Daytona 200 is on now

That, and some people are just dumb.

 

I heard timing issue just like last year....

 

that is not how it went down. It's the case of getting one side of the story again. It's a bummer, the kid just wanted to race, the dad, even being a former pro and K& N part owner, etc. was dead wrong.
CCS tech went above and BEYOND to help this kid get in the race. He was dq'd from prior qualifying due to his 3D printed filter cone. No way, no how was it legal per the rules set forth LONG before the race, and covered multiple times in riders meetings.

. The ridres dad claimed it was in production, you could order them, he could have 20 of them at the track Wednesday if they wanted (even though the race was this weekend).
1) CCS went to the k& N site looking for this part. No such part was found.
2) they called tech support for K&N, was on hold and shuffled around many times much of an afternoon. No part is sold they were eventually told.
3) the dad gave ccs a phone # to call "This guy will tell ya it's correct, he's our development guy".. number called goes straight to voice mail, nothing about K&N on the greeting..
4) The dad runs up to Tech with phone i hand, "TALK TO HIM, he'll tell you" !!
ccs tells the guy, Send us an email, on K&N letterhead, with who you are, how to get in touch with you, ... and some other simple stuff, and we will consider the filter legal.
NO phone call back from the guy, no email, no voice mail messages saying he tried to send the email... nothing.

Moving forward..

CCS LOANS THE KID THE TECH GARAGE FILTER SO HE CAN GET A TIMED LAP for the final qualifying session... no way did tech have to do that, and Phil S. was told he shouldn't have done that.. but he wanted the kid to get in the race.

there was some other stuff i forgot, but in the end, the dad put the filter BACK IN THE BIKE for the race, that they had been DQ'D from timed practice sessions prior.. yikes.

 

Crash and oil down. At least that's what officials told me.

 

We had two red flags early, 9 or 10 laps apart. One was a crash and oil and one was a tech problem with T&S.

 

That's pretty much how I was told it went down as well. Kid was running pretty good, too.

 

No idea on the back end, but the mobile app went buggy right around the same time. I don't know how the whole system works, but maybe related issues?

 

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do the team challenge and some sprint races in October. The fitness is part of it... I would be working the hell out of my neck muscles til then. Also youre going to get blisters on your hands. The physical toll it takes on the rider is pretty tremendous!

 

Bruh. I spend 4 weeks at a time overseas, away from the wife. Getting blisters on my hands from friction is one thing I don't have to worry about.

 

Friction?

Just grab a glob of that black gold you're sucking outta the ground.

 

Damn. Sounds like some whiny mofos. Cycle Gear is across the street go buy a filter lol.

 

Hello All,

Well yeah, I was DQ'd for the filter. So here is my FULL (TL/DR) story. As some know I change bikes like I change draws. Anyways, for some reason me and the 675 have not been getting along, the bike has a bunch of strengths including the engine, flickablity, electronics, and ergos to name a few. Well as this was the case, last year I sold my B bike 675 to buy another bike. This lead me back to the R6 (as some would remember my post about R6 rod bearings being the reason I sold mine). As this was the case, I was preparing my R6 to do WERA this year on it and get it set up the right way. Had Mike (MDM) do the suspension and was just kind of piecing it together. Well last year I had told Max's dad, that I would spilt a garage with him. So about a month ago he messaged me asking if we were still going. Having nothing on the calendar and figuring I could piece the R6 together in time I figured why not. This was when I was still having my wiring issues but I had the 675 as backup. Anyways, finally found out what the issue was with the R6 and pieced it together for a trackday. It rained, so no time on it.

With the 200 quickly approaching I told a buddy we would do the CMRA mini endurance with him to get seat time for just time in the seat riding a motorcycle. Had fun and it went well. And I had been doing some cardio starting in February so the physical aspect of it was ok. As the 200 approached I knew I was unprepared but didn't have the funds to get any of the quick change stuff. But as some may remember last year, for some reason I got motion sickness about half way through, pulled in and puked. I NEVER puke. So this was a test for that and talking to my friend's wife who is a pharmacist who recommended Meclizine. I took it and it worked great. No motion sickness. The other reason I had not considered doing the 200 again was that I had no crew. My best friend was going to his son in law's wedding and couldn't make it so I had no help. Talking to Martin (Max's dad) he said he would help with the pit stops. I thought GREAT!, but this also meant that everything I had to get done I wanted to do on my own. I was already going to burden them enough with helping me in the pits I didn't want to burden them with moving all my shit in and back and forth to the pits. My dad is getting up there in age and he has been so supportive over the years but the arthritis in his back and knees have him paying for it later so I just moved it all myself. Their crew repeatedly asked if I needed help but like I said, I was already going to be a big enough burden. I logged 20,000 steps each day moving so much. Combine that with my stupid pit bike not wanting to start made it a little rough at times lol. But its all good because I am the one who wanted to race, so it's what I have to do to make it work. And at this point it was a personal challenge to get back out there and finish that race, no matter what it took.

So I go out in practice, it was wet from them cleaning the track, make a couple laps and remember where the hell I am going. Go out in qualifying and make it in. We go to pick pit spots and they allow us to pit with Max and his crew. Get back to the pits and check the gas can in relation to the stock 675 gas cap. While trying to push it down the hinge part of the cap snaps. Well needless to say no one in the pits has a 675 but me and Blalius and Richard and Dave don't have one. Surprising because they have everything else haha, great guys and super helpful with my questions.

On to plan B. I bought the R6 as a backup bike and had it on standby for Max at that point knowing that the 675 was solid and wouldn't have any (non Dustin caused issues lol). Welp, as luck would have it I needed to run it. I run back and forth brining my tires to Dunlop ( I was going to run Pirelli but had two sets of Dunlops left over from last year) swapping all my tires to the R6. Go out in practice and try and sort the bike and figure out gearing. Ran ok but knew the bike could be much better with a proper set up.

THEN.... RACETIME!!!! Get out on grid, walk my bike down to the end, alllllll the way to the back, with pops in tow with the warmers genny and stands. I put them all on only to be told 2 mins before the start that I had to move 10 feet over to be in my correct spot, I was like WTF! I'm not starting here this is before the sighting lap! Move it put the warmers on and you guessed it, whistle blows I was like SON OF A BIYTCH!!

Flag drops, and I made up a good couple of spots on the start, worked my way up some then the red flag came out, pull in, get the warmers on, I top the bike off, go out again. Not as good of a start but not bad, just not great. Red flag again, repeat the process fuel and grid up. Had made my way up to row 14. Get in the race, clicking off laps, tire is a little squirmy but meh, go into endurance mode and just keep at it.

Gas light comes on, see it as I cross the straight, I was on lap 19 or so, come by in lap 20 tapping across start finish. Come in the next lap and Daytona made our crew take their yellow banner down unknown to me so I pass it up because I was looking for the banner. DAMN IT!! Go back out, come back in on I think lap 22 maybe 21. Martin changes the rear pretty damn quick without the quickchange stuff. Gas goes well and no snapage of the cap I borrowed from Melka since my Vortex cap wouldn't accept my gas can cap. Thanks again Greg. Go back out, this tire was a better compound for the set up. It was a Medium and hooked up better. The first one was a soft. Click the laps off, then the gas light comes on again, as I go across the start finish I see the white flag and do just like Gino, started to tap and said oh wow, ok one more lap. Finish it up, pull in and am told to bring the bike for weigh in.

Found out I was in the money! YAY! Wuuuuuttttttt WIN money in racing!?!?! WTF is THAT ???

As I go through weigh in the tech guy says bring the bike to tech with tools for an airbox inspection. That's when it hit me.... fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucccccckkkkk, just like Ralphie in A Christmas Story, I had a BMC. And Like Gino and everyone else said, they said it about 1000 times about the air filter in the meetings, and had examples in tech. It was my own fault because I am my mechanic (gas jokes here) and when they were mentioning it I was on the 675 with a stock filter so no worries. But I brought my bike to tech only to be told what I already knew. I was DQ'd. I tried to explain that the BMC soaks up more fuel than the stock filter and it was a just incase type measure but they weren't buying it Hell I didn't even have race gas to help with my extra flow. Only the pump stuff outside the gate.

So that is what happened. I had fun racing with Gino and several others and gained valuable information. So we will be back next year, with the proper set up. If anyone knows someone selling 08-16 R6 quick change stuff let me know.

Thanks again to Tim (lightening on here), Martin, Max, my Pops and Melka for the help.

So there you have it, apparently I am a cheating ass cheater. Just sucks I finished it, not only that but in the money and it will always have an asterisk in my book besides the big ass DQ.

 

That does suck because he was flying and a very nice kid, very polite.

 

Awesome Job Dustin Awesome Job!!

 

Congratulations, Dustin. What position would you have finished in?

 

Barely in the money but 38th. Bummer is with the proper set up and time to plan it better I would have certainly a good bit higher. No one's fault but my own though. I will come properly set up next year.

 

Congrats @cajun636 . Better luck next year.