Kendall
09-24-2001, 02:46 PM
Long....
Let me start off by saying endurance riders/teams are a special breed of racers....they love to punish themselves!
Since I had never been to VIR I figured I would go to Friday practice and do a few sprints while attending VIR to help out Andy (Caldwell) run the Suzuki races. I took a look at my vacation time and found out I had no more vacation left so we got the bright idea we would just run one of the 3.5 hour endurance races on Saturday and maybe I could learn the track.....
Ha! You have to be a little more prepared than that!
Well for those interested here is how it went:
Left the house 7 ish (Charlotte) and got to the track at about 9:30. Saw part of the Charlotte crowd and we parked and started setting up pit. The Performance crew (Andy) showed up a few minutes later and we determined that he could not set the trailer up there so we packed everything up and moved further out to what we later found out was "retard" row...
When I went to move the truck I saw that I was blocked in by a mini van so I asked around and was pointed to the Graves tent where a nice Australian accented gentleman kindly moved it and I was able to get out....more on him later...
Walked over to registration to sign up for the 2nd endurance and was promptly told to come back at the correct time...between 12:30 - 1:30. Teched out the little #326 SV...swaped out the Pirelli slicks for some Michelin Pilots we were told could go the distance....I didn't tell Andy I already had two race weekends on them....strategy?
Went back and signed up for the endurance race and I asked to sign up for the Lightweight twins class on Sunday which I was told I could not do until Sunday morning...I then asked could I still run sprint practice at 1:30 today since I had never been on the track....with a little begging they let me in and we went to get ready.
Went out for sprint practice (one round only!) followed Andy around until he got tired of me (approximately one lap) and damn this track is confusing.....hey there are some cones over there I guess I should turn but I see some bikes down there oh well....
Got a total of 6 laps of confusion completed and now I was ready to do battle with AMA regulars on 1000 cc bikes clicking off 1:30's....man I was nervous!
Well our strategy was to start Andy off in the first session then at 55 minutes switch to me..since by then we would be out front and I could cruise around....didn't take into account the 50 mph straight away speed difference between the SV and 1000's! Andy gets off good and cruises around doing some decent laptimes and basically just having a good time with the SV. We sit in out pit spot looking at all the teams with canopies and fast gas systems, 30 secound tire changes, AMA riders and pit crew uniforms and man we did feel out of place....But we were getting some good experience! We wave Andy in at about 55 minutes and get out our lawnmower gas can and start filling her up while our pit man Eddie switched over the shifter from GP to std. shift for me. I ask Andy how it feels and he just said something about slow....so I get on the bike shaking like a mad man and run down pit lane for my initiation...
Get out there and thank God there is a slower 600 that I can follow for a while and this I did....did some learning for several laps and got the feel of where the blind turns go and I started turning the throttle. Hey there went my buddy that moved the van on a Graves bike...what's the name...oh Buckmaster....! Passed my 600 friend and started to work my lap times down and things started to feel much better...I was in the zone....until I caught myself thinking about having an umbrella girl party and almost ran off in the roller coster...
Got passed cleanly all session by the pro guys and got my fill of track time....came in for another record stop and Andy went back out...we did this for what seemed like forever...and finally they threw the checkered flag and we finished 18th overall...not sure but I think fourth in class. We got the track time we wanted, waxed a set of Michelins which by the way held up great, and had a great time.
After showers and getting stuff settled in the pits we went out to the metropolis of Danville and had a good meal. Slept in the race trailer Saturday night which was cool with the glow of Cartman blowups and tiki torches from Tardholio and crew. (Sorry we didn't make it over...Andy's bike shift system had other ideas.) Awoke Sunday morning to realize I had just missed 1st practice on the SV? Plan ahead...get an alarm clock. Got the tires changed back to slicks on the SV (thanks Stickboy) and headed out for second practice. Things felt good and I tried a few different lines after watching some of the expert SV's come by.
Had only entered the lightweight twins (national) race for Sunday so I had to wait until race 16... Watched Andy mix it up with the AMA guys and Mueller pulled off some good finishes. Andy and I were entered in the lightweight race together and as we later found out went out with too low rear tire pressures...instant rear grease after pushing it for two laps. I got a good start from my usual grid position (last) and followed Mr. Spieks around after turn one. Thought I could turn some good lap times but as soon as I started to push the rear it wanted to act up so I did my pace an finished 2nd to Mr. Spieks....good race and again had a blast.
Andy burned his rear tire pretty good and finished 5th. I must start paying more attention to his setup (and mine) as a couple of weeks ago we let him run out of gas at CMP and this week I made the mistake of checking his tire pressure with the warmers on and trying to compensate...don't make that mistake.
Again we had a great time racing and I would like to thank all the folks who make it possible at WERA....and to those corner workers who sat out there during those endurance races thanks for all of your time.
Eddie, Amy, Andy, Jerry, and Andrew thanks for all of your help.
Peace.
Kendall
WERA #326
Let me start off by saying endurance riders/teams are a special breed of racers....they love to punish themselves!
Since I had never been to VIR I figured I would go to Friday practice and do a few sprints while attending VIR to help out Andy (Caldwell) run the Suzuki races. I took a look at my vacation time and found out I had no more vacation left so we got the bright idea we would just run one of the 3.5 hour endurance races on Saturday and maybe I could learn the track.....
Ha! You have to be a little more prepared than that!
Well for those interested here is how it went:
Left the house 7 ish (Charlotte) and got to the track at about 9:30. Saw part of the Charlotte crowd and we parked and started setting up pit. The Performance crew (Andy) showed up a few minutes later and we determined that he could not set the trailer up there so we packed everything up and moved further out to what we later found out was "retard" row...
When I went to move the truck I saw that I was blocked in by a mini van so I asked around and was pointed to the Graves tent where a nice Australian accented gentleman kindly moved it and I was able to get out....more on him later...
Walked over to registration to sign up for the 2nd endurance and was promptly told to come back at the correct time...between 12:30 - 1:30. Teched out the little #326 SV...swaped out the Pirelli slicks for some Michelin Pilots we were told could go the distance....I didn't tell Andy I already had two race weekends on them....strategy?
Went back and signed up for the endurance race and I asked to sign up for the Lightweight twins class on Sunday which I was told I could not do until Sunday morning...I then asked could I still run sprint practice at 1:30 today since I had never been on the track....with a little begging they let me in and we went to get ready.
Went out for sprint practice (one round only!) followed Andy around until he got tired of me (approximately one lap) and damn this track is confusing.....hey there are some cones over there I guess I should turn but I see some bikes down there oh well....
Got a total of 6 laps of confusion completed and now I was ready to do battle with AMA regulars on 1000 cc bikes clicking off 1:30's....man I was nervous!
Well our strategy was to start Andy off in the first session then at 55 minutes switch to me..since by then we would be out front and I could cruise around....didn't take into account the 50 mph straight away speed difference between the SV and 1000's! Andy gets off good and cruises around doing some decent laptimes and basically just having a good time with the SV. We sit in out pit spot looking at all the teams with canopies and fast gas systems, 30 secound tire changes, AMA riders and pit crew uniforms and man we did feel out of place....But we were getting some good experience! We wave Andy in at about 55 minutes and get out our lawnmower gas can and start filling her up while our pit man Eddie switched over the shifter from GP to std. shift for me. I ask Andy how it feels and he just said something about slow....so I get on the bike shaking like a mad man and run down pit lane for my initiation...
Get out there and thank God there is a slower 600 that I can follow for a while and this I did....did some learning for several laps and got the feel of where the blind turns go and I started turning the throttle. Hey there went my buddy that moved the van on a Graves bike...what's the name...oh Buckmaster....! Passed my 600 friend and started to work my lap times down and things started to feel much better...I was in the zone....until I caught myself thinking about having an umbrella girl party and almost ran off in the roller coster...
Got passed cleanly all session by the pro guys and got my fill of track time....came in for another record stop and Andy went back out...we did this for what seemed like forever...and finally they threw the checkered flag and we finished 18th overall...not sure but I think fourth in class. We got the track time we wanted, waxed a set of Michelins which by the way held up great, and had a great time.
After showers and getting stuff settled in the pits we went out to the metropolis of Danville and had a good meal. Slept in the race trailer Saturday night which was cool with the glow of Cartman blowups and tiki torches from Tardholio and crew. (Sorry we didn't make it over...Andy's bike shift system had other ideas.) Awoke Sunday morning to realize I had just missed 1st practice on the SV? Plan ahead...get an alarm clock. Got the tires changed back to slicks on the SV (thanks Stickboy) and headed out for second practice. Things felt good and I tried a few different lines after watching some of the expert SV's come by.
Had only entered the lightweight twins (national) race for Sunday so I had to wait until race 16... Watched Andy mix it up with the AMA guys and Mueller pulled off some good finishes. Andy and I were entered in the lightweight race together and as we later found out went out with too low rear tire pressures...instant rear grease after pushing it for two laps. I got a good start from my usual grid position (last) and followed Mr. Spieks around after turn one. Thought I could turn some good lap times but as soon as I started to push the rear it wanted to act up so I did my pace an finished 2nd to Mr. Spieks....good race and again had a blast.
Andy burned his rear tire pretty good and finished 5th. I must start paying more attention to his setup (and mine) as a couple of weeks ago we let him run out of gas at CMP and this week I made the mistake of checking his tire pressure with the warmers on and trying to compensate...don't make that mistake.
Again we had a great time racing and I would like to thank all the folks who make it possible at WERA....and to those corner workers who sat out there during those endurance races thanks for all of your time.
Eddie, Amy, Andy, Jerry, and Andrew thanks for all of your help.
Peace.
Kendall
WERA #326