Group W Racing

Wow, was that cold or what?

Saturday found a few brave souls (idiots?) out in the rain, snow and hail trying to get a few laps in with the novices. After 4 laps, my hands were numb. Thankfully, the new fairing was nice and cozy to tuck behind.

It took me at least 2 hours to clean all the muck off the bike and get it ready to race on Saturday night. But I was confident in NOAA’s report of sun by race time, so it seemed like time well spent.

Sunday was relatively warm and dry all the way from Port Orchard to Highway 18. But, when we crossed the Green River bridge, it seemed like we had just crested Snoqualmie Pass! SNOW! WTF?

I sat out the morning practice. Too cold. I am a wuss. I watched at the bus stop for 3 laps, but even watching got too cold.

By afternoon, it was sunny and the track was dry. Birds were singing and Spring was in the air. Lets RACE! Got a decent start and tucked in behind the GT750 headed for turn 1…until I realized I was going 20mph faster than he was! That was close. Passed all but 2 Open Vintage bikes, and settled into a decent pace. The engine was pulling strong, and the suspension was a dream. About the end of Lap 3, I saw Bobby motioning me from the infield that there was a gap behind me, so I snuck a look coming out of the bus stop. I didn’t see anybody, so for a few seconds I thought maybe they red flagged the race and I didn’t see it? But, at start finish there was no flags, so I just eased up the pace and kept looking back. By the end they were reeling me back in at a furious pace. Looked like a good dice!

Race 2 was only an hour later. The start was even better, and I railed around all but one of the Open Vintage bikes in turn 2. Then when I rolled on the throttle down the hill…disaster. No power, back firing, and then the tell tale trail of smoke. No win in the cards for the piece-mealed ,tired engine that I threw together last week. I can still here myself wondering aloud how long it would last as I assembled the old tired parts….

A quick forensic exam in the pits revealed a nicely ported piston crown. Oh well, It was fun while it lasted. My timing couldn’t have been better, as I just bought 2 new sets of NOS pistons off Ebay. Now I have about 4 weeks to put another engine together, so I can come out and play again. I think it will take some extra effort to come back from this points defecit! GAME ON!

TimO