Fat Lazy Bastard Racing

I’m in Love…

There are certain things, that once I try it, I must absolutely continue to feed the addiction.
Coffee

Smoking

Track Riding

Etc…

This last weekend at ORP, I got hooked on a new addiction, one, that I must feed.

I am talking about, motards…

Now, I’ve ridden friends motards before, but only on the street.

JD Decided he was going to take his Motard down with us to ORP.  This would be an excellent idea, as ORP is a tight and technical track where these types of shenanigans can take place.

JD went out his first session, came back with a huge smile on his face. It was over, he knew what he liked out there already without taking the CBR out.

The day went on, and every session he’d come back, he’d have a bigger and bigger grin on his face.

Finally… He let me take it out..

And that was it, my weekend was ruined.  He gave me the first dose for free, 1 session out on it the whole weekend.  Every time I went out on my R6 after that, I just kept thinking about the Motard.

Even though it is only a WR250X, I had more fun on it, than I could have on the 600, due to the track configuration.  On top of that, it just was a fricken blast.

I now want one

I now desperately seek one

I now will be in more debt

I now must restrain myself from spending money on one

I now must have one though!

le sigh

ORP ORP ORP!

Well, What a wonderful weekend spent in Oregon!

Myself and my buddy JD, had signed up for the Oregon Raceway Park, two day extravaganza with 2-Fast May 16th and 17th about 2 months prior to the actual date. We had been wanting to ride this track since the first bit of blacktop went down on it.
So what can I say?

Meh…

The track is good, still needs some work, and I am not just talking facilities.

For starters, just for track itself, they really need to get a roller out there on a damned hot day, and re roll the seams.  They can really screw you up going into corners or exiting corners.

Secondly, there is a couple corners going counter clockwise, that just completely and utterly screw you up, and destroy the flow of the track. Throw in the multiple blind rises, and you have yourself some problems.

Clockwise, flows much better, and there is not that break up in the flow as bad. It also does not have the blind rise problem like CCW does.

Personally, I loved Turn 15 in CW (Turn 1, CCW).  It is a pretty high speed slight bend, that you drag knee without much effort.

All in all, with running it cw and ccw, I was able to get my knee down in every corner.

The Half Pipe is awesome, especially in CCW.  It’s just a blast.
I took my buddies Motard out, and all I can say is, that deserves its own post.  I think I found a new love!

New Helmet

I decided to get a new helmet.

After the first Track Day and Race weekend of the year that I attended, I remembered why I hated my helmet so much.
My Standard Race Helmet has been the Scorpion EXO700.  It’s a good crash worthy helmet that I have seen personally take the impart of a head first dive bomb into the tarmac, so I don’t question its ability to protect the noggin.

However, I have problems with it over 130mph in the straight.  I would get a blast of wind straight into my eyes, causing me to tear up, and have blurry vision going into turn 1 and 2.

So although I can hit just over 150 down the front straight, I was keeping it throttled back during the race due to this issue. Something that probably effected my lap times just a tad (probably not a whole lot).

So comes in my new helmet.  I took the feedback that Tony gave me of his new helmet, one that we both tried on last year, and really thought fit extremely well. That helmet is the Bell Star.
This helmet, is the lightest I have picked up. Not only that, it fit so dang well.  After the feedback from Tony, I jumped on a good deal and got mine for 250 bucks (he got his for 200, but they were out of that style in my size).

My first time using it was at ORP, in the hot desert heat. I must say the few things I really love about this helmet.

I love how the shield locks in place

I love the ventilation

I especially love the face shield and the fit.
Time will tell if it really works well at Pacific in the straight.  ORP doesn’t have a long enough straight for me to get up to 130mph or better to try it out for that. So this next Track Day I do at PR will definitely be a good day for testing.

Hears hoping it works out well!
Right now though? 2 thumbs up. This helmet rocks.  I’ll get a photo up when I have time to take a peeksure.

WMRRA Round 2: Race Report

So, it is WMRRA Round 3 weekend, and here I am just getting around to posting Round 2.  Well that would have to do with the fact I had no place to put it! Hurray!

First off, I did not race Round 1.  Secondly, I am not racing Round 3, as I am moving this weekend. What a great weekend to move, eh?

So the weekend of Round 2 started off well.  I did the AF Day on Friday to dust off the cobwebs.  As I have not been on the track since September of ‘08, I thought it very important to do that track day.

I am glad I did.

For starters, I had a lot of cobwebs.  So bad in fact, I was running 8 seconds off from my times last year.  That is not good, not good at all.

So I finished the day disappointed in my times, however, I was not let down to much.

WMRRA Weekend: Day 1 – Saturday, May 9th 2009

This day started out good.  I was already setup from the day prior, so I did not have to rush to the track to get setup. Instead I opted to show up about 15 minutes after the gates opened, checked in, teched gear and bike, and back to pits. I was done before 7:30.  That felt good.

I had pitted next to my Bridgestone Dude, Troy.  He puts sticky tires on my bike, so I like Troy.  I don’t like that he charges me for air though… I don’t care how free those tires are, charging me 350 bucks for air just drives me crazy.  But although he has the most expensive air in the pits, he definitely has the most cost effective tires, that just flat out work.

Riders Meeting, blah blah blah, announcements, blah blah blah spokane blah blah, flags, go, yade yade.

I skipped the first morning practice. I was still trying to get my head around the day before, going over things in it, trying to figure out where my problem was.

Second practice, I went out, and what do you know, I knocked 3 seconds off of my best lap times from the day before. What did I do? I don’t know!

On to the Race:

Race started out great, I was gridded in the very front row (SOB!) and with the fat guy directly behind me.  I actually went over to Rob Workman’s pits prior to the race and warned him that I was in front of him, and to be gentle as he sucked the paint off of my bike.

Interestingly enough, one thing I AM good at, is starts. I got an excellent start, and Rob didn’t suck the paint off until going into Turn 2.  Atta boy Rob! I like Rob

Good Race, made a major screw up though going into turn 9.  I went in way to hot, had to go way wide, and had to slow down to get back over to make it into the bus stop, loosing 3 places.
End of the race, Placed 11th out of 22 riders. Not to shabby, I’ll take it!

WMRRA Weekend: Day 2 – Sunday, May 10th 2009

Day 2 was even better than day 1!  Slept in (No need to tech) got to the track just before 8, had a banana and half a hoagie for breakfast (gave the other half to Tony).

Riders Meeting, yade Yade, first practice, I went out and did, as we only get 1 on Sunday’.  Good stuff, got it done and out of the way.  I took it easy out there, so I thought, but still was managing to keep the same times I did as my best times during the race. What the hell?  The cobwebs are starting to come off even more.

Race 2:

This time I was gridded in the 3rd row, directly behind Rob.  Imagine that…

Rob got a good start this time, as did I.  I got up next to him for about all of .005 seconds, before he finally pulled away.  I hate Rob.

Now, the race was starting to go really well. I was keeping my position in 5th for a good portion, and then… Well, first I should back up to Friday.

Friday, my good boy Troy, the Bridgestone dude, told me “The tires should get you through today, but I wouldn’t push them to race on”.

Now, me being the cheap SOB that I am, I told him “Nah, they are fine, I’m not pushing them…”  So lets return back to the race.

So back to the race…
Going through turn 2, I am starting to exit and WOOOSH! The rear lets go, and not just a simple little slide, I am talking a clear across, OMG OMG here comes the side of the track, let loose.

WTH!

So I back up just a smidgeon, go into turn three, seems fine, come out of turn 4, and “woosh!” again! Hrmmm

Tires not gripping well on the left side.

So I back it off a bit, and continue racing on.

I give up a few positions, and then I come into turn 9, and I can feel it stepping out. So I slow it down even more.

Overall, I finish the race… 11th again.  Damn!

So I can’t complain about either day’s finish.

Anyways, I get back to the pits, I call for Troy to bring the gauge and pressures are fine. Then we examine the tire in detail.

Looks like I like to power out in the same spot on the tire a lot.  Created a shelf, lowered my contact patch. Tire was gone.  Considering it was a tire from last year, I can’t blame it. It done its job well.

New skins went on…

Checked Laptimes…

And knocked another 2 seconds off… Even with “backing” off, I was running constantly the same times I did as my best times the day before.  Hrmmm, it’s all getting better… Hopefully we’ll see where I am next Track Day at PR and Race.

Good Weekend, not disappointed at all.

A big thanks to my sponsor, Troy Mccrae – Owner of Pennel Powersports of Medford Oregon.

Also a big thanks to all my friends who came out to support me this weekend.