MikeM
05-14-2008, 10:11 PM
Race Report of a Rookie #196
My brother Brian and I were both anxiously waiting for Josh Ellingson to show up with the XLSR rig so we could load up and head out for our first race with OMRRA.
Josh finally got there and we threw everything in the trailer and settled in for drive.
I strategically took the back seat thinking I would catch up on my sleep but it wasn’t meant to be. It could have been my nerves or it was the talkative ones in the front of the truck, either way I didn’t get any sleep.
We pulled into the track about 45 minutes too late to sign up to practice during the endurance race. BUMMER Both Brian and I had ridden the track once before since its repaving but we had both changed our set-ups quite a bit so we wanted some time to get up to speed. So much for that plan.
We were able to do tech on Sat which was nice and meant that we had that much less to worry about on Sunday.
Nico was there practicing so I tried to help him with setting hot pressures and I got a chance to hang out with everybody.
Saturday evening Brian thought it would be a good idea to take his ZX-10 out on the drag strip with the rest of the drag guys. It turned out to be great practice for him working on his starts. He even went pretty quick.
Sunday morning we got up and were excited to see dry ground and partly cloudy skies, its going to be a good day.
We both headed out for fast practice to try and figure out our bikes. It was a little chilly out still but the track was in great shape with plenty of rubber down. We came back in and found out that we were both doing mid 12’s which was Brian’s fastest to date!
Nico informed me he wasn’t going to race his bike this weekend and that if I wanted to ride it I could. It took me about 1 second to realize I could probably get more points on his bike than my second bike which is an underpowered 05 600.
So for the second fast practice I took Nico’s bike out and tried to get used to his set up.
750SS
The first race of the day for me was on Nico’s bike. I was gridded in like the fifth row, the flag dropped and I was off. Nico’s 750 is pretty strong so I was able to pass quite a few people before turn 1. Then I just kinda settled into a comfortable groove without pushing too hard because I didn’t want to toss his bike just after he had it back together from his little incident at the last WMRRA round. The race went well, I finished in 10th and was able to get my lap time down into the 10’s which isn’t terrible since I only had like 6 laps on this bike before the race.
Thanks again Nico for letting me ride your bike!
Open SS
I was gridded a little bit further up which was nice. On our sighting lap there were a couple drops every once in awhile hitting my shield but I didn’t take much notice. I gridded up thinking how much more relaxed I was on my own bike and got ready to race.
The flag dropped and I took off. I got a good start and then with that rocket ship of a motor that Fuzzy built me I was weaving people to turn 1. I ended up right behind Bertram and followed him for about a lap. On the straights I noticed I had some pretty good speed on quite a few of the guys. Thanks again Fuzzy! I motored past Bertram and then a lap later did the same to Sully. I was kind of thinking I was doing okay since I was ahead of Sully then we cam around three and I saw Danny’s bike off the track. I figured it wasn’t too bad since they didn’t stop the race and kept my head down and charged. I caught up to Lash and followed him for about a lap till the straight, I got a good drive out of nine got right in his draft and then when I hit 5th pulled out and motored right on by. Holy Crap this bike is FAST! The whole race we were getting rain drops every so often hitting the windshield. I ignored them and told myself there was still plenty of traction. I was slowly gaining on the guy in front of me and was really starting to feel good about the race when all of a sudden the red flag… Dang. The called the race which was a bummer because everything was really starting to feel good and I knew I could go a lot faster.
I came back in to find that I was in third! Also that I had done a 1:09 flat which was a new best.
600SS
We had been watching the clouds with a weary eye ever since the open SS race. It looked like it might hold not that it mattered that much since I didn’t have rain that fit this bike. Just before we headed out for the sighting lap it started to rain lightly. I thought to myself “how bad could it be?” and headed out on DOT tires with the results of my last rain race on this bike fresh in my memory and plastic that still showed the result.
Got an okay to bad start which was alright because pretty much so did everybody else. We all sped into turn 1 like a pack of drunken turtles except for a couple of the guys who skipped the sighting lap to mount rains and started from the hot pit. About the time the race started so did the rain, no longer a drizzle this was full up rain and I wasn’t thrilled about the whole thing. I rode around like I forgot how to lean a bike and concentrated on just bringing it home. I got lapped which was a first and hopefully a last. I finished like 15th on that bike which was pretty disappointing. I’m gonna have to work on that one.
Open Super bike
The rain had kind of let up and we were thinking we might get a dry line out there. I was thinking positively and put race gas in the bike. I was excited because in the open SS race I was being conservative and I knew I had at least another second without too much drama. About 20 minutes before the race it started to rain a little. CRAP… So we threw the rain tires on real quick and I prepared myself for another stinking rain race. I’m so sick of the rain!
I got a good start and got past Porter and a few other people before turn 1. I then proceeded to ride like a little girl for the next half of the lap;-( Porter passed me right back and finally Sully came by me and kinda sucked my skirt back down so I could see and I decided if he could do it so could I.
I followed him for a couple laps and then decided maybe I could pass him. Turns out the race gas was good for something as I shot past him with ease on the straight and then marveled at how hard you could brake in the rain for turn 1. Sully followed me for a while and then all of sudden out of nowhere Chris Sabora came up the inside of me heading into turn 7!? Where did he come from??? I watched him throw his bike into 8 and 9 with reckless abandon and the thought crossed my mind that I should follow him just so I could watch what I was sure was going to be a crash. But the red mist hit me and I put my liter bike to good use down the straight. I made sure after that to ride a little more defensive line so Chris or Sully didn’t get a chance at that pass again.
I brought it home in 6th which was okay with me.
I was bummed Brian didn’t come out and ride but I didn’t blame since he didn’t have rain tires for it and a super bike ZX-10 isn’t exactly rain friendly. Hopefully next time we will get to race together.
OMRRA put on a great event and we will definitely be back. Thanks to all my sponsors- XLSR Racing, Fuzzy motors, Aurora Suzuki, Pirelli Tires, Vortex, GP Suspension, Power Stands, Lockhart Phillips, and most of all my understanding wife!
My brother Brian and I were both anxiously waiting for Josh Ellingson to show up with the XLSR rig so we could load up and head out for our first race with OMRRA.
Josh finally got there and we threw everything in the trailer and settled in for drive.
I strategically took the back seat thinking I would catch up on my sleep but it wasn’t meant to be. It could have been my nerves or it was the talkative ones in the front of the truck, either way I didn’t get any sleep.
We pulled into the track about 45 minutes too late to sign up to practice during the endurance race. BUMMER Both Brian and I had ridden the track once before since its repaving but we had both changed our set-ups quite a bit so we wanted some time to get up to speed. So much for that plan.
We were able to do tech on Sat which was nice and meant that we had that much less to worry about on Sunday.
Nico was there practicing so I tried to help him with setting hot pressures and I got a chance to hang out with everybody.
Saturday evening Brian thought it would be a good idea to take his ZX-10 out on the drag strip with the rest of the drag guys. It turned out to be great practice for him working on his starts. He even went pretty quick.
Sunday morning we got up and were excited to see dry ground and partly cloudy skies, its going to be a good day.
We both headed out for fast practice to try and figure out our bikes. It was a little chilly out still but the track was in great shape with plenty of rubber down. We came back in and found out that we were both doing mid 12’s which was Brian’s fastest to date!
Nico informed me he wasn’t going to race his bike this weekend and that if I wanted to ride it I could. It took me about 1 second to realize I could probably get more points on his bike than my second bike which is an underpowered 05 600.
So for the second fast practice I took Nico’s bike out and tried to get used to his set up.
750SS
The first race of the day for me was on Nico’s bike. I was gridded in like the fifth row, the flag dropped and I was off. Nico’s 750 is pretty strong so I was able to pass quite a few people before turn 1. Then I just kinda settled into a comfortable groove without pushing too hard because I didn’t want to toss his bike just after he had it back together from his little incident at the last WMRRA round. The race went well, I finished in 10th and was able to get my lap time down into the 10’s which isn’t terrible since I only had like 6 laps on this bike before the race.
Thanks again Nico for letting me ride your bike!
Open SS
I was gridded a little bit further up which was nice. On our sighting lap there were a couple drops every once in awhile hitting my shield but I didn’t take much notice. I gridded up thinking how much more relaxed I was on my own bike and got ready to race.
The flag dropped and I took off. I got a good start and then with that rocket ship of a motor that Fuzzy built me I was weaving people to turn 1. I ended up right behind Bertram and followed him for about a lap. On the straights I noticed I had some pretty good speed on quite a few of the guys. Thanks again Fuzzy! I motored past Bertram and then a lap later did the same to Sully. I was kind of thinking I was doing okay since I was ahead of Sully then we cam around three and I saw Danny’s bike off the track. I figured it wasn’t too bad since they didn’t stop the race and kept my head down and charged. I caught up to Lash and followed him for about a lap till the straight, I got a good drive out of nine got right in his draft and then when I hit 5th pulled out and motored right on by. Holy Crap this bike is FAST! The whole race we were getting rain drops every so often hitting the windshield. I ignored them and told myself there was still plenty of traction. I was slowly gaining on the guy in front of me and was really starting to feel good about the race when all of a sudden the red flag… Dang. The called the race which was a bummer because everything was really starting to feel good and I knew I could go a lot faster.
I came back in to find that I was in third! Also that I had done a 1:09 flat which was a new best.
600SS
We had been watching the clouds with a weary eye ever since the open SS race. It looked like it might hold not that it mattered that much since I didn’t have rain that fit this bike. Just before we headed out for the sighting lap it started to rain lightly. I thought to myself “how bad could it be?” and headed out on DOT tires with the results of my last rain race on this bike fresh in my memory and plastic that still showed the result.
Got an okay to bad start which was alright because pretty much so did everybody else. We all sped into turn 1 like a pack of drunken turtles except for a couple of the guys who skipped the sighting lap to mount rains and started from the hot pit. About the time the race started so did the rain, no longer a drizzle this was full up rain and I wasn’t thrilled about the whole thing. I rode around like I forgot how to lean a bike and concentrated on just bringing it home. I got lapped which was a first and hopefully a last. I finished like 15th on that bike which was pretty disappointing. I’m gonna have to work on that one.
Open Super bike
The rain had kind of let up and we were thinking we might get a dry line out there. I was thinking positively and put race gas in the bike. I was excited because in the open SS race I was being conservative and I knew I had at least another second without too much drama. About 20 minutes before the race it started to rain a little. CRAP… So we threw the rain tires on real quick and I prepared myself for another stinking rain race. I’m so sick of the rain!
I got a good start and got past Porter and a few other people before turn 1. I then proceeded to ride like a little girl for the next half of the lap;-( Porter passed me right back and finally Sully came by me and kinda sucked my skirt back down so I could see and I decided if he could do it so could I.
I followed him for a couple laps and then decided maybe I could pass him. Turns out the race gas was good for something as I shot past him with ease on the straight and then marveled at how hard you could brake in the rain for turn 1. Sully followed me for a while and then all of sudden out of nowhere Chris Sabora came up the inside of me heading into turn 7!? Where did he come from??? I watched him throw his bike into 8 and 9 with reckless abandon and the thought crossed my mind that I should follow him just so I could watch what I was sure was going to be a crash. But the red mist hit me and I put my liter bike to good use down the straight. I made sure after that to ride a little more defensive line so Chris or Sully didn’t get a chance at that pass again.
I brought it home in 6th which was okay with me.
I was bummed Brian didn’t come out and ride but I didn’t blame since he didn’t have rain tires for it and a super bike ZX-10 isn’t exactly rain friendly. Hopefully next time we will get to race together.
OMRRA put on a great event and we will definitely be back. Thanks to all my sponsors- XLSR Racing, Fuzzy motors, Aurora Suzuki, Pirelli Tires, Vortex, GP Suspension, Power Stands, Lockhart Phillips, and most of all my understanding wife!