So I traveled over to Joliet, IL to race WERA's second National Challenge race of the year. I was pre-entered in the F2 class, so I was going to be up against anything and everything. Bruce McDowell was riding his '02 GSXR750 in the B SuperStock and B Superbike expert classes on Sunday, and he also wanted to take advantage of open practice on Friday was well. Bruce traveled from Springboro, picked me up at 7-ish on Thursday night and we arrived in Joliet around 2 A.M. Friday morning and grabbed a hotel. Autobahn Raceway has two courses, a north and south, which can be joined to make one huge complex. WERA was on the South track, while Autobahn members filtered in all weekend in their very expensive cars and ran the North course. The south track is 2.10 miles with slight elevation changes and fifteen turns. The infield was a mix of straw and grass and dirt. WERA brought us out for some slow sighting laps before they began calling out the groups. The track itself was very green, with no rubber laid down and very few reference points. I worked up to speed slowly and got eight laps in before the checker flag was waved. The surface didn't seem very abrasive, but it was very bumpy along the front straight and in the entry and exit of turn five. There was minimal tire wear, the scuffed-in Bridgestones showed no wear. As the day progressed I go more comfortable and was able to loosen up a bit. There were mostly SV650's in my practice sessions and one RS250 Honda. I dropped from a 1:55 down to low 1:46’s. Bruce's session was pretty crowded, so he opted to run in the novice group for a few laps to avoid the traffic and learn the new track. By the end of the day we both felt OK with the track and had gotten in four-eight lap sessions. The rains rolled in and ruined our cookout after we had called it a day, so we headed back to the hotel. Saturday was a limited practice session, as there was the national endurance race starting at 1 PM. I was first out again with the lightweight bikes on a damp but drying track. I didn't bother to change in to rains as the sun was out and the track looked like it would dry by the second session. There were some slick spots but overall it was decent. The second session saw greatly improved conditions and lower lap times. Bruce made some comments on the track surface (bumps) and we talked about some entry and exit points. I did see God in the second session. And she was wondering why I came in to turn eight so fast. I had hooked up with three SV650's and decided to have them pull me trough the back section of the course. I didn't know I could corner as fast as those bikes, which is nice to know. Note to self: stop scaring yourself. By the end of the practice session I had dropped more time and was down to low 1:45’s. The problem was that most of the other bikes were in the 1:34’s, so I had a lot of work to do but realized that I’d be lucky not to be lapped in an eight lap race. Bruce and I hung out and watched the endurance race, cooked out and generally relaxed. The weather was hot, if a bit windy. Luckily we had plenty sunscreen and hot-dogs with bacon to cook, which keep us busy for most of the afternoon. Sunday came an with it some incredible weather. We arrived a little later at the track due to traffic, but I was able to make first practice. I was stuck in the 1:44’s and looking for someone to pull me along in practice, but the bike kept cutting out on me in the back section of the track. After the second practice I disconnected the venting hoses from the carb to the catch can. I think on over-revving the bike I was sucking in some ka-ka, and causing the bike to sputter. Bruce had an interesting day. He complained of poor breaking performance on Saturday, so he bled the brakes. On Sunday he changed his Bridgestones, only to find that his front brake pads were hosed. So he was changing tires, adjusting is chain and swapping pads all before his last practice session. When he did got out, and he missed the first laps or so of practice, he turned two really fast laps before high-siding in turn 10. He came back in and fixed the damage. He was first up for the day in race six, 750 Supersport Expert. The start was a two wave street fight, but Bruce hung back and just let the ones in a hurry pass him. Bruce was turning 1:30’s in the morning, so we knew he could make up the ground. But a red flag came out and Bruce was involved in a 6 bike pile-up off the back straight. And he earned a free ambulance ride to the clinic, where he was suffering from a nice bell ringing. His day was done, so when the crash truck dropped off his bike I took the lowers off the GSXR and put it on it's rear stand. I was race nine and rolled out to a four bike field. There was an SV650, Honda RS250, Honda RS125 and me. I took the wrong spot on the grid but corrected myself before the board went to the #1 position. I was front row, outside. And I got a lousy start (I think my starting line crash at Road Atlanta has spooked me a-little). By turn five it was all over but the screaming. The RS250 and SV650 just took off, and the RS125 passed me in turn 7. Down the back straight the 125 was flagged off the course for it’s fairing falling off, so I took over a very, very, very lonely third. The gap between me and novices was about 20 seconds, so I just worked on gaining some better lap times and slightly scaring myself. I dropped down to the mid 1:42’s. It was a great weekend, better than the race two weeks previous at Beaver Run. Bruce showed up right before I closed up the trailer, so I knew he was just getting out of some work and wasn’t really hurt. I was glad Bruce was ok, and he just seemed clueless as to why he binned his bike. Overall, the track was decent and it was just great to be back out again after not racing since October. On to VIR and Cycle Jam in two weeks!
