Roebling Road Raceway: March 13-15, 2015

Roebing Road Raceway:

March 13-15, 2015, WERA

After a tough, but fun season-opening event at Talladega Gran Prix in February, I was excited to get back on the R6 and continue to improve and push myself. The next round of 2015 would be at another track that I had never laid eyes on before showing up, Roebling Road Raceway near Savannah, GA. In an attempt to prepare for the event, I tried to stay updated on the weather forecast for the weekend, but that would prove to be a waste of time as the forecast changed considerably every time I would check it out. The weather would, indeed, keep all of the racers on their toes on Saturday, but more on that in a bit.

This event was a little different than Talladega. WERA had vintage racing on Friday with time set aside for modern bikes to practice. Since I had never been to Roebling, I felt it was necessary for me to go down early for practice on Friday, despite the rain that poured pretty much all day long. The temperatures weren’t much higher than they were at Talladega, if at all, so it was a pretty miserable and cold day. Like at Talladega, I would do my best to learn the track, but those conditions just aren’t conducive to learning how to go fast on an unfamiliar track. However, I did my best to be safe and learn as much as possible because I knew there was a pretty big chance that Saturday’s races would also be in the rain. The rain continued throughout Friday night and into Saturday morning, and was pretty heavy at times

For Saturday, I had left the rain tires on the bike and rolled out of bed eager to get more laps of practice in before needing to drop the hammer in the afternoon races. The first practice session was slow relative to a fast time at Roebling, but I was consistently knocking 3-4 seconds off of my lap times every session I would go out for practice. Unfortunately, a racer dropped oil through turns 1 through 3, so the morning practice sessions were pushed back to after lunch, and we would begin racing directly after the practice sessions concluded. By the time the corner workers were able to clean up the track, the sun actually came out (to everyone’s surprise) and the track dried rather quickly. I went out for the second practice session on rain tires and had to come in after 2 laps due to me burning the tires up. The weather guessing game was about to start…

Days leading up to Saturday, I was watching the weather diligently. The percentages would fluctuate, but there was never any doubt that it was going to be a rainy day. With no warning from all of the weather apps and radars that I watched, the weather changed from muggy/rainy/overcast to muggy/sunny/slightly windy. Between the breeze and the sun, the track was drying quickly. The question, though, was will it stay that way. After consulting with my go-to radar-reading-guru, Peter Hupperich, I decided my best bet was to switch to DOT race tires for the first race.

My first race of the day was A Superstock, and I would start on the front row. Before getting into any of the details of the race, I’ll say that I made a change to the bike between Talladega and Roebling… evidently a pretty big change, and that is I changed oil brands. My engine builder suggested that I use a certain brand of oil, and who am I to argue with the guy who does this for a living? Well, I finished up what was left of the old oil at Talladega and moved on to the new oil for Roebling. The reason this is important is because the new, arguably better quality oil completely changed how the clutch felt when launching the bike off the starting line. Just as a heads up, you will see a common theme in my description of my starts, and not in a good way, but I digress. Starting from the front row in a 1000cc race and getting a terrible start is quite soul crushing. I’m not really talking about a bad reaction, although my reaction time wasn’t all that stellar. No, I’m talking about the front of the bike coming up a good 2 feet off the ground before I decide I need to do something to change this direction of events. Again… starting from the front row, I found myself going into turn 1 in 8th place, which meant last place. Now normally I would just chalk it up to a mistake and put my head down and race, but remember, this is now a dry race and all of my practice was in the rain. All of a sudden all of my reference points are completely irrelevant and I find myself scrambling to just keep up. After settling into a bit of a groove, I was able to challenge a couple riders for position, but wouldn’t you know it… the sky opened up on the last lap and dumped just enough rain to cause serious problems for at least a couple of novice racers. Fortunately I was able to keep the bike upright and finished the race in 6th place. I was a little discouraged after that race, but I was happy to finally get some good dry laps in at this track.

My second race on Saturday was C Superstock, and again I would start on the front row. Due to the delays earlier in the day, it was decided that this race would be shortened to 6 laps rather than the scheduled 8 laps. During the start of this race, I still lifted the front wheel off of the ground, but I was able to manage the wheelie a little better than the A SS race. It still meant I lost some drive off of the line, and I would enter turn 1 in 6th place. I fought to stay with the leaders, but their pace would prove to be too much for me for now, they have far more laps around the track and took advantage of that fact. Although I wasn’t able to contend the leaders, I did battle with a couple of riders farther down the running order. Early in the race, a racer passed me on the inside of turn 3. I fought to stay with him and was able to pass him back on the front straight. That lap, I was sure to close that inside line, but he was able to pass me on the outside instead. Doing this caused him to run wide into turn 4, so I decided to try to take the position back and pass him on the inside. He quickly closed the door and my front tire hit his leg, leaving a nice black mark on his white suit. Neither of us went down, and were hardly affected by the events other than wanting to beat each other even more. He did a good job holding his position, but I was able to make a pass on him coming onto the front straight as we took the checkered flag. I would finish this race in 5th, and I was happy with that result.

The third race of the day was C Superbike, and I would start on the second row. Again, I had a hard time on the start of this race. I got a bad jump on the start, and I pulled the front end up again, losing drive off of the line. I went into turn 1 in 7th place, but I quickly made a pass for 6th. This race was pretty uneventful for the majority of the race, everyone ahead of me was far enough ahead that I wouldn’t be able to challenge them, and there wasn’t really anyone challenging my spot. However, when the white flag came out, I decided I was going to at least try. The same rider that I made contact with in C SS was ahead of me about 50-60 yards. It was ambitious, but I needed to give it a shot. I made up a little bit of ground going into turn 1, I was able to brake later and carry more speed through 1, and was able to get a great drive coming out of turn 2. He was pretty good through 3, so there wasn’t much ground to be made up there, and the next series of turns was a place where I struggled a little. Coming out of the second to last turn on the lap, I pushed hard and stepped the rear out just enough to kill my drive. I was afraid my challenge was over then, but I carried on. I was generally a little stronger out of the last turn, and I really pushed this time through. I sucked him in quickly and used his draft to pull me in, but as I was about to make a move, he moved towards the inside of the track. I’m not sure if he did it to be defensive, but it was a great move on his part because that made me have to go even farther to the right to pass him. Luckily, I had a good enough drive and was able to pass him JUST before the line, beating him by .01 seconds. It was close enough that neither of us knew who got it, but I was certainly happy I was able to dig down deep and take 5th place after a pretty rough start.

The last race of the day was A Superbike, and again I started from the front row. Also again, I got a bad start and made the race hard on myself, going into turn 1 in 6th. This race was rather uneventful, as I never challenged, nor was challenged by anyone else, and ultimately finished in 6th place.

Sunday started better than the previous two days, and I got some good practice laps in early in the morning. I had one race on Sunday, a 12 lap 600 Superstock National race. I was a little nervous about the length of the race because all but one race on Saturday was shortened, so 12 laps was at least double most of the races on Saturday, I wasn’t sure how my body and mind would hold up. I changed tires before the last practice so I could scrub in my new Michelin’s, and then came back into the pits to rest up before my race.

I started the race on the front row again. My start this time wasn’t terrible, I made a little progress on my starts, but in this class, a little better wasn’t going to cut it… everyone else got great starts. However, it was definitely my best start of the weekend, and I went into turn 1 in 4th place, but was passed entering turn 2 by the rider I made contact with on Saturday. I would turn a couple of laps in 5th place, but I knew there were riders wanting to challenge me. Sure enough, I was passed on the outside of turn 5. I followed the rider the rest of the lap and thought about making a pass on the brakes into turn 1, but I decided I wasn’t quite close enough so I backed off. I followed him for another lap, just trying to keep him close enough to be able to strike given the opportunity, but I was passed on the outside of turn 4 by another rider instead. I was a little discouraged by that because the rider did it almost effortlessly, but I kept my head down and passed him back on the straight, trying to reel in the other rider at the same time. The rider behind me had other plans, and passed me right back in the same spot on the next lap. It became obvious to me that I wasn’t very good through there, so I would try to come up with a way to either go faster, or at least make it harder for him to pass me. I passed him back exiting the last turn onto the straight, and again put my head down to try to reel in the rider ahead. This time I was successful and was right on the heels of the rider in front of me when we came into turn 4. I wasn’t able to pass him, but I set up to the inside of him to set up a “screen” so the rider behind me couldn’t pass on the outside in 4 like he had the previous 2 laps. It worked! But only temporarily because he passed me on the inside coming into turn 5. This time I didn’t wait until the front straight to pass him, but rather I passed him on the mini straight between the last 2 turns, and was right behind the rider in front coming onto the straight. Again, I thought about making the pass on the brakes into turn 1, but again, I thought better of it and tucked back in behind him. I was glued to him through 1, 2, and 3 and coming into turn 4, I decided to set up to the outside this time and force the rider behind me to have to go the long way around if he wanted to pass me on the outside. This also set me to the inside coming into 5, which kept the rider behind from being able to easily pass me.

I was able to keep him behind me, and I was glued to the tail of the rider in front of me, so now HAD to be the time I passed to keep the rider behind me… just that. I got a good drive coming onto the straight, but so did he. We powered down the straight at nearly identical speeds. He was a few feet off the outside of the track, so I thought my best bet was to pass around the outside, until I realized his motor was as good as mine. He started to move over into my line, so I decided to move to the inside line and was finally able to pass him on the brakes into turn 1. I was now the leader of our 3 pack of riders, and I was riding in 5th place with a lot of open track in front of me. I circulated for a few more laps in that position, but realized that I was actually gaining quite quickly on the #4 rider, so I put my head down and pushed harder than I had all race. By the time the white flag had come out, I had made up almost an entire front straight worth of time, and was only about 40 yards from him. I closed the gap even more by turn 1 and by turn 3 I thought about making a pass on the inside, but realized it was a bad idea. After that, my first thought was to just ride behind him until the last corner and pass him onto the straight unless he left the door open somewhere. Although, as I followed him and saw how much slower he was going than my previous few laps, I was afraid the guys behind me may catch up, so I forced the issue a little going into turn 6 and passed him on the inside. I crossed the finish line in 4th place, and couldn’t have been happier with the results. After worrying about lasting for 12 laps and looking at my lap times, they consistently dropped throughout the race, and my best lap was the last lap.

I can’t thank the corner workers, WERA, and the track enough for doing what they needed to do to clean up the track. I’m sure it was a ton of work, and they did a great job. As always, my wife was awesome and helped out where she could, and just as importantly, stayed out of the way when I needed her to. I have to also thank Peter Hupperich for giving me some very valuable pointers for getting around the track quickly.

I also can’t thank my sponsors enough for their support. My Michelin tires were AMAZING, especially on Sunday when it counted, and Sportbike Tire Service is extremely helpful in everything from tire pressures to bike setup. Shoei Helmets have the best performing and best looking helmets on the market. Spiegler Performance Parts helps me with brake lines and pads, and suspension work as well. Their products and service are off the charts. PopShadow Decals is the sole reason my bike looks so awesome. If you have an idea in your head, they can make it a reality. Moto-D has all kinds of great products for racing and track days, but their flagship product is their tire warmers, which are top notch. Sidi Boots are the best in the industry and they look awesome. I was finally able to get some dry laps in this weekend so I broke out the new white Mag-1’s, and they are fantastic. Vortex Racing has a ton of great products, and their customer service is terrific. Core Nutritionals help me train and keep me in shape. Lastly, The Motorcycle Factory in Woodbridge, VA helps us with fuel and other parts. They have some awesome bikes on the showroom, and they have tons of parts in stock. They can get anything you need, and can fix pretty much anything you can break.