Filo
Mon Apr 23rd, 2007, 12:08 PM
So here is my race report for the Supermoto races at IMI this past weekend 4/22/2007. If you read superbikeplanet.com, this is like the racer columns they have, except without the talent.
First off, I have to thank Scott (RYBO) for lending me some tire warmers and a generator. Second, I should mention I am on a team - Highside racing which is Krod, Bueller, and me.
The day started out well - I arrived at the track a little late to find the gate locked and a short line outside. Or at least we thought it was locked. The first person pulled up and found it chained and we all just assumed they knew what they were doing. I guess it wasn't really locked after all, so we all got to sit for a little while on the road outside IMI. Turn out for this race was much worse than for the last one. There were maybe twenty fewer bikes racing this weekend than last. After watching Bueller and Krod try three races last race, I decided I would only do 1 or 2, since they were riding the entire time. I signed up for novice and was gridded on the middle of the second row for the heat race. Then I noticed that Lightweight had only two sign-ups and I thought "Wow - guarenteed third!" so I signed up.
Practice goes slow, fast, colorado class, mini/sportsman and then repeats. I went out in the slow practice, because I know I am :turtle: and figured I would just warm up the first lap, take a look at the new dirt section, and start moving. Ah, the new dirt section. It was a little bit tough and a little tight. We were going counter clockwise, and you entered the dirt about halfway down the back straight. It was a little bit more sharp than a 90 degree turn on to dandylions. Two bike lenghts later, you went over the back side of a berm for the first jump right into a right hander that was the turn the berm was there for. A little short chute followed, with a left hand kink into a tight right hander over the side of the table top (which made its own little table top) back onto the track (perpendicular to the normal flow of traffic and again over dandylions) for a tight uturn back over the table top. As soon as you land that, it was a right hand almost hairpin to a long, straight dirt section to the track right before the left-hand turn at the end of the back straight. Then you are back on pavement for the next lap. The first lap of slow practice, no one knew where to go, so we just sort of sat there trying to figure out what we were doing, until help came. Once we got that sorted out and started practicing for real, things went OK. The second time around at speed onto the dirt section I jumped over the berm and landed almost on the other berm. I got the bike stopped in time, but I couldn't reach the ground and fell over. That was my crash for the day. Practice ended fairly quickly and I was looking forward to picking up the pace in the next practice.
I was watching practice and missed the white flag before my practice, so I was scrambling to get together in time for my practice. The first bikes went out right as I was getting on my bike. I got out there, did a warm up lap, did a normal lap and they threw the white flag. So second practice I got 3 laps.
The novice heat race was first and I was gridded middle of second row. Bueller was in front of me and Krod was to my left. They threw the green and everyone got a clean start. I got a clean, but slow, start and was last (from 5th to 8 in the first corner) by the time we got out of the first corner. Remember, dear reader, that I am riding a stock CRF250X, and everyone else is on a 450 or greater, so I was giving up a little HP. Coming into the infield section, the guy in 5th slows way down at those patches on the track and goes wide. 6th and 7th look at his ass and follow him. I go up the inside and pass three people at once on the horseshoes! I think - this isn't so hard. We come down to the entrance to the dirt. I down shift, let out the clutch, the bike slides, I think - no problem. Turn into the dirt, and I still have the front brake on. I hit the dandylion patch and the front end suddenly decides to go to New Mexico. Put my foot down, stall the bike, and watch as the three guys I just passed pass me back. Lucky for me I have an electric leg. I start back up, take off, and catch the last guy at the hard right hander. I go under him, take off for the next guy, and that is pretty much how the next two laps went. Me trying to catch the guys ahead of me. At this point I realize that my suspension is in need of a little attention - on the gas the front is wobbling, on the brakes the back is pogo-ing. Pretty much loose and all over the place describes it. My kids, however, are completely stoked because I passed a bunch of people right in front of them. They don't really pick up that I gave the places back again.
Next up is the light weight class. I am outside of the first row. Why? Because there are only three of us. The flag goes up and the other two guys take off. They both race AMA nationals and have completely built bikes. I still have the stock everything. Except this time I am a little closer. Until the dirt. When I stall. Again. I spend the next two laps riding all by myself.
I spend the break draining the cup of gas out of my overflow (must be from my tip-over) and adding a little bit more damping to the rear shock. Also, the tires don't look like they are running at temp, so I drop a pound in the rear and 1/2 pound in the front. I really want to adjust the preload on the rear, but these events go really fast and there is no time.
My first main is Lightweight - 5 laps. I am hoping to not get lapped. I get to the grid and there is a post entry. A guy on a CRF100 with DOT knobbies! I can take him, I think. The flag goes and (is this sounding familiar yet) the front two guys take off. I chase them for a little, then find out that during qualifying they were just playing. Now they are playing a little harder. I manage to be on the back straight for their entry into the dirt for the first three laps. By lap four, I can't see them anymore. I think I can lap the guy on the 100, but I never see him. I think during the race that he must have dropped out, but it turns out I make molasses in winter look fast. Anyway, I get third, I don't get lapped, and I podium my first ever supermoto race.
Next is novice. It is the race immediately after lightweight. I get the checkered flag for lightweight and they let out the warm up lap for novice. So I cut the course and head over to the stands where my wife waits with some water. I am hot and tired at this point. I am gridded inside of the third row. One person is further back than me. Krod is middle of second row, Bueller is outside of the first row. So we had Highside bingo. The green flag flies and, as is to be expected, everyone leaves me standing. I think I can get the inside of the first turn and be in 7th instead of last, but no - I get out motored. No problem, I think, I beat this guy before, I can do it again. Finish turn 1, look to the entrance of turn 2 and see a KTM bouncing down the track, with another bike all out of shape, and the KTM rider bouncing off the bike next to him. Then his arm gets stuck in between the rear wheel and the subframe and he gets dragged off the track looking at me. I realize it is Jim, think he must have broken his arm, and take off to catch the guy in front of me (sorry Jim). Coming around the infield I see the red flag out, so I cut the course again and go get more to drink. They take Jim off in an ambulance, we re-grid and go again. Except the guy who is supposed to grid next to me cheats and takes Jim's grid spot. JERK! The green flag flies and we get a clean start. In the infield horseshoe, I again go under the guy who tried to cheat. Serves him right I think. We go into the dirt section and I am still ahead. Over the table top, onto the pavement, and I start to break before I get to the pavement. On the dandylions. They must have smeared dandylion juice on my rear tire because I slide all the way to the far side of the track before I can turn. Mr. Cheater goes under me, gets a drive over the table top, and I spend the rest of the race trying to catch him. I get to within two bike lengths of him in the dirt section, then he pulls out to 15-20 bike lengths by the first turn. But he is on a 450. I end up getting 7th. Out of 7. Oh well. Anyone want to build me a motor? For free?
Thanks to Jim and Dave for putting up with me and the kids. Thanks to the wife and kids for coming out and being supportive and excited. Thanks to Eddie Sisneros for his pointers and being supportive of me in a class he knew I would get my butt kicked in. Thanks to RYBO for the tire warmers and generator. Next time in novice - second to last!!! (you gotta have goals)
Bueller had a good day, but that is another story. Jim didn't. But he has already posted a little bit about that in the supermoto section. Team Highside racing got at least two podiums this weekend, maybe three (can't remember Colorado class). And we need umbrella girls. Just append your application and resume (with photo) to this post.
First off, I have to thank Scott (RYBO) for lending me some tire warmers and a generator. Second, I should mention I am on a team - Highside racing which is Krod, Bueller, and me.
The day started out well - I arrived at the track a little late to find the gate locked and a short line outside. Or at least we thought it was locked. The first person pulled up and found it chained and we all just assumed they knew what they were doing. I guess it wasn't really locked after all, so we all got to sit for a little while on the road outside IMI. Turn out for this race was much worse than for the last one. There were maybe twenty fewer bikes racing this weekend than last. After watching Bueller and Krod try three races last race, I decided I would only do 1 or 2, since they were riding the entire time. I signed up for novice and was gridded on the middle of the second row for the heat race. Then I noticed that Lightweight had only two sign-ups and I thought "Wow - guarenteed third!" so I signed up.
Practice goes slow, fast, colorado class, mini/sportsman and then repeats. I went out in the slow practice, because I know I am :turtle: and figured I would just warm up the first lap, take a look at the new dirt section, and start moving. Ah, the new dirt section. It was a little bit tough and a little tight. We were going counter clockwise, and you entered the dirt about halfway down the back straight. It was a little bit more sharp than a 90 degree turn on to dandylions. Two bike lenghts later, you went over the back side of a berm for the first jump right into a right hander that was the turn the berm was there for. A little short chute followed, with a left hand kink into a tight right hander over the side of the table top (which made its own little table top) back onto the track (perpendicular to the normal flow of traffic and again over dandylions) for a tight uturn back over the table top. As soon as you land that, it was a right hand almost hairpin to a long, straight dirt section to the track right before the left-hand turn at the end of the back straight. Then you are back on pavement for the next lap. The first lap of slow practice, no one knew where to go, so we just sort of sat there trying to figure out what we were doing, until help came. Once we got that sorted out and started practicing for real, things went OK. The second time around at speed onto the dirt section I jumped over the berm and landed almost on the other berm. I got the bike stopped in time, but I couldn't reach the ground and fell over. That was my crash for the day. Practice ended fairly quickly and I was looking forward to picking up the pace in the next practice.
I was watching practice and missed the white flag before my practice, so I was scrambling to get together in time for my practice. The first bikes went out right as I was getting on my bike. I got out there, did a warm up lap, did a normal lap and they threw the white flag. So second practice I got 3 laps.
The novice heat race was first and I was gridded middle of second row. Bueller was in front of me and Krod was to my left. They threw the green and everyone got a clean start. I got a clean, but slow, start and was last (from 5th to 8 in the first corner) by the time we got out of the first corner. Remember, dear reader, that I am riding a stock CRF250X, and everyone else is on a 450 or greater, so I was giving up a little HP. Coming into the infield section, the guy in 5th slows way down at those patches on the track and goes wide. 6th and 7th look at his ass and follow him. I go up the inside and pass three people at once on the horseshoes! I think - this isn't so hard. We come down to the entrance to the dirt. I down shift, let out the clutch, the bike slides, I think - no problem. Turn into the dirt, and I still have the front brake on. I hit the dandylion patch and the front end suddenly decides to go to New Mexico. Put my foot down, stall the bike, and watch as the three guys I just passed pass me back. Lucky for me I have an electric leg. I start back up, take off, and catch the last guy at the hard right hander. I go under him, take off for the next guy, and that is pretty much how the next two laps went. Me trying to catch the guys ahead of me. At this point I realize that my suspension is in need of a little attention - on the gas the front is wobbling, on the brakes the back is pogo-ing. Pretty much loose and all over the place describes it. My kids, however, are completely stoked because I passed a bunch of people right in front of them. They don't really pick up that I gave the places back again.
Next up is the light weight class. I am outside of the first row. Why? Because there are only three of us. The flag goes up and the other two guys take off. They both race AMA nationals and have completely built bikes. I still have the stock everything. Except this time I am a little closer. Until the dirt. When I stall. Again. I spend the next two laps riding all by myself.
I spend the break draining the cup of gas out of my overflow (must be from my tip-over) and adding a little bit more damping to the rear shock. Also, the tires don't look like they are running at temp, so I drop a pound in the rear and 1/2 pound in the front. I really want to adjust the preload on the rear, but these events go really fast and there is no time.
My first main is Lightweight - 5 laps. I am hoping to not get lapped. I get to the grid and there is a post entry. A guy on a CRF100 with DOT knobbies! I can take him, I think. The flag goes and (is this sounding familiar yet) the front two guys take off. I chase them for a little, then find out that during qualifying they were just playing. Now they are playing a little harder. I manage to be on the back straight for their entry into the dirt for the first three laps. By lap four, I can't see them anymore. I think I can lap the guy on the 100, but I never see him. I think during the race that he must have dropped out, but it turns out I make molasses in winter look fast. Anyway, I get third, I don't get lapped, and I podium my first ever supermoto race.
Next is novice. It is the race immediately after lightweight. I get the checkered flag for lightweight and they let out the warm up lap for novice. So I cut the course and head over to the stands where my wife waits with some water. I am hot and tired at this point. I am gridded inside of the third row. One person is further back than me. Krod is middle of second row, Bueller is outside of the first row. So we had Highside bingo. The green flag flies and, as is to be expected, everyone leaves me standing. I think I can get the inside of the first turn and be in 7th instead of last, but no - I get out motored. No problem, I think, I beat this guy before, I can do it again. Finish turn 1, look to the entrance of turn 2 and see a KTM bouncing down the track, with another bike all out of shape, and the KTM rider bouncing off the bike next to him. Then his arm gets stuck in between the rear wheel and the subframe and he gets dragged off the track looking at me. I realize it is Jim, think he must have broken his arm, and take off to catch the guy in front of me (sorry Jim). Coming around the infield I see the red flag out, so I cut the course again and go get more to drink. They take Jim off in an ambulance, we re-grid and go again. Except the guy who is supposed to grid next to me cheats and takes Jim's grid spot. JERK! The green flag flies and we get a clean start. In the infield horseshoe, I again go under the guy who tried to cheat. Serves him right I think. We go into the dirt section and I am still ahead. Over the table top, onto the pavement, and I start to break before I get to the pavement. On the dandylions. They must have smeared dandylion juice on my rear tire because I slide all the way to the far side of the track before I can turn. Mr. Cheater goes under me, gets a drive over the table top, and I spend the rest of the race trying to catch him. I get to within two bike lengths of him in the dirt section, then he pulls out to 15-20 bike lengths by the first turn. But he is on a 450. I end up getting 7th. Out of 7. Oh well. Anyone want to build me a motor? For free?
Thanks to Jim and Dave for putting up with me and the kids. Thanks to the wife and kids for coming out and being supportive and excited. Thanks to Eddie Sisneros for his pointers and being supportive of me in a class he knew I would get my butt kicked in. Thanks to RYBO for the tire warmers and generator. Next time in novice - second to last!!! (you gotta have goals)
Bueller had a good day, but that is another story. Jim didn't. But he has already posted a little bit about that in the supermoto section. Team Highside racing got at least two podiums this weekend, maybe three (can't remember Colorado class). And we need umbrella girls. Just append your application and resume (with photo) to this post.