* Pics added * WERA 6 Hours Endurance Race - Willow Springs

TZRaceR6 · 06-05-2005, 10:53 PM

Report from WERA National 6 Hour Endurance Race
Team: Need a Sponsor
Plate #: 37
Place: Willow Springs Int?l Raceway, Rosamond, Ca.
Riders: Aaron, Sean Hill and Lloyd Magruder

I was asked to help ride for this team, since Aaron had broken his scapula a couple weeks prior, I knew both riders from a couple of years back when I rode at Jennings GP track in North Florida and I had experience with Willow Springs Int?l Raceway.

We met up Friday morning at the track to practice on the bike we?d be running, a 2003 Yamaha R6 in the Middleweight Superstock series of the Endurance race. They had been there since about 8 am and I arrived from my house at around 11am. Fortunately for me an oil spill had the track closed from 9am until about 20 minutes after arrived, so none of the team had even been on track yet. I gave them as much info on the track as I could, and then Sean and Aaron went out to ride the track. As they came in I gave them more info and as we progressed throughout the day both of them dropped their lap times significantly, going from 1:44?s to 1:35?s. We also had to sort the bike out via the suspension (and a special thanks goes out to Dave from Catalyst Racing Suspension for the help he gave us) so that the bike wasn?t pogoing and tank slapping all over the track. By the end of the day we were pretty well sorted. It was a good first day of practice.

Sunday came and we arrived at the track around 8am to set the pit up for the race. I had learned how to ride the bike as well as I could with the standard shift pattern (I haven?t used standard shift in years, but figured it out again) and the Michelin tires (I?m not a big fan of Michelin), so Sean and Aaron used all the practice sessions to get their times down into the 31?s-33?s. We were set for the race.

Race time comes and Sean is the first rider out. He?s gonna go til the gas light comes on, then it?s my turn. First 100 miles is good and we?re in 5th place in our series, but Sean was making time on everyone in front of us, as he became more comfortable on the track. He came in and I went right out with a quick splash of gas. I matched his lap times perfectly keeping the rhythm going and we moved into 3rd. (Remember this is not 3rd overall, but 3rd for Middleweight Superstock). I come in when the gas light comes on and another 100 miles down. Aaron (broken scapula and all) goes out next and he matches the lap times Sean and I did keeping us in our position. However, the pain from the break brings him in early. Sean decided that a rear tire change will be in order on the next rider change and since he can do it the quickest, we decide that I?ll go out again, and then change the tire and let Aaron go back out after he rests for an hour. So I hop back on the bike as Aaron comes in and about 10 laps into it, the front washes out in T2 at 100mph. Not sure why it happened, as I wasn?t even leaned over far enough to drag my knee and I was taking it pretty easy through that section. The bike looks fine, not damage that I can see, so I try to lift the bike back up. Not gonna happen! I wait about 5 minutes for the crash truck to arrive and get one of the guys to help me lift it. Bike starts right back up and I get to the pits as fast as possible (without a face shield on my helmet mind you! Man bugs hurt when the hit you in the face!) Anyway, the only damage we can see is one of the coolant hoses has a small tear and the right frame slider is snapped off. Levers, pipe and everything else is good. The front tire needs to be changed out though as well. Unfortunately for us, a red flag comes out and we are forced to stop working on the bike per the rules. As soon as the race starts back up we are fixing the bike. Front and rear tires and the hose is fixed via a swap out with a good one. However, it looks as though my day is done, cause it appears the crash has broken the pinky finger on my right hand. Usually, when you finger is sticking up from the middle joint it?s not good, so I finish the next three hours off helping in the pits. (Find out later that it isn't broken, just dislocated, luckily.) Sean becomes the work horse (and he?s riding so hard he breaks of the left clip-on during one of his stints and comes back to the pits for a quick fix), with Aaron filling in as best as possible (and Aaron does an incredible job for riding an extreme amount considering his condition). We manage to work our way back up from 5th to 4th place with time running out, but with the loss of 30-45 minutes with the tire changes and hose changes and the time for me to get back to the pits, we?re down 20 laps on 2nd and 3rd place. Aaron and Sean manage to keep the times consistently between 1:31 and 1:33 for the rest of the race. Even though we finished in 4th place, I thought it was a good race and I learned a lot about endurance racing. It gives you a whole new respect for the guys that do this all year long! I hope that Aaron and Sean will allow me to race with them again next year at Willow Springs. They are both great people and racers and I wish them the best of luck for the remainder of their season.

efward · 06-06-2005, 10:08 AM

Great write up.
Sounds like a blast.
I didn't realize that about working on bikes during a red flag either.
Did you guys do your rider exchanges and gas fill ups in the hot pit?
Regular gas can or did you have a nascar style filler?
Really amazing to keep consistent times in that range over that long of a period.

TZRaceR6 · 06-06-2005, 11:35 AM

Yes, we exchanged riders and filled gas via the hot pit wall. We had a gas can that will dump 4 gallons in about 7 seconds, which was cool, cause I saw guys using regular gas cans to put fuel in and they would be in the pits about 30 seconds longer than us.

formatr6 · 06-06-2005, 11:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TZRaceR6

Yes, we exchanged riders and filled gas via the hot pit wall. We had a gas can that will dump 4 gallons in about 7 seconds, which was cool, cause I saw guys using regular gas cans to put fuel in and they would be in the pits about 30 seconds longer than us.

sweet! :thumbup I bet someone was tired.

Kent · 06-07-2005, 07:22 AM

Good racing it was!!

I'll get some pics up in a day or two..... I got too much to do at the moment...

Kent

TZRaceR6 · 06-07-2005, 09:52 AM

Kent · 06-07-2005, 06:55 PM

You got pics from the Willow photographer......

TZRaceR6 · 06-07-2005, 07:50 PM

^^^ Don't know who he is. He posted up a link on the WSMC board and I found these few.

Kent · 06-07-2005, 08:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TZRaceR6

^^^ Don't know who he is. He posted up a link on the WSMC board and I found these few.

Did you buy these or just download off the guys site?

TZRaceR6 · 06-07-2005, 09:10 PM

No, I just linked to his pics. Did you happen to get any pics of me?

06-05-2005, 10:53 PM	#1
TZRaceR6 Know It All Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: The Valley Posts: 266 iTrader: (0) Rep Power: 4 (10)	* Pics added * WERA 6 Hours Endurance Race - Willow Springs Report from WERA National 6 Hour Endurance Race Team: Need a Sponsor Plate #: 37 Place: Willow Springs Int?l Raceway, Rosamond, Ca. Riders: Aaron, Sean Hill and Lloyd Magruder I was asked to help ride for this team, since Aaron had broken his scapula a couple weeks prior, I knew both riders from a couple of years back when I rode at Jennings GP track in North Florida and I had experience with Willow Springs Int?l Raceway. We met up Friday morning at the track to practice on the bike we?d be running, a 2003 Yamaha R6 in the Middleweight Superstock series of the Endurance race. They had been there since about 8 am and I arrived from my house at around 11am. Fortunately for me an oil spill had the track closed from 9am until about 20 minutes after arrived, so none of the team had even been on track yet. I gave them as much info on the track as I could, and then Sean and Aaron went out to ride the track. As they came in I gave them more info and as we progressed throughout the day both of them dropped their lap times significantly, going from 1:44?s to 1:35?s. We also had to sort the bike out via the suspension (and a special thanks goes out to Dave from Catalyst Racing Suspension for the help he gave us) so that the bike wasn?t pogoing and tank slapping all over the track. By the end of the day we were pretty well sorted. It was a good first day of practice. Sunday came and we arrived at the track around 8am to set the pit up for the race. I had learned how to ride the bike as well as I could with the standard shift pattern (I haven?t used standard shift in years, but figured it out again) and the Michelin tires (I?m not a big fan of Michelin), so Sean and Aaron used all the practice sessions to get their times down into the 31?s-33?s. We were set for the race. Race time comes and Sean is the first rider out. He?s gonna go til the gas light comes on, then it?s my turn. First 100 miles is good and we?re in 5th place in our series, but Sean was making time on everyone in front of us, as he became more comfortable on the track. He came in and I went right out with a quick splash of gas. I matched his lap times perfectly keeping the rhythm going and we moved into 3rd. (Remember this is not 3rd overall, but 3rd for Middleweight Superstock). I come in when the gas light comes on and another 100 miles down. Aaron (broken scapula and all) goes out next and he matches the lap times Sean and I did keeping us in our position. However, the pain from the break brings him in early. Sean decided that a rear tire change will be in order on the next rider change and since he can do it the quickest, we decide that I?ll go out again, and then change the tire and let Aaron go back out after he rests for an hour. So I hop back on the bike as Aaron comes in and about 10 laps into it, the front washes out in T2 at 100mph. Not sure why it happened, as I wasn?t even leaned over far enough to drag my knee and I was taking it pretty easy through that section. The bike looks fine, not damage that I can see, so I try to lift the bike back up. Not gonna happen! I wait about 5 minutes for the crash truck to arrive and get one of the guys to help me lift it. Bike starts right back up and I get to the pits as fast as possible (without a face shield on my helmet mind you! Man bugs hurt when the hit you in the face!) Anyway, the only damage we can see is one of the coolant hoses has a small tear and the right frame slider is snapped off. Levers, pipe and everything else is good. The front tire needs to be changed out though as well. Unfortunately for us, a red flag comes out and we are forced to stop working on the bike per the rules. As soon as the race starts back up we are fixing the bike. Front and rear tires and the hose is fixed via a swap out with a good one. However, it looks as though my day is done, cause it appears the crash has broken the pinky finger on my right hand. Usually, when you finger is sticking up from the middle joint it?s not good, so I finish the next three hours off helping in the pits. (Find out later that it isn't broken, just dislocated, luckily.) Sean becomes the work horse (and he?s riding so hard he breaks of the left clip-on during one of his stints and comes back to the pits for a quick fix), with Aaron filling in as best as possible (and Aaron does an incredible job for riding an extreme amount considering his condition). We manage to work our way back up from 5th to 4th place with time running out, but with the loss of 30-45 minutes with the tire changes and hose changes and the time for me to get back to the pits, we?re down 20 laps on 2nd and 3rd place. Aaron and Sean manage to keep the times consistently between 1:31 and 1:33 for the rest of the race. Even though we finished in 4th place, I thought it was a good race and I learned a lot about endurance racing. It gives you a whole new respect for the guys that do this all year long! I hope that Aaron and Sean will allow me to race with them again next year at Willow Springs. They are both great people and racers and I wish them the best of luck for the remainder of their season. __________________ Team: 03 R6 / 98 TZ250 / 90 FZR400 Orgs: WSMC #716 / USGP #716 Sponsors: ACSAS Tech / Wheel 2 Wheel / Takeit2thetrack / Goodridge / CRS Tuning / Vortex Racing / Hotbodies / RK Racing Chains / Zero Gravity / Utopia Optics My website: http://www.acsastech.com/acsas-racing/Home.html Suspension by: Catalyst Reaction Suspension Tuning

06-06-2005, 10:08 AM	#2
efward Know It All Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: San Diego Posts: 385 iTrader: (0) Rep Power: 5 (10)	Great write up. Sounds like a blast. I didn't realize that about working on bikes during a red flag either. Did you guys do your rider exchanges and gas fill ups in the hot pit? Regular gas can or did you have a nascar style filler? Really amazing to keep consistent times in that range over that long of a period. __________________ WSMC #619

06-06-2005, 11:35 AM	#3
TZRaceR6 Know It All Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: The Valley Posts: 266 iTrader: (0) Rep Power: 4 (10)	Yes, we exchanged riders and filled gas via the hot pit wall. We had a gas can that will dump 4 gallons in about 7 seconds, which was cool, cause I saw guys using regular gas cans to put fuel in and they would be in the pits about 30 seconds longer than us. __________________ Team: 03 R6 / 98 TZ250 / 90 FZR400 Orgs: WSMC #716 / USGP #716 Sponsors: ACSAS Tech / Wheel 2 Wheel / Takeit2thetrack / Goodridge / CRS Tuning / Vortex Racing / Hotbodies / RK Racing Chains / Zero Gravity / Utopia Optics My website: http://www.acsastech.com/acsas-racing/Home.html Suspension by: Catalyst Reaction Suspension Tuning

06-07-2005, 07:22 AM	#5
Kent Canyon Carver Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: My Town, Missouri!! Posts: 639 iTrader: (0) Rep Power: 4 (10)	Good racing it was!! I'll get some pics up in a day or two..... I got too much to do at the moment... Kent __________________ http://www.palomarpics.net/BannerSBW.jpg

06-07-2005, 09:52 AM	#6
TZRaceR6 Know It All Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: The Valley Posts: 266 iTrader: (0) Rep Power: 4 (10)	__________________ Team: 03 R6 / 98 TZ250 / 90 FZR400 Orgs: WSMC #716 / USGP #716 Sponsors: ACSAS Tech / Wheel 2 Wheel / Takeit2thetrack / Goodridge / CRS Tuning / Vortex Racing / Hotbodies / RK Racing Chains / Zero Gravity / Utopia Optics My website: http://www.acsastech.com/acsas-racing/Home.html Suspension by: Catalyst Reaction Suspension Tuning

06-07-2005, 06:55 PM	#7
Kent Canyon Carver Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: My Town, Missouri!! Posts: 639 iTrader: (0) Rep Power: 4 (10)	You got pics from the Willow photographer...... __________________ http://www.palomarpics.net/BannerSBW.jpg

06-07-2005, 07:50 PM	#8
TZRaceR6 Know It All Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: The Valley Posts: 266 iTrader: (0) Rep Power: 4 (10)	^^^ Don't know who he is. He posted up a link on the WSMC board and I found these few. __________________ Team: 03 R6 / 98 TZ250 / 90 FZR400 Orgs: WSMC #716 / USGP #716 Sponsors: ACSAS Tech / Wheel 2 Wheel / Takeit2thetrack / Goodridge / CRS Tuning / Vortex Racing / Hotbodies / RK Racing Chains / Zero Gravity / Utopia Optics My website: http://www.acsastech.com/acsas-racing/Home.html Suspension by: Catalyst Reaction Suspension Tuning

06-07-2005, 09:10 PM	#10
TZRaceR6 Know It All Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: The Valley Posts: 266 iTrader: (0) Rep Power: 4 (10)	No, I just linked to his pics. Did you happen to get any pics of me? __________________ Team: 03 R6 / 98 TZ250 / 90 FZR400 Orgs: WSMC #716 / USGP #716 Sponsors: ACSAS Tech / Wheel 2 Wheel / Takeit2thetrack / Goodridge / CRS Tuning / Vortex Racing / Hotbodies / RK Racing Chains / Zero Gravity / Utopia Optics My website: http://www.acsastech.com/acsas-racing/Home.html Suspension by: Catalyst Reaction Suspension Tuning

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