ROADRACE MOTORCYCLES

Recent email I received from Steve Levow of Patriot Racing:

“Hi everyone! As most of you know JP and I met up with Derek Donovan of the Fisher House and shot a segment with On The Throttle; a motorcycle road racing web-zine. It took a little while for them to release the final product, but it is well worth the wait. Visit OTT http://onthethrottle.tv and select “Patriot Racing’s Fisher House” - it is the second link on the right margin I am trying to sort out a direct link and we will definitely have this on our website, http://www.patriotracing.us soon. Please forward this information to anyone who you feel may be interested in supporting us and the Fisher House. Thanks and enjoy!

Steve”

Can’t wait for next season to start!

Patriot Racing is the brainchild of a good racer friend of mine, Steve Levow. Him and his dad decided to give back to the community all the while trying to go racing at the same time. They get nothing from this. They thought “Heck, since I’m out here racing, I might as well try and do it for a great cause.”

Here is a press release from Patriot Racing:

Patriot Racing is very happy to announce our partnership with The Fisher House.
 
Fisher House provides “a home away from home” for families of patients receiving medical care at major military and VA medical centers. The homes are normally located within walking distance of the treatment facility or have transportation available. There are 38 Fisher Houses located on 18 military installations and nine VA medical centers.
http://www.fisherhouse.org/

 
Having family members so close, helps our wounded veterans recover from their injuries.  Enabling family members to do this without the added burden of paying for their lodging, allows them to stay together for the entire recovery period. 
 
Patriot Racing is seeking sponsorship pledges to generate tax-deductable funds for The Fisher House. 
Prospective sponsors can pledge a dollar amount per lap, per finishing place or by a fixed dollar amount.
The total number of laps completed by both members of Patriot Racing over the course of a race event is dictated by race course length, scheduling and other issues that may arise over the course of the weekend.  For our home track, Summit Point, WV we complete approximately 90 laps in a race weekend.
 
We are in the process of building our website ( http://www.patriotracing.us/ ) which will have more detailed information on our race program, pledge sponsorship programs, The Fisher House, and our other sponsors.
 
In the meantime, please visit: http://www.active.com/donate/teamfisherhouse/PatriotRacing
This is our site on The Fisher House’s on-line donation program.  It is a secure and efficient means to make your donation.
ALL FUNDS GO DIRECTLY TO THE FISHER HOUSE.
The Fisher House will provide you with a receipt of your tax-deductable donation for your next tax return.
Our goal is to generate $500 per race event for the Fisher House.

 
The link to a donation pledge form follows.  It may be easiest to take note of all pertinent information and email that to me so that I am aware of your pledge and can follow up with you after the race:

A Fisher House brochure has been scanned.  Please review it for more information on the mission and goals of the Fisher House.

 
We hope to have http://www.patriotracing.us/ up and running within the next week or so.  Please feel free to email me for any reason at:
bel-biv76@fcmaa.com
 
Please forward this to anyone you think may be interested in helping us help our military families.
Thank-you for your support and consideration. 
 
Patriot Racing is:
Steve Levow
CCS #176
bel-biv76@fcmaa.com
 
John Porter
CCS #76
porter253@aol.com
 
Patriot Racing competes in the Championship Cup Series – Mid-Atlantic region
http://www.ccsracing.us/

Our upcoming race events are:
Virginia International Raceway – June 21 – 22
Summit Point Motorsports Park – July 5 – 6
Barber Motorsports Park – August 9 – 10
Virginia International Raceway – September 20 - 21
 
Again, our goal is to raise $500 per event.
 
Thank-you

Good weather, lots of sunshine, lots of tracktime, and close friends nearby. What else could you ask for? That’s what you would have gotten if you attended the Summit Point Cyclefest this year at Summit Point Motorsports park for Memorial Day Weekend.  My wife and I got there early afternoon on Thursday and watched the rest of the Roger Lyle’s Motorcycle Excitement Days trackday there. We set-up and marked off some spots for friends that were to arrive later in the day. We new that this weekend was going to be a big one. We had as ASRA National Event and USGPRU there the same weekend.

Friday morning brought registration for a MARRC sponsored racer practice and boy am I glad I bought that E-ticket. There were only about 40 riders registered for it so my friends Kent, Joel, and I took full advantage of it and quickly burned through two and half tankfuls of gas before we called it a day.  I was so glad that we had that extra day to mess around and test out some new stuff. This race weekend was going to be my first real test on a brand of tires that I knew virtually nothing about. Bridgestone. I had purchased my tires through Stickboy Racing, the Southeastern US Bridgestone Distributor and hell of a nice guy, and had gotten a little info on what to expect from them, but my most help came from my friend Jamie Ray. He’s a racer that is sponsored locally by our motorcycle dealership, Britt Motorsports. At any rate Friday was a great learning experience and lots of fun because I got to spend a majority of it chasing my buddies around.

Saturday came and went with all of us hitting up the usual CCS sponsored practice. I knew what was in store for racing as all the big boys came out to play. There was Jeff Wood who is the overall #1 plate holder for ASRA and there was Robert Jensen who Mr. Contingency Hunter Extraordinaire. Both of them are pretty cool guys but fast as hell. Riding with them in practice was a pretty cool treat as you can always learn something from the fast guys. Racing with them is another story as you are doing your best to beat them.

We all awoke Sunday to an awesome day of racing. It all started with a couple rounds of practice in the morning and a new set of shiny Bridgestones. Gas in the tank, helmet, gloves, leathers, boots, and a back protector and it’s off to the racing action.

First race of the day was Expert GTU for me. I lined up on the 2nd row waited for the one board to turn and green flag to wave….then we were off like a bat out of hell. I was about 10th into turn one. Not making excuses but if you are going to play with the big boys you need to bring a gun, not a knife. Wishing I had a quickshifter then and there was not my number one priority. A GTU is a longer than normal sprint. A 25 minute sprint but a sprint nonetheless. Averaging at over 1:20 laptimes I was looking at about 15 laps. I knew that I could do relatively well by setting my own records and staying consistent. Looking at my laptimes I was within a few tenths every lap. Like a clock. Tick-friggin-tock! I felt very satisfied and though I finished 20th out of 34 racers I felt like I was on fire.

Last race on Sunday for me was Expert Middleweight Supersport. Usually there is a larger turn out for this race than others because it pays manufacturer contingency. Meaning-there is money involved for those that do well and have nice new shiny bikes. Well I don’t have a nice new bike but it is shiny and runs like a well-oiled machine. Line up for the grid, 3rd row way inside-nail my start and go into turn one with most of the field behind me. I was about 7th up until around turn 5 where I took the nastiest early turn-in you could imagine. Lost about 5 spots right there. The rest of the race it seemed that I couldn’t get turn 10 right. I kept blowing the corner over and over. Had a little brake fade near the end but managed a 26th out of 33 racers in the field. Not a great finish but any finish is a good finish.

 Thank God that the day ended early for me. I was beat. After 3 days of on track riding I could barely walk. I really need to hit the gym when I get back.

Monday was Memorial Day and it was a day for me and many that will live forever in our memories. A young racer by the name Alex Lyskawa passed away during an on track excursion. I didn’t hear about it till after I got home later on but all of were very concerned because all we knew at the track was that someone, a fellow racer, was seriously hurt during one of the races.

Here are some articles in www.roadracingworld.com that explain what happened:

http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=32537

http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=32553

More articles:

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Londonderry+mourns+teen+killed+in+motorcycle+racing+accident&articleId=d32a227b-d304-4edc-a287-24d8a6248ad0

You can sign the young man’s obituary and read some more about him here:

http://www.peabodyfuneralhome.com/Obituaries.htm

I think that one racer that goes by Chaplain220 on the CCSForum put it best about the death of another racer:

There are going to be those who will point the finger of accusation towards Bruce and all of us, proclaiming, “senseless death from a foolish hobby”.  But as we knelt in turn 3, I began to realize, these tracks we grid upon are sacred ground.  There is nothing foolish or trite about a father, investing his love, time and resources into an adventure with his son.  And there is no comparison to a hobby of collectibles or tossing a ball around, with the intensity, passion and fullness of life we experience in our racing family.  In fact roadracing is not about speed, it is about defining the greatest challenges faced by men, and actually applying those definitions to our lives.  Fear, courage, respect, sacrifice, victory, defeat, pain, suffering…Alex understood these, and because of his fathers love, was able to abundantly live these.  Make no mistake, this indeed is a tragedy, but it is from a choice to live and experience life in a way that will never come to the masses that define life in terms of age, money, and possessions.  It is not without great honor, much love, and deepest respect.  The loss of a Son is the cornerstone of my faith, and as much as God watched His only Son die on a cross, Alex has eternal life.  You are a good Father Bruce, peace and healing to your family, and courage for all of us to press on, and never forget.  

Hallowed ground is what we race on. I think we all can rememeber that. RIP young one.

My first race of the Monday was Middleweight Superbike. I don’t own anything near Super so I knew that this would be a tough race. I suprised myself a little bit by again staying consistent and getting a great start. Well not the greatest, I did hit the revlimiter, but good enough to stay competetive with everyone else. Sure I got passed and did some passing but it was fun anyway. I ended up 24th out of 35 racers in that race.

Now it may seem a little foolish to race against bigger bikes but I see it as more of a challenge and more cheap tracktime. I entered the Expert Heavyweight Supersport race. Just to let you know, this race was full. There were no more entries being taken no matter how much money you threw at Kevin Elliot. That being the case I did OK again and had a stellar finish of 13th out of 13 racers. Again I say it was stellar race only because #1 We all finished, #2 We all finished in a tight 10 man group. It just doesn’t say that in the results. Doh!

My very last race of the day was Expert Middleweight GP. Not much different as far as Superbike or even Supersport is concerned. Everyone doing their best to beat the guy on front of them. I felt faster and more in tune with my bike in this race than in any other race I had this weekend. I was running consistent 1:21’s in this race and on a set of tires that started off shiny but ended up a dull black after three practices and four other races, one being a 25 minute mini endurance race. So a total of about 51 laps or 110 miles on a set of race tires run ragged. I should have been able to turn decent laptimes but it wasn’t in the cards for this race. I knoew I should have mounted up that last set I had, but I want to save for VIR next month. I ended up 22nd out of 31 racers in that race but feel I could have been quicker on a new set of biscuits.

Overall a pretty fair weekend. More to come. See you next month at VIR!

Last time I wrote in my blog I was talking about turning a modern off the showroom floor sportbike like a GSXR6ZXCBR into a pure bred race machine.

 Let’s summarize, up to this point we talked about removing all your street junk (bodywork, mirros, lights, etc.) and selling it so you could recove some of the cost of buying the stuff you need in order to make your bike more racy without spending an arm and a leg.

Here’s a list of what to get, I’ll keep it basic:

1. Fiberglass bodywork (Hotbodies, E-Racings, Attack, Sharkskinz, Sebimoto, etc…)
2. Dzus fasteners to attach the bodywork.
3. Steel-braided brake lines. (Spiegler, Galfer, Goodridge)
4. Rearsets (Woodcraft, Vortex)
5. Clip-ons (Woodcraft, Vortex)
6. Case Covers (Woodcraft, Graves) 
7. Brake pads-race compound (Vesrah, EBC, SBS, Carbon Lorraine)

That’s a start. It will get you on the track without having to donate plasma. (Don’t laugh)

There are many more things that you can buy in order to make your bike more trick but I think the basics should do only because I am going to add some of this stuff up and see how much we’ve spent so far. Think about it. We haven’t even bought a set of biscuits (race tires) yet.

Bodywork

I listed a few options, some of the more popular brands. You may have a different idea of what you want to buy. The companies I listed have a pretty good customer service and most have great finishes on their work. You are going to spend an average of about $450-$750 on a set of bodywork. 

Dzus Fasteners

You are going to need this in order to attach your bodywork to your race bike. Figure on about $40 for this.

Steel Braided Brake Lines

Another one of the least of your expenses. About $120

Rearsets

OK. I am very one-sided on which brand to buy here. Let me tell you why. Let’s say that you go out and buy the coolest, strongest, most beautiful piece of machined aluminum you could possibly buy and say that you spend about $500 on them. #1 You spent a lot of money for something that is very simple and #2 What are you going to do if you don’t have a spare at the track? Now don’t get me wrong; Giles Tooling makes what I consider some of the most beautiful machined pieces of anything in the world, they are super adjustable, and will probably survive a fall from 40 feet in the air but nobody else at the track will have them so you might as well buy two sets of spares on case you need them. What I mean by nobody, the guy that you pit next to, the guy that you brought with you, and most importantly the vendor that is there to support you.  But they will have Woodcraft or Vortex, your vendor will have both and maybe some Graves. That is the reason I use Woodcraft and Vortex.  If you buy Woodcraft you will spend about $400 and that includes some spares.

Clip-ons

Same basic principle as above. Buy what everyone else has and you won’t be up shit creek without a paddle if you break something. ABout $170 with some spare handlebar tubes.

Case Covers

Not really mandatory for many bikes anymore but I included it my “must have” list only because when you crash, not IF you crash but when you crash you want to still race the rest of the weekend. A broken stock case cover will prevent this from happening. $300

Brake Pads

This is an objective choice for most. I have used Vesrah SRJL’s and EBC HH’s. I currently use the Vesrah’s. I like them a lot! Anyway figure about $80 for them.

Total price up to this point: Figure about $1600 as just a start. Put aside two grand for unforseeable things.

That’s it for now. Next time I will talk about some of the optional items and then we will start installing things,drilling holes, and fabbing some things. We haven’t even started on the suspension. Stay tuned.

The season is nearly upon us. For some it started last weekend at Talledega Speedway with WERA. For others the race never ends as with WSMC. At any rate if you are new to racing or a seasoned veteran on your 10th season you are going to have to prepare your motorcycle for the thrill of high-speed racing.

There are several ways to go about this. You could buy a race-prepped motorcyle from a well-reputted person or you can take your street bike and make it into a beast of carved aluminum and magnesium triumph using your skills as a mechanic. The first bike I raced I chose the former. For the bike I currently have I put my blood sweat and tears into it knowing the journey is always greater than the trip. So grab your Mechanix Gloves a 10mm wrench and follow along the journey.

When you race you put extreme punishment on your motorcycle. You rev it a lot higher putting a lot of stress on the engine and you put your chassis through more abuse than anything you could accomplish riding on the road casually to work.

When I first bought my fire-breathing monster I bought it off the showroom floor. A brand-spanking-new-motorcycle off the showroom floor from HSA of Sanford, NC because the guy that owns it used to have a team in AMA Superbike Championship and understood how hard it is for racers to get any kind of deals on motorcycles. I ended up financing it with thoughts of selling it the next year to keep up with the Joneses and to be eligible for another year of continency money. I realized a couple things along the way about building my own racebike that you may or may not compare to.

• Building a racebike is expensive.
• I am not fast enough to race for contigency

Issue number one was easy. If you throw enough money at something it will look good but I wanted to do it in stages. Issue number would never be solved no matter how much money I threw at it. The only thing that would solve that issue was to ride and ride and ride and ride and ride and ride and ride. Then when I was done riding was to ride some more learning as much as possible along the way. Picking the brains of the fast guys, reading the Keith Code book’s, taking a class with the venerable Mr. Ed Bargy, training in the dirt, and keeping myself physically fit. I’ll get there…someday.

When I wheeled my motorcycle into my shed the first time I looked at it and figured out what I could get rid of and what I could order right off the bat.

Sell:

1. Stock body work. You can use it but many club orginizations require a belly pan that holds up to 5 quarts of liquid so that was going on Ebay.
2. Clip-ons-I didn’t want anything that was going to break in a crash and not be easily replaceable. Not necessary to replace.
3. Rear-sets- See item #2. Also not necessary to replace.
4. Full Exhaust-Though may not be necessary I thought it would help with some of the excess weight of carrying around and extra 15-20 pounds. Also you make a little more power, generally, if you get something plus the trick factor. I actually still have my old one. Nobody wanted a stick exhaust on Ebay, everyone wants something that’s going to sound good I guess.
5. Headlights, tailights, extraneous street stuff- Need I say more. This stuff actually goes pretty good on Ebay.
6. May seem silly but that locking mechanism for your passenger seat went pretty fast too. I guess they are notorious for breaking.
7. Rear Shock: I wanted something better. So I took off my old one and still have it actually. For the day that I sell my bike I may include.

Here’s a thing to think about. When you do decide to turn your everyday street ride into a fulltime turn carving beast don’t try and sell it on a Racing Bulletin Board like WERA BBS or the CCS FORUM because people there are trying in vain to sell their street junk there too. It is best to go to a bulletin board that is specifically made for your motorcycle and selling your street stuff there. Just be honest about your stuff and others will pay it forward.

OK. We have gotten rid of most of the nasty unmachined cast made for the masses crap and now we are going to decide what stuff you need to buy. I will put it in order of whatever crazy priority I have come up with on my next issue of “Race prepping your motorcycle”

So I get an email from a company that I have never been to. It’s called PowerSportsPro and they specialize in every part for motorcycles known to mankind. They want me to put their website address on my blog which is cool. I perused their website and it seems that they have been around for a long time. Here is there “About Us” taken directly from their website:

“PowerSportsPro has been serving motor sports enthusiasts in Nebraska and Iowa since 1949. We are Omaha’s exclusive franchised dealer for Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki Motorcycles, Scooters ATVs & UTV’s. Our friendly and knowledgeable staff combined with the area’s largest selection of parts, apparel and accessories, helps us maintain our reputation as one of the Midwest’s top dealerships. We have also been recognized as a national top 100 Dealer for 4 years.”

They have a pretty handy OEM parts lookup (online microfiche) on their website that you can find about every part for any bike ever made by the big four. (Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, and Kawasaki) They also carry a large selection of parts for ATV’s, Harley’s, and offroad utility vehicle if you are into that kind of thing. So go check them out.

Click on pic to goto their website.

My friends and I have been doing some training for the upcoming season. From what I understand a lot of roadracers use dirt bikes, run, ride a bicycle, heck even some ride on the ice. You see we all have these little TTR125’s, DRZ125’s, and XR100’s that we have been tooling around on. These past couple of weeks about 8 of us have been getting together and made a small TT track in someones backyard. Not a bad little set up we have either. It’s almost 3/4 of a mile long and has everything from long sweepers, chicanes, off-camber turns, cambered turns, and bus stops; everything we could think of without having to jump things. We spend about 7 or 8 hours out there on the weekends and it is a blast. We always end the day by having a 10 lap sprint race with about half of finishing because we are end up taking each other out or falling real hard on our own. It is a lot safer and it helps with the conditioning of us finely tuned athletes.

Schematic of track (Not to scale)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/interactives/candidatequiz/

I took the test. I was suprised on who I agree with and who I don’t agree with. You can post comments on what you think or who you picked.

Don’t forget to vote!

What a great New Year my wife and I had this past weekend. We attended a trackday at JenningGP in Florida. It was 3 days of testing your skills on a high speed (relatively) 14 turn motorcycle only road course, safely. Without having to worry about things like Grandma’s (God bless their hearts), oncoming traffic, road signs, squirrels, and any other obstacle that may prevent you from going real real fast on a bike that was made to go real real fast. We were both so excited about getting started that we left from our home in Richlands, NC at about 4am and headed out for the 10 hour drive to get there. There was nothing exciting about that except the anticipation of starting off the New Year going about 150mph on the bike.

We arrived at Jennings about 2pm and set-up camp for the weekend. I wish that I had taken pictures of our set-up but it was a typical race weekend set-up that we brought making it both useful and professional looking.Saturday the 29th was a cup of Joe and registration. Ed Bargy was there for the race school and they were first to go out and play. I took the Ed Bargy school back in December of 2003 and I still think he has the most comprehensive school avaiable in the United States. To quote Ed, “It’s not rocket science people. You do this to the bike you can expect this to happen.” and of course one of his most famous quotes, “Full-tilt boogie!” At any rate I was registered for the Advanced Group but ate a slice of pride pie and dropped myself down to the Intermediate Group. Not to say that the Interemdiate Group has slow riders it’s just that the Advanced Group had several riders there that weekend that would no doubt run my slow butt over considering I had not been to the track or even thought about riding since my collarbone break in March. The fast guys were immediately running 1:20 lap times and the slowest Advanced riders were immediately in the 1:28’s. I went out on my first lap and not bing to this track in over 3 years I looked down after 4 laps and saw that I had done a 1:42. Way off pace even for the Intermediates but I know that #1. I had to learn the nuiances of a track that I had not been to in a few years, and #2 I almost felt like I had to re-learn how to ride a motorcycle since I had not been on a motorcycle since March of 07. What side is the throttle on again? LOL Anyway after getting things sorted out like butterflies, the coffee, and mì cabeza I started running better times. Not that it was important to run better times. What was important was to get myself and the bike sorted for the race season. We also met a lot of nice people this weekend like Brett, Tracy, and Reese Wacker out of Jacksonville, FL.

Reese is a skilled Supercross rider that spent about 3 years at MTF and also is a reputable dirt track rider from what I understand. In only his 3rd trackday at Jennings, Reese is already throwing down some times that would make a hardened JenningsGP veteran whimper. You can expect big things from this kid. You can tell that he was raised right because he was a true gentleman the whole weekend offering a hand to anyone that needed it and was not arrogant about his past accomplishments at all. To think, this young man was on the verge of making it to Loretta Lynn’s Amateur National Motocross Championship and getting taken out mid-jump and severely injured. It would have dug a hard blow to most of us older guys but not this kid. He put his head down and changed direction focusing on roadracing. I picture big things for this young man. By the end of the weekend I was going to him asking for advice on particular turns and his dad who is also an accomplished dad/mechanic/driver/cook on gearing and such.

Reese Wacker running some 1:23’s @ JenningsGP

Sunday the 30th was forcast for the storm of the century so many of us did not even expect to get much riding in. There is no use in bringing out the rain tires and burning them up if you aren’t racing unless you are going out for about 6 or 7 laps in the rain. Otherwide it is smarter to park the bike and wait out a storm like the one forcast for Sunday and ride during the brief periods of sun. Well we were in for a HUGE SUPRISE for Sunday. Not only did it NOT rain at all till late at night (barely for 5  or 10 minutes at about 10pm) but it was probably the nicest day that we had for riding while we were there. I went out for my first seesion was immediately 5 seconds faster on my first lap than I was the previous day. I was amazed. I was so relaxed and focused that the times on the track were coming down without me having to even think about it. Just go out hit my reference points and ride. That’s the way it was meant to be. I was on some pretty worn out tires already so I never really pushed it wanting to make it home in one piece this weekend rather trying to limp home with injury. The rest of the day was the same. Advanced, Interemdiate, Novice, Ed Bargy Race School, etc. After lunch we got to witness the culmination of all the classroom time that Ed taught and watch the mock race. It looked to be a good time and a great learning experience for the students. I still remember mine and I was as nervous watching them prepare for it almost as if I were the one racing.

Monday the 31st, New Year’s Eve. A little cooler this morning. Had to wear a watchcap (beanie for civilians) to proctect the head. Same deal, cup of Joe, registration, slip on the leathers and ride all day. Seems like a boring life, heh? I think I could do it for a living if I had the endurance to carry on I might try one day. Oh I forget, you have to be sort of fast in order to do that. 3rd day of riding. Already completed about 16 session on Saturday and Sunday doing about 8 laps each time out on a 2 mile track. I’ll do the math. 16×8=128 laps 128×2= 256 miles. 256 x (same set of tires with 10 lefts and 4 rights) on the same set of tires should equal near disaster. I was worn out too. I was walking with a noticeable limp (on my left leg no doubt) but had a smile that couldn’t be brushed away by such petty things. Time to fuel the bike up and hit it “Full-tilt boogie!” LOL I didn’t want the weekend to end but it had to end somewhere. There was so much that I took away from this weekend. I re-learned the bike. I learned a relatively new track. My wife was wonderful. She’s the best wife in the world, especially when I come in and she has a rear stand in one hand and cold bottle of water in the other not one complaint the whole weekend about how hot or cold it was or that’s too expensive. I made some new friends. I found that tires actually last a lot longer than there designers thought they would. I met Stickboy. What a goof. He’s the Bridgestone dealer for the Southeastern United States and knows a lot about tires (duh!) and other things like generators. I cannot wait for the season to start. What a great sport!

Interesting tid-bit of info for 2008. I guess they released the 2008 schedule.

Click on thumbnail for full size schedule.

I will hopefully be doing about 6 of those races.