{"id":1866,"date":"2023-07-03T17:45:20","date_gmt":"2023-07-03T23:45:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moto2n.com\/braap\/?p=1866"},"modified":"2023-07-06T08:18:49","modified_gmt":"2023-07-06T14:18:49","slug":"racing-recaps-drag-racing-at-bandimere-mra-at-ppir-and-hpr-west","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/moto2n.com\/braap\/2023\/07\/03\/racing-recaps-drag-racing-at-bandimere-mra-at-ppir-and-hpr-west\/","title":{"rendered":"Racing Recaps: Drag Racing at Bandimere, MRA at PPIR and HPR West"},"content":{"rendered":"

Racing season is in full swing. I’ve been to three events on two different bikes since the last time I checked in here. I went drag racing on my vintage ’91 Suzuki GSXR750 and MRA Rounds 2 and 3 at PPIR and HPR West are in the books now, too. Only 4 rounds to go until the end of the MRA season, and it feels like it’s going to be a long one even though it’s going by really fast.<\/p>\n

Drag Racing – Bandimere<\/h2>\n

Bandimere is shutting down at the end of this year, so my homie Matt and I made sure to make it out for the last official event featuring motorcycles. It was an import drag racing event with a side of drag racing motorcycles. The boys from Vickery showed up, and I got to meet Doug and see Bruce again, who recognized me and that made me feel like I know people haha.<\/p>\n

\"Boss
Boss Hoss vs. Sliingshot Gixxer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It always blows my mind how fast time at the track goes by. I might only race for minutes during the day, and somehow it fills an entire 8-12 hour day with excitement, drama, and high performance. There’s so much to watch, so much to see and look at, so much to do and pay attention to depending on how the bike is running and what’s going on.<\/p>\n

\"First
First timeslip<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I ended up completing two practice runs and winning 3 elimination rounds. In other words, I made it to the “Top 16”. My 60′ times all hovered around 2s flat, and my reaction times varied from 0.009s to 0.168s. These are damn good reaction times and decent 60′ times. If I actually knew how to launch the bike, maybe with more practice, I should be able to drop those 60′ times down to 1.8-1.9s.<\/p>\n

\"Second
Second timeslip. That’s my buddy Matt on the left. He improved his 60′ times enough to put his R7 into the 12s!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Elimination
Elimination time slips<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I had some issues with the bike that I’m looking at solving before I try to take it racing again. It died on the start line right after I lit the staging lights for my 4th elimination round. It got pushed to the side and that was the end of racing for the day. I’m pretty sure the bike’s running pig rich. Easy enough to solve. That’s racing! Better luck next time!<\/p>\n

MRA Round 2 – Pikes Peak International Raceway<\/h2>\n

It started raining buckets right as the rider’s meeting started. I knew it was going to rain buckets the week prior, and I tried to get my hands on some dedicated rain tires, but there were SNAFUs (what else is new?) with the Dunlop rep, and I didn’t get the answers I needed in time to make a set of rains happen.<\/p>\n

\"LWGP
LWGP on street tires on a partially wet track. Photo by Kelly Vernell<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I was less than 100% prepared, deciding to run some street tires instead, my trusty old set of Bridgestone S22s that I use for track day practice. They worked OK on the partially wet track, but I was feeling the fear and didn’t want to go down in the wet during practice or during my first race. I didn’t feel fast at all on them. I just did my best and got the points for my first race.<\/p>\n

\"I
I put some color-changing LED lamps in the van. They were $20 on amazon and have a remote!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Second race was a different story. The track was 100% dry by then, and I saw an opening, so I ripped into it like a kid with a bag of Hot Cheetos. I swapped out the street tires for slicks, got warmers on them, and they spent about 45 minutes on the warmers before I headed out. Thing is the speakers are fucked at PPIR, and it’s difficult to impossible to hear the calls. Apparently the entire field showed up for what we thought was the third call, but it wasn’t the third call. They had us sit there at pre-grid for what felt like forever as those of us on slicks felt our tires go cold. Every few minutes I would reach back to see how warm my rear tire was, and they just got colder and colder.<\/p>\n

\"Under
Under the canopy in the rain at PPIR<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Someone decided that filling the air fence between calls for a race start would be a good idea. In my not-so-humble opinion, calls need to come consistently and on time. Making unrelated announcements between calls is bullshit. Taking 2 minutes between 1st and 2nd call and then 7 minutes between the 2nd and 3rd call is bullshit, again in my totally not humble opinion. If I have to be there at a certain time with my shit together, I’d like to think the people running things could have their shit together too, but that’s sometimes too much to ask. And yeah, it pissed me off.<\/p>\n

What happened is I let my kettle boil over sitting there waiting to go for the out lap. I lost my fucking mind. I channeled all of that anger into my tires on the out lap in an attempt to get some heat back into them. The ass end slipped around like a fish through water, but it was predictable enough and I thought I had a good idea of how much grip was on tap up front. A much faster and more talented racer went down on the out lap, so they had us sitting yet again. More fury inside my helmet. I’ve never raced on cold slicks; there’s a reason I have a set of tire warmers and a generator to power them and get nervous as the calls are made. All the nerves disappear once the start lights are illuminated. But getting from that first call to the lights is often an exercise in frustration and anxiety.<\/p>\n

\"Parts
Parts carnage from PPIR crash. It’s worse than it looks based on this pic, but I still fixed everything before Round 3 at HPR West.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I ended up throwing the bike across the track and into the wall in Turn 6. My body stopped about 2-4′ short of hitting the wall. I banged the bike up pretty good, but I was just fine. My suit survived with one tiny hole my sister sewed shut for me the week after. My gloves came apart a little bit, so I stitched those up myself.<\/p>\n

I spent every bit of the next 4 days off I had to put the bike back together as well as paint and mount a set of fairings on the bike.<\/p>\n

MRA Round 3 – HPR West – Redemption in Pink and Green<\/h2>\n

My buddy Matt and I got to pit with Bruce Sass, a local legend and Colorado Motorsports Hall of Fame racer and mechanic who Matt used to work with at Vickery Motorsports, a guy I’ve known about and followed for a long time, since I was in high school, for the Friday afternoon track day before the race weekend kicked off. He impressed upon me the importance of NOT CRASHING. He helped Matt with his riding, and Matt ended up cutting 2.2s off of his personal best from last year. I helped him with an o-ring he needed to keep the oil inside of his Rotax-powered, ATK-framed road race\/flat track bike. It was a very good time, and it’s not every day I get to hang out with one of my heroes.<\/p>\n

\"My
My buddy Matt and I pitted with Bruce Sass – Colorado Motorsports Hall of Famer – during the Friday afternoon track day.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There aren’t many fairing options for the Ninja 650R AKA Kawasaki ER6. Sharkskinz used to make stock-like race fairings, but they are no longer available. And even if they were, they’re expensive. MotoForza out of Italy has specialty fairings designed for people running ER6 bikes in the “supertwins” classes overseas. These are also expensive. I’d seen people running MV Agusta F3 fairings on ER6 race bikes online and decided to give that a go. A company out of Germany called Ricambi-Weiss airmailed me a set I bought from them on eBay. Pricing was better than any other option. They were here within 2 weeks. Due to time constraints, they had to be painted BEFORE I mounted them. Either way, they turned out fine for race fairings on a race bike I’ve put together 100% in a single car garage with my own hands and tools.<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot<\/p>\n

In the past I would use practice to “tour around” and get a feel for being on the bike. This round I decided I was more than comfortable on the bike and changed tactics for practice. My intent now was to get up to speed. I didn’t want to go out and win the practice session or anything, but I picked the C group and started going fast from the jump. My practice times were still about 4s off from my race times, but they’re usually more like 10s off. This is what I’m going to keep doing going forward.<\/p>\n

My water pump seals decided to give up the ghost right after my first Sunday practice. I had spares though! And I installed them on the spot! Unfortunately not with enough time to make my second practice, but that’s racing, and it was fine. I still set my fastest lap of the weekend during my Sunday race. Progress is progress, and I’m pretty stoked that I was as prepared as I was. I’ve since ordered MORE spare water pump seals, including the o-rings I’ve been reusing. The last time they were replaced was last year right before I started riding the bike on the track, so they did their job and lasted as long as can be expected given the abuse I’m subjecting them to on a regular basis.<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot<\/p>\n

Nothing wildly ill advised happened with the calls this round. Everything went off without a hitch after tech inspection on Friday and then again on Saturday morning. My appreciation for the infrastructure and leadership at HPR really can\u2019t be overstated; it comes down to Glenn Conser, HPR\u2019s head honcho, being one of the most professional, competent people I\u2019ve ever seen in action. Hat\u2019s off to him, the man runs a tight ship. Comparing HPR to PPIR and Pueblo, it\u2019s not even close, the difference is practically written on the walls.<\/p>\n

After passing tech 5-6 times, the scrutineers decided they had a problem with the way I safety wired my front axle. Instead of going back to my van, eating dinner, and getting ready to fall asleep, I just jumped into the silliness and drilled the necessary hole as it was getting dark, all the while thinking to myself this is the dumbest thing ever, and I know it’s not consistent with the rule book BUUUT if this is what I have to do to make these dorks happy and go fucking racing, this is what I’m doing…<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot<\/p>\n

I checked the rule book after the fact to confirm my suspicions. Long story short AXLE NUTS and pinch bolts need to be safety wired or mechanically secured. The AXLE NUT on my bike is BUILT INTO THE LEFT FORK LEG. There’s a pinch bolt on the right side as an extra precaution, but even if I removed the pinch bolt and rode the bike around there’s an approximately 0% chance of the axle backing out based on the forces acting on it by the wheel bearings. My pinch bolt was safety wired, which is required by the rule book. To be fair to the scrutineers, this was their first time doing it this season. And reading is hard, I guess. Now I have an extra piece of safety wire on my bike to deal with that makes me feel like a stupid asshole every time I look at it. Thankfully our regular scrutineer will be back for Round 4. Very much looking forward to seeing his face again!<\/p>\n

It needs to be said that I will often moan and groan about the MRA being less than perfect, but I don’t think my criticism should distract or diminish from the fact that without the MRA none of us would be able to race our sport bikes without driving halfway across the region or country to do it. Just like there’s no such thing as a perfect country or government, there’s no such thing as a perfect organization, especially when it comes to something as complicated as road racing motorcycles. I bitch about the club the same way I do the US government, the difference being I think the MRA board genuinely serves our interests as club racers; the same can’t be said for the average politician and their constituency.<\/p>\n

\"Pic
Pic by Heather McClaine<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As far as race results go, I finished 9\/19 in Lightweight GP, 4\/8 in Lightweight 2X, and 5\/6 in Supertwins GTU. I fell to 6th in the points in LWGP and 2X, which are my main classes. I did keep the bike upright and my riding well within my own personal performance envelope, so that really is something. Not once during the weekend did I feel like I was riding over my own head or beyond my abilities.<\/p>\n

Fastest lap was set during the TwinsGTU race on Sunday at 1:38.1XX. This is 4.4s faster than my fastest lap last year at HPR West, which I did on street tires without warmers, a crappy rear shock, and no fairings to turn the bike into a rain drop vs an aerodynamic brick.<\/p>\n

\"Round
Round 3 HPR West – pic by Kelly Vernell<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If nothing else, I earned a healthy respect for losing my cool and the front end at PPIR the previous round and wanted to go fast but not so fast that I’d have to spend every waking hour of my life between rounds putting a broken bike back together. Although the bike has crashed well so far, and I have a mountain of spare parts, it’s still an expensive and time consuming project to put it back together. A bad enough crash could also flat out end my season, or worse, in a heartbeat. The last time I crashed was at last year’s race school, about a year prior to the day. One crash a year isn’t so bad, and I don’t want to make it 2 this year.<\/p>\n

\"Round
Round 3 HPR West – pic by Kelly Vernell<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The next round will be at HPR Full Course, a configuration I’m very familiar with and comfortable racing. My goals will be very much the same there as they were at Round 3 with one exception. I’m going to push the front a little more and try a different rear sprocket during practice and see how that goes. I’m hoping to drop my personal best from 2:05.5XX down to 2:02.XX. If it’s hot enough, I may even fit the soft rear slick I’ve had since last year.<\/p>\n

Huge THANK YOU to everyone making this possible – the MRA board, the safety team, my fellow racers, local and national parts\/equipment suppliers (especially Apex Sports out of Colorado Springs<\/a>, more on them another time) and of course my customers who trust me to work on their scooters and street bikes. It means a lot to me to be “Denver’s scooter guy” and I’m looking forward to doing all the things I do for a good long time to come.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Racing season is in full swing. I’ve been to three events on two different bikes since the last time I checked in here. I went drag racing on my vintage ’91 Suzuki GSXR750 and MRA Rounds 2 and 3 at …<\/p>\n

Racing Recaps: Drag Racing at Bandimere, MRA at PPIR and HPR West<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/moto2n.com\/braap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1866"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/moto2n.com\/braap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/moto2n.com\/braap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/moto2n.com\/braap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/moto2n.com\/braap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1866"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"http:\/\/moto2n.com\/braap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1866\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1913,"href":"http:\/\/moto2n.com\/braap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1866\/revisions\/1913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/moto2n.com\/braap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/moto2n.com\/braap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/moto2n.com\/braap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}