Round 5 - Back in the saddle

Summary

Contrary to my expectations, my hand injury was healed to the extent that I could do a little bit of riding in SOAR Round 5.  I didn't contest any sprint classes but I did more or less pull my weight with the Prairie Dogs in the Saturday endurance race.


Progress with the Injury

The finger amputation I suffered as a result of a crash on  a practice lap during Round 4 has been healing pretty well.  When the dressings came off after about two weeks it was clean with no infection, but still pretty gross to look at, all swollen and nasty.  A week later I got the sutures out.  The poor nurse had to dig around through the scabs and whatever to find the stitches, which hurt like the dickens now and again, sending shocks up my finger and hand as she irritated the nerve tissues.

After the swelling subsided there were what I believe to be little stumps of exposed nerves sticking out of the closure in several places.  Whenever they contacted anything solid they would, again, trigger big pulses of tingling nerve shocks, startling me and making me jump.  Eventually the exposed bits dried up and fell off, so now the nerves are all below the surface and not quite so sensitive.

Here is what my hand looks like at this point.

Pretty ugly I guess.  Eventually I will have the surgeon shape the finger better so that it has more of a proper tip.  Right now the sides stick out too much and kind of get in the way.  On the plus side, it has good articulation and strength - I can use it normally to grip things, like say a coffee cup or the handle of a tool box.  I can even already do gym exercises that require grip strength, such as seated cable rows.

Obviously this is a permanent injury and one I would much rather not have experienced.  It does have consequences.  For example, in my line of work I spend a lot of time standing in front of large groups of people, speaking to them usually while waving my hands around (as one does).  Now, with every new group, I get to watch a bunch of them following my finger with their eyes, probably for a while not really paying attention to what I am saying.  On the other hand (no pun intended), as life-altering injuries go it is not really very life-altering.  It would be pathetic and counter-productive to get too upset about something like this when my life is otherwise awesome and every day I encounter people who have actual serious problems, including in some cases truly debilitating physical issues.  I also don't find it useful at all to go over in my head the zillions of tiny little things that could have gone differently, allowing me to avoid the accident altogether.  Shit happens.  You make the best choices you can with the information you have, then deal with whatever comes.  I did that on August 16 and will continue to do it.

Nevertheless the first few days after the incident where a bit emotionally charged for me.  In those times, it really helps to have friends to talk with, so you can keep your perspective and sense of humour.  I received plenty of kind messages from other SOAR riders through the GTAM forum and Facebook, and also from my PDR teammates, Allen and Steve.  Here for your entertainment is a positively sophomoric email exchange that took place between the three of us, starting on the day that I was injured.  I emailed Steve and Allen to let them know I was home safe, but at that point only Steve knew about the accident:

Sunday August 17

ME: I am home with Buttons.  I am a bit tired.  After being in Exeter hospital for about three hours I had to drive myself down to the hand clinic in London, but they couldn't do anything to save the finger and so amputated about half of it.  Then I drove back to the track and Kyle and his sister helped me load my stuff....then I drove home.  Talk about a long day.

Sorry I left the trailer in a bit of a jumble maybe but it is all properly locked.

ALLEN: Wtf?!?!?

STEVE: So you think it was the brake guard or the brake lever that got your finger?

ALLEN: Guys. What the fuck happened?!!! Hugh u alright?!? I'm hoping u guys r fucking with me

ME: Not a joke.  In morning practice some fellow made a really tight pass on me in the esses and to avoid his rear wheel I grabbed some brake while leaned over.  Went down hard and the handlebar tore through my glove and squashed my finger.  Pretty much tore all the meat off the top third of my finger so they had to amputate a considerable part of it.

Steve, based on the wound it may have just been the bar running over my hand as it ran along the asphalt.  Not necessarily the lever guard. 

Monday August 18

ALLEN: Dude..
1.  Glad you're okay?
2.  You should've called one of us to come down.  I could've been there in a couple hours and helped out with stuff and driven you around.
3.  GET BETTER.
If you need help with anything let us know.

ME: Thanks Allen.  I'll be fine.  The bike is not bad either but I don't intend to run it any more this year.  My racing days may be over but we shall see.  It is a bit shocking still so I don't know how I will feel about it in a few weeks.  Don't count on me for endurance in round 5.

ALLEN: It's totally shocking on this end can't imagine your end.
Get healed up and your brain back and we'll worry about endurance later.  Good luck with the wife!  OMG that must've been the worst part!
Did you leave anything at the trailer you need back right away? 

ME: No I am pretty sure I got all my stuff.  Just left it disorganized and unswept.  Shah slept with me Saturday night but no cuddles at all.  :(

ALLEN: well for once I'm looking forward to reading your blog!
Don't forget to mention who had the fastest times...just reminding...

ME: Sure but it will be more of a comment on Dave's recording skills...

ALLEN: Just make sure you detail it as 'unbiased 3rd party' keeping time...that way you sound more sour grapes!
Oh yeah.
I have a beef with both you guys when it comes to txt, email, bbm.
Don't send me these emails with only bits of info.  Damn Hugh, I was about to go to bed when I got your email.  Kept waiting for updates to see what had happened or to hear it was some kinda joke..
From now on info!  And no Steve, not just teasing me rubbing my nose in the fact I'm not there info!

ME: Round 4 results are up.  At least we beat most of the GTL teams LOL

ALLEN: Hey..considering we had shitless tires on and most of the other teams had rains we did alright!

ME: Just getting through it without crashing was an accomplishment.  I'm proud of us.

ALLEN: I was hating it at first, but in hindsight there were a few good lessons learned:  

1.  Being smooth.  I really could tell the effect of sudden throttle movements.  Whenever I opened the throttle early the bike would snake.

2.  Being stupid.  It was stupid of us to run in the rain with those tires.  LOL.  Did you see the look on the faces of some of the other guys when we told them what we were running on.  LOL

3.  I'm smoother than Hugh..as we can tell from the lap times.  

4.  Hugh's eyes linger a little too long when I'm walking around naked in the trailer....

5.  I ate something I shouldn't have..Gotta figure out what it was, cause DAMN it made me gassy!

STEVE: Might have to call Brody back if Hugh doesn't feel good. He did buy us dinner after all :) or .. Maybe.. We go it alone.
Who knows maybe none of us will be allowed to race anymore.
Get better Hugh .
( Did ya tell Maw and Paw yet?)

ALLEN: My wife took it amazingly well.  I thought for sure Hugh had wrecked it for me.  ...I was terrified of telling her!
I say we try it with just the two of us.  Hugh's gonna want to go by then but might (probably) not be healed up enough.  
My money is on him being back the round after.
How'd that awesome trailer manage for you.  I didn't want to stop for coffee..just wanted to get home.

ME: I didn't tell mom and dad yet because I am thinking of the best way to break it to Caterina. It might really bother her, or she might not care at all.  Hard to know.

STEVE: Actually it did amazing. Don't even know I'm towing it.

ALLEN: The wife doesnt know yet?!?  
good luck dude!

ME: Oh yes she knows of course.  I called her from the hospital.

ALLEN:I would offer to come over for moral support while she finds out..but I'm afraid of her...and I still remember how your eyes lingered while I changed...
Okay..details time.
I'm trying to figure out how your finger got caught on the bar..did the bar move, or was your hand on the end of the bar?  I'm guessing you've run it thru a few times how it all unfolded.
PS.
Glad you're okay even if ur hurt..if that makes sense. 

ME: Based on how the injury looked, my best guess is that my hand was still wrapped around the bar when the bar hit the ground.  The brake lever guard probably tore off instantly and then the exposed clipon end ran over my finger while the bike was sliding, tearing all the meat off.  The bone and tendons were fine, except some crushing of the very end of the fingertip bone.  

Sorry if that is a bit graphic, but you did ask.

ALLEN: okay that explains it.  I couldn't figure out how your finger could make contact on the grip unless the clip on rotated/broke, or your finger was on the end of the grip.

STEVE: Which corner was it? In the big daddy area? Or was it the dive bomb corner?

ALLEN: big daddy.  he said it was the s's

STEVE: Who's your daddy?

ALLEN: The way 'lingering eye's Hugh' was watching me I'd say he wants to be.
I'll bet he slept Saturday night in my bunk....sniffing my pillow....

Tuesday August 19

ALLEN: been quiet.
how ya feelin

STEVE: Just sore hips and legs.
Thinking 2nd set of rims and rain tires. Would like to try slicks. Don't know if they would make a difference at this point. Dots are good for bit of damp.
Wondering if a better brake guard would have prevented Hugh's finger accident.

ME: I am much better today.  I stopped taking the pain meds already.  Blog post is up.

ALLEN: except for the feeling and sound of bus wheels on my body, nice write up.
I'm throwing my vote out there for Hugh to be our assistant (bitch) next race.  Will be good for him to be out and get the feel again, but with no stress.  Plus we need a bitch (assistant) to help out!
Hugh could you wear your tight shorts and hold an umbrella for us?

STEVE: Nice write up;)

ME: I'd love to come and be the lap timer / umbrella boy if I can.  I don't own any sexy shorts but perhaps you could lend me one of those sequined lycra numbers you like to prance around in.

STEVE: I think I know where this is going.

ALLEN: Woohooo rod and gun after the race!!

ME: You guys really do make me laugh!

STEVE: 

 ALLEN: I'll bring the movie for the next round.



Round 5 - Grand Bend Screaming Alien Layout

Round 5 took place on the "Screaming Alien" layout at Grand Bend Motorplex.  Steve and Allen were able to be there for the Friday track day again.  Here is some video showing the layout.  The camera is on Allen's ZX-6, and he catches up to Steve at about the 2:20 mark and then follows him.


This was Allen's first time combining video footage with the data and graphics output from his GPS lap timer.  In this case the gear position indicator and speedometer graphics aren't working (at least, I hope they weren't going that slow!), but the track map and lap times seem to be correct.

(Edit: Allen tells me the speeds are probably correct, but are in mph.)



The Decision to Ride

About a week out from Round 5, my hand stopped hurting so much and I started entertaining the possibility that I could actually do some riding.  However, I told myself that there was no way I was getting on the bike unless I could work the brake lever and throttle completely normally and with no pain at all.  Riding a motorcycle on a race track, your life truly is dependent on the dexterity of your right hand.

When I left for the track Friday night, I honestly didn't think there was more than a 10% chance that I would be getting on the track - I packed my gear "just in case".  Once I arrived and said hello to the guys (who were grilling a steak for me - how cool is that?), I put on Steve's gloves (mine were shredded during the accident) and sat on the endurance bike for a bit, working the controls.  I eventually convinced myself that I could probably manage it, except that the empty tip of the glove's middle finger was sometimes catching on the brake lever when I went from the brake to the throttle.

So, I went to see John Bickle in his trailer and asked him about modifying a pair of gloves for me.  He had a pair in my size, took a quick measurement, then set about shortening the middle finger of the right hand.

Saturday morning I attended the riders' meeting, then picked up my new gloves from John.  My plan was to go out with the slow group in practice, just to do a few laps and try things out.  I have to say that even as I was wheeling the bike out of the pits, I was asking myself "am I sure I want to do this?  Am I rushing things?  Is this a stupid decision?"

Honestly the first session didn't do a great deal to reassure me.  I have never got along particularly well with the Gixxer's throttle and brakes (they are so different from the Ducati's, especially the throttle response just off of closed throttle), but this was especially bad.  I was jerking and surging all over the place, feeling and no doubt looking pretty darned amateurish.  I came back in after five or six laps.

By the second practice session I was feeling better.  I was smoother on the throttle pretty much immediately, and had learned the layout well enough that I could start working on my braking and turn-in points a bit, trying to build some decent speed.  By the end of about ten laps I was knee down in most corners and really starting to feel in the grove.  

I came back into the pits and let the guys know that they could count on me for the endurance race.


Endurance Race

Conditions for the endurance race were perfect, except for the fact that it was so windy that none of the teams dared to put up their canopies in the pits.  Steve took the start and Allen did the second 20-min session, then I was up third.  The guys had told me to just signal them that I needed a rider change if at any point during my first session I wasn't feeling comfortable.  About 12 or 13 minutes into my stint I started to feel some pain in my hand and thought I had better get off the bike and re-evaluate, so next time past the pits I held up two fingers to let the guys know I would be in after two more laps.  I swear I gave them the peace sign for a good five seconds, but of course they didn't notice.  When I rolled into the pits two laps later I saw a surprised Steve rushing to put on his helmet and gloves.

Following that, we decided that a better system would be for me to give them the "two laps" sign, then the next lap they would show me the pit board to verify that they got the message.  In the end we didn't use that plan though because I was able to complete my other two stints without any issues.

The race otherwise went fine with a good clean fuel stop, and we turned a total of 131 laps.  That put us last (fifth) in the very competitive GTU class, but not by much.  The next two teams did 134 and 135.  If we can find a bit more speed next year, we should be in the hunt for third.  Not much chance we will ever beat the teams whose rosters include black-number (expert) riders, but maybe we can claw our way up the novice ranks.

Here is the requisite cheezy post-race group photo:

The day after the race, Allen went through the GPS data and was a bit annoyed to discover that they guy with 9.5 fingers had beat his best lap time by a full 2 s (best of 1:14.5 for me, vs his 1:16.6; Steve logged a 1:18.9).

Ha!

Edit:  Here is a nice photo taken by Sheri Manuel during the endurance race:

Round 4 Ends With an Injury

Summary

I attended the Friday practice day for Round 4 to get used to the new track layout, and all went well.  I chose not to do qualifying for the sprints on Saturday because it was raining, but the Prairie Dogs did have a successful endurance race in the wet.  My weekend ended during Sunday morning practice when a lowside crash involving another rider resulted in a pretty serious injury...

Getting There

What do they say..."Just showing up is half the battle"?  For the first time this season, Steve and I arranged things so that we could attend the Friday practice day.  Instead of renting a trailer to transport Humpty Dumpty the endurance bike, Steve decided to borrow Allen's decrepit trailer that hadn't turned a wheel in a few years.  He got to my place with the trailer at about 10 pm on Thursday, and we loaded the bike.  In the process of checking the tire pressures, we discovered that air would leak out of the base of one of the valve stems if you pressed it to the side.  Not good.

So here we have a quandary.   It is too late to get parts to fix the wheel tonight and if we wait for the stores to open tomorrow we will be very late getting to the track.  We could just try and see if it makes it...if it breaks on the way there we are no worse off - we will still have to wait for the stores to open to get what we need to fix it.

Predictable result.  Shredded tire beside Hwy 8 at 7 am. Friday morning.

Fortunately TSC in Kitchener opened at 7:30 am so we were able to get two new wheels quickly and get back on our way.  We arrived at the track at around 10 am and asked the organizers what we had missed at the riders' meeting.


Reverse Technical Layout

Round 4 of the SOAR series took place on the "Reverse Technical" track at Grand Bend (see previous blog post).  No one had run this configuration before so it was a mystery to all of us going into Friday practice.  My verdict: I love this layout!  I was worried about the sharp corner at the end of the back straight, but it turned out not to be very difficult at all since it is very increasing-radius.  At first of course we were all braking too early but I eventually moved my braking point up to about the third marker and that worked well  with just a bit of squirm on the brakes and not much coasting before turning it in.  The two corners after that are beautiful quick things where you can really be on the throttle as soon as you dive-bomb the apex, much like the dogleg on the start-finish straight but not as fast.  Great fun!  With my gearing I only needed two upshifts and two downshifts per lap, with most of the track being taken in third.

 I ended up doing consistent 1:17s without much effort but 1:16s were possible when I got everything right.  I even managed a 1:15.8 at some point.  Here are a few laps:

Saturday Practice and Qualifying

Everyone was nervous about the weather on Saturday - the forecast called for heavy precipitation to arrive at some point in the afternoon.  Morning practice was beautiful even if it took me a few sessions to get back up to pace.  Unfortunately my two qualifying races were the final two on the schedule, and by the time they were approaching the rain had started.  Some riders switched immediately to rain tires, but I decided to not bother.  If the rain stopped and the track dried then good for me; if not I just wouldn't qualify and would start nearer the back - no big deal since both classes were pretty small anyway.  As it turned out the rain kept coming...and coming and coming....

Prairie Dogs Endurance Race

Humpty the endurance GSXR 600 was looking less than resplendent in full Bondo Beast livery for Round 3.  Allen decided to rectify this for Round 4...but of course even though there were five weeks between rounds nothing ever gets done until the last minute.  I think the clear coat was still drying when Steve picked up the bodywork from Allen on Thursday night.  That said, you have to admit that it turned out pretty well for a home garage spray-bomb kind of effort. Definitely passes the 20-20 test (looks acceptable from 20 feet away at 20 mph).

The only problem was, we had no rain tires and it was pouring.  So, we decided to take it easy and just run on the Q3s.  When the other teams came up to us to ask what tires we were running and we told them, their eyes got as big as saucers.  We figured that if we could go three hours without crashing then we could claim a victory.  I am happy to say that we pulled it off, basically by tiptoeing around the track like we had training wheels on.  At one point young Tyler Waugh on his 80 cc Kawasaki  enduro came by me and then gapped me.  I'm not kidding.

In the end we beat all but one of the GTL teams (including Tyler) and even one of the GTO teams, but finished at the bottom of GTU again.

Really, the most shocking development is that over the course of the race, Allen put in the single best lap time.  Imagine that.  Allen.  Personally I put it down to a recording error.  Also, a visiting relative of Steve's wife, Dave from England, was recording our laps and Allen may have slipped him some cash.  But let him have his tiny ray of glory...

Sunday - Definitely not Funday

Steve and Allen went home Saturday night after dinner and I awoke to a very very wet track and heavy fog.  For safety reasons no one could go on track until the fog lifted, so morning practice didn't start until after 10 am.  We were only going to get through two rotations of practice before the sprint races started, so I went out for the first session even though there were still some pretty damp patches.  No problem - I took it easy and all was well.

Here's where things got pretty unpleasant.  During the second practice session I was doing nicely by my standards but as I rounded the long right-hander near the end of the lap, another rider came around me on the outside.  I don't know if he cut across my line or if I got startled and changed my line, but I found myself on a sure trajectory for his rear tire.  In a bit of a panic I grabbed the brake lever while still leaned over, and the result was predictable - the bike slammed down hard.  It actually wasn't a terribly violent crash, but unfortunately the brake lever guard got torn off when it hit the ground and the exposed handle bar end dragged itself across the end of my middle finger, shredding the glove and all of the flesh underneath it.

When I stopped sliding I jumped up, shook my smarting right hand hard, yelled a few choice obscenities, then collected myself enough to walk over to the bike and hit the kill switch.  Then I looked down and saw the shredded glove and the bleeding finger, and my first thought was "oh no, I don't have another set of gloves for this afternoon".  Presently, I noticed that the finger was actually looking a bit gory, and thought I had best take a knee and signal for the medics.

The EMS guys put me in the bus and drove me back to the pits, where they cut off the glove and cleaned the wound a bit then dressed it.  They asked me if anyone could drive me to the hospital and I said that Shah or Brody probably could but could it wait?  I didn't want them to miss their races.  They let me know that it was a pretty serious injury and that I should really have it attended to immediately.

I was actually feeling not too bad so I changed out of my leathers and drove myself to the hospital in Exeter (right hand injury, manual transmission....).  They x-rayed my hand pretty quickly but then I had to wait there for several more hours before I finally saw the doctor.  He froze my finger and examined the injury, then instructed me to get to the Hand and Upper Limb Clinic in London as fast as possible.  So back in the Jeep and rush down to London with the referral papers (during which time the freezing wore off).  It took the specialist there almost no time to determine that she needed to amputate about half the finger, so she did exactly that while I looked in the other direction.  The surgery itself was not painful in the least, but the sound effects were a bit off-putting.

Of course during all of this I was calling my wife (who was out of town) and texting my brother to keep them up to date.  Since the surgery was done by 5:30 or so I decided to go back to the track to collect my stuff.  Not too many people were left there but my friend Kyle (who had won the rookie race that day) and his sister Karen helped me hook up the trailer, load the bike and pack all my gear into the Jeep.  Then I had a 2-hour drive back to Guelph, frankly feeling a bit spent.  Stopped at the all-night pharmacy and got my antibiotics and pain meds.


The  End?

As of this writing my accident only happened two days ago, and I am still getting my head around what it means for me and my racing.  My wife up to this point has only just barely tolerated the whole thing, and now that I have actually come home missing body parts I suspect she will have reached the end of her patience.  And who could blame her?

Myself I am not yet in a mental state where I even know what I want to do.  Go back to racing, become just a track day rider again, or give up motorcycling altogether, in consideration of the strain it puts on my family.

The bike itself is not badly damaged, needing only a new handlebar, brake lever, brake lever guard and some general straightening up to be operational again.  Plus clean the blood splatter from the inside of the fairing.  But it will be weeks before I can even hold a wrench so I have plenty of time to think about it.

    

Round 4 is almost here...

Just a quick post to talk about my strategy / goals for Round 4, which takes place August 16/17.

After losing a footpeg TWICE in Round 3, both footpegs have been red-loctited and safety wired.  Now they can't come off.  I have also replaced the brake lever guard that got ruined in my crash.  I still need to clean the rest of the mud off my leathers and boots though.  Everything else is checked, straightened, and ready to go.

A New Track Layout - "Reverse Technical" Unleashed

This should be an interesting round, since the scheduled track configuration is "Reverse Technical".  So far as I know, no one has ever run this configuration before, so no one has any clue what kind of lap times to expect!  This makes it a bit harder (actually, impossible) to set target lap times for practice.

The good news for me is that, for the first time this season, I will be able to attend the Friday practice day preceding the race weekend.  That means a whole day of practice to figure out the new layout, which should give me an advantage over those who just show up on Saturday and will get only three 15-min practice sessions in the morning, and then again Sunday morning.

I made a map of the layout.

 Most of the turns we have all seen before, running the "Reverse Screaming Alien" layout - T1 (dogleg), T2 (carousel) are familiar to everyone, but then there is a HUGE long straight ending in a medium speed corner that no one has ever run before in this direction, so finding the braking and turn-in points is going to be interesting.  I called this T3, but I think we should call it "What Was Ken Thinking?" corner.  The next three turns (T4 - T6) are also unique to this layout, but I doubt they will present any particular challenges.  They are followed by a turn that is part of Reverse Alien (T7), but it is approached from a shorter straight section than normal so the entry speed will be quite different.  Then we are back into familiar territory with Big Daddy (T8 - long triple-apex left-hander) and the rest of the esses (T9 and T10) leading onto the start / finish straight.

Plans for Round 4

I have registered for both Battle of the Twins Lightweight and Rookie 600 again, and of course the Prairie Dogs will be running Humpty Dumpty in the GTU Endurance class as always on Saturday evening.

Given that I am completely out of the points race for both of my sprint classes, I hope to spend the weekend just "honing my craft", working on developing quick lines, getting good race starts and challenging for position where possible.  I expect that by the end of Friday I am going to need to visit the Ripp Racing trailer for a new set of Bridgestone slicks.

My Realistic Goals for Round 4:

• Use Friday practice to good effect so that I am confident in my lines and braking markers going into Saturday
• Don't crash
• Finish no worse than second in BOTT LW
• Beat somebody in Rookie 600  :)

Round 3 - Racing is hard...

Summary

A gentle lowside crash in Saturday practice sapped my confidence, but I qualified third for BOTT LW, then did poorly in the Rookie 600 qualifier.  Endurance race went well.  Rain Sunday, so got some practice on the rain tires, then switched wheels again as it dried for the afternoon races.  Was running second in BOTT when I lost a footpeg (!) and had to retire.  Skipped the Rookie 600 race.

Round Three

SOAR Round Three took place July 11, 12 and 13 on the "Long Track" configuration at Grand Bend.  A few days out the weather forecast looked a bit ominous, so quite a few regulars decided to sit it out.  Their loss! By late Sunday morning the track was dry and we had some great racing.

I hadn't run on Long Track for over two years, and so had no useful memory of any of the braking points etc.  There are a couple of challenging corners, including what they call OMG corner where you brake hard from a medium-length straight into a slightly decreasing radius slow 180° right-hander with very poor visuals.  I definitely could have benefited from doing the Friday practice day this time but it wouldn't fit into my work schedule.  So, I stuffed a sleepy 9-year-old girl into the car at 4:45 am Saturday and headed off.  What a good sport she was!

Saturday Practice

There was about 1.5 h of free practice Saturday morning split into three groups, so I made sure to get out right at the beginning of my group's first session to try to start learning the track.  After less than two laps while coming down the side straight into OMG corner I discovered there was no place to put my left foot - the footpeg had come off!  So, I put my hand up and putted around to pit out, put the bike on the stand and started rummaging through my bins of parts to find the spare (OEM) pegs.  No dice - I had left them at home.  Then began a tour of the pits, asking every Ducati rider and a few others as well if they could help me out.  No one had the parts I needed, but as luck would have it someone who had been behind me when the peg came off overheard the conversation and told me exactly where I could find it beside the track!  Ken the race organizer gave me a lift on his scooter and sure enough, there was the missing part lying in the grass right where we were told it would be.  Awesome.  Back to the pits, peg reinstalled (with Loctite and a pile of torque), other peg reinstalled similarly....and now it is 15 minutes until my last practice session and the tires are cold.  Put the warmers back on....

With only 15 minutes of heat in the tires I went out for final practice.  I was starting to get the feel of things when, after about five laps, for no apparent reason I had a gentle little lowside crash in the middle of the triple apex turn they call Big Daddy.  The bike didn't flip and came to rest in a mud puddle on the grass.  Minimal damage, but my leathers got a little dirty.

I set about trying to get the bike and my equipment back into shape.  It really wasn't hard.  Straightened the fairing stay a little, cleaned the mud out of the frame sliders and the clutch, that kind of thing.  Total damage was some new scratches on the exhaust and fairing, ground down sliders, broken brake lever guard, and a hole in my glove.  Lucky.  I borrowed the brake guard off the endurance bike, got out my spare gloves and had things ready in no time.

Meanwhile during all of this Steve and Allen were wrenching like maniacs trying to get the bodywork fitted up to Humpty Dumpty the endurance bike.  You may recall that substitute rider Brodie Coveduck smashed it all to bits for us last round at Shannonville.  To add insult to injury, turnout for the endurance race at the Shannonville round was so poor that they decided not to count the points!  Anyway, Steve and Allen pulled off a miracle sourcing parts and getting it back together mechanically in under two weeks.  The final product was ready to roll but not up to our normal aesthetic standards (which are pretty low to begin with).

Jeff Waller Memorial Ride

Before the qualifying races we had a memorial ride around the track in honour of SOAR member Jeff Waller who had passed the previous week from a longstanding illness.  I didn't know Jeff personally but he was one of us so I was proud to put a #77 sticker on my windscreen and parade around the track in his honour.  RIP Jeff.

The Round 3 event itself is named the Steve Shreeve Memorial, in remembrance of a dear departed friend of SOAR principal Ken McAdam.  It has as one of its traditions a silly pit-bike race where people dress up in outrageous costumes and race about on scooters and minibikes.  Great fun.  On this very special weekend there was also an amazing free BBQ, a super band (the Checkerboard Floors, with SOAR rider Tyler Wilson as one of the musicians), and even some fireworks.  What a blast and what a way to remember and honour SOAR members who have left us.

Qualifying Races

Since I don't have a pile of points so far, I was gridded seventh for the Battle of the Twins Lightweight Qualifying Race.  I was really looking forward to this race, because Bob, who is on a bike with the same motor as mine (Ducati SuperSport DS1000) was back in action after suffering a knee injury in Round 1.  He was gridded right next to me. Unfortunately Alex, with whom I had had a great battle in Round 2, was not on the grid because he crashed his 748 earlier in the day, in the exact same place where I had my incident.  Even so, we had a nice-sized group with 11 registered I believe.

The 5-lap qualifier was a pile of fun, as you can see from the video.  Bob and I thought we were battling for first, but in fact young Jordan Bauer an a Kawasaki 650 Ninja (I think) was miles ahead of us.  Sometimes things get confusing when they have two classes gridded together.  In the end I finished third behind Bob.

It seems I was pretty accurate with my estimate of what kind of times I would need on this configuration.  1:35 flat was good enough to keep up with everyone except Bauer.



As in Round 2, my qualifying races were back-to-back, so I came off the track from BOTT LW, did a U-turn and came back on for Rookie 600.  I was at the back, 8th out of 8 riders.  This class has really shrunk since the beginning of the season, as it often does.  I had a pretty awful race honestly, and the video below highlights my various screwups.  I passed one rider early on and was making up time on the next guy, but then had some kind of scary juddering front tire push entering Big Daddy, not terribly far from where I had crashed in the morning.  That was enough to sap all of my confidence and so I fell back, eventually being passed on the last lap to finish dead last.  Yuck.  However, on the one occasion that I did string together an entire clean lap, I managed a 1:33.6 - a good improvement over the previous race.




Saturday Endurance Race

The Prairie Dogs had a pretty good round on our cobbled-together ride.  Steve in particular was looking very racy.  There is not much in it between our lap times anymore.

During my first session on the bike I absolutely hated it.  There was way too much play in both the brake lever and the throttle, making everything feel loose and imprecise.  On the plus side, the lack of a steering damper didn't seem to affect things at all.  Eventually by my second stint I was starting to figure out how to ride around the bike's oddness, and began using the opportunity to test braking points etc.  That led to me running off in OMG corner once, and at the entrance to the carousel on another occasion.  No problem - I just got back on track and kept going both times.

We ended up logging 103 laps, but had two screw ups.  One time, Steve saw someone who looked remarkably like Allen holding something that looked remarkably like our pit board, and so dutifully came in on the next lap.  We sent him on his way.  Later, only a few laps into my third stint, I got a complete hamstring cramp in my left leg, causing me to run across the grass at about the entrance to Big Daddy.  I put my hand up and rolled into the pits screaming for a replacement with my leg still camping, but of course it took Steve 30 s or so to get his helmet and gloves on.  Personally I blame my teammates for my cramp, because while I was waiting to run my last qualifying race they took my canopy and all the water to go set up the endurance pit, leaving me to dehydrate in the sun like a raisin.  It had nothing at all to do with a lack of fitness on my part.  At least that is my story and I am sticking to it.

Man we are good looking.  Check out Steve's Kramer hairdo.

Sunday Practice

The weather report proved accurate and late Saturday evening it started to rain.  There were some torrential downpours over the night, and the Prairie Dogs (including the two kids we had brought along) were grateful to be sleeping in Allen's trailer rather than tenting it.

In the morning everything was soaked and there was standing water everywhere.  Even though it was supposed to clear up later, I decided to mount the rain tires to get some more practice in.  I don't have my bike set up with quick clips and such, so changing wheels involves cutting the safety wire off of 10 different fasteners, removing the fasteners, swapping the wheels, re-installing and re-torquing all of the fasteners, then safety wiring everything again.  45 minutes minimum, if I rush, and of course I am constantly puncturing my fingertips on the safety wire (they should call it danger wire) and bleeding everywhere.  At one point while kneeling on the wet ground, hungry with grimy hands and blood dripping down to my elbow, I was starting to question whether or not I was actually having fun.

By the time the wheels were on there wasn't much time left in practice, but I did get about 10 laps in before there was such a dry line developing that I thought I was going to tear up the tires.  By that point the sky was clear as can be.  So, cut off the danger wire...remove fasteners...put the wheels with the slicks back on...put the fasteners back in and torque...rewire, bleed....etc.  I did have some help though - here is Caterina torquing my caliper bolts.

  

BOTT LW Race

The twins race started off well enough.  Sorry, no video but let me try to describe it.  Alex Radecki had put his 748 back together, so it looked like he and Bob and I could have a good race, although Alex was starting from the back of the grid having missed qualifying.  I started better than usual and caught up to Bob after a few laps and managed to pass him, putting me in second behind only Jordan.  Unfortunately a few laps after that I outbraked myself into OMG corner and went onto the grass.  Before I could rejoin, Alex passed me, which put me in third.  It was great fun following Alex for several laps.  I was turning better laps than I had all weekend, really feeling in the grove.  I was gaining on Alex and was just about ready to make a pass attempt...WHEN MY FRIGGIN FOOT PEG CAME OFF AGAIN!!!!!  This time it came off just after the kink on the front straight.  Since I was so close to the pit entrance I just threw my hand up immediately and left the circuit.

In retrospect I probably should have tried to finish the race without my footpeg to salvage as many points as possible, and if I had had a few more corners to make that decision I may have chosen otherwise.  However, it may not have been too safe, and besides, I was pretty disgusted at that point.

Someone retrieved the footpeg and brought it to my pit, but rather than get the bike ready for the Rookie race where I didn't have a great chance of doing well anyway, I decided to call it a day, pack up and get my daughter home at a decent hour.

Summary

With half the season gone and only one points-paying finish, any hope of taking the BOTT LW title is now completely gone.  Actually, I don't think I was going to find anything for Jordan anyway, so that is probably a moot point.  From here on in I will just concentrate on getting more experience, improving where I can and logging the best finishes possible.  Overall I am still pretty pleased with my pace and progress.  But man, is there ever a lot to learn if you want have any success at this game!

How did I do with respect to my goals for Round 3?  Let's review:

Don't crash - Oops.  Nope.

Improve my race starts - Maybe, just a little.

First place in BOTT LW - Nope, wasn't going to happen.  Because Bauer.

Mid pack or better in Rookie 600 - Uh uh.

Show Caterina enough of a good time that she wants to come again - Only time will tell.  It sure was fun having her along.

Round 3 is this weekend...

Round 3

Round 3 of the SOAR series is this weekend at Grand Bend.  Actually it is Round 4 counting the RACE / SOAR joint event at Shannonville two weeks ago.  Track layout is "long track".  Forecast is for rain Sunday.

Series Standings, Competitiveness etc...

After my success at Round 2 I have convinced myself that I can be competitive in the BOTT LW class, and maybe make a run for the title.  The problem is, with my mechanical DNS in Round 1 and having opted out of the RACE / SOAR round that they added to the schedule, I am quite a few points behind much of my competition with only four rounds to go.  I will need firsts and seconds from here on in to have any chance against the guys who are competing in all the rounds, and even qualifying points are going to matter, so no more settling for second when there is a chance to challenge for first.  It's funny how quickly you can go from "Let's just give this a go and try not to embarrass myself" all the way to "Let's win the series!"  I don't really consider myself a competitive person but it seems I have got the bug.

I don't have much recent experience on the Long Track configuration, and so am not sure what kind of lap times I am going to need to be competitive.  Watching videos of recent races, I am thinking that something in the high 1:34 range might do the trick in BOTT LW.  We'll see what we can manage in Saturday practice.  It would have been great to do the Friday practice day this time, but my work schedule just wouldn't allow it.

I don't expect to do super well in the rookie 600 class but it was so much fun last time that I registered for it again.  In both classes (but rookie 600 especially) I really need to concentrate on getting away at the start more cleanly.

Weather Forecast - RAIN

Weatherman says 10% chance of rain Saturday, but 90% Sunday with a total of near half an inch.  Sure glad I got those rain tires.  If it rains, I hope it does it definitively so the call is easy as to which tires to use.  If it starts raining 20 minutes before the start I am screwed because I can't change wheels and get everything safety wired that quickly.  I'll need to make the call 45 minutes out.

I have never even ridden on rain tires, but I am not too worried about that.  I have done some laps in the wet on street tires during my race school and it didn't take me too long to get up to a half way respectable pace.  Anyway, it is the same for everyone, and if the guy in front is cornering faster than me I think I can find the courage to trust the tires and chuck the bike in there.

My nine year old daughter Caterina has decided to come this weekend.  She thinks the camping part will be fun.  I am REALLY hoping that she enjoys herself so she will come with me again in the future.  One more reason to hope that the weather is half way decent.

Prairie Dogs Endurance Racing

It seems that Steve has got the bike pretty much back together mechanically, and both Steve and Allen have been trying to get some usable bodywork cobbled together from two smashed up sets.  Whatever they come up with will not be pretty, but PDR should be rolling again Saturday afternoon.  Fingers crossed...  Big advantage for me is all the extra practice time I will get Saturday evening, going around and around and around for a total of about an hour.

Goals for this Round

So, expecting a challenging weekend but super excited as always.  To be able to share it with Caterina will make it that much more special.  My realistic goals for this round:

• Don't crash
• Improve my race starts
• First place in BOTT LW
• Mid pack or better in Rookie 600
• Show Caterina enough of a good time that she wants to come again  

Watch for tweets over the course of the weekend to follow along...

My team mates spend a pile of my money

Endurance Racing

So, as I have mentioned before, I am a member of the Prairie Dogs Racing endurance team.  At each SOAR round on the Saturday evening we do a 3-h endurance race, taking 20 to 25-minute shifts between three riders (myself, my brother Steve and our friend Allen).  The bike is a 2003 Suzuki GSXR that we bought last fall and got into passable racing condition over the winter (I guess "passable" is a double entendre here...).  We have been racing it in the GTU class mostly against other Japanese 600s, and doing okay.

Shannonville

After the 2014 SOAR schedule was already set, the organizers decided to cooperate with the RACE organization in Eastern Ontario and insert a joint round out at Shannonville, between the already scheduled Rounds 2 and 3 of SOAR.  This turned out to be a great event, with plenty of SOAR racers making the trek east on the 401 to fill out the grids.  Unfortunately, I couldn't fit it into my schedule, with it falling just two weeks after Round 2 and two weeks prior to Round 3.  So, I suggested to my team mates that they take on a substitute rider, and I even put in a good work for Brodie, who has been doing very well in the 600 Rookie class this year.

So, Saturday night I called Steve and Allen to ask them how things went, and I could tell right away from the coy answers that all was not well.  Apparently the team was doing very well, running second overall, when Brodie had some kind of incident under braking into a turn and crashed the bike.  Hard.  The term "cartwheel" was used.  At first I thought they were pulling my leg, but the pictures tell the story.  Here is a "before" and a few "after" pictures of the poor bike.

The guy in the middle in the photo is Brodie.  Bad Brodie, bad!  As you can see he is perfectly fine, which we are all happy about.  Smashing up bikes sucks but smashing up people sucks a WHOLE lot more.  Plus, replacement Brodie parts are hard to find on kijiji.

We have renamed the bike Humpty Dumpty, and Steve is working like mad trying to put it back together again (presumably with some help from All the King's Horses and All the Kings Men).  Many parts have been purchased over the last few days...not clear yet what fraction of that I will get to pay for, if any.  Someone found the instrument cluster in the grass and is returning it to us.  If Steve can get it all sound again for Round 3 in 9 days I will be very impressed indeed.

Crashing

So, this is all part of racing.  People and machinery get pushed, sometimes beyond their limits, and stuff gets broken.  Money gets spent.  Fortunately 9 times out of 10 injuries are minor or nil, and the only real consequences are the expense and the extra work of making it all right again, or replacing the machinery outright.  

I am trying to prepare myself emotionally for the inevitable day that I wad the Ducati into a little ball, but chances are I will still hate myself when it happens.  I really do believe though that the race track is where sportbikes belong, no matter how pretty they are and how much we love them.  Much nobler to have it fly to pieces after a highside battling for position on the final lap then to squash the front end T-boning a left-turning minivan.  Safer for the rider too!

 

Round 2 - That's Better!

Summary

Round 2 was on the Modified Track at Grand Bend.  Things started off looking bad with some mechanical issues but it all got sorted quick and I managed to make qualifying on Saturday and both sprint races Sunday.  Results pretty much on target, including a podium in Battle of the Twins Lightweight.  Feeling great with my first real sprint races under my belt.

Round 2

Round 2 was June 14 - 15.  I skipped Friday practice since I already had some experience on this layout (Modified Track), and instead hit the road before 5:00 am Saturday morning.  Arrived at the track at 7:00 to find my two Prairie Dog Racing teammates fast asleep in the trailer.  Woke them up rudely then got the bike unloaded and ready for tech.  So far all according to plan.

Saturday Practice and Qualifying

First practice session...and the bike breaks on the first lap.  Just started running on one cylinder.  Rode it back to the pits in a FURY.  Parked it, yelled some obscenities, then started preparing the "For Sale - Cheap" sign.

Eventually I calmed down, got out the diagnostics equipment and isolated the problem (injector lead again).  Fixed it in no time and got back on the track before the morning practice ended.

I eventually got my practice times down to what I was hoping for.  When I wasn't in traffic 0:59s were easy, and there were some low 58's in there as well.  Excellent - right on target.  I was pretty much correct with predictions on where I could make up some time, especially in Turn 1.

Qualifying for the BOTT LW race was interesting.  Our class was combined with Lost Era Heavyweight, with the Lost Era guys in front of us because they are faster.  BOTT LW qualifying quickly became a battle  between myself and Alex on his 748.  I basically followed him around for all 6 laps, never getting close enough to pass, but taking note of where he was faster than I was, and where I could make time on him.  I qualified just behind him in second.  I was very pleased with this, as it was confirmation that my bike could be very competitive in this class, as I had expected.

My Rookie 600 qualifying race was the very next one - I literally pulled off the track from my first qualifier, then did a U-turn and joined the mock grid for Rookie.  I was a bit tired and started riding kind of ragged.  I did make up quite a few spots working my way through the back of the large field (17!), and probably could have caught one more but then I screwed up the entry to Turn 2 and ended up running across the grass.  I ended up 9th.

Here are a few photos from Saturday qualifying.

Saturday Endurance Race

Our 3-h endurance race went pretty well.  I only did two stints while Steve and Allen each did three.  We messed up our fuel calculation and ended up having to refuel twice instead of once.  The GTU class is *very* competitive.  We finished last place (fourth) in GTU, but only one team in GTO turned more laps than us, so we were fifth overall.  Pretty respectable all in all and we are all getting faster.

Battle of the Twins Race - Sunday

I really botched the start in the twins race, sending the front wheel sky high in a completely uncontrolled wheelie.  In the end it didn't matter though because I caught up to Alex quickly and eventually passed him under braking into the carousel.  I led for a few laps but didn't really have a feel for how far behind me he might be...and then out of nowhere he gets me back in exactly the same spot!  As you can see in the video I had a plan to try to retake the position, but unfortunately I got lapped by the leader of the Lost Era race on the last lap, and so our race was shortened by one lap and I never got the chance to challenge Alex again before the finish.  I was happy with second but my intention is to fight harder for first in Round 3.

Rookie 600 Race

I was a bit nervous about the Rookie 600 race because there were 17 on the grid, with me about midpack at position 9.  Honestly, I got another pretty awful start but at least I didn't pull another wheelie.  Things didn't really spread out much midpack for the first few laps, and at one point I got behind a bit of an incident where the rider in front of me was forced to brake really hard to avoid the bike ahead of him entering Turn 2.  I kept my nose clean but lost a pile of positions.  That actually turned out all right because then I had the fun (and practice) of re-passing all of those guys.  I swapped places with one fellow in particular multiple times.  In the end, after all that action, I finished right where I started: 9th.

I was actually pretty happy with the way the bike performed in the race, against machines with quite a bit more motor.  The Ducati is very stable under braking and can carry a lot of corner speed, so I was quite often able to pass people entering the faster corners at the end of both straights.  I made a lot of passes into Turn 1 which gave the people in the grand stands a nice show.  The race was a lot of fun and has convinced me to stick with the rookie class for the rest of the season to see if I can move up the rankings a bit.  I will never turn the times that the front runners are capable of, but upper third of the pack should not be out of reach if I can dig a little deeper.  I did get faster over the course of the race, eventually turning low 58s consistently.  Video:



Summary

Having now completed my first real sprint races, I have to say that I am enjoying myself and am pleased with my progress.  Such a relief after the disaster of Round 1!  I even earned a little tire contingency money for my second place BOTT LW finish (thanks Bridgestone and RIPP racing).

Reviewing my goals for Round 2:

1. Don't crash - Check!

2. Don't miss any qualifying or sprint races due to mechanical issues - Check!

3. Get average practice lap times down to 0:59.x, and turn at least a few 0:58.x - I did better than this, putting in a pile of 58s and one 0:57.94.

4. Podium finish in BOTT LW (why not?) - Yep!  Hooray!

5. Mid-pack or better finish in Rookie 600 - Not quite (9 / 17) but close enough.

6. Have fun - Most certainly.

Getting Ready for Round 2

Summary

With Round 2 only 8 days away I am thinking hard about what I hope to accomplish and how I am going to manage it.  After my pathetic double-DNS in Round 1, the main objective for this coming round is to avoid mechanical issues so that I don't miss any sessions.  I am in full "Hope for the Best but Plan for the Worst" mode.

Round 2 - Grand Bend, June 14 & 15

I won't be doing the Friday practice day this round.  The track layout is the "Modified Track" - same layout as the practice weekend so I already have plenty of laps on this configuration.  It is the shortest track setup at Grand Bend, with the fastest superbike riders turning laps in the 52-second range.  On the practice weekend I had targeted 1:00 flat as a reasonable time and easily achieved it, with also some 0:59.x laps in the mix.  There is some video of this layout in the first blog entry.

To be honest this is not the best configuration for me, because it is one of two layouts that use the entire length of the back straight.  I can often gap the 600s exiting corners but once they get wound up, given enough space, they will eventually blow by me.  Long straights definitely do not work to my advantage.

Reliability

Obviously the main goal this weekend will be to keep the bike running reliably so that I don't suffer another mechanical DNS.  The diagnostics indicated that I had a poor electrical connection to one of the fuel injectors.  Unfortunately I never identified the problem with 100% certainty, but by the time I had tested every connection and put it all back together, it ran perfectly again.  So here's hoping...

I have also installed the new (used) oil cooler, and run the bike up to temperature three different times to test both it and the fuel injection.  Zero issues.  So, I will safety wire the oil lines, put the bodywork back on, then test it one more time.  But I think I will also bring the diagnostics equipment to the track this time, just in case.

I have also been nervous about the prospect of rain leading to a DNS, since I am running slicks.  Accordingly, I have acquired a lightly used set of rain tires and a spare front Brembo rim, which I will assemble with the OEM discs next week.  I am going to have to mount the rear rain tire on the OEM spoked rim.  It will look a little goofy, but at least I will be able to run in the wet if need be.

Competitiveness

If I can turn 59-s laps consistently in practice I should be very competitive in the BOTT LW sprint race.  But the 600 Rookie field is excellent this year so I am going to need to find some more time if I want to mix it up with those guys.  I have some ideas about where I can pick up a few tenths.

• Certainly I can brake later into the long "carousel" turn, since I am currently coasting a bit there before turning it in.  It takes a lot of nerve to stay in the throttle until the first set of cones (at over 220 km / h!) but I know it is doable if I can summon the courage.
• With a wider line entering the dogleg before the start / finish line I should be able to carry more throttle through there.  That will require getting closer to the curbing at the apex of the dogleg...but not too close.  The pavement is kinda humped up for about 12" beyond the curbing and can really upset the bike.
• I am also confident that I can enter Turn 1 with a lot more speed.  I am not using anything like the whole track there. 

The tight infield bit (Turns 2 and 3) remains a mystery to me, so I will be studying other people's lines during practice.

I have also been thinking hard about passing strategies.  I was pretty tentative in the endurance race last round.  That was mostly okay because endurance racing is supposed to be a bit more relaxed, but I was still sometimes frustrated with how long it took me to safely get by bikes that were obviously much slower.  The good thing about endurance racing though is that it gives you piles of practice.  For Round 2 I will be sure to use those 50 or so laps to experiment with alternate lines and different ways of getting around other riders.

Objectives for Round 2

1. Don't crash

2. Don't miss any qualifying or sprint races due to mechanical issues

3. Get average practice lap times down to 0:59.x, and turn at least a few 0:58.x

4. Podium finish in BOTT LW (why not?)

5. Mid-pack or better finish in Rookie 600

6. Have fun

    

Round 1 was a washout...

Summary

Well, Round 1 was a terrible disappointment.  The bike stopped running and I missed all of my qualifying races Saturday and so we packed up and left Saturday night.  I did manage to get licensed however and we also did the endurance racing Saturday, so it wasn't a total waste.

Friday - SOAR Race School

Arrived bright and early Friday to about 5°C and light mist...which turned to heavy mist...which turned to something that could only properly be called rain.  Everything was soaked and I didn't bring enough warm clothes.  I had two hours of race school classroom time in the morning, which was very useful - answered all of my outstanding questions about starting procedures grid assignments, flags etc.  But the building was unheated and I was wet and actually shivering during the class.  The classroom instructor was Mike Bevan, a top runner and previous champion in Expert Superbike, and he was just great.

Here is what our pit area looked like after the class:

After lunch all of the race school students had to do some laps with an instructor following to make sure our lines were safe and that we weren't totally incompetent.  Problem is the track was still about 80% wet and several of us had only slick tires.  Fortunately for me I also had the endurance bike handy wearing Q3 street tires, so I took that out with the instructor.  The instructor had race DOTs on, which must have been kinda spooky in those conditions.  After I had done five or six laps I went back to the pits to wait.  He eventually showed up and said "I am very tentative in the rain and you left me for dead out there, so you can consider yourself licensed."

Hooray.  I guess....

Eventually the track dried up, but when I started the Ducati it was running very badly.  A bit of a shocker because the bike has been very reliable (except for the oil cooler thing....) and was running great two weeks prior at practice.  We found some issues with the battery connections and got it running well again.  By that time it was pretty late so I didn't even set up the timing beacon or record any video.  The track layout was "Reverse Screaming Alien" which I have some prior experience on, and I felt like my times were probably okay, though certainly not the 1:10s I was hoping for.

I got registered with Bridgestone for the tire contingency program, and put the stickers on the bike.  It was looking even more bad-ass and I went to bed very excited.

Saturday - It all goes pear-shaped

To make a long story short, when it was time to go out for Saturday practice (on a nice, dry track) the bike wouldn't run.  Now it was actually turning on the check engine light, but I had left the connector cables for my diagnostics software at home so I couldn't check the codes.  I spent the whole day Saturday wrenching the bike, trying everything I could think of, and making runs into Exeter for parts (fuel filter, plugs).  This is how the bike looked during my qualifying races:

It is hard to get more pathetic than that.  I was just frantic, at first hoping to make the last practice session, then hoping to make qualifying, then just hoping to get it going for Sunday and start at the back of the grid.  No dice.  

Eventually I just had to admit defeat, throw down the tools and concentrate on the Saturday evening endurance race on the Gixxer.  That was quite a bit of fun and at least I got some practice with passing under (low intensity) race conditions.  After that we had a beer and a hotdog, then broke camp and headed for home a day early.  

I am extremely disappointed because, looking at the lap times others were doing, I am pretty sure that I could have been reasonably competitive in both of my sprint races.  On a happy note, a friend of mine on a Triumph 675, also a first year racer, decimated the field in the 600 Rookie qualifying race.  Way to go Brodie!  Still waiting for the Sunday results to see how he finished.

So, how did we do?

Reviewing the list of "realistic goals" for Round 1:

1. Get licensed - Check!

2. Don't crash - Check!

3. Turn some practice laps in the 1:10.x range - Uh,no....

4. Don't embarrass myself in the sprint qualifiers or races - Never had the chance.

5. Have fun - Meh.  Froze my butt Friday morning, spent 9/10 of Saturday frantic and frustrated.  So I'm gonna say "fail" on this one.

Definitely a failing grade overall.  Hopefully it all gets sorted for Round 2 in three weeks.  Diagnostics led me to an electrical fault to one of the fuel injectors and the bike is now running again.  You can be sure that it will be started and run on pretty much a daily basis for at least a week to see if it misbehaves again.

Plans for Round 1

SOAR Round 1 is this weekend at Grand Bend.  It will be a three-day weekend for me, because I need to do the race school on Friday.  Assuming they are crazy enough to grant me a race licence, I will get a bit of practice in on Friday afternoon and then again on Saturday morning.

I struggled a bit with the decision about how many classes to register for.   I am committed to the endurance racing with PDR on Saturday, and wondered if maybe that, along with the Friday school, would be enough for the first weekend.  And actually it looked like that would be all I would be permitted to do, since my family was understandably not thrilled to learn that I would be gone for three days straight.  However, they eventually acquiesced so the decision was mine.

I knew I wanted to do at least one sprint class, if for no other reason than to get the experience of a race start.  Battle of the Twins Lightweight is the obvious choice - my bike should be pretty competitive there.

The question was...do I also sign up for the 600 Rookie class?  Air-cooled twins up to 1200 cc are permitted, but could I be competitive against a bunch of young guys (and girls) on Japanese supersport bikes?  Also, that class is usually pretty heavily subscribed early in the season.  I could be gridding up with 15 to 20 other riders as inexperienced as myself.  Recipe for disaster?

The track layout will be "Reverse Screaming Alien".  I reviewed quite a bit of youtube video of past Rookie races on that layout, and convinced myself that lap times in the 1:10 range would be competitive (i.e., potential to podium).  So, even the high 1:12s I was managing last year at a track day on that layout would not see me getting lapped or otherwise humiliated.  Accordingly....I signed up.  If I can get my practice times down into the 1:10s I will be pretty confident going in, so that is the goal I have set for myself.  But if I even manage some 1:11s I won't be too disappointed.

So the weekend schedule is: Friday - school and practice. Saturday - practice, 6-lap qualifying races for both BOTT LW and Rookie, then 3-h endurance race.  Sunday - a bit of morning practice and then two 12-lap sprint races.  The only thing certain in all of this is that ibuprofen will be my friend on Saturday.  I wonder if Advil would like to sponsor an amateur racer?

Speaking of sponsorship, I am going to sign up for the Bridgestone contingency program, since I am running their V01-R slicks.  They pay back to third place for any class that has a minimum of six competitors on the grid.  That will include 600 Rookie for sure but we may even have that many in BOTT LW.  Of course expecting to podium on my first race weekend is a bit fanciful...but I would feel like an idiot if I somehow pulled it off but hadn't bothered to register for the contingency program.  Also, it sure would be helpful at this point to win a little tire money!

On the bike prep side, the replacement oil cooler didn't arrive until today and I couldn't wait that long to get the bike ready, so I just removed the old cooler and bypassed it.  These bikes run fine without coolers anyway, but I will keep an eye on the engine temperatures and install the new cooler at the track if I deem it necessary.

I just acquired a new front wheel so that I can get set up with rain tires, but that won't all get organized for this round.  Hopefully it doesn't rain or I am screwed for the sprint races.

So, in summary, Realistic Goals for Round 1:

- Get licensed
- Don't crash
- Turn some practice laps in the 1:10.x range
- Don't embarrass myself in the sprint qualifiers or races
- Have fun

I should add that there is a running bet within the PDR team as to who will turn the best laps on the endurance bike...we are talking serious gloating privileges here.

A middle-aged guy decides to become a motorcycle racer

Hi there -

My name is Hugh Earl and, at the age of 45, 2014 will be my first season racing motorcycles.  I will be campaigning a 2006 Ducati Sport 1000 in the Battle of the Twins Lightweight class in the Southern Ontario Association of Racing (SOAR).

I am also a member of the Prairie Dogs Racing Team, which consists of myself, my brother Steve and our friend Allen.  We have put together a 2003 GSXR600 which we will run in SOAR's GTU Endurance Class (basically, a 3-h race with multiple riders taking turns).

I have been track riding since 2010, mostly at Cayuga (Toronto Motorsports Park), but with occasional outings to Mosport and Grand Bend.  Six of the 2014 SOAR rounds will be at Grand Bend on the various configurations there.  One of those is a joint round with RACE, and then SOAR also has another joint round with RACE out at their home track of Shannonville.

My bike is pretty unusual for a race machine, being a 1000-cc air-cooled 2-valver.  However, SOAR's rules allow me to enter it into a number of classes, competing against 600-cc inline fours if I so choose.  Here is the bike:

Modifications from stock include a DP slipper clutch, WASP intakes and fueling mods (with Dynojet PCIII), WASP top mount steering damper, Traxxion Dynamics fork cartridges and springs, Penske shock, Arrow 2-1 exhaust, Airtech fairing on an Endurance Engineering stay with a Gustaffson windscreen, Catalyst Composites bellypan, LSL (Spiegler) footpegs, Brembo wheels and 4-piston / 4-pad front calipers, Shorai Lithium Battery relocated under the seat, Tech Spec tank grips, 14 / 41 final drive gearing, Motovation frame sliders and RhinoMoto bar and axle sliders and probably some other stuff I am forgetting.  I am running Bridgestone V01-R slicks with Bickle tire warmers.  The bike has been safety wired according to SOAR tech requirements, and the crankcase breather is vented into a catch can mounted in the front fairing.  There is also a brake lever guard and a rear sprocket "shark fin" guard (both Woodcraft) as required by the rules.

I have registered with SOAR under novice race number 282, but won't be officially licensed to race with them until I complete the race school on Friday May 23.

With this bike I expect to be reasonably competitive in the Battle of the Twins Lightweight class, but am also very curious as to whether on not I could hold my own against other novice racers on inline-4 600s.  SOAR has a special class for rookie (first year) racers on 600s, which I may enter if I can convince myself that I could make a good show of it (i.e., not be dead last).  So far the signs are encouraging.  Last Saturday SOAR had a test day at Grand Bend on the "Modified" track layout.  Watching youtube video of rookie 600 races on that layout from previous years, it seemed like 1 minute flat would be a respectable time.  So, on Saturday I went out with the "Red Group" (what was I thinking...holy smokes those guys are quick), and quickly managed to average 1:00.x, with a few 0:59.x in there for good measure.  

Here is some video, which unfortunately ends with my oil cooler exploding.  The fellow at the end is trying to signal to me that my bike is smoking, but of course at that point I already knew.  I really should have exited the track sooner (rookie mistake), but fortunately the leak wasn't bad enough to drop any oil on the track surface.

  

I've ordered the parts I need to fix the bike and so expect to be ready for Round 1.  If not then I will just do the endurance racing for that round and wait for Round 2 to get the Duc out there.

Got some laps in on the endurance bike as well.  I was 2 - 3 seconds slower on the Gixxer, probably because I have not ridden an inline 4 for so long (over a decade!) and so had no feel for what gear to be in.  The bike seemed to work reasonably well though.  We have it on Dunlop Q3s, which seem to be really wonderful tires.