|
First of all, I'd like to say thank you to Kirby and Adelle
Drawbaugh for taking such good care of me while I was in the
Seattle area. Thanks guys - you always make me feel right
at home.
Five days ago I got a call from Dan, "You want to race
at Seattle this weekend?".... Um, that would be a rhetorical
question wouldn't it Dan? It just so happened that Dan had
a few days to spare after the Fontana AMA round and instead
of taking some much needed rest, he decided he would like
to attend Round 1 of the WMRRA series to get me out on a track.
(This is Dan's idea of rest and relaxation.) The only glitch
to his plan was that we simply didn't have any motorcycles
set-up to race because our 600RR was still not ready due to
a lack of parts availability. So on to plan B. "I'll
just pull out one of the old F-USA ZX9R's and let you rip
around on it," Dan said. So with that I headed off to
Seattle eager to get my leg over a bike and race on familiar
ground.
Notes on practice:
Ah….the Zlock racing Formula USA spec Kawasaki ZX9R's
- bikes I have grown to love riding. In only three laps I
began to get my rhythm in sync with the ZX9's characteristics
and I felt right at home. Cresting the small rise on the back
straight; power wheelieing at well over 100mph in my very
own Kodak moment. Oh yeah! This is what I call fun! The only
thing putting a damper on the high-speed fun was the raindrops
accumulating on my visor. Regardless of the mixed weather
conditions, however, it felt great to be back on the bike.
Race day:
I awoke at 6:00a.m. to the sound of raindrops pelting my bedroom
window. Lucky for me I love riding in the wet! The weather
system had come in overnight delivering a lot of moisture
with more in the forecast. We mounted up the Pirelli rains
on the ZX9 and I set out for practice with a huge smile on
my face. We were on the pace and I knew it. If it rained we
had a shot at taking the win; something I really wanted. However,
the northwest weather was doing its typical springtime "piss
rain one minute, brilliant sunshine the next" routine
taking us through a roller coaster of decisions about what
tires and set-up we would run. It was one of those days when
tire choice was going to be the decisive factor. A huge black
cloud loomed overhead as they called us to the grid. We had
gone for full Pirelli wets and it looked as though we had
made the right choice. I got a great start and went from the
third row to fourth place by turn two. By turn three I was
in the lead and pulling away. On the third lap as I came into
turn three, the red flag was waving bringing an end to the
race. AARRGG!
They decided to restart us from our original grid positions
which meant I would have to do it all over again. Unfortunately
by this time the track was drying rapidly effectively taking
away any advantage we had. On the restart I hit some VHT (stuff
they put on the track for drag racing that only works if it's
dry) and just spun the tire for most of second gear. This
left me well back in the pack with a lot of work to do. By
lap six I was in fifth position making ground on my good buddy
Brian Mussleman. I got under him in turn two and put my head
down in an effort to catch third. By this time the track was
basically dry and I began to worry about how much abuse the
Pirelli wets would tolerate in the dry conditions. The front
end began to tuck in on turn entries hinting that I was at
the limit. Unfortunately I didn't make up the ground and had
to settle for fourth. I was disappointed, but all things considered
I think things went well.
From here we hope to have the 600 and a Formula extreme ZX9R
ready for round 4 and 5 of the AMA Superbike series at Infineon
Raceway in Sonoma, California on May 2-4. Look for us - we'll
be there!
Again, I want to send a huge thank you to Dan Zlock and the
Zlock Racing team as well as all the sponsors that make this
all possible.
Oliver
Please click on image to enlarge
|
