Road Atlanta MotoAmerica july 31-

They are working with him on this. Look at his interviews from RA1 and RA2, there is a dramatic difference. He is improving, but he's still a 15 year old kid who probably doesn't even go to a real high school, so that social aspect still needs work. He stops short of making actual excuses, but it's close- the kid is an incredible talent, maybe he did really have stomach issues, but he was running around playing frisbee Saturday morning, zipping all around the paddock all day doing wheelies on his pit bikes.

He made a bad call on race day, either he couldn't run the same lap time consistently (He used 2 rear tires in Q2 alone) or he was waiting for some reason, and it didn't work out. I watched Q2 last night, he kept going out with Kaleb. Announcers kept making it like Kaleb was trying to follow him and that's why he kept sitting up- but in reality, he was trying to time a run so he could use the draft of the Yamaha down the back straight to make up time in the one sector where he was slower than Kaleb. And he was able to do it- that's how he got that 33.4!

As for that last lap "pass attempt" he was like 20 bikelengths behind- there was no way he was going to make a pass there.

 

Fuel pump issues early in the weekend, they thought they had the motor fixed but I guess that wasn't it. Way down on top speed.

 

The cutoff is 110% and there are pretty much no exceptions. Even with the cutoff, we have lapped traffic, those guys were battling for 15th place- so the choice is a 10 bike grid or lapped traffic.

I like the fact that MA has a cutoff- it's pro racing. You hit the time or you pack your shit. Period.

It is getting harder and harder to make the cut- some teams are spending huge money on motors and unlimited tires, and the entry of some of the fast kids is really pushing the pace.

2019 the pole at Atlanta was 1:37.7. Barney set a new record in the race of 1:35.6

In the FIRST PRACTICE Friday morning, Kaleb broke that record. He then broke it again in Q1, and Rocco crushed it in Q2 1:33.4. That's 2 full seconds!

In the first practice I missed the cutoff by 0.057

Q1 I missed it by 0.31. (lap timer actually showed me .5 sec quicker but MA's timing system did not, so I thought I had it only to find out later that I didn't)

Q2 I was lapping faster by only the 4th lap and the bike lost power. No excuses, the bike ran fine for the first 2 sessions. Should have gone faster, earlier.

I didn't go to race control and ask for a provisional start. If I don't qualify, I will go home. That's the deal. There's plenty of club racing available for me to do, this is my choice to come here and I'll live by the rulebook.

I'm still glad I did it, and I would do it again!

 

I wasn’t going to call you out specifically but were one I thought of with cutoff time, since in the past has made it public of the struggles. I know the effort you put in just to qualify and it’s a metric shit ton, you spend the time to improve and give it all your effort so why should someone who doesn’t make it per the rules be allowed to be on the track? You don’t complain if things don’t go your way as you know the rules going in, you learn from it and build your learning for your next event.
There is also a reason even say mid to back pack guys who know they can make the cutoff will at least try to throw in a decent fast lap early in the session before they go out on their last run because if something were to happen they’d not be in the show. I remember even more so back in the day when some of the sbk guys on one lap wonder tires would blast a lap that was light years ahead of the rest and knock out 5-6 people at the edge of qualifying when if they went even 0.1/0.2 quicker than the person who qualified 2nd the grid would’ve been much bigger. It happens and will happen, just part of racing and most, like Gino know and accept that going in. Bitching about it is just stupid, explaining why you didn’t make the cutoff is a whole different story as it’s not an excuse but an explanation. If you don’t learn from why you didn’t qualify you probably shouldn’t try it again. Reading your post it’s clear that next time you will adjust your strategy going off how you’ve learned from other things in The past and keep improving. To me this is someone who I’d rather support vs someone who may even be faster but it’s just excuses.
Obviously this is a sore subject with me as I’ve been with teams on both polar opposites of the spectrum.

 

That's funny- we had a good back and forth at Road America for last place- but I had nothing for him this weekend!

 

It's always been my strategy to go as fast as possible in the first session. Many of the fast dudes are still running takeoffs or working on setup, so that's my chance.

I've been struggling with some confidence in my bike setup and front end setup- so I was proud of myself that I did a personal best lap in the first practice, beat my old record by .5 sec and was lapping consistently 2 sec faster than my best laps in last years race, and 2 sec faster than I went at the N2 day the month before.

Q1 was not the best situation, it was 8am on Sat, first session of the day after a lot of rain, shortened to 20 min. I spent too long assessing the conditions and didn't get my fast lap until the end.

Q2 I knew it was going to be an uphill battle, best conditions of the weekend, fast guys using some tires, etc. By the 4th lap I was in the 44's and dropping time every lap. Then the bike just started slowing down and I pulled in. The only thing we could find was a clogged fuel filter (tank foam) but I'm still not sure that was the problem, since I didn't get to ride again.

It can be demoralizing to be 9 sec off the pole and working this hard to make it happen. And I have good equipment, fresh tires, etc! But then I remind myself that I am an airline pilot with a "pro" racing hobby, and while I'm drinking beer on the boat this weekend, I'll remember the following:

1:44.7 would have been good enough for second at the WERA Cycle Jam last year, in my 2 classes AND

1:33.4 would have put Rocco on the 6th row of the Stock 1000 race, between Dr. Purk and Walt Sipp. So those guys are Fast with a capital F!

Maybe if I was out riding motocross or minis instead of drinking beer on the boat, this would not have been such a problem. Ahhh well, see ya at Barber!

 

What is your best guess on what the pole time will be at Barber this year? A 30.xxx?

So 110% of that is what, a 1:39.xxx?

 

Rodney had a faster bike at Rd Atlanta.

 

Did he get Joe's 3rd gen?

 

Man I cannot see a 30.xxx in twins cup at Barber. But dayum I would love to try!

 

Indeed, she’s either on or off which is what I love about her.

 

2nd gen sbk

 

Dumas and Barnes hit 31s last year.

 

What kind of weight and power are these top twins cup bikes these days?

 

Y'all cant be serious, the "European teams" will judge him based off of his ability to win, his social media presence /his ability to bring in sponsors. He is winning, He could improve some social media like making vlogs and live streaming his life but still has a solid following on social media and has more sponsors than most in either class!

Id rather have him doing a backflip and being animated than him rolling around the cool down with a Trump flag, giving the most bland presser (Doyle) or being so vanilla it hurts.

Look at Gerloff, he got over there because of his partnership with Yamaha and relationship with Ben Spies. Rocco is on track to get a shot on the American Racing team. He needs to focus on winning and not being burned out by the time he is 20 and less on if us hacks on a message board thinks he is being a kid. American riders are viewed as B level riders with a non competitive national series so he needs to go over there an kick some ass in Red Bulls Rookies

Not to mention Rossi is 10x more like able to everyone on here because he has a personality and isn't a dorna drone like Marquez..........

 

the Yamahas are 335 ish. Ive heard some are down to 320. lightest 3rd gen SVs are approx 350.355 lightest 2nd gen SV 340. Power? upper 80s to low to low 90s for the front runners.

 

I never had the chance to ride a well built SV superbike. Would have been nice.