Canuck races!

Track days, professional racing, amateur racing, or racing in general. Post it here!
Big Jon
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Canuck races!

Post by Big Jon »

Round 1 for the Edmonton Motorcycle Roadracing Association is now in the books and by all accounts it was a pretty successful weekend! A few riders discovered gravity, a whole bunch had a lot of fun and some even got back down into their fastest times from last year. Fortunately I managed to stay in the last two of those groups!

My first race was the Intermediate Sportbike Open and began with a crappy start, too slow off the clutch will never get you anywhere. After the usual mayhem of the first 2 corners things settled down behind a camo painted R6. I could hear a herd of about 4 more kept at bay by my fat ass, and knew I could get the R6 but for his drastic line changes between turns 3 & 4. Our turn 1 is a fast opening corner onto our longest straight (400yards) and I was catching the guy there every lap, but found out trying to overtake on the outside of a fast corner leads to vinyl farts. However by placing my aforementioned derriere firmly on the inside line into said corner I could manage a better line out of the corner even if drive suffered. In the midst of dicing I did get stuffed into a corner by a faster rider tired of admiring my backside, I was actually surprised it took as long as it did for him to go by and wasn't spooked by the pass. Not long after establishing Ace dominance over a measely R6 the race was red flagged due to another yamaha and a pile of it's pieces scattered right on the racing line exiting a corner, and it was over.

The Sportsman Race (10 years or older for the bikes), set off with a great start, and settled in between a long time racer on a CBR600F3 in front and a slight girl with a strong SV650 behind. The horsepower of the 1000 was negated by the late braking of both the other riders, and the fun stayed the same for the rest of the race. The only drama was on the last lap when, for the last 4 corners, old faithful decided to have a float stick open. This is something that seems to happen once a year, but the erratic throttle response and lack of drive was almost the chance Lorna needed to improve her standings, almost. Her front tire was beside my left foot as we crossed the finish line, but it was still me in front of her!

Now where did I put that carb hammer...

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duke22
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Post by duke22 »

Sunshine and green grass in Canada!! About time too...

Sounds like a good day out. Things always go wrong at the first meeting of the season so a simple leaky float valve is not so bad :)

Mike_SS
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Post by Mike_SS »

Good report. :)

I am just now coming to understand the importance of good starts and how much they can influence the end result.

If a sticky float was your only problem I'd call that a good day :)
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spook
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Post by spook »

Enjoyed the read Big Jon :) Keep us posted over the season won't you :cool

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Post by JasonL »

Nice work Jon, look forward to hearing more

Big Jon
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Post by Big Jon »

Open sportbike race results 19 out of 28. This pic has me behind the R6 with my pit mate on my ass, I knew someone was there, just didn't know it was him!

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FZRDude
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Post by FZRDude »

SWEET PIC!!!!! Now if there was only one from the opposite direction.....
There are some who call me........Tim?
In Memory Of John "Silver" Douglas (Dec. 08, 2008) R.I.P. My Friend.

:wave: :popcorn :cursing :super-mad

spook
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Post by spook »

Woohoo!

JasonL
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Post by JasonL »

Spectators! We don't get many of them down here.

Big Jon
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Post by Big Jon »

JasonL wrote:Spectators! We don't get many of them down here.
They were probably photoshopped in! :) They're mostly the racers and their families waiting for their next run.

Big Jon
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Post by Big Jon »

FZRDude wrote:SWEET PIC!!!!! Now if there was only one from the opposite direction.....
Ask and ye shall receive, talk about a score! I'm gonna have to buy both! :banana

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Big Jon
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Post by Big Jon »

Round 2 was this past weekend and the weather was hot and sunny. I'm burnt and my tires are cooked but it was a ton of fun. All three races had good starts and some good battles, but my favourite is a combined race that has Sportsman (over 10 years old) and Lightweight Sportbike (SV's Motard 2 strokes...) was worthy of video. Plus this is my favourite point of view, ever. I could watch nascar from this perspective, really!

You may want to pause it and let the buffer catch up if you have a slow computer like mine.

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sbutler
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Post by sbutler »

Great video. :banana
96 GSXR 750 racer gone
90 GSXR 750 racer gone
ZRX 1200 Roady to enjoy.
Retired TeamExup racer.

YEC_YZF750SP
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Post by YEC_YZF750SP »

Fantastic video! Thanks for sharing your race report! :)

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Post by ZoltanP »

read it - -good to see we're not the only loonies racing older bikes in OZ... glad you're having fun!
keep the reports coming ?

Big Jon
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Should they stay, or should they go now?

Post by Big Jon »

Well, that ended up being a complete non-answer. I spooned a set of Shinko R008 race slicks on and set tires to 30 psi cold each. First session is timid and the first question that comes to mind is "who would use EP90 as a mold release?!" They were so slick I thought I was going to fall off while upright. After the first session was done I still had more than 1 1/2 inches of chicken strips on both sides. Rear tire went from 30 cold to 35 hot so right where I thought they should be, front didn't budge, so I dropped it 2psi. Next session things were moderately better with sketchy front end feel but the rear hooked up well when nearly upright, I felt like McCoy at full lean however as I had it spin up in corners I've never done before, at a pace that was far off my usual. Dropped the rear down to 26 and took 2psi more off the front to make it the same. Wrong way apparently as the front wanted to tuck everywhere and the rear wanted to come around under engine braking, that's almost enough to ruin the undies. Last session of the night was getting cool and I said f*ck it, what's the worst that can happen, so I set both at 36, bloody hell if the front doesn't feel good! And the rear has moderate slides only when provoked (still way more than previous michelins or bridgestones). They also started to look like I was getting them warm as before that the were perfectly smooth and now they're showing some signs of abuse. Problem now is, halfway through the evening I was convinced I was swapping wheels back to my stones (they'll do the whole next weekend) and just using the slicks to play with on track days, but now I'm not so sure. Probably going to keep them on for part of saturday (as it's all practice) and swap part way through to the stones. This way I'll have the timing system to answer the ultimate question and not just how they feel as my guide. So much for easy answers, we'll see what happens saturday.

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Re: Should they stay, or should they go now?

Post by spook »

Big Jon wrote:Shinko
Joking right?

Big Jon
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Post by Big Jon »

Nope, I figured for the price (almost half any other race tire combo), and the fact that I'm slow, I might as well try em. They are the fairly new R008 race slick, so why not?

spook
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Post by spook »

Big Jon wrote:Nope, I figured for the price (almost half any other race tire combo), and the fact that I'm slow, I might as well try em. They are the fairly new R008 race slick, so why not?
I can spray you with elasticizer as well if you like... Pulling the lean angles you do in your photo's indicates you are not slow B.J. and if you are, you need maximum edge grip :poke

Buy tyres developed for short circuit racing by racing tyre companies. They are the only thing between you and a crash...

Big Jon
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Post by Big Jon »

The equipment is all from yokahama, and design is all done in japan. Even if manufacture takes place in south Korea. I'm a mid pack intermediate rider, playing with a 13 year old bike and me weighing almost twice what the little guys weigh, I'll never be a "fast guy" so it's all for fun. If these tires are 3/4 of what the "real" tires are I'm still money ahead. I run a race tire till it's almost showing cord and as a result I'm smooth on corner exits and generally ok with moderate rear tire slides, these tires may help me with that control some more, or if I can get the rear to hook with some more testing, it'll be all good. Really if they turn out to be crap, I only spent $230, and I'll shag them at track day for fun, so far I haven't decided yet, this weekend will be the verdict.

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