Grattan Regional 06/11-12 Race Report

Michigan, home of Ted Nugent…. Madonna… The Stooges. Also home of Grattan Raceway, located near Lansing. WERA’s North Central race number three was there June 11 through the 12th, and I made the six hour trek up there to compete in Clubman, Formula 2, D Superbike and Motard. With the van problems hopefully sorted out since Cycle Jam (distributor, front rotors, alignment, pads bushings, etc, etc, etc), I hooked up the trailer and watched the gas gauge plummet as we drove north.

Grattan Raceway is 14-turns and 1.9 miles long, with decent elevation changes and some trick off-camber turns. You can run the course either clockwise or counter-clockwise, but WERA was running the track counter-clockwise this weekend. (In my limited
opinion the counter-clockwise direction flows better… but it’s also been awhile since I’ve run the track clockwise.) Counter-clockwise lets you jump over the ‘Jump Hump’, making you wheelie up the hill up to turn four! Overall the facilities are solid and the weather, given the relative location to Lake Michigan, is usually decent.

Saturday saw me arrive at 1:30 A.M. with Joe Ball and Robert Grost. We parked the van, go to sleep (thanks to Wade Parish for the tent!) and then woke up at 6:30 A.M. to start the day. With registration and tech out of the way, Saturday’s first practice session one saw me at the low 1:40’s, seven seconds off last year’s fastest time. Which was not good, given that had slightly more horsepower and better handling than 2004.

The suspension was still set-up for VIR, which has a much smoother track surface. I backed down the compression front and rear, and headed out for another practice. I dropped another three seconds off my time, but the bike was still having a hard time keeping a race line, especially out of ‘The Far Corner’, through turns nine and ten, and up in to the ‘Bowl’. I came back in and took another click out of the front and rear compression, and added some rebound in the front.

I ran the 20-lap Lightweight endurance race as practice and set-up session, dropping my time to 1:34.854. That was much closer to my 2004 race times, but the bike still felt stiff across the track. At that point I was pretty much at my baseline settings for the bike, so I decided that maybe 11 heat-cycles in my Bridgestone DoT race tires had baked the compound out of the rubber.

It rained Saturday night and I was just too tired that evening to swap tires, so I got up at 6 A.M. to drop my wheels. Mize Mobile replaced the tires on Sunday morning before my practice session. I set the suspension back to my previous practice session’s settings to try and solve some of the chatter and slow-turning issues. Practice sessions saw my times at 1:35 on a green track and fresh tires. The second practice saw my times a bit slower, but traffic was an issue during that session.

Race one was Clubman. Just before leaving for the grid I found out that my rear tube was leaking. So I went to the start knowing that I needed to just finish the race and get points. I blew the start, but I dispatched the second place rider in one lap and dropped my times in to the high 1:33’s. A solid second, I kept my bike on the track and tried not to worry about the rear tube leaking air.

I had time to for Mize Mobile install a new Bridgestone tube before I headed out for the Formula 2 race. Apparently the tube was not pinched, but the Schrader valve had come loose where it connected to the tube. If the tire had lost any more air, it might not have kept inflated. Apparently the tube had deteriorated to the point where the valve was just kinda’ hanging there in the rim.

Ready to go for Formula 2, I had a great start until I was stuffed in ‘The Far Corner’ by a few 250GP bikes, and then got passed on the straight by everyone by lap three. I slowed my lap’s times to 1:35’s and ran alone to a ninth place finish. Not the results I wanted, but when you are at least ten horsepower down, you take what you can get!

D Superbike saw a decent start, but the two front runners got away. I had a great battled for third place with Wade Parish. For six laps of the eight laps I looked for a way to get past Wade. Did I mention it was a great fight? I was on Wade’s tail for the first half of the race during the back section, but he had motor on me in the straight. At one point we came through turn one side by side out on to the front straight. I posted my fastest time of the day during the race (1:33.239), eventually passing Wade in to the ‘Bowl’ and getting an SV650 between us at the checkered flag. Taking the last podium spot was cool, and it felt great to actually duel it out with someone you know.

The last race was Motard, and I finished first in a race that was shortened due to rain on lap four of eight. I was hanging with the novice motard and expert D Supersport bikes, just having fun. On lap five, I low-sided on my way out of turn five on my way up to the ‘Jump Hump’. It seems it was a little damper than I thought. I slid on my arse across the track and in to the grass. I jumped back up but the corner worker told me the race was over, so I took the access road back to the pit. Upon inspecting the bike the hand guard on the right side was ruined, the right foot peg was ground down and bent, and the handlebars were pretty twisted. I also think I took a handlebar to my stomach as I was grasping for air, plus my left side was pretty sore from smacking the ground.

For the weekend I went 1-2-3 in my competitive classes, which I thought was pretty good! As it stands in the North Central Clubman class, I’m leading by 13 points. In Motard, I have a decent 31 points lead over second place. D Superbike has me one point behind first in the standings, and the Formula 2 regional standings have me in fifth. On the WERA National Challenge circuit, I’m still sitting in fifth place after missing all the west coast rounds.

Up next is the WERA North Central regional race number four, which will be at Beaver Run Raceway in Wampum, PA. Thanks to all my sponsors for their continued support!