Flag this garage as inappropriateSuzuki GSX-R "All Stone Army"
AMA Barber Race Report
What more could be said that what show in the results other than how I got way back there. 
The experience was a experience of a life time. Forever I will be able to watch races on tv when I'm old and say..."I've freaking raced there". The facility, the people of Birmingham and the racers from all over the country were absolutely wonderful.
The track was challenging and still four days later has me scratching my head as to what the hell to do in T14 and T2(I never was quite comfortable). Every time I went thru those turns I was kicking myself in the ass as to why I didnt push it harder. When I screwed up T14 it screwed my drive onto the straight, when I screwed up the mid turn on T2 it screwed my drive going up the hill for T3....it was basically a chain reaction of two turns that stopped me from dropping a few seconds off my time.
The first lap I will not soon forget. I got a pretty damned good start and was on the inside of Skip where we both moved thru the pack towards the front. When we came into T1...I simply pussed out. Dont ask me why...I just did. Skip pulled out the extra sack needed and got by me and stuff it up under another guy for another place.
Coming towards T4, rather than being on the attack I just followed and with that lost even more places. Then coming towards T5/6 as I was heading over the curb I had one of the cleanest, daring passes performed on me. I had a guy throw a hail mary and stuff it up the inside of me which pushed me out and again caused me to lose two or three places at once.
It was ugly and from that point on it was a matter of trying to regain the 6 or 7 places I lost on the first lap. My lesson has been learned and I will no matter what...not ride that reserved on the first lap like I did at this race ever again.
The training I have done over the last 4 months has paid off big time. I was able to run 30 min practice sessions like it was a walk in the park and in the race I didnt even breath hard. The extra weight off really helped as well and the strength gained from riding dirtbikes made tossing the bike around a breeze.
My downfalls this weekend and what I can take from this....I weigh to much. 225lbs buck naked when your standing next to guys that on the average weigh about 170lbs top...is hurting me. I could see that when I drove out of turns, even when I was on the throttle sooner....I couldnt out drive the other lighter guys. I also couldnt carry the corner speed thru T2 that the lighter guys could. If I matched their pace in the long T2...I was stepping it out flat track style while they would stay perfectly in line (even when I hung off the bike and pushed it more upright).
Dont get me wrong...I was getting good drive and hanging with alot of these guys...I just could out drive ANY of them out of the turns. If I was two bike behind them exiting the turn....I would stay right there until the next turn.
Then theres the hp issue. I'm down about 20 pony's on everyone else and could see it plain as day when I was gapped on the straights. I'm not going to deny that most of these guys were better riders....but still....there's no ignoring the fact that when your upright clicking thru the gears and a guy walks ya.
There's no excuse for this weekend...just lack of program. With these guys its the whole program that will determine where you place. My gaps are as follows.
1. Pussy on the first lap and not riding aggressive enough.
2. I'm still to big and need to work off another 25lbs and try to get to 200lbs.
3. I need a new bike or hope that the extra weight off can help my drive out of turns.
4. Still need to work on my mid-corner and exit. While I was riding much better this weekend, there's always room for improvement.
5. Loosen up. I was a tense as a altar boy in the Pope's office this weekend.
The perfect ending to this post....I had fun. I had alot of fun.
Thanks to RaceTech for the superb setup, Cyclegear for the best deals in town and RideTime.com for their support and thanks....to all the WERA people that came up and said hello.
The experience was a experience of a life time. Forever I will be able to watch races on tv when I'm old and say..."I've freaking raced there". The facility, the people of Birmingham and the racers from all over the country were absolutely wonderful.
The track was challenging and still four days later has me scratching my head as to what the hell to do in T14 and T2(I never was quite comfortable). Every time I went thru those turns I was kicking myself in the ass as to why I didnt push it harder. When I screwed up T14 it screwed my drive onto the straight, when I screwed up the mid turn on T2 it screwed my drive going up the hill for T3....it was basically a chain reaction of two turns that stopped me from dropping a few seconds off my time.
The first lap I will not soon forget. I got a pretty damned good start and was on the inside of Skip where we both moved thru the pack towards the front. When we came into T1...I simply pussed out. Dont ask me why...I just did. Skip pulled out the extra sack needed and got by me and stuff it up under another guy for another place.
Coming towards T4, rather than being on the attack I just followed and with that lost even more places. Then coming towards T5/6 as I was heading over the curb I had one of the cleanest, daring passes performed on me. I had a guy throw a hail mary and stuff it up the inside of me which pushed me out and again caused me to lose two or three places at once.
It was ugly and from that point on it was a matter of trying to regain the 6 or 7 places I lost on the first lap. My lesson has been learned and I will no matter what...not ride that reserved on the first lap like I did at this race ever again.
The training I have done over the last 4 months has paid off big time. I was able to run 30 min practice sessions like it was a walk in the park and in the race I didnt even breath hard. The extra weight off really helped as well and the strength gained from riding dirtbikes made tossing the bike around a breeze.
My downfalls this weekend and what I can take from this....I weigh to much. 225lbs buck naked when your standing next to guys that on the average weigh about 170lbs top...is hurting me. I could see that when I drove out of turns, even when I was on the throttle sooner....I couldnt out drive the other lighter guys. I also couldnt carry the corner speed thru T2 that the lighter guys could. If I matched their pace in the long T2...I was stepping it out flat track style while they would stay perfectly in line (even when I hung off the bike and pushed it more upright).
Dont get me wrong...I was getting good drive and hanging with alot of these guys...I just could out drive ANY of them out of the turns. If I was two bike behind them exiting the turn....I would stay right there until the next turn.
Then theres the hp issue. I'm down about 20 pony's on everyone else and could see it plain as day when I was gapped on the straights. I'm not going to deny that most of these guys were better riders....but still....there's no ignoring the fact that when your upright clicking thru the gears and a guy walks ya.
There's no excuse for this weekend...just lack of program. With these guys its the whole program that will determine where you place. My gaps are as follows.
1. Pussy on the first lap and not riding aggressive enough.
2. I'm still to big and need to work off another 25lbs and try to get to 200lbs.
3. I need a new bike or hope that the extra weight off can help my drive out of turns.
4. Still need to work on my mid-corner and exit. While I was riding much better this weekend, there's always room for improvement.
5. Loosen up. I was a tense as a altar boy in the Pope's office this weekend.
The perfect ending to this post....I had fun. I had alot of fun.
Thanks to RaceTech for the superb setup, Cyclegear for the best deals in town and RideTime.com for their support and thanks....to all the WERA people that came up and said hello.
