
The last race of the weekend for me was more than frustrating. Someone oiled basically the entire track in the race before the 600SB race in the afternoon. The corner workers and officials did their best to get the guy off the track, but he ignored their commands and continued to circulate until 7 riders went down in T9. Most of the riders were ok, but one did get hit and broke his femur which is extremely unfortunate. The track officials spent about 90 minutes trying to clean the track and we went out for 2 sighting laps to get an idea of what the track conditions were like. After seeing the track where the majority of the oil was, and seeing other random places where they tried to clean it up, I just wasn’t comfortable racing and pulled into the pits. I’m not sure about the novice grid, but I know that only 5 experts stayed out for this race. For me, it just wasn’t worth the risk. I didn’t want to be the unlucky guy that found another spot of oil somewhere that had been missed. I was frustrated with the way the event ended for me, I was really hoping to continue dropping time and getting back to my pace there, but at the end of the day it just wasn’t worth it.
Pic 10: Famiy picture on Sunday.
The AMA VMD event was one of the coolest I’ve ever seen, and I’m so happy to have finally gotten to see it. Things didn’t go quite as planned, but I stayed safe and I brought home a pretty cool overall 3rd place finish. A lot of friends and family traveled a long way for the event and it was great catching up with everyone and generally having an awesome weekend.
Pic 11: Someone's happy to be at the track, but I'm not sure who's happiest.
Pic 4: Chasing down Matt Fager, who beat me to T1 to take the hole shot. Photo by Jacey Maas.
Pic 9: Lightweight bikes dropping like flies due to an oiled track. Photo by Jacey Maas.
I just can’t thank my wife and family enough for all of their support. Along with that, I have some of the best sponsors in the business. They’re not just sponsors to me, they’re friends that would do anything for all of their customers, not just me. It was a pleasure pitting across from David Grey with Sportbike Tire Service. Aside from telling a bunch of lies to each other and giving each other a hard time, he spent a lot of time helping me get my head right this weekend and it certainly helped. My Michelin tires did everything I asked of them and would have done much more if I could have gotten past the sketchy track conditions, mentally. BD Racing and my Vesrah SS pads are the winning combination for getting slowed down safely and consistently. Mitch goes above and beyond for his customers, much like all of the sponsors that I have surrounded myself with. Add Spiegler brake lines and Motul brake fluid to that, and you can’t be beat on the brakes. My Moto-D Racing tire warmers were working overtime this weekend with the cool conditions, but they performed flawlessly. Sharkskinz and PopShadow Decals work together to give me the best looking bike in the paddock, and Dan from Sportbike Leather Service makes sure my suit is looking its best. My Shoei helmet is the best and safest on the market, and no one beats their price or customer service. My Sidi’s are the best fitting and lightest boots on the market, and The Motorcycle Factory Inc. has some of the best deals on bikes and gear on the east coast. As always, Vortex Racing has given me the best rear sets on the market for confidence in your toe grip and their customer service is second to none.
Pic 8: I took 3rd overall in 600SS on Sunday thanks to my Michelins.
Since only the 600 and 1000cc classes were being ran, I only entered two races each day, 600 Superstock and 600 Superbike, which takes a lot of stress out of the weekend for me. The first race of the day was the 600SS race, which I was gridded on the 3rd row for the start. I got a rare good start and went into T1 in 4th place. I knew I wasn’t going to be fast this first race since I didn’t really get many good laps in practice, so I did my best to latch onto the lead group and just planned on using this race as practice. As soon as I got to the kink on the back straight, I saw the red flag and assumed something happened on the start, either on the expert grid behind me or on the novice grid in the second wave. It turns out there were some shenanigans on the novice grid that forced the red flag. I was frustrated because I was happy with my start for once, but that’s racing, I guess. On the restart for the race, I actually got an even better start and challenged for the hole shot. I fell back into the 2nd place position because I didn’t want to risk crashing in the first turn of the race going around the outside of the pole-position starter that beat me to T1. I worked pretty hard to stick with the lead pack, but I felt like the bike was on a skating rink and I just didn’t have the confidence I needed to push. I ultimately fell back to P8, only ever passing one rider which just happened to be the rider that beat me to T1 off the start. I was even more frustrated in the red flag situation because my tires cooled off enough that by the time I went back out for the restart, my tires were only about 150 degrees, far from where I would want them. My lap times for the first race started off over 11 seconds slower than my fastest time around this track a few years ago, and got down to within 5 seconds slower with my fastest time being a 1:40.x. Being 5 full seconds off of your pace is humbling and frustrating, but I knew I had work to do so I did my best to focus on that.
Pic 5: Getting pushed to the edge of the track! Photo by Dustin Fornoff.
Pic 3: Tip-toeing. Photo by Jacey Maas.
Pic 7: Carnage in the chicane. Photo by Dustin Fornoff
Pic 1: Nice sized grid for 600SS. Photo by Dustin Fornoff.
Pic 6: Rick made me work a little to get around him. Photo by Dustin Fornoff
Would you like to help support Eric Telger Racing?
Racing requires skill, courage, dedication, hard work, a little luck, and a lot of money. I am an amateur privateer racer, which means I pay for all of this out of my own pocket. Being a professional racer is certainly a dream of mine, but at this time, I must pay my own way.
You can help me chase the next championship by donating through the below link. All donations, no matter how large or small, will make a difference, and are truly appreciated.
