Race report
Date: March 13, 2004
Track: Texas World Speedway
Track infomation: 2.9 mile road course run in CCW direction
Race length: 5 hours
Initial grid position: 3
Class finish: 1st
Overall finish: 6th
Total class entries: 8
Total entires: 51
Pre Race:
Leading up to the first race of the season, Steve worked long hours rebuilding the primary motor of the bike. On Friday, while I was preparing to leave Austin for the track, I received the awaited call from Steve informing that the bike was ready to go; this was done by holding the phone up to hear the beautiful exhaust note. We all pack up and head to College Station.
Jess and I arrive in town about 10:00pm, Steve and Derrick arrived sometime around 1:30am. The forecast for the weekend is RAIN! There was little hope for a dry race and I actually thought this would play into our favor because Steve and I both are comfortable in the rain and the bike setup allows us to do quick tire changes if necessary.
Race Day:
We all awoke and looked out the room door to find wet surfaces but what appearred to be the friendly skies. At the track we met up with Brad and together we setup the pits and handled all pre-race activities. Practice started at 8:00am; dry lines are appearing around the track and it appeared that the rain was gone. The motor felt great however I noticed one missed a shift on the front straight going into 5th gear; next lap it was ok. No pre-race drama. Steve did a great job prepping the bike and I think all that was required was a simple gearing change.
Start of Race: 12:05pm
From the first row, Steve got a great start and was 2nd going into turn three. Several times Steve seemed to miss a shift going down the front straight and the bike hit the rev limiter. At approx. the 40 minute mark a red flag was thrown. This stoppage lasted for about 15 minutes. We talked about the shifting problem and it was suggested that we should use the clutch going into 5th gear. We were using the original grid positions for the restart and on the warm up lap while going into the horseshoe, I was brushed by a passing rider. He made contact with the left handlebar forcing it forward about 45 degrees. As you can imagine this severly upset the bike and I felt fortunate to stay in control. Back in the hot pit I pulled over and the Village Idiots team helped bang it back into position. I moved to the starting grid and Brad and Steve continued the readjustment. On the start, I quickly position myself back in the field. :) Once I became more confortable I settled into a consistent pace and started having fun. I realized that the clutch suggestion was really now a requirement. Without it, the bike would not find 5th gear and would overrev. At about the 50 minute mark the fuel light started it's notification and several laps later I signalled for a pit. On the very same lap, I took another red flag therefore the a hot pit stop was not required. We took this opportunity to put on a new rear tire. The cold temperatures were minimzing tire life so we felt confident this was required. After about a 20 minute delay, Steve restarted from 9th position and ran for a full hour moving us back up into 4th overall. At this time is was becoming clear that from a class standing we were in really good shape. He pitted for our only hot pit and I returned to the race. Ten laps later the red flag was thrown yet again for a two bike serious crash. This required both ambulance to make a run and it was determined that the race would be called because the restart could not occur outside of 30 minutes remaining in the race.
Post Race:
We are very exicited about the result from the first endurance race of 2004. We continued the winning tradition established during prior season and collected the following contingency payouts:
RPS - $125 cash payout for top class finishers
Michelin - $450 bib bucks.
VP Fuels- $25 cash payout for 1st in class
Vesrah Brakes - $40 Certificate
Silkolene Oils - $30 Certificate
Special thanks to these sponsors; Steve for his tireless prep work and Brad, Derrick and Jess for crew support. You sure do make it easy on us.
Central Motorcycle Roadracing Association
Texas World Speedway - 5 Hour Endurance - 03/13/04
Desert-Rats.net <3>
lap time lap time lap time lap time
1 02:03.5 2 01:58.1 3 01:58.8 4 01:58.3
5 01:56.4 6 01:58.1 7 01:55.8 8 01:55.5
9 01:56.6 10 01:55.4 11 01:54.3 12 01:53.4
13 01:52.9 14 01:52.5 15 01:53.8 16 01:53.7
17 01:53.4 18 01:53.9 19 01:52.8 P20 01:54.5
21 02:07.9 22 02:01.3 23 02:01.4 24 01:58.5
25 01:59.3 26 01:59.0 27 01:58.2 28 01:57.6
29 02:00.2 30 01:57.6 31 01:56.3 32 01:56.7
33 01:57.6 34 01:56.2 35 01:56.3 36 01:55.4
37 01:55.8 38 01:58.3 39 01:56.1 40 01:56.7
41 01:56.3 42 01:55.9 43 01:56.2 44 01:56.5
45 01:55.3 46 01:55.9 47 01:56.7 48 01:58.5
49 01:58.0 50 01:57.1 P51 01:55.3 52 01:59.8
53 01:55.5 54 01:55.5 55 01:55.1 56 01:57.6
57 01:54.7 58 01:55.4 59 01:54.1 60 01:55.3
61 01:54.1 62 01:55.1 63 01:55.8 64 01:54.5
65 01:53.4 66 01:54.1 67 01:56.3 68 01:54.8
69 01:55.7 70 01:53.8 71 01:53.3 72 01:56.2
73 01:56.1 74 01:55.8 75 01:54.0 76 01:53.9
77 01:56.0 78 01:56.1 79 01:56.4 80 01:54.2
81 01:55.2 82 01:59.3 83 01:58.4 P84 02:38.4
85 02:05.1 86 01:58.4 87 01:58.8 88 01:56.5
89 01:57.4 90 01:58.2 91 01:56.7 92 01:59.5
93 01:59.7 94 01:56.6
Fast lap: 1:52.4 on lap 14 of stint 1
Average Lap Time (including pits): 1:59.90
Average Lap Time (exluding pits): 1:56.20
Average pit stop: 3:52.1
Number of stints: 4
Stint Laps Fast Time Max Time AverageTime
1 19 1:52.4 1:58.7 1:55.15
2 30 1:55.3 2:01.4 1:57.37
3 32 1:53.3 1:59.3 1:55.13
4 10 1:55.1 1:59.6 1:58.14
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