Summit Point: May 9-11th, 2014, WERA

Summit Point Raceway:

May 9-11th, 2014, WERA

After what seemed like the longest winter in history, I couldn’t wait to get out and ride. Add the fact that I bought a new-to-me 2008 Yamaha R6 in October of last year, and you can imagine just how anxious I was to get on the new bike. Summit Point is also one of my favorite tracks, so I built this event up to be epic way back in January when the schedules were released.

After constantly fighting front end issues in 2013 on my 2006 Yamaha R6, I decided it was time for some changes. The new bike was one of those changes, as the 08 to present R6 frame is much less rigid than the 06-07 frame, allowing more flex in the chassis which gives you more feel in the front end. I was also adamant about having Ohlins front forks this year. The new R6 had Ohlins forks on it when I bought it, so all that was required was for me to have Robert Jensen from Spiegler Performance Parts refresh the suspension. The last change I made to enhance my front end performance was switching tire brands. The Dunlops that I used last year are good tires, but the front always seemed to lack the grip that I needed to match the grip of the rear tire. After catching a lot of flak from my friend David Grey last year for sticking with the Dunlops and not at least trying the Michelins that have earned the reputation of having the best front tire in the paddock, I decided it was time to make some changes… ruffle some feathers, and give the Michelins a shot. More on this a little later, but in short, I’m definitely glad I did.

As I said earlier, Summit Point is one of my favorite tracks. However, I haven’t been on this track since way back in 2009, so I wasn’t at all confident that I could just jump onto the track and remember all of its intricacies. Even if I could have, track surfaces change from year to year, so I would remember Summit from 2009, not necessarily Summit from 2014. To give myself a little time on track before the races, I registered for a track day with N2 Track Days on Friday, which gave me a full day to shake down the bike, and re-learn the track.

Friday started out pretty well, the layout of the track came back to me pretty quickly, but I could already tell that I had a lot of work to do to be fast there in the Expert races. This is not only my first race weekend of the year, but it’s also my first event as an Expert racer, so the pressure to perform well was certainly higher than most events I have ever competed in. After talking strategy over with David Grey, we quickly decided that I probably made a mistake in my rear spring choice, so over lunch I decided to pull the shock off and have the spring changed from a 1.0 N/mm to .95 N/mm. Unfortunately, none of the suspension tuners at the track had a .95 for my shock, so I was forced to use a .90 instead. After a couple more practice sessions on the track, David and I worked out a pretty good setting on the rear end, despite having a spring that was probably too soft for me. After the first day, we had come a long way in setting up the bike for me and my riding style.

Saturday had a significant chance for rain in the afternoon forecast, so I was anxious to see how the day was going to go. I went out during practice in the morning and worked on a few things that I knew I needed improvement on, and felt like I was making some improvement. My race on Saturday (Medium weight Solo 20) was supposed to be Race #3, but a mistake in the grid posting put us at Race #2. Race #1 was the mini race, and no mini’s showed up, so my race was essentially the first race of the day. As we went out on our sighting lap, rain started to sprinkle on my face shield. I debated coming into the pits because I was on DOT tires instead of rain tires, but decided it was important for me to get the time on the track, so I stayed out for the race. I started on pole, front row in my first expert race. I’d like to say I was cool and calm and that I knew I’d be fine, but that would be a flat out lie. I was nervous, but as soon as the green flag dropped, it was go time. Since this is a new region for me, I had never seen this track marshal’s starting procedure. On the grid, his procedure was different than what I had become accustomed to, and I felt like the green flag was rushed. Despite getting a bad jump on the green flag, I came into turn 1 in 2nd place, and by turn 4 I was in 1st. As soon as I made the pass for 1st, a million things rushed through my head. “I’m leading my first expert race!” and “Holy shit, don’t screw this up!” were among those thoughts. I have a tendency to think too much when I lead; I can put those thoughts out of my mind when I’m chasing someone, but leading is a whole different ball game. Even so, I was able to fight off those behind me for something like 7-8 laps before getting passed for the first time, and at that point it was due more to the fact that I was out of riding shape more than anything. As bad as I wanted to keep up my pace, I just physically couldn’t quite do it, and my pace started to fall. After a few more laps, the rain finally showed itself as I was barreling through turn 3, nearly causing me to lose control. However, I was able to keep the bike upright long enough to see the red flag. I had been fortunate enough to keep my bike up, but several others weren’t so lucky, causing the end of the race. After it was all said and done, I was officially scored at 3rd place in my first expert race. Overall, I was EXTREMELY happy to finish in 3rd, especially because of all of the new things I’m dealing with this year, namely the new bike, new region, new tires, new competitors, etc. etc.

Also on Saturday, my good friend Dan Kaepernik raced in his first race later in the day. Although the rain never quit, the racing must go on so WERA continued with the schedule as it was planned. Dan had slicks on his bike, which are impossible to race on in the wet, so at the last minute we decided that if we can change his tires to rains fast enough to make the race, he would go out and race. If we couldn’t do it fast enough, he wouldn’t race because racing in the rain on slicks just isn’t safe. A swarm of 5 guys surrounded his bike, and in 12 minutes we had both front and rear tires changed to rain tires. Dan was able to grid up and not only compete in his first race, not only win his first race as a novice; he also beat the experts on the track and was the 1st person across the line between all the experts and novices on the track!

Sunday was supposed to be the best day of the weekend as far as the weather. Sunday was also the day that really mattered as far as the races and points. Saturday’s race, although it was a great race and a lot of fun, really didn’t mean much because it doesn’t pay points. All of Sunday’s races are sprint races, and they pay out points for the season, so Sunday is important for me and my goal of accumulating enough points to race in AMA next year. Practice went well as normal; however, this is where I will plug the Michelin’s again. During practice, I had gotten a good drive coming out of turn 10 and was gaining on a fast competitor. I decided to get in the draft of the racer and make the pass on the brakes coming into turn 1. I was almost successful in making the pass, but I waited just a split second too late to brake, and I ran wide. Having done that a few times last year, I can truthfully say that under those conditions, I would have tucked the front and crashed, likely taking myself and the other racer out. The Michelins provided so much feedback and grip that I could have waited later to brake and still made it if I committed to it. I was simply amazed how well the front end worked for me, and it excited me to see how the rest of the year goes.

I was registered for 4 races on Sunday: A (up to 1000cc) Superstock(SS), A (up to 1000cc) Superbike(SBK), C (up to 600cc) Superstock(SS), and C (up to 600cc) Superbike(SBK), my first being A SS. My grid position for A SS was on the 2nd row, and my start had improved from Saturday’s race. I entered turn 1 in 5th place, and held that position for most of the race. After the half-way point, a competitor was able to pass me on the brakes into turn 1, but he made a mistake and ran way wide in turn 1. I had focused on braking later as he came by so as not to lose too much ground on him, but what I ended up doing was running wide myself. It was a crucial mistake because had I focused on my own race, I would have been able to pass him right back through turn 1. After that I just focused on trying to keep up with this racer, and was pretty successful in doing so, but I was never able to reel him in enough to pass him back.

This is where the weekend starts to go south. As I came into turn 1 after taking the checkered flag, I looked down at my gauge cluster to see that my bike was running really hot. I did my best to get off the track quickly to shut it off, but nearly high sided coming out of turn 3 because water that had been pushed out of the coolant reservoir into the belly pan had splashed on my rear tire, which caused a severe lack of grip. I was able to get the bike back to the pits, but at the time I decided that my weekend was done because I didn’t know what was causing the bike to run so hot. I have since done some diagnosing and found that the head gasket has failed and pushed coolant out of the reservoir. The bike is currently torn down with the engine on the shop bench. I hope to have the head gasket changed within the next few days.

I want to thank everyone who has helped me this year. David Grey deserves a huge thank you, as he worked with me over the phone for quite some time each day trying to help me get my bike set up for me. He helps a ton of racers and track day people by selling Michelins through Sportbike Tire Service, and by helping with bike setup and almost anything else he can do to help. John Kremenik helped me a lot on Friday by showing me some fast lines and by showing me a few tricks in a couple sections. I want to thank my wife, Denise, for being there and helping me throughout the weekend. It’s pretty awesome to have someone in my life that supports me in what I love to do. I’d also like to thank the rest of my sponsors who have made big contributions to my program this year. Please remember to support those companies that support the sport and the industry. Without them many of us wouldn’t be able to do this.