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The 2016 FORUM Member Race Thread

41K views 135 replies 17 participants last post by  mpusch 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Alright ladies and gents, some of us on this forum race our dear 675s. And some of us might have a dear 675, but we race on another bike, and that's OK too! I don't care to start my own thread to talk about my own racing, but let's get this thread going with all of our 2016 race results. I know, personally, all I want to talk about is racing, and I'm sure there are others that want to get some back and forth going on our bikes and setup and successes and challenges and everything else. And those that don't race might find some entertainment in keeping tabs on how their beloved Trumpets are doing on the grid these days. I know it's winter and it might take a couple months to get the thread really off and running, but for the southerners that are able to to do some racing through the winter, let's hear it because I'm sure the northerners need something to get them thru til spring! :thumbup:
 
#2 · (Edited)
With that said, I'll try to kick it off right. And I might go a little word-heavy because I'm hoping to provide a lot of meat to spark some conversation here.

Background first. I grew up with a dirt bike, and at 22 bought my first street bike. Through a series of way-too-fast-for-me bike, including an 1198, luckily I survived my squid-dom til June 2014 when I bought my first bike with the intent of learning to ride on the track. I started doing track days on my Ducati 999 in August 2014 with the California Superbike School, and I was hooked from jump street. Fast forward a year and about 15 track days, and the scene was set for getting into racing. But not on my 999 -- it's a sublime track bike, but I don't want to learn to race on a litrebike twin torque-monster, and what fun would it be to bring a knife to a gun fight anyway? The 999 can't class with modern litrebikes any more. Plus, this thing is way too expensive to crash, and it's getting old enough now that parts are getting harder to come by and even more expensive.

So I bought a 2010 Daytona 675 in September for a couple reasons. First, I wanted to learn to race on a middleweight bike (for anyone that thought that was unwise and that I should get a 250 or a SV, my retort was that I had already done about 15 track days at that point on a Ducati Superbike, so handling the power of a middleweight bike wasn't going to be a problem). Middleweight bikes are fast enough to still be fun coming off my other bike, and a good middleweight bike can run both middleweight races and Open/Unlimited races and still be decently competitive. Second reason is because the Daytona feels the most like a Ducati of all the Middleweights -- thin through the middle, and not as much torque as a Duc but definitely a hell of a lot more than the I-4s. And third, I like running a different bike and you just don't see a lot of Triumphs on the track.

So what have I done to it? Ohlins NIX30 cartridges, 675R TTX shock with adjustable ride height clevis added, Triumph Race Support linear link, Hyperpro steering damper, AP rearsets, 15T front sprocket, Ferodo XRAC pads, Sharkskinz fairings, GB Racing covers and sliders, MJS headers, Arrow slip-on, Sprint air filter, Bazzaz Z-Fi/QS/TC; in the works is a 675R front MC, Sato shift spindle holder, JHS oil cooler, SES steering stop, and getting stock triples modded to 28mm offset.

So, now, for racing.
 
#3 · (Edited)
Did my first intro to racing weekend back in November at Arroyo Seco, which is where I'll be racing this whole season. I crashed out of my first race (cold tires on a cold morning), and took 3rd out of 9 in my second race, although it was a Sportsman's Cup race that had some 250s/300s in it.

My first real race weekend was this weekend at Chuckwalla with CVMA. I've never ridden there before, so I did the Friday track day before the 3 races I was signed up for on Saturday: AM SS Open, AM Formula MW, and AM SS MW. On Friday during the track day, I learned that the curbing paint is NOT grippy like it is on some other tracks I've ridden, and I very nearly ate shit on a pretty fast corner from touching the paint on the inside. Saturday morning has a couple practice sessions then a qualifying session -- my 2:03.2 best qualifying lap, 2 full seconds faster than I was the day before (fresh tires) put me about middle of the starting grid for all the MW races. My first race of the day on Saturday though -- AM SS Open -- I was starting 7th out of 10, and luckily the expectations were low considering half the grid was litrebikes. I basically ran alone for the whole 6 laps, and chopped a second off with a 2:02.3 best lap. Multiple red flags throughout the day, some fairly bad crashes. I was signed up for AM Formula MW, the 4th race of the day -- I was gridded 8th of 18. On the second lap, I was running in 7th when an overzealous guy missed his brake marker or just thought he wanted to get inside of me right at the apex of a fast turn (Turn 15) -- I ran way wide on the exit, and given that even a good line uses the whole track thru there, I straightened the bike up and accepted my fate with a runoff into the dirt. I rejoined in last place, caught a few guys over the next lap and a half, and then the race was red flagged -- I had just hit the halfway mark of the race, and they called it complete. So I wound up 14th of the 17 finishers. Due to all the red flags, my last race of the day, race #13 AM SS MW, was going to be happening very close to sunset, and the last 5 races were all announced to only be 4 laps. With that, I scratched from the race, not wanting to only get 2/3rds of a race after only getting half a race earlier, and the track would be cold. So I decided to stay another night and signed up for AM SS Open and AM SS MW on Sunday.

On Sunday, I was gridded 7th of 17 for AM SS MW. Good start, made two passes on the 2nd to last lap, and then ran for my life on the last lap to hold down 5th with a best lap of 1:58.9! All of a sudden I was a legit amateur club racer, and it just took the competition and perfect track conditions to bring it out of me. If I'm able to carry that performance leap over to my "home track" this season, I'll be very competitive in the AM races, and should be able to grab some podiums. I finished my race weekend with another run at the AM SS Open, gridded 6th of 8. I ran the whole race alone, finished in 6th with a 1:59.9 best lap, and called it a race weekend.

Really happy with my D212s this weekend, and I surprisingly got comfortable with lateral movement of the tire for the first time, something I never thought would happen. But the D212s are predictable when they slip, and when they would slip a little bit because I was on the edge I was able to stay right on that fine line. For pressures, I was running 20 hot rear, 33 hot front -- that was a little higher than I started running in the rear but this is such a fast and grippy track, and you're always on the side of your tire, that I went up a little in the rear to actually help keep the tire a little cooler to control the sliding. Track temps were in the 60s according to my highly precise Harbor Freight digital pyrometer.

Here's a couple pics/links on the weekend: http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/anderson-solis-win-multiple-cvma-races-at-chuckwalla/
 

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#6 ·
Good change to the thread title, that makes more sense and hopefully pulls more active racers in. And thanks, it was a quantum leap for me -- before this weekend I had some self-doubt on whether or not I could race and be competitive any time soon, so this weekend really gave me a lot of confidence in the bike and in myself!

I don't have anything to report since I'm in Wisconsin, but I'll show you my 300 Ninja race bike. I just finished building it and can't wait for winter to go away. I've got a world class 1.1 mile kart track near me also that will be fun for practice time too. The 300 is well modded, I won't list everything but the good stuff is Ohlins and K-tech suspension and dual tunes for MR12 and 91 octane pump gas.




I'll be racing at some midwest tracks, Road America, Blackhawk Farms, Autobahn Country Club, and maybe Brainerd if I can work out a 7 hour drive.
Ultra lightweight racing is blowing up out here in the Southwest, I assume it's the same everywhere. There's really a lot going for it -- cheap tires that last a few weekends, cheap parts, cheap maintenance, and everyone that races them can carry corner speed like nobody's business. It doesn't look any less fun than any other class of racing either, and if anything it might be even more fun because the ULW guys seem to be much more of a community than the MW and Open guys. There's obviously pride and camaraderie in racing the little bikes! There's a supermoto/mini track here in Tucson that's pretty famous too -- they have open track nights that allow sportbikes from time to time, and I believe the ULW bikes are usually faster than the MW/Open bikes. The motorcycle lap record holder I think is a 250cc supermoto.
 
#5 ·
I don't have anything to report since I'm in Wisconsin, but I'll show you my 300 Ninja race bike. I just finished building it and can't wait for winter to go away. I've got a world class 1.1 mile kart track near me also that will be fun for practice time too. The 300 is well modded, I won't list everything but the good stuff is Ohlins and K-tech suspension and dual tunes for MR12 and 91 octane pump gas.




I'll be racing at some midwest tracks, Road America, Blackhawk Farms, Autobahn Country Club, and maybe Brainerd if I can work out a 7 hour drive.
 
#8 ·
Cool topic on the thread. I think that this sport is contiuning to grow and seeing threads like this validate my suspicions. Its addicting and is a great way to get seat time and make life long friends for the same price or even cheaper than a track day! :thumbup:

HHR is a quality motorcycle performance parts online store and also a professional motorcycle road race team. We have a few racers competing in a few Motoamerica rounds and also about 10 racers across the united states racing in various AMA sanctioned racing organizations.

We started racing just like any of you and have it 24/7 on the brain. like we like to say "Its more than just a Passion, Its an Obsession"

We are opening our new shop as we speak and have a online e-commerce store that is about 75% finished. Racers trying to be businessmen you know! We dont have big money investors, we dont have a business degree, we are just doing what we love and making it happen step by step, day by day. It has taught us so much about how the industry works..

Cant wait for the 2016 seasons to start - I will def be posting up some race reports and any other significant race news on this thread.

"For the Racers, by the Racers"

~Hustle Hard Racing~



Post pics or it didnt happen!! ;)
 
#10 · (Edited)
Killer picture of Tyler goss on his Hustlehardracing.com Yamaha r6 from this past weeekend at Chuckwalla racing with CVMA.
This bike is bad!!!! And is soon to be sold. Hopefully it stays within the team.. Tylers a big boy and is waiting for someone to put him on a 1000 lol. You know he needs it.

 
#11 ·
Good pic -- I thought about buying from the same photographer out there, but I couldn't stomach $60 for pics that I wouldn't do anything with. Maybe post up one or two on FB, maybe put one or two on here. Ehh, just couldn't bring myself to it.

I like to think that that $60 just paid for 2 hours of open track at the famed Inde Motorsports Ranch on Feb 6th!
 
#12 · (Edited)
So psyched to test this thing out at Inde in two weeks! My triple clamps turned out awesome -- went from stock 37.5mm offset to 28mm and you literally can't tell anything's been done to them. I trusted the ESP guys when they told me they had a good machinist/welder that they trusted to do work on their own privateer race bikes, but I was a little skeptical they could make it look so clean. So I should be sitting right near 100mm of trail now, and I'm still Superstock legal(ish).
 

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#15 · (Edited)
I'll bump this thread up since I started it and since I can't think of anything else but racing :grin2:


Got out on the track this past Saturday at Inde Motorsports Ranch (Willcox, AZ) for my last pre-season track day. Had the goal of testing out my new setup and getting comfortable with it, and I believe I did!


So first off, here's the new stuff I was testing out -- modified stock triples that were 37.5mm offset before and are now 28mm after the mod; 675R Brembo front MC; new SES steering stop; and JHS oil cooler. I was also supposed to be testing out some new CRG levers that I got from TJ, but after fussing with them for a couple hours the night before the track day, I wound up having to put my Ebay levers back on there due to the standard length CRGs being too long to fit inside my lever guards. I was bummed about that, but TJ is gonna exchange them for the shorties, no problem, so I should have that sorted by the time I get back on the track in two weeks time (2 days of on-track instruction at Arroyo, where I'll be racing this season starting next month). Coincidentally, the Ebay levers didn't give me any problems that I can contribute directly to the levers with 100% certainty, but I wasn't really thrilled with my front brake feel, it was more spongy than I'm happy with. So once I get the good CRGs on there I'll know if it's the MC or if it was just those cheap levers.


I tend to base my performance and progress off of the superbike track record for a given track -- for instance, at Chuckwalla the CCW lap record set by an AMA guy on an AMA bike is 1:46.3. At Arroyo I'll be comparing to a MotoGP rider on a borrowed ASMA Superbike, lap record is 1:05.99. So here at IMR, the lap record is a 1:46.5 set a few years back by an AMA rider on an AMA bike. With that said, I'm quite happy with the 2:02.2 that I hit towards the end of the day considering it's the first time I've ever been to this track, and my D212GPs already had a race weekend plus about 140 miles of track day use on them! And I just haven't yet been able to match my race pace and intensity on a track day -- the competition and the adrenaline really brings it out of me, not to mention I'm that much more willing in an actual race to wring the bike out a little more whereas on this track day I didn't shift above 13,000 at any point. It's worth mentioning also that I was physically completely freakin smoked by this last session of the day -- this was my 6th 30 minute session of the day, and because I'm really focusing on keeping my grip light after making my steering input, my legs were doing WAY more of the work than I'm used to. So that combined with the long sessions and lots of track time left my legs literally shaking just trying to press my gas pedal in my truck leaving the track at the end of the day!


For anyone that can make it out to IMR in Willcox, I HIGHLY recommend it -- what a fun track! 2.75 miles claimed (though my lap timer consistently showed 2.25), but it's got 21 turns, many of which are blind over the crest of hills. No kidding, there's probably 5 blind turns out here, it's got everything a track could throw at you really with a nice looong straight of just under a half mile I believe.


Anyways, I'll be sticking with the D212s until Dunlop runs out of them -- I could move up to slicks because slicks are allowed even in the Superstock races, but everything I've read says that the UK tires simply give you way more life than the US tires do. Plus at this point I'm on my 4th or 5th set, so I've gotten used to them. I haven't been confident enough to go all the way down the 17 psi hot recommendation with the rear yet though, I've been running 19 so far, but considering how slippy I was getting by the end of the day I'm definitely going to saddle up and try the lower pressure out next time to see if that affects the slipping. But honestly, these 212s slip very predictably, which tends to be the big strength of Dunlop tires I think. Steering was quite a bit slower with this new shorter offset, but I think I'm going to raise the forks from flush where they are now, maybe start with 4-5mm at first to see how that goes. The 212s are a very round profile, so they transition slower than most race tires do but I like the predictability of it. I'm learning that going fast on the track is all about confidence and predictability!


How's everyone else getting on with their race season prep?


Here's me and the crew, I'm the guy still wearing street clothes and that's my wife and kiddos (Boston Terriers) in the trailer trying to stay out of the wind!
 

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#17 ·
Tomorrow is two weeks since I submitted my application, and no response yet, positive or negative. Honestly I'm not really holding my breath though that I'll get it, I understand that they would give priority to those who intend to race major/national race series, and I'm just racing locally at CVMA and ASMA. So it would just be a nice surprise if I do get picked for it.
 
#18 ·
Track weekend! Got the new CRG shorties from TJ put on this week, and now the front brakes feel pretty good, so this weekend will be my first good test since putting the Brembo master on. Had a strange thing this week though -- went to turn my front preload from 14 down to 12 turns, and my preload was all the way out. I honestly have no explanation for how that happened. So it's either 1) installation error, or 2) the preload adjuster is damaged, or 3) Someone at Chuckwalla last month tampered with my forks (I doubt it?). Either way, I left the forks at 14 turns at Chuck and hadn't touched them since, so I'm really at a loss. Guess I'll ride a few sessions on Saturday and then check it to see if it's still at 12 turns. Super super strange.

Anyone else getting out this weekend? I'm doing a race school at Arroyo, only 10 students total with 5 instructors (all the fast guys and the track owner are the instructors), so at least they'll show me the good lines around Arroyo.

Still no word from the Triumph Racing Program, but like I said above, not planning for that to happen anyway.
 
#19 ·
Here in NorCal our track season hasn't really gotten going much yet - in fact, my first track day of the year will be this coming weekend, and I'll be on my street bike (it's first time seeing the track for more than a parade lap) since my 675 is (quite literally) spread over 3 counties right now :wink3:

This past year was my first full season racing. I was making great progress at the tail end of the year, and took most of the year to finally get the bike set up to where it needed to be. Also working through a lot of confidence demons.

Bike should be good to go and happy here in a couple weeks, and I've been working on my own fitness and mental approach as well. After moving finally started getting my chunky butt to the gym like I should have done a long time ago :/

My blog (link in sig) tells the whole story if you go all the way back...I started it back when I was still relatively new to trackdays (2012) and have kept it up. House my race reports and such there too.

My goals for this year are to learn to ride the wheels off the 675. If I can drop 5 seconds a lap across the board (each track), I'll feel like I'm taking that bike to what someone with my total lack of talent can comfortably say that "you're riding the piss out of it."

2016 I plan on doing all the AFM rounds, and hoping to try to hit up some of the SoCal WERA or CVMA rounds just for some variety and to ride some different tracks again....Buttonwillow is still fairly new to me as I've only ridden it at the two race rounds last year, but I want to work on my ability to read and learn a track quickly.

This year at a few trackdays I'm going to try tracking the street bike and see how I feel on the bigger bike on the track again (my very first two trackdays were on a liter bike - my street bike at the time - then I dropped down to a smaller bike to learn on). IF I'm liking the liter bike on the track, my long term plan is to pick up one of the new ZX10Rs towards the end of the year and race that in 2017. I'm HOPING (there's a LONG ways for me to go to make this happen, but I want it...) that in 2018 I can dip my toes into MotoAmerica - probably not the full season, but at least do the local round.

I've got some serious work to put in to make any or all of that happen, but that's the mighty plan right now!
 
#20 ·
Good to see another racer check in! Sounds like you have some solid goals for this year -- if you're still at the lever where you are shooting to chop 5 seconds off a lap time, then I think you and I are probably at similar levels. I started what I would consider my season this weekend, and from before Saturday to where I hope to be running consistent lap times for a 7-lap race, it would be about a 5 second improvement. I chopped 3 seconds off already this weekend, but I have the advantage of racing all on one track this year (just alternating directions every round), so I should learn the track very well by the end of the season and maybe even more than 5 seconds is possible. To be honest with you man, I too am strongly considering a Kawi for next season, but I'm trying not to look that far ahead yet. Trying, but that's just about impossible -- their supersport bike has a hell of a lot of up sides. But I really have to just focus on getting fast on what I got, which is a very well set up, stock engined, pump gassed Daytona. I hope to see you check in after this weekend, let us know how the first weekend out for the year went! Btw, you definitely should try to make it to Chuck -- I went in January, and I will probably go to next January's round too after the Arroyo season wraps up.
 
#22 ·
First trackday of the year was - okay. I had some great students, and it was cool to see everyone again, but due to ownership changes and their possible staff changes that was "announced" less than 48 hours before the event, there was a definite air of "meh" overhanging all of us. I don't think customers could have picked up on it, but we sure could.

The street bike was fine, made coaching C group a hell of a lot easier, but I only got a few sessions all weekend to try to pick up anything resembling speed. Between squirmy street tires, "way over due for service" suspension (scheduled, but not done yet), not wanting to toss my commuter, and all on a bone stock bike, my speed was about 11 seconds off my race pace....but I still managed to have some fun, realized the bigger bike is a LOT more work (physically speaking) than the littler bike, especially on a course like Sonoma, and kept the shiny side up.

Since I was going slow and basically not carrying any corner speed I just sat and worked on nailing some lines in a couple corners I struggle with at that track. Felt like I managed to get the one corner really dialed in, the other got better but not great yet.

Looking forward to getting the race beast back together, although I may begin to haul the street bike up just for coaching purposes! Toss a set of Pirelli supercorsa DOTs on there once the rainy season ends...although I know I'll be cursing the lack of a quick shifter with stock throttle anytime I'm really trying to push it a bit LOL!
 
#26 ·
What's your street bike? You mentioned it's bigger than the Daytona?

God I still have a month till the first trackday... I really can't wait to move out of the midwest haha

Im still waiting on my body to come back from painting anyways.
I was born and raised in the Chicago area, and my whole family still lives there. Lemme tell ya, it's freakin AWESOME living in the southwest. Fly south for the winter, even if just for a weekend!

Battling with 2 140+whp R6 superbikes and Stefano Mesa. 6 races entered, 5 podiums and a fourth.

Woo buddy, there's a lot of big fast straights on that track! Good stuff! What are you riding? A Superstock build or a Superbike?

I'm glad to see a few more regulars starting to check in here. It should start getting hot and heavy in the next couple weeks as a lot more peoples' race seasons are starting to pick up (those south of the mason dixon line anyways :whistle:) The big opening round for me is next weekend, so I have about 10 days to wait now. Only last minute thing I'm getting done to the bike after last weekend on the track is gearing (going from 15/47 to 15/49 which should be much better for Arroyo, especially because the longest straight isn't terribly long (btw, it's already getting difficult to find gearing options for this bike -- I wound up having to go with literally the only option I could find for a 525 chain, the vortex aluminum 49T despite the fact that I don't love aluminum sprockets or Vortex stuff).
 
#24 ·
LOL, my race bodywork and rims are all at the painters - should be done this week though, then it's time to try to get stickers on their straight (last year mine were kind of crooked LOL).

So glad to be FROM the midwest - it had it's charms, but I don't miss it! :laugh2:
 
#27 ·
Supersport build(Degreed cams, head gasket, all bolt-ons and MR12) 129whp/54ft lbs.

Homestead is basically 4 straights with 14 corners worked in. I run stock gearing and ride the rev limiter in 5th going into turn 1 fwiw....
 
#30 ·
yep, I'm certainly convinced that I'm not eligible for this now, so no longer holding my breath to hear anything positive from my application. ASMA and CVMA are definitely not national club racing organizations. Ah well, no big, the season goes on!
 
#31 ·
Well it seems I spoke too soon -- got an email today that I was picked for the Racing Program! It didn't provide a ton of info, but it did say that any orders for parts or bikes will be directly through the program director. Wondering what's qualifies as "Triumph parts" -- I kinda assume all the race kit parts are included, but I don't know. Anyone here that was involved in this program last year? Is everything on the T3 Racing site fair game? My bike is in good shape, but if anything I could use a slipper -- I can think of one turn in particular on my home track where I'm hard on the brakes in 2nd gear and the engine braking is really dragging the rear.
 
#36 ·
@aftriathlete - Sorry for the delay, I haven't been on here much. I was apart of the program last year as well. You are entitled to 50% off of genuine Triumph Race parts, not over the counter aftermarket parts. They will have a list of parts available to you through their website you can login to. I also just call them directly to inquire about the parts and prices. Congrats man!
 
#37 ·
Cool man, thanks for the info. They haven't pushed out a ton of info yet, and I'll be racing my opening round this weekend without any of the patches and stickers they should be sending me. But hopefully they do just post a website of all the race kit parts with prices for the people on the program. I think there's a strong chance now that I have my chassis sorted out so nicely that I will wind up swapping a 13+ engine in later this year, so I would probably pick up all the kit parts for 13+ engines with the 50% discount and then build a monster 2nd-gen/3rd-gen beast. I think that might be the easiest way to do the engine swap anyways -- find a slick 13+ engine on Ebay with a radiator and airbox and throttle bodies, and then just buy the kit ECM and harness and engine internals to make it work (minus the alternator kit, I can't imagine that thing being worth over $2K to me).
 
#41 ·
Race report! While I raced out at Chuckwalla back in January to kick this thread off, this weekend was the opening weekend at my home track where I'll be racing the whole season -- Arroyo Seco in Deming NM.


First time running slicks (Dunlop KRs in the 7455/Med compound) and I had new gearing to learn as well (went from 1 down in the front to 1 down front and 2 up rear). The practice/track day on Saturday was rough -- winds were predicted to peak by 2 PM at 50-55 mph gusts, so in the desert that means a sand storm. My plan going in was to ride as much as I could in the morning until lunch, then probably pack it up and get my fresh tires put on for Sunday's races. Unfortunately, my first session out I was on track for about 5 minutes when it was red-flagged for a serious crash that wound up shutting the track down for the next 90 minutes due to the ambulance being away from the track. When I got off track, much to my surprise the front end of my bike was covered in melted tire due to the taller profile of the slicks rubbing on my front fender. So it was somewhat lucky for me that I was only on track for a few minutes because I don't know if I would have blown the front tire after a full 20 min session or not. The OEM fender that was on there was definitely toast and had to go, so off came the fender. I then got in a single full 20 minute session before the lunch break, and by the end of the lunch break the dust was so bad that the track was shut down for the rest of the day. So I got my wheels off and over to the tire counter and ran for cover with my wife and dogs back to the hotel for the rest of the day. Something of note: front brakes are dragging more than usual, and the mechanic told me it's probably just the Ferodo sintered pads glazing and laying down a lot of material on the stock rotors. So I popped the pads out and rubbed them on the concrete to try to get some of the glazing off to see if that helped.


Showed up early on Sunday to get my wheels back on and everything safety wired back up, and much to my dismay my front brakes are dragging terribly now. I can't even get one turn from the front when I spin it hard. So at this point, I mess with a couple things and loosen and reset everything I had touched changing out my tires to no avail. Wound up throwing the stock brake pads back in which had less material than the Ferodos did and that gave me an acceptable amount of brake drag. Scrambled to get everything ready by the first practice session, but I got out for 5 laps both practice sessions to shake everything out and get a feel for the new (old) pads. I was pleasantly surprised by the stock pads honestly, I expected much worse, but I didn't find them lacking in bite or feel.


I'm signed up for 4 races, and it's still windy today though not as bad as yesterday:


Race 1 -- MW Superstock. Gridded first of 9 guys in the Am wave, my start was horrible and I believe I saw my TC light on in first gear, which is a problem I thought I rectified last time I plugged into my Bazzaz. So that's something I have to look before the next round. The bad starts would plague me throughout the day. I duked it out with another Daytona (the only other Daytona racing here) for the first 5 laps, made the pass on the 5th lap, and was running for my life on the 6th and final lap when, with a 20 mph tailwind coming down the front straight (the shorter of the two straights), my rear tire came off the asphalt an unnerving amount while hard on the brakes to go into a 2nd gear turn. I let off the brakes, regained control, but wound up going straight off the end of the straight out into the desert. I kept it on 2 wheels, and rejoined, but I believe I wound up falling from 3rd down to 7th or 8th (final results not yet posted on the website). On the positive side though, my 5th lap had now lowered my personal best here by 1.2 seconds down to a 1:15.0.


Second race -- Formula Amateur. The open rules, money race for amateurs (well, track credit for future rounds), and it's 10 laps so hopefully my fitness will be an advantage for me. Again gridded first of 9 bikes. Bad start again and went into the first turn in 5th. Made two passes around the 4th/5th lap, and then chased an R6 and a CBR600 for the last 5 laps. My lap times dropped throughout the race, and my last lap was my fastest, down to 1:14.6, and I actually closed the gap somewhat on the R6 in front of me on the final lap but he ended up crossing the line about 3 seconds in front of me. So 3rd place and good for a $30 credit! Woo hoo! And all of a sudden, compared to the other amateurs I'm racing, I'm great on the brakes. I'm reeling in the riders in front of me on every braking section. So positive vibes from the 675R master, CRG lever, and Nissin calipers with stock pads.


3rd race -- MW Superbike. Gridded 1 of 11. Bad start again, but by the end of the first lap I had gotten back to 3rd. Braking continues to be a strong point for me, and all my passes are made on the brakes. Made the pass for 2nd on the 3rd lap, thinking I was in 3rd and someone had run away at the front. Chased the same R6 as the Formula race, but couldn't reel him in. Best lap down to 1:14.3. 2nd place!


4th race -- Southwest Thunder. Gridded 2 of 15. I came off track after MW SBK long enough to take a drink of water and head back on track. Same start as before, but now I'm on track with everything that's not a 4-cyl, so ultralight bikes, SVs, and one other Daytona, so now my start looks solid. I made the holeshot, and led the race from start to finish. 1st place and the fastest of the slow bikes! No blazing laps in this race as no one was in front of me or around me.


Overall, a great weekend. Took nearly 2 seconds off my best, felt very strong on the brakes, and took 3 podiums including my first race win. I'm right there in the mix with the 4-cyl MW bikes too. Things to sort out in the next 3 weeks: race front fender, turn off Bazzaz TC in first for the race starts, sort out front brake issue with bead blasting the rotors or cleaning my calipers.


Cheers!
 

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