2009
AMA Season, Round 6 - Road America, June 5 - 7
Dream
no small dreams, for they have no power to move the hearts of
men - Goethe
Several
years ago, I decided to go racing. The goal was simply to honor
God with the talents that He has given me, to improve my skills
and have fun. I soon realized that I needed considerable money
to make this happen. I could either focus on doing some side
work to get money or I could focus on getting sponsors. I decided
to focus on sponsors.
It soon became obvious that I
knew very little about how the sponsor thing worked. So, I enlisted
the help of a good friend and fellow track day guy that had
some sales and marketing abilities, Brian Blume. After discussing
with him that I just wanted to go racing but needed some support,
he suggested that if we decided to do this thing then we should
make it our goal to line up for at least one AMA grid - no small
dream.
That dream was realized this
past weekend ... no small dream born under the old tech shed
at Blackhawk Farms during a NESBA track day several years earlier
... that dream was realized at round 6 of the 2009 AMA season
at Road America in the American Superbike class!
Our family's patience wear thin
as we are gone weekend after weekend chasing the dream. Still
they come to the track to cheer us on. In addition, an awesome
group of sponsors have partnered with us and blessed us with
quality products and support. Many friends continue to come
along side and help us in so many ways. To all of you, from
the bottom of heart, we say thank you.
Friday, June 5
Qualifying
Some say, "In order to go
fast, you have to go slow". Well, that doesn't really work
when it comes time to qualify. The truth is that in order to
go fast, you actually have to go fast.
Just showing up to an AMA round
does not make you go faster, in fact it is hard to focus. Something
about getting buzzed by the guys you watch race on TV is just
not overly confidence inspiring. It is hard to describe what
10 seconds a lap faster really looks like up close as it goes
by you sucking off the paint and decals.
Soon, however, I remembered that
all that mattered was me, the bike and the track. That is all
I could control, so why focus on anything else? I got down to
my normal race pace pretty quickly, but found it really hard
to push past that pace. The issue was not grip, the big Dunlop
slicks were working great. The primary issue was the bike's
geometry and suspension. The bike was very hard to control coming
out of the corners and as a result I could not keep the throttle
pinned.
We soon learned that pretty much
every GSXR 1000 in the AMA paddock is running Ohlins forks and
shocks, so it wasn't like we could go ask anybody for some baseline
stuff to try and get my bike in the ball game. In reality, we
felt a bit like lonewolves out there trying to fix an issue
that we just did not have the experience to fix.
With no time to really fix anything
before qualifying, I went out and rode the bike as hard as I
could to qualify for the big show. I made it under the 108%
cutoff with tenths of a second to spare, qualifying in 23rd
position with a 2:23.
After qualifying, Ian decides
to go over and talk to the Rockstar / Makita Suzuki mechanics.
They seem to do a pretty good job of setting up Mladin, Hayden
and Young's bikes, maybe they could get us headed in the right
direction. At the same time, Brian goes and talks to Scotty
Ryan and enlists his help.
With some quality advice from
several sources, we wound up making some MAJOR changes to geometry,
suspension, rearset placement, and gearing. By the end of the
day, I was very happy to be riding a much more stable motorcycle.
Now, it was up to me to trust the increase grip the tires were
offereing me on corner entry and exit.
I was kicking myself
for not practicing my rain riding at all those rainy track days.
As we lined up for the race, my goal was to bring it home in
one piece and try not to embarass myself too much. I got a good
start and T1 looked like a parking lot as I went into pack on
the brakes slipping and sliding.
I was soon given
a harsh schooling on the traction levels available on rain tires
as several riders went by me like I was parked. My fragile ego
simply could not take this and I began to latch on to some of
them and in blind faith I was amazed as we went around the carousel
knee on the deck on a wet track.
As the race progressed,
a dry line was forming and the pace was really picking up. Rain
tires on dry pavement feel pretty wierd at race pace. There
was good grip on the dry line, but venturing even inches off
that dry line created instant pucker moments. Passing was especially
difficult because there was only one thin line where traction
was good. Kettle bottoms was a skating ring as we ripped through
standing water in 6th gear. I was one of the slow guys only
getting up to about 166 MPH on the wet pavement.
I had a good battle
with Brian Boyd throughout the race as his experience in the
rain helped me to get up to a reasonable pace on the wet pavement.
I finished 20th and brought the bike home in one piece feeling
good about not only getting through my first race but also learning
to trust the rain tires.
Photo
credits to Ciegi Henry
Sunday, June 7
American Superbike,
Race 2
First race jitters
and rain behind us, we went into the second race with our game
face on. My goal was to not get lapped. This meant that I would
need to run 13 laps at a pace faster than my qualifying time.
In addition, Brian and I were talking and if I could finish
in the top 20 (i.e. we make some money), then we might have
enough cash to do one more round this season.
Photo
credits to Ciegi Henry
As I sat on the
grid, I looked ahead from the sixth row of the grid at some
of the best riders in America and really felt blessed to be
on that grid...thankful for the opportunity to race and learn.
Standing by me was my daughter, Rachel, wearing a big smile
and some cool shades, all dressed up and holding a big umbrella
over me. I was a proud Dad.
I looked beside
me and Four Time World Champion Doug Polen was right next to
me. I noticed that we had exactly the same helmet on. So I got
off my bike and walked over to him and said, "Hey Doug,
I'm a huge fan....of your choice in helmets!" We both laughed.
As the lights went
out, I didn't get off the line as well as I would have liked
and I knew I had some work to do. So, I just put my head down
and ran all 13 laps as hard as I could. I made some pretty nice
passes on the brakes as the new stability of the bike allowed
me to really brake late and trail it off in the corners. I forced
myself to not be comfortable, but to keep pushing past my comfort
zone even if it meant running a little wide or getting in too
hot on the brakes.
Soon, it got pretty
lonely. There was a big gap up to the guys ahead and a big gap
to the guys behind me. As the laps passed by, I got more and
more accustomed to the quicker pace and the way yhe belt felt.
Toward the end of the race, I was more relaxed and hitting my
marks every lap.
As I passed under
the checkered flag, I felt great. I knew that I had ridden to
the best of my ability. A quick look at my laptimer showed that
I had gotten down into the 22's on some of my last laps and
ran a bunch of low 23's. Timing and scoring listed me as finishing
18th, ahead of some very fast guys and I was tickled with that
result. To top it off, we
finished in the money and I set a new personal best time for
Road America.
Overall, the whole team came
together and did an excellent job of pit crewing and keeping
things from getting too sideways throughout the hectic weekend.
A huge thanks to Brian Blume, Stephen Hall, Ian Flaws, Rachel
Hix, Jeff Little and Dan Christopherson for all their support
this past weekend! A special thanks to my wife and daughter
for driving up and cheering for me on Sunday.
