WERA North Central Region: round two- Nelson Ledges

WERA North Central Region: round two- Nelson Ledges

05/07/2006

Circuit: Nelson Ledges
Location: Garrettsville, OH
Track length: 2 miles
Personal Fastest lap: 1:17.220 (2005)
Personal Fastest at this event: 1:08.004
Last year's best finish: First
Photo link: none available

The second race of the year for WERA’s North Central regional was held on May 6-7, 2006 at Nelson Ledges Road Course in Garrettsville, OH. If cheap wine is to a great glass of French wine; if Gary, Indiana is to Rome, Italy; and if a Ford Pinto is to a GT40 then Nelson Ledges is to Mid-Ohio. If you have never been to the facility, think a place seeping with history that requires you to bring your own toilet paper.

Now I will say that the facility has repaved certain sections, made some improvements and is currently moving the wall of tires back (one of the largest collections of slightly-used tires in Northern Ohio, I might add). They even installed flush toilets and a FM radio transmitter (they used smoke signals from burning tires before they got the radio).

The track favors big b-alls and a short skirt to try and ride through the bumps and patches that make up the track surface. The key to the track was just using the throttle… a lot. Only turns 4 and 12-13 offer any rest for the rider, and the lap record lies in the sub 1:07 range.

I arrived late on Friday, and I got set up camp and got everything together before midnight. And you could tell that the weather was still stuck in March. It was cold as hell out and I actually had to set up space heaters in the van with an extra blanket to accompany my air mattress.

Saturday morning didn’t go as planned. I’ve run enough laps at Nelson’s (or ‘The Ledges’ as I call it) that getting familiar with the course was not needed. I got up early and made plans to practice. But the late winter air had made the 20w60 Motorex oil in the crankcases pretty thick. And let’s face it; getting close top 40 in your age bracket doesn’t help in getting motivated.

So I go out and run some laps, but it’s cold. I mean, just flat out ‘what the heck am I doing out here’ cold. I circulate on very cold tires and a very cold track and just try not to fall off or freeze to death. I was hoping to hit a deer, so at least I could have a pelt to keep me warm. My best time was a 1:21.547.

I hung around Saturday, and by the evening it was very apparent that it was going to be colder than the previous evening. Out came all the extreme weather gear, heaters and such. By morning, there was frost in the Bridgestone’s and ice in the water I left out on the table. If hell had just frozen over, we just got glimpse of it.

Sunday morning practice was uneventful and I was really off the pace. With the temperatures hovering around the mid-30’s it was just a case of going through the motions…. then running back in to the van to get warm. By the end of practice the sun was out, it had warmed up and it was tolerable outside (if you stood still in the sun you could feel some warmth). I dropped my times in to the 1:20’s. Race control had re-posted the grids so there was some scrambling after the riders meeting to get the correct information.

The first race of the day was D Superbike. There were 9 bikes on the grid and I got a decent start. I was top three in to turn one but was pushed back to fourth by the end of lap one. The bikes of Scott McKee (Yamaha FZR400), Sunny Chang (Honda RFV400) and Dennis Ergo (Honda NT650) had split, and I was left to fend off the rest of the field.

Don Kinsey (Yamaha FZR 400) blasted past me on the back straight, but I caught back up with him in turns 12-13. I thought the better of it and didn’t attempt a pass on the inside, which allowed Don to motor down the front straight. By the end of the race I was running a pretty lonely pace and finished 5th, posting a fast lap time of 1:21.452.

Motard was my second event, and the grid had just me in the expert class. The novice group has three racers, but I thought I’d let them play alone. The last thing I needed was to get caught up in a novice race and then get a DNF by some accident or mechanical disaster. I just collected my laps and turned my slowest times of the weekend, running some 8-seconds off the pace.

The Clubman race gidded up as my last race, with Dennis Ergo (Honda Hawk NT650), Don Fine (Suzuki’s GS500E) and I as the only expert entries in the class. I beat the two of them into turn one and Dennis passed me on the back straight. I caught back up with Dennis in turns 12-13, and this would repeat itself for most of the race. Dennis left the door open for me on lap 4, and I was able to pass and re-take the lead heading in to turn one. Dennis didn’t shut off the throttle as we went in to turn one side by side. Don keep peeking his Suzuki’s nose in on the fight, so it was more like a three way battle for the win.

For this event my lap times were slow. I’m not sure if it was the cold, but I couldn’t get in to the groove. On the second to last lap we caught a novice rider in the keyhole. Dennis was leading and he decided to stick behind the rider. I threw caution out the window and railed on the outside of both to take the lead down the front straight.

By the time we hit the last lap, Dennis had regained the lead. I had closed the gap and forced a pass on the inside of turn 13, but Dennis slammed the door on me and stood me up. In the end Dennis won by a half-second and I grabbed second. My fastest lap was on the last lap, and Dennis pulled his fastest lap as well to hold Don and me off.

At the end of the day, it was great to pack up the bike and head home to a warm shower and some hot food. I had fun, despite Mother Nature trying to hold back spring. Up next: Autobahn County Club in Joliet, IL on May 12-14, 2006. I’d like to thank my sponsors for their support;

Bridgestone Tyres, Cleveland-Akron KTM, Fuel, Motorex Oils, MX-Tech, Oxtar Boots, Portfolio Creative Staffing, RK Racing Chain, S.I.T. Strings, Suomy Helmets, Tech 21 NYC, Tiberius Records, Utopia Optics

North Central Standings (After 2 rounds of 9)
Clubman: Cline (34), Ergo (31), Fine (28), Higinbotham (20), Shirley (15)
D Superbike: McKee (40), Chang (32), Ergo (30), Cline (24), Fine (21), Schickler (16), Kinsey (15), Parish (10), Kidd (9), Kovach (9)
Motard: Cline (37), Shirley (20)

 

Correction...

Personal Fastest at this event: 1:18.004

 

Did you find anyone's lost rear stand?

 

OMFG... not that thread again....


Chips Ahoy matie. How are the three of you?

 

Plenty of Pit Bulls at most Michigan shelters...............

 

Sorry Pete. It just sucks that one minute of forgetfullness can cost over 100 bucks. Bleh!

 

Too bad I don't live in Michigan

 

It could be worse... one minute of forgetfullness and you could be pregnant. Consider yourself lucky it was just a stand and not something else...

 

You know better than to use that word with me!!!!! I feel lucky now.:up: