2009 CCS Season, Round 7 - Blackhawk Farms, Aug 22-23

Ron Hix's Writeup

(photo credit: Gron4)

"A Blackhawk Farms win ... FINALLY!"

A lot of fast guys call Blackhawk Farms their home track. It used to be that laps in the 1:10's would bring home a win. That was when I was running 12's and 11's. Now 10's will not even guarantee you a spot on the podium. I had to run more than a few laps in the 1:09's, employ some race strategy and have a little bit of luck go my way in order to finally reel in an elusive win at Blackhawk Farms this past weekend.

In the GTO race on Saturday, the track was very green (for you race noobs out there, that means that all the race rubber had been washed off the track from rain on Friday afternoon and evening). Even with the slick condition, Hix Racing took two spots on the podium. I took 2nd and Blume took 3rd. I got the holeshot and Brian Hall and I battled hard swapping positions for the lead several times for the first 9 or so laps until arm pump set in at lap 10 and I was forced to back the pace down a notch and bring it home in one piece in 2nd.

The next race was Sunday, the Unlimited Supersport race. I took a gamble and tried a softer tire compound than we had been running in hopes that it would give me a bit of an advantage. WRONG. Backfired on me, big time. I couldn't run the pace. As a result, I finished a disappointing 4th place ... BUT we made the most of the situation. Since I was not able to run at 100%, I had the opportunity to really relax and listen to the bike and think about what suspension changes I could make for the remaining races on Sunday. We made the needed suspension changes and the bike was just awesome the rest of the day on Sunday.

(photo credit: Gron4)

The next race was the Unlimited GP, the money race. I got a good start and took the hole shot leading the first two laps until Brian Hall passed me on the brakes into T1 at the beginning of the 3rd lap. We swapped positions a couple more times before I decided to just relax a little and follow Brian a few laps. As the penultimate lap got underway, he was riding very well and had opened up a half second gap on me. I put my head down and closed the gap on him so that as we went by the white flag signaling the last lap, I was only inches off his rear wheel. I tried to make the pass into Turn 1, but he was too strong on the brakes. I made up a little ground through turn 2 and into the carousel, but the pass into the bus stop was just not there. We were glued together as we railed through turn 4 and turn 5. Turn 6 was my best shot at a pass and he knew it as he ran a very defensive line into the tight right hander. I knew he was too strong on the brakes down into turn 7 for me to safely make an inside pass, but I hoped that he would think that I would try the pass and run a defensive line to block it. Sure enough, he did and that allowed me to square off turn 7 and get a really good drive onto the front straight. As he fought to keep the front tire on the ground, I was able to draft him and pass him right at the finish line. I won the race by a margin of only .007.

(photo credit: Gron4)

With my first ever win at Blackhawk in the bag, we prepared for the last race of the day ... Unlimited Superbike. I knew it was going to a battle as Brian Hall would surely come out fighting after losing the Unlimited GP race. Since moving to the Dunlops, we have been running multiple races on a set of tires but since I had picked up the pace a bit, I considered putting on a new set of tires to head into the last race. I went over and talked this over with Tom McMannis (Dunlop rep). Tom looked me in the eyes and told me that although he loves to sell tires, he did not want to sell me something I did not need. He told me to just relax, go out and run hard on those tires, they would be fine. Wow, that was unexpected. So, I did just that and went out and relaxed and ran as hard as I would have on brand new tires. Those Dunlops were money as I turned a long string of 1:09's with a best being a 1:09:22. Like the race before, I was in a position to win this race, but lappers just didn't go my way and I crossed the line a half bike length behind Brian Hall. Congrats to Brian Hall for racing hard, but clean and coming back at me so hard. He pushed me this weekend, made me a better rider.

Brian Blume's Writeup

(photo credit: Gron4)

After being plagued by bad starts all year, I recently went to the drag strip to get a little practice and although I have some more work to do, my starts improved considerably this last weekend.

In the GTO, it was the first time I was gridded in the first row and I was pretty nervous about it. I was focusing on the boards and when it turned to the two board, I put it in gear and started to get ready to go, she turned it around and showed the one board, then sideways…the green flag. That sequence happened so fast I got off the line a tad slow but still much better than previous starts, heading down into turn one I caught a false neutral and was free wheeling as the field flew past me. I was yet again in a very familiar position…back of the pack with 18 laps to go.

I started working my way through the field and moved up to 3rd by the 6th lap, I kept my head down circulating in the low 11's and put a sizeable gap between myself and 4th place. On lap 12 I came out of turn 7 and got on the throttle hard and I started to feel a vibration in the rear wheel…lap 13 was the same but a little worse. On lap 14 I started to figure out that my chain was starting to skip on the back sprocket so I tried to baby the bike around the track hoping to make the sprocket survive until the finish of the race.

On lap 16 it was skipping out of every single corner and I was starting to think about pulling off to prevent any major damage from occurring, coming through 6b I turned around and still didn't see anyone coming for me yet so I decided to try and nurse the bike around the track for one more lap. Coming down the back straight on lap 17 I figured that if I rounded turn 7 and didn't see the white flag that I would have to call it a day and pull off because the chain skipping was upsetting the whole bike and I was very concerned about the damage it may be causing. As I rounded turn 7 I looked down the track to the flag tower and was relieved to see her holding the white flag….one more lap, I just had to last one more lap.

I came down the front straight with the bike shaking and the chain skipping through all the gears. I concentrated on carrying as much speed through the corners and not getting on the throttle too hard as I made my way around the track…coming out of 6b I again sneaked a look over my shoulder and saw 4 bikes coming at me fast. I carried as much speed as I could through turn 7 and twisted the throttle as hard as the bike would allow and nursed the bike towards the finish line with the chain skipping and the bike shaking like mad. I managed to hold on to 3rd place by a small margin and when I got back to the pits I found that I had rounded off the sprocket quite badly and actually broke a link in the chain. I worked with Joe at Turn One Racing to get a new chain and sprocket put on and was very thankful to have brought home a 3rd place finish.

In the Supersport race I was gridded on Row 2 and got reasonably good start and headed into turn one in 9th. I worked my way through the pack to 5th place and saw my teammate Ron Hix right in front of me. Ron was struggling with some setup issues and he was running a bit slower than his normal pace…but none of this mattered to me…the red mist had descended. I have never beaten Ron in a sanctioned race and I wanted very badly to make this the day that happened . I drove deep into one on the brakes and made up some ground, and as we continued around the track I was reeling him in a little bit at a time in each turn. Coming down the back straight I could clearly make out the detail on the "HIX RACING" logo on the back of his leathers and at that point I knew I could catch him. I drove deeeep into turn 7 on the brakes and the back end came up a little bit. I stayed on the brakes for a split second longer and eased them out in an effort to settle the back end before turn in…as I turned in I felt a jolt from my right side as I was hit by a bike that had dived bombed me up the inside of turn 7. I was pushed to the outside of the track and don't know if I was off the bike and tried to get back on and twisted the throttle or if I just tried to get on the gas too soon to chase him down, but the back end came around and whipped me off the bike. I tried my best to hang on but it was just way to powerful of a snap and I fell off. The bike skipped across the track and ended up on the right side of the track while I was stuck on the left. I watched the bikes circulating the track thinking about opportunities missed. I got my bike back to the pits and was amazed to see a broken winshield was the worst of the damage. We had that replaced in about 5 minutes and I settled in to wait for the UGP.

The Unlimited Gran Prix was pretty uneventful, my starts continued to improve and I went into turn one in 8th. I worked my way around the track feeling no ill effects from falling off the bike and even managed to turn a few 1:10's. I crossed the line 5th in this race behind some pretty big players in the game and I felt fortunate to place there. As I pulled into the pits I looked to Ron to see what he had done and he motioned to me that he had won the race. I parked the bike and headed over to give Ron a bear hug to celebrate his first Expert win at Blackhawk. Earlier in the day I had mentioned to Ron that he was due…that a win would come soon for him because he was making up so much ground on the guys that had pulled away from him last year so easily. I was proud to see him pull that off and think it's just the first of many more wins for Hix Racing.

(photo credit: Gron4)

The Unlimited Superbike was the last race of the day and I was on the front row again. My starts had been improving all day I was pleased with my progress. I got off the line and headed into turn one in 6th and started after the pack. By the end of lap 3, I had moved up into 5th and was right behind 4th place as we came down the front straight. I passed him on the brakes and took over fourth place and set off after the 3rd place rider Jason Runte because he had built up a little gap. I figured that I would catch him quickly because I knew he usually ran high 12's to mid 13's at Blackhawk but after the 4th lap I hadn't reeled him in one bit. I looked down at my laptimer thinking that I was just way off the pace and saw that I was NOT running a slower pace….Jason was just going a heck of a lot faster than I had ever seen him go. I continued to try and close the gap on laps 5 and 6 and got a tad bit closer but wasn't getting it done fast enough. As I came down the front straight and saw the white flag fly I thought to myself "If you aren't going to go for it…why don't you just pull off the track". I put my head down and went deep into one on the brakes and managed to close up the gap by a bit, I got on the throttle hard coming out of the turn and pulled a little closer. I continued to push harder closing up the gap little by little and was right on him going into turn 6. I tried to pull the pass on the exit of turn 6b but would have been coming by him in the kink with him not being able to see me as he dipped into the kink so I waited until turn 7. I knew I would need to get a GREAT drive out of Turn 7 to beat him to the finish because he carries a little more cornerspeed than I do. I concentrated on keeping calm and just doing what I had done so many times before. Jason dipped into turn 7 and I was right on him…when we exited I drafted him down the front straight and pulled out from behind him as we headed towards the finish, I crossed the line just in front of him to take 3rd place for my first "just barely got by" finish. After the race I stopped by to congratulate Jason on a race well done…even though I did get by him, he ran one heck of a good race and went faster than I have ever seen him go. As we were sitting on our bikes after the race I remarked to him that we were running in the high 10's and he looked at me a little surprised and reached down to key his laptimer and saw that he had run a 1:10.8 which was his new personal lap record. Congrats to Jason a well run race…and a new personal lap record at Blackhawk!

(photo credit: Gron4)

In summary, Hix Racing had a great weekend and made a strong showing as a team. Ron Hix took a first, two seconds and a fourth. Brian Blume took two thirds, a fifth and a DNF.

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CONTACT INFO: ron@ronhix.com or 630.430.7449