Extremely long Nelson Ledges story

Although the following motorcycle racing event takes place under the auspices of another organization, it is not my intent to promote that organization, but to highlight the outstanding efforts my fellow WERA racers and to share my experience at a track at which WERA holds races.

I had participated in the Regional two hour at Road Atlanta with Jason Johnson (WERA #176 Novice) and thought endurance racing was THE way to go racing. On September 5th, 2000, I got an e-mail from Richard Hargis (WERA #431 Novice) asking if I would like to participate in a three-hour endurance race at Nelson Ledges. We would use my Suzuki GS500E and since Rich and I were both first year novices and both rode GS500’s, it seemed like a good match. Also, Rich knew an expert who was ready to get in the mix for the day who had experience endurance racing on a GS500. It was starting to shape up to be a decent team; but I had to make a few things happen.

First, I needed cash. My racing budget was gone and the pockets were empty. After much consideration, I decided to ask one of my most supportive sponsors, Dave Balnes of David & Assoc., if he could help me out. Dave is a great guy and said he would be glad to help. Also, an unexpected addition to the personal coffers could be diverted to the racing effort. Cash secured!

Now, I needed a crew. My usual crew is used to running water and climate control (I don’t blame them, they’ve earned it). With cash in short supply, it was primitive all the way. After a quick convening of the board, a replacement crew member was selected. Arrangements were made.

The only thing left was the bike. After the Putnam event in August, I noticed a slight oil leak from the head. The motor still ran well, but knowing racer luck, that slight leak would turn into a gusher at the wrong time. It would only take a simple gasket replacement using my spare gasket. No problem I’ll get to it the week before I leave.

This is the point where you, dear reader, are starting to wonder, “So what, I’ve heard this story before.” Here’s the good part; it was one week before the race and I found out two things: my crew member had been arrested for a DUI offense committed two months ago, and that spare gasket I THOUGHT I had, I didn’t.

Gaskets as a rule are usually cheap and commonplace, but when you own a cheap small displacement bike in the US, parts aren’t usually stocked. No one had one and couldn’t get one to me until Thursday! That left little time to get it installed. After several calls, I found a parts place (who shall remain nameless) who said they could have it to me on Tuesday. I asked them if they were positive. After being put on hold for 5 minutes, the parts guy got back on the line said, “Sure, no problem”. In the meantime, I had asked around on the GS mailing list for a spare head gasket (go to www.eurospares.com for more information). James G said he had a spare he would be glad to lend. I told him thanks, but I’m covered.

Well, Tuesday came but the gasket did not. A call placed to the parts place said that the Suzuki warehouse was closed for inventory, but the could get it to me by Friday. Friday!? I’m leaving Friday a.m.!! I said OK, send it Next Day Air (cha-ching). I contacted James and asked him to send his also because I didn’t trust the parts guys anymore. At this point I considered pulling the head, putting some Yamabond 4 on, leaving the old gasket, and just rolling with it. Wisdom prevailed and I knew I had to change it.

Being a first year racer, my wrench skills have not been fully developed. So, not wanting to totally hose myself on this whole deal, I came up with a great idea. I could call my local race shop, Pro Stock Performance, and they’ll help me out. I spoke to both Chris and Chris and came up with a plan. I would pull the engine, and bring all the parts except the head gasket to them. They would get the head off on Friday a.m., I would bring in the gasket, and we’d get it all together and then I would head to the track. Head gasket solved!

“What about your crew, Greg?”

Good question. I spoke to a good friend of mine, who is also a motorcycle enthusiast, and asked him if he would like to go. He said, “Sure, let me check my schedule.” After a thorough schedule checking, “Sorry, dude.” was the reply. Well shit! However, unbeknownst to me, the original crew member was sprung. It seems that between his friends and employer, they scraped together the required cash and bonded him out. Cool, crew and parts were set to go.

I packed up the truck Friday morning and anxiously awaited my gasket. Crew shows up at 10:000; gasket shows up at 10:30. Fortunately, the parts guy came through. Still my thanks go out to James G for sending his gasket out, also. If I didn’t have a backup, I’m sure I would’ve been screwed. We arrived at the shop right on schedule, and the head was off. The gasket went on and the engine was put back together. Between a racer, a wrench and a crew member, the engine got back in the bike. Total elapsed time: 2 1/2 hours. Again, we’re right on schedule.

“Take it for a test ride”, says Chris Shafto (WERA #255 Novice and way cool racing dude)). On the test ride I discovered a low speed headshake! I rode the bike back to the shop and we went down the list: check tires, check tire pressure, check wheel alignment. I had installed a new chain and relied on the marks on the swingarm for alignment which isn’t the best way, but I usually make it work. We fiddled some with the alignment and tested again. The headshake was still there. Chris tried the bike, too. He said the steering seemed to be binding. We removed the steering damper and the bind went away. Test ride…fixed! Now, my steering damper is trashed and it’s required to race; will theis never end? I figured I’d find one at the track. If it came down to it, I’d just steal Rich’s.

Off we went, a few hours behind. When we got to Columbus, traffic was stopped on I-71 North just south of Exit 100. The radio report said that a tractor-trailer had jack-knifed and the interstate was shut down, and I had just passed my last opportunity to get off the interstate. We were stuck with nowhere to go and lost another hour and a half.

The rest of the trip went well. We arrived at Nelson Ledges at 10:30 p.m. in the dark of night. I had never been there before and didn’t know what was what. So, I followed the road and found a campsite with a light on. I popped my head in the canopy and said, “Hello!” I shout.
“Hi”, responds the resident
“I’ve never been here, where can I camp?”
“Anywhere?”
“Anywhere?!”
“Yeah, anywhere”
“Is this pit road”? I asked and pointed at the rail 10 yards away.
“Yes.”
“Can I camp here?”
“Yes”
“I could always move in the morning”, I said.
“You won’t have to move in the morning”, He said.

So this very helpful young man told me that I have just picked a cherry campsite and nobody’s going to bust my stones in the a.m. Sweet!

Broke out the camping gear, fired up the lantern, and setup camp. We were asleep by 11:00.

The night was rather cold, but I slept well enough. I was motivated to leave the warm sleeping bag by a full bladder and the sounds of arriving racers. After my morning constitutional, I found JB the tire guy. He had a steering damper that would probably directly replace my busted one. I went back to the bike and voila, it works.

The morning was a bit hectic. I met up with my teammates and Rich showed me around. I had a few items to button down, so out came the zip ties and some safety wire. The bike was set, now on to registration.

We went through registration where I met Judy, the wife of my teammate Al. Judy was also our scorer for the day and now the tem was complete. I parted with my money in exchange for some papers and off I went to fetch the bike to make tech.

A GS is easy to get through tech so no problems there. Our tech representative, Bob (WERA #84?) knew the original owner of my bike, Scott Meyer (WERA #42 Expert). Sometimes I forget what a small community motorcycle road racing is.

So, at this point in the story, I’ve had to overcome a few obstacles. Some were my own damn fault, some were just an inconvenience, and most were just minor. Now I’m at the track, registered, tech’d and suited up. Let’s hit it.

My first few laps were very, very slow just getting used to the layout and the surface. It looked rough, but didn’t feel rough. After a few laps I started getting up to speed. I started picking brake markers and shift points as well as started to sort out my gear selection. Corner entry speed has been my weak spot all year and it was causing me serious grief in gear selection and drive all morning. A few laps with Al and some talking with Rich and my plan was very simple: 5th gear from T1 all the way to the exit of T5. 6th down the back straight and through the kink. Down to 4th for T12 down to 3rd for T13. Back to 5th down the front straight. It took me all day just to get comfortable with this and I was still running over 1:30. My goal for the race was to turn a 1:30 flat. Please remember that I’m a slow guy on a low hp bike and that breaking 1:30 was good for me; your results may vary.

Our order was determined and the race was underway. Due to our late entry, we were gridded near the back, but that was OK with all of us. Al got a good start but didn’t push hard because he was still a bit new to the bike. On lap 3, I saw a bike (#8) go down exiting T13. Just then, Al comes out of T13 himself, with nowhere to go but into the downed rider! Al went off track but couldn’t get the bike all the way under control and he and the bike ended up on the ground. A quick check of the riders found no one hurt. A quick check of the bike found a clip-on slightly out of position and the steering damper moved about ¼”. A few quick adjustments and Rich was out on track. We missed the restart, but didn’t mind since we survived the wreck unscathed. Rich’s stint was uneventful and he turned in mostly 1:26’s.

I was next in the rotation and did OK. Once I was up to race pace, I knocked of a few 1:29’s. Since I was shooting for a 1:30 flat, I was pretty happy to break the 1:30 mark. My stint was uneventful also, but by the time my turn was up, I was ready to hand it over.

Al went back out and proceeded to turn in a few 1:24’s and 1:25’s. His performance helped us to move up a spot or two. He turned a quick clean stint, and then handed it back to Rich.

Rich was motoring pretty well but by the 2:20 mark or so, he came in with an ignition or fuel problem and we also noticed an oil leak. Some quick clean up and a splash of fuel and Rich was back out. Unfortunately, a lap later, he was back in with the same problems. Being so late in the race, we figured repairs wouldn’t be complete by the end of the race and since we weren’t in it to win it anyway, we just bagged it. It was my first DNF.

Although I worked very hard for this race and came away empty-handed, it was still an excellent day at the track. I got more than my share of laps. I got to race, and to top it all off, I got to meet some cool people. I also learned more than I imagined I would.

Thanks to all of the WERA racers involved in my experience. Not only for this event, but also for my whole season!

Greg Gabis
WERA #223 Novice.