Final Sonoma trackday for 2012

Another day at Sonoma Raceway. The morning started out rather chilly, with a balmy below 50 when I got up. BRRR! My friend who I was catching a ride with arrived, we loaded up my stuff and headed to the track. The morning chill made that first session out slow. I head out, taking my time, basically puttering around the track – it’s cold, my tires are cold-ish, and the suspension was probably molasses. Things seemed okay at first, I wasn’t sliding too much at my very conservative pace. Third lap in, I’m in the middle of turn 7 and hear a “ticking” noise, and it doesn’t sound good, but I’m just about ready to get out of the corner so figure I’ll investigate once I’m not leaned over…put some pressure on the bars to stand the bike up and WHAM, down we go. Since speeds were hecka slow we didn’t slide far, and in fact were still in the middle of the track. I was fine so popped up and ran out of the way before someone decided I was a good reference point and ran me over. Couple instructors stop by, I tell them I thought it was a mechanical, they go and grab the bike during a break in traffic. Start wheeling it over, and I start taking a look to figure out what the heck went wrong – and find my front fender jammed behind and partially under my front tire. Uh, ya, that’s probably what did it! There’s not much clearance in that area, and definitely not enough for an entire fender! Bike is fine otherwise, so I ride it back to the pits after the session ends.

Go over the bike more thoroughly, make sure it’s hunky dory and ready to go, roll up to tech again, and they were kind enough to let me back out :D The next session I’m taking my time, relaxing and making sure the bike and I are both functioning normally. Final morning session the temperatures are starting to rise, so it’s getting a little warmer. After a couple warm up laps I start to pick up the pace a little bit. B group (where I started since I figured I’d be slow in the AM) was proving to be SCARY. Unpredictable riders, bad lines, bad speed differences, swoopers, parking it in the corners – all of it. I was not enjoying this at all, and because of riders unpredictability, I had violated the 6’ rule a few times. I was finding it almost impossible to work on the things I needed to focus on (nailing my lines, solidifying my reference points with the correct lines, good throttle control at the right time).

During lunch I had a new rear tire put on by the awesome crew at CT Racing, another Pirelli Pro Slick. My last one lasted me over 10 trackdays, and since it’s a good fall/spring tire, figured I’d stick with it for now. Once I get my spare rim checked I can go ahead and throw my summer tire on that one. After lunch I went over to the registration desk and asked about moving up to A group the next session, and they were fine with that. Since I had already missed that first A session I went with B for the first afternoon session and although in general the pace was getting faster, I was again encountering a lot of the same stuff. Ugh. Track was warm though, I was over my morning incident, and was able to start working on my stuff. Next three sessions I went out with A – which was awesome. Of course the crazy fast guys in the group make me look like I’m standing still, but I didn’t feel like I was holding up traffic, either, and a couple observers said the same. Plus, getting to watch the crazy fast guys ride let’s me see what CAN be done. Getting into this group helped me tweak Turn 4 as well. Most of the others I was pretty happy with my lines through, but 4 for some reason was not working well most of the earlier part of the day. Watched what some of these guys were doing, implemented it, and got much happier.

Only incident in A group was coming into turn 7, using my line I have late braking ability, but it’s a further point of turn in. Right as I’m coming into the corner, one of the faster guys decides to try to pull a pass on the outside – only his line crossed mine. Had my first bike to bike contact, but we both rode out of it just fine, although it messed me up for a few corners. By turn 10 I was back in the game and going at it again.

All in all it was a great day. I’ve still got a ton to learn, and this next year I expect to see more improvements than I can possibly imagine at this time. I do, however, feel like I’m prepared to take the NRS, and look forward to going through it in less than 2 weeks!