September 2004 Race Report - The End Of Novice

September 19, 2004 - WSMC Novice Middleweight

This race weekend was one of the windiest ever. The winds were so bad, a lot of racers were crashing out left and right, especially in T8 & T9. The winds made T9 even more dangerous than it usually is and as Robbie Dowie so aptly described it – “The winds today is making Turn 9 the White Terror of Death”.

Preparation for the Race Weekend:

Preparing for this weekend was as hectic and stressful as usual. Many of you probably recall that I had blew up my Yoshimura full exhaust system at the STT Trackday Weekend 9/4-9/5. I spent last week arguing with Yoshimura about covering the broken headers under warranty. I picked up the new headers on Thursday 9/16 – spent the entire night trying to put on the Defective new system – missing Kevin’s farewell dinner – still not succeeding – spent the entire Friday morning arguing with Yosh about how they gave me a defective system and they need to fix this situation now. Finally, convincing them to take a look at the system – they confirmed that it was a defective system and fixed it – finished putting my bike back today late Friday night – packed up for the race weekend.

Saturday – Practice

Because I’m quickly running out of money to fund my expensive racing habit – I tried to run with the same tires I had used all Sunday at the STT Trackday. John Angelotti (GSXR-Freak) had so very kindly put these take-offs on my rims Sat night and brought them on Sunday so I would have tires to run. These tires already had a race on em – then I ran them ALL day Sunday (running intermediate and advance groups to get more tracktime in). Needless to say, these tires were pretty dead…but I decided to try to get some more out of them…and if nothing else, practice my slides, lowside & highside prevention techniques. I ran these tires until I was sliding both front and rear tires – on both sides – threw in some near lowsides and highsides, then decided at noon that it was time to put these tires down and get new tires. The New Tires: some people convinced me to try the Dunlop Slicks, claiming that I could just run those and only get positive results – no suspension changes necessary. So I bought a set since they were about the same price as the DOT’s. I had problems. They were awesome in the turns – but the unstableness when the bike was transitioning or straight up, scared me. The guys told me that that was just the characteristic of the Dunlops and not worry about the unstableness…I just need to deal with it. But I had one more problem that needed to be addressed immediately – the bike was pushing wide in the turns. My strongest ability is being able to carry high corner speeds…I needed this fixed. Saturday practice was over for me – no more sessions – I consulted a bunch of people (everyone giving different and conflicting advice as usual) – finally decided to drop my front 10mm. This is an aggressive change – but I’m quite used to aggressive changes now…and it sounded like the right thing to do. DynoDudes Performance had noticed me and wanted to sponsor me and fix up my bike for me (it’s underpowered by 10hp and VERY lean – and has been running like in general). Zorba’s Bike Night had gotten me a K&N air filter that I didn’t have time to put on yet – so DynoDudes took my bike and was going to see what they could do for me.

Sunday - Practice

There are only 2 practice sessions on Sunday and I missed the first one due because DynoDudes had not finished with my bike yet. I needed to test out the change of dropping my forks 10mm – I caught the second practice session and tested out the bike – keeping in mind the words of all the experts about how I need to just learn to live with the instability of the Dunlops - I ran my laps and gradually went faster and faster – ignoring the instability, headshakes, and wobbling. The good news – I confirmed that dropping the front 10mm fixed the problem of my bike going wide in the turns. The bad news – the wobbles and instability is BAD! Being a good trooper…I pushed on and started to go even faster…ignoring the instability. Coming out of T9, I went into a hard headshake, I ignored it (as instructed) and gave it more throttle to go down the straight – the hard headshake turned into a violent tankslapper that carried me like a rag doll down a third of the front straight. The tankslapper was so violent, it loosened the screws of my Scotts damper and twisted my ignition key. I regained control of the bike before I got to T1 and went to brake for T1 – just to find out that I had NO FRONT BRAKES! Damnit!!! Forgot that when you have a violent tankslapper, it slaps the calipers back! You need to pump the brakes again to get the calipers back into position against the rotors….all this as I’m flying into T1 – everything in me screaming one thought – NEED TO SLOW DOWN NOW!!! I made it through T1 without incident albeit a little shook up. And that ended the last practice session of the day. The next time I get to ride my bike is in my race.

I pull into the pits to re-attach my Scotts Damper and straighten my key. I’m a little upset. I wasn’t even at full speed and almost died….I’ll never be able to race this way. I go talk to Dennis Smith of Dunlop Tires…and we make some changes. Yes. SOME changes. Part of the problem was my forks, they were bound up – so we fixed that. Then he took 2 out of compression, 4 out of rebound, and one bar down of that other thingie on top of the forks. Now….the next time I get to test these new settings – is in my Race.

Novice Middleweight Race – Race #4

I had grid position #1!!!! WOOT! Gridded next to down the front line were my 3 biggest competitors (the 3 guys that beat me last month, resulting in me placing 4rth). The guy right next to me, Brant – is the guy I had picked out as the one who stole 3rd from me last month and whom I predicted would have won the race if he had a few more feet.

I had an AWESOME start (according to spectators). I took off at the drop of the flag – everyone else freaked out about how fast I took off and gunned their throttle – resulting in several bikes popping straight up into wheelies. When I was exiting Turn 6, the whole rest of the pack was beginning to enter Turn 5. I kept up this lead for 2 laps. What killed me this race was Turn 1. Every time we approached Turn 1, I remembered all the changes we made on my bike – trying to feel the bike – not trusting my bike – not knowing what it would do…and I couldn’t late brake. Two riders gained on me every time I hit T1 and T3... entering into T6, I was getting violent headshakes still and I backed off – not wanting a tankslapper going into T6. So those two riders crept and crept until they finally passed me – the rider in the lead was Brant. I wasn’t too surprised since I know they are faster than I and my bike and I would not give them proper competition this day. I ran in third place for awhile, still trying to feel out my bike and adjust to all the new changes and behavior when another rider zoomed up next to me going into T8. I took one look at him and took off – leaving him in my dust. Approaching T1 again – I knew this guy was on my A$$ …but I couldn’t late brake properly still…..and he passed me. Once I was safely passed T1, I gunned it and went side by side with him in T2 – but fell back as we approached T3. Then I stayed behind him for awhile before passing in him T8. T1 – yes, he passed me again. DAMNIT! But a race is NOT a good time to recover from fear of T1 due to a near death experience…. Second to last lap of the race, determined to fight, I decided to not play nice anymore. I have a line through T9 that, faster guys than I, cannot duplicate – and I can kill most everyone with. It’s a line that’s just begging for a furious lowside full tilt off of T9…it’s a line that everyone considers dangerous in the best of conditions – and utter suicide in today’s heavy winds (especially considering I went into a full tankslapper just a few hours earlier out of T9) - it’s a line I have mastered and I decided to pull on this guy regardless of how much it was going to scare him. Growling under my breath, I threw my bike in and passed him full tilt, on the inside of T9.

Last lap. He passed me again…forgot where – I caught up to him in T8 and T9. Gaining on him down the straight – just a couple more feet until I’m next to him….I just need a few more feet!! Checkered flag. Race over. I lost.

Placed 4rth again.

They did call the both of us into registration after the race because they had two scorecards – one that said that I placed 3rd, one that said that he placed 3rd. We got the story straighted out.

Special Note to my Sponsors

This was an exciting race and my sponsors got a lot of publicity. My highlights of the race was gridding in #1 position, my awesome start – holding the lead for 2 laps, fighting for 3rd place, and my pass on the inside of T9 (that pass shocked those who didn't think I had it in me to make aggressive passes).

Todd/Cal-Sportbike – NomadRip wanted some of your stickers, so I gave him a couple. Then Axo saw and got jealous and wanted some too, so I gave him some as well…these guys have drained my Cal-Sportbike sticker supply! Can I have some more?

Special Thanks to all my Friends

Great seeing Axo, Fred, Coby, Dustin (The Shocker), Dave, Ruben, Rocky, the Dunlop crew, DVX Racing crew, meeting Michael from DynoDudes, Melissa, Pinky, Tamara and friend (forgot his name!)...and last but not least - the cutest little beagle puppy in the whole wide world!!!

NomadRip – Thank you for buying my tankbag – that money paid for lunch for Kato and I, next month’s WSMC gate fee, and a good portion of one of my expert races for next month! Thank you for always coming out to root for us and help us out in the pits, you’re a real sweetie!

Pinky – It was great to finally meet you and your friends! I will wish for Ben Bostrom to fall head-over-heels in love with you soon!!

Kato – Thank you for being extra special this weekend and being so wonderful and supportive. You were so good at making sure I don’t put myself down too much for being a sucky rider and losing my race, I couldn’t have done this without you!

Great big thanks to Dennis Smith with Dunlop Tires for getting my bike fixed to where I could run a good race. Big thanks to Michael Luciano of DynoDudes for working with my bike and getting it to get 1 more hp, cleaning up the power curve, fixing the lean issue, and installing my K&N Air Filter. Thanks to Zorba’s Bike Nights for getting me that Air Filter, EZ-Up, and free-unlimited “Princess Racer Special Chicken Burgers”. Thanks to Cal-Sportbikes for my new toe sliders – I got those installed right before the race – and needed them! They already have a big chunk taken out of em…I’ll have to work on that too! Lol

I’m so tired and have so much to do to my bike again. I’m sure I’ve missed lots of important things to say…I’ll have to add those details as they come to my poor wittle concussed bwain! =)

Great weekend all in all – learnt a lot, had a lot of fun, big adventures. This concludes my Novice status and next month I will be racing in Expert classes. There goes bye-bye to all chance of podium for a little while as I get to race against people like Will Eikenberry, who has been riding for 2 more years than I’ve even been alive. Lots more learning to get done…looking forward to this new adventure!!!

Klutziest Moment: I was helping Kato wrench on his bike and was holding his windscreen in my lap, trying to pull a rubber thingie through the little windscreen hole…when it slipped and I socked myself in the nose – HARD! I yelped and my eyes watered up so much. Sucks being klutzy!

Saddest Moment: Driving my truck home, Sunday evening, I had to brake because a car in front was turning right. The car in the lane next to me zoomed past me to my left – and I promptly got a flashback of the two riders who passed me into T1 – resulting in me losing my lead.

Conclusion:

This whole racing experience has taught me sooo much already. Every month I learn more and more – every month, I push the limits more and more – just to find out that the limit is so much further out than I had originally thought. This opens my eyes and my hunger – as I’m discovering that my potential and the world is so much greater than I had ever imagined. This constant pushing, learning, striving, and tribulations is what’s worth living for. …and as my good friend Rocky said to me after we had sat down analyzing every moment of my race - every mistake and every success: “Dawn, don’t get too hard on yourself because you got 4rth. You ran a very good race and should be proud. Sometimes, some people win more when they lose than if they had won…and you are that person.” To win more by losing than by winning….that’s definitely a thought I need to think more on…