National Motorcycle Racer - OliverJervis.com



Location: Portland OR
OMRRA Round 6

Events raced - Finish
600 Superbike- 5th
750 Superbike - 2nd
Open Classic Superbike-DNF(Mechanical)
600 Supersport- DNF (Crash... ouch..)

 

 

We arrived in Portland early on Thursday morning to attend a Pacific Super Sport Riders (PSSR )track day. PSSR sponsors our track time and we help them by instructing some of their clients. Dan Zlock had been really busy in the shop producing two "new" motorcycles for me to ride this weekend. One was our ZX-9R chassis with a new all-out Superbike engine thrown in. The other was his infamous "Old Paint," which is actually a 1993 ZX-7R that goes absolutely way too fast. Also, I asked Jamie Dick to come down and spend a day with us at the track, which worked out well. He was able to take out our ZX-6RR and thrash on it for most of the day.

Practice
After two days of playing around on the track and breaking in the bikes, we were ready to put in some time to get a race set-up for Sunday. Unfortunately, when we pushed the ZX-9 at race pace the transmission simply gave out. This was a downer for me because the bike was really fast and with a few chassis tweaks I know we would have turned in some brilliant times. Oh well - that's racing.

Race One - 600 Superbike
I launched the bike well and was riding in about ninth place going into turn one. However, I wasn't aggressive enough in the first few laps so the lead four riders got a little separation on me and by the time I had worked up to fifth I wasn't able to gain any more ground on them.

Race Two - 750 Superbike
This was an amusing race. Here I was on Dan's 1993 ZX-7R surrounded by brand new GSX-R 750s. But, you know what? The ten-year-old Superbike was more than a match for them. I can honestly say that I was sluggish in the corners, but once I got that bike pointed where I wanted it to go it was all over for the competition. What a showcase of Dan's talent as a builder! Who else do you know that could take a ten-year-old bike and make it dominate a current, highly-competitive race class? Not many I assure you.

Race Three - Open Classic Superbike
Because the 750 was of the 1993 vintage, it was eligible for this particular class. We simply entered the class for fun, again to show people what an "old" Zlock-prepared Superbike can do. I went out and cruised around doing low 1:12s (not the flat 1:09s we did earlier) taking it really easy on the bike. But it simply wasn't in the cards for us this weekend. As I came around turn four on the second-last lap the engine cut down to two cylinders and I was forced into the pits. Dan couldn't believe it when the source of the problem was traced to a simple two-cent electrical connection that failed and broke off one of the coils. Again, that's racing!

Race Four - 600 Supersport
I wanted to do well in this race. I was a little peeved that we were denied certain victory earlier in the day and wanted to put our little Kawi on the box. I got the start I needed and was with the lead group by the end of the first lap. I was right in the mix until the third lap when drops of rain splashed against my visor. It hadn't rained in Portland for almost two months, so you can imagine what the track surface turned into. It was the worst I've ever seen. Guys were going down left and right with Alan Schimdt (another BC fast guy) taking a nasty spill into turn seven (he seemed okay and I heard he wasn't hurt). I got into the lead and prayed they would red-flag the race to remove us from that situation. Thankfully, they did stop the race a lap later and rescheduled for further into the day. On the restart I got into the lead and had a great battle with some rider I have never seen before. Unfortunately, we didn't have any new rain tires and I had to make do with some "well-used" rubber we had in the truck. I was slipping and sliding everywhere but wasn't backing down one bit because I wanted the win. It all went to pieces as I came out of turn four on the second-last lap. The rear end came around too far and I wasn't able to save the ensuing highside. I flew over the bike and landed hard on my right hand, winding myself at the same time. I thought I had broken my hand as the pain from it was already taking precedence over anything else. Luckily the bike crashed well with only a broken steering dampener and the usual cosmetic damage. The really good news was my hand wasn't broken. :o).

So, as you can see, it was a mixed bag to say the least. Yet again, none of this would have been possible without Dan Zlock and Zlock Racing, so thank-you. And a big thanks to Steve and Chris Lilly for letting us use their motorhome for the weekend. It made a huge difference and we really appreciate it!

Oliver


The Zlock fleet 1

The Zlock fleet 2

The Zlock fleet 3

The Zlock fleet 4

Dan Zlock

Chris Townsend



Kodi seemed packed and ready to go with me.... :o)




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