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Archive - 2006 Trackday Reports

Reno-Fernley Raceway Track Day Report - June 3rd/4th, 2006

Alright everyone, grab a drink and sit down. This is going to be a long one.

This is a trip I've been looking forward to for a long while now. We were at this track last year and it was a blast. Since then, they have added a 2 mile extension, to make it a 4.1 mile track with multiple configurations possible. They were adding elevation and technical corners to the track. Sweet.

Friday morning comes and it's time for the Friday caravan (multiple caravans leaving on multiple days). We head out from the usual meet spot @ Southcenter at 6am sharp. We head down the route I know for getting to Reno, as it is faster than what Mapquest says. The trip went mostly without incident except for the one little pucker moment we had on Hwy 97. I came around one of the corners, doing about 45mph (it was raining) and see that Peter and is car/trailer are stopped a light on the freeway that was installed for some construction. I try to slow down but its wet and my truck has no weight in the back and the tires start to lock. Oh shit! I know there is no way in hell I can possibly stop in time without hitting Peter. I look ahead and see its one lane only and that there is oncoming traffic that has started to leave yet, so I go into the oncoming lane and basically thread a needle between the cars. I still don't know how I managed to save that one but I'm not going to complain. Everyone was ok. We pulled into Klamath Falls when a guy behind me tells me that my trailer lights weren't working. WTF? They worked a bit ago. We stopped for lunch and I take apart the wiring harness to the trailer and find that shit came unplugged. ARGHHHH! I mess with it for an hour but was unable to figure out the wiring diagram so I said screwed it and just had Peter stay behind me. We would be in Reno before dark anyways. The rest of the drive down goes without incident and we arrive in Fernley around 830PM. We grab a bite to eat and all crash relatively early. Going to be a long, hot day tomorrow. Forecast is calling for 92 degrees and sunny!

Saturday morning arrives and we all meet up in front of the hotel (all 13 of us!). We hit the gas station for some ice and head on over to the track. As we approach the track we can see part of the new section to the track that we had only see pictures of. Man, this is sweet! We setup our pits and work our way through registration and tech. Everyone from Keigwins knows who we are. We are the group the travels the furthest for their track days. If they only knew the tracks we have to work with in the PacNW, they'd understand. :( In the rider's meeting, we are told about the back straight of the new section having some bumps to it and that they grinded it last week but its still rough back there. We also get a map of the configuration we would be running. 3.5 miles and 32 turns!!!!! Wow. 32 turns! Unbelievable.

After the rider's meeting we head back to the pits and suit up for the sighting laps. 3 laps, run @ 50% with the control riders so we can see the layout of the track. This thing was amazing. So many turns and things to try and remember. I tried to pick out the few things that I thought were most important to remember and then would work on other stuff as the day went on. There were so many blind corners and decreasing radius corners. I'm amped after the sighting laps. We all pretty much said the same thing, WOW!

A (Advanced) group is up first. Most of the group was riding in A group so we all headed out. The format is 2 groups, 30 minute sessions. No way am I going to last 30 minute sessions, but it's nice to not have to rush around. I stay out for about 6 laps before I come back in. It was so overwhelming. The track had so many little nuances that you had to figure out. This technical section really requires you to trail brake well in order to go fast. The other thing I noticed was on the new pavement in the back section, I had to check to see if I had my knee puck on. The way my knee felt going across that pavement was like warm butter on bread. Super smooth. Oh yeah, and that back straight. Wow, talk about bumpy. More about that later. I'm sitting in the pits when Jeff comes in and tells us that one of the guys in our group went down. Wheatie. :( He said he was up and walking around so that was good to know. He rides his bike in and it was in really good shape. He had tucked the front in the hairpin after the back straight. Jose, one of Jared's friends who is a mechanic who came down to just vacation ended up being put to work to help fix Wheatie's bike.

Next session we head out for some more fun. I spent the session picking up reference points and figuring out braking zones, etc. Also noted that there aren't a lot of "courtesy" passing opportunities either. I'll get into that more later when I talk about my hatred for liter bikes. The temperature is starting to pick up and it's getting a little warm out. Usually clicking in about 6 laps before I pull in which is looking to be about a 20 minute session.

The session before lunch I feel like I finally have some clue of how this track actually goes so I hook up the lap timer to get a baseline of how I'm running. I feel like I'm going fast but there are guys out there blowing by me. I figure they've run the course before too. I'm still learning the track so I'm not expecting anything too spectacular. 3:15:12. Oh yeah, Wheatie was able to get back out on the track after Jose was able to fix his Sato rearsets! Hooray!

It's lunch time now. Keigwin's caters lunch for the Reno event and the food is always good. Without fail, it was again. BBQ Beef, potato salad, chili, bread, and fruit salad. Very good. We all sit around and discuss the track. Little things here and there we are noticing. How fast the California riders are, etc. Talk to Brandon Bones (Studio819), he tells me that I look like shit through the cereal bowl. I need to adjust my line and get off the bike more. We had him come down as our private photog for the event. We decided we cannot take a trip out of state without Brandon. No one else's photos can touch his work.

I head out after lunch and take off. Taking it a little easy at first since the bike is cold from sitting and I'm cold from being off the track for an hour and a half. I start to pick up the pace. I feel like I'm really getting a feel for the track and I'm also running the line that Brandon recommend that I take. Things are definitely feeling better and with that line, I can really slingshot out of the cereal bowl! Check the lap timer. 3:00:58. Very nice. Definitely made some improvements and still not pushing it. I have Jose take the thermal temp on my tires and everything looks good. Track surface temperature was 128 degrees! Yikes. That's hot. I wasn't haven't any problems though. The Pirelli's were sticking hard and the slides handled very well.

By the last session, I'm feeling really awesome out there. I'm deciding that I really like Turn E, F which is this two corner sweeper and Turn H, which is a blind, decreasing radius as it goes down hill corner. StevieB and I ended up being a GSXR1k that kept parking it in the corners and would rip the throttle every chance he stood the bike up which made it damn near impossible for us to pass him with "courtesy". We both finally had enough frustration and just pulled into the hot pit area and jumped back out there after giving the dipstick some space to be an idiot. I came in and ended up having my best time, with a 2:57:08. Oh! My! God! My quads are so freaking sore.

We are all pretty pooped after the day. We clean up the pits and lock up (leaving stuff overnight) and head back to the hotel to clean up and head out to dinner. After herding up the cats, we decide on In-N-Out Burger. You cannot pass on an opportunity when it presents itself. We continue to share stories about the track and all the good times we had. After dinner, we do the typical night out in Reno thing. Hit a strip club. We pretend that Daryll is the "Bachelor" for the Bachelor party and all head in. A few of us were pretty pooped and it was already 1130 so I headed back to the hotel and passed out. I wanted to be fresh for the next day at Reno.

We arrive in the morning and it doesn't take us very long to get setup since our stuff was already there. After registration/tech, we have plenty of time so I take the time to bleed my brakes again. They were super squishy again! :( I talk to Jose and he thinks that it might actually be the seals in my master cylinder and thinks I should rebuild it. He told me to get the rebuild kit and he'd help me with it. A few of the guys from Saturday just weren't feeling comfortable on the track and they dropped out of A group and moved down to B group, so it only left Daryll, Jared, Stevie, and I in A group. After the rider's meeting I decided to take advantage of the sighting laps again and see if the loose gravel that was in the back straight the day before was gone. It was making it hard for me to be on the brakes hard in that corner. Sitting laps looked good, I was ready to have some fun.

I gear up and head out in the first session. I cruise around on my warm up lap, getting warmed up and ready to lay the smack down on day 2 to this track. 2nd lap feels great and I start to pick it up a notch when I glance down at my tach as I'm setting up for Turn D. I notice the red light is on and look at thte temp gauge and see 258. Oh shit. Not good. I get the bike off the track and back into the pits and yell at Jose to come look at my bike. He comes over and I tell him my bike is burning up. He takes his thermal scanner and my headers are up over 500 degrees. My bike is flashing Hi for temperature. As the bike cools down we start tearing apart the bike to find out what's going on. We see the overflow reservoir is bone dry. Jose looks at my radiator and tells me something doesn't look right. Turns out the idiot mechanic that put the radiator back on my bike after it was fixed (that would be me!) put two hoses on backwards. The hose from that was suppose to go from the radiator to the water pump was instead going to the overfill container and the hose that was supposed to go from the radiator to the overfill was instead going to the water pump. God I'm a dumbass. Jose isn't very optimistic that my engine is in good shape. I'm in a bad mood. First because I may have screwed up my engine and second because I may not be able to ride at all on Day 2 :( Back to the disaster. We tear off the air box to see how bad things are. There is a little oil mist but not a lot so Jose has turned optimistic. He things I may have gotten lucky. We clean up the air box and put things back together. The bike has cooled down so we refill it with water and water wetter and run it around the pits for a minute to see if it will cool down on its own. Seems to be doing ok. Jose checked a few other things and he said he thinks I might be ok. Told me to head out for a lap and monitor the temperature and see if it spikes in temperature. If it does, come in because I'm fucked. If not, ride and have fun. I monitor it the first lap and I'm sitting right at about 180 degrees, with no spikes. Off to play. I do about 5 laps and come in. Jose hits my headers with the thermal sensor and everything is good. He tells me to change my oil first thing when I get back to Seattle.

Now that I'm in a better mood, Jared and I head out in the next session. Jared is going to follow me to shoot some video of me on the track. We head out and do our warm up lap, I do a quick head check to see if Jared is still there and he is so I take off and go. I'm really starting to tear into things this session. I'm really railing around the track. On the 3rd lap I'm coming into the front straight and notice Daryll is in front of us. I figure I can grab him in one of my favorite corners, E/F, the long sweeper. I come into it and start to carry the speed wide to get around on the outside since he is protecting the inside. I'm on the throttle pretty hard to get around him and I'm spinning the rear up as I do so. I get by him and Jared and I look for our next victim. After about 6 laps, we head in and Jared was right there. Sweet. We check out the timer. 2:55:17. Wow, we were both hauling ass! We both had an awesome session out there.

It's lunch time now. Jose is working on Brian's bike at this point. Turns out Brian had forgot to put one of his spacers in the rear axle and had chewed up the rear rotor and rear axle and had actually melted the brake pads to the caliper. Lucky for Brian I had spares for him to put on his bike. Lunch was good. BBQ chicken, corn on the cob, potato salad, and strawberry shortcake. Man, I love the catered lunches.

The guys in the pits next to us, Jose had been helping out. Apparently, our group was the talk of the pits. We came all the way from Seattle and brought our own photographer and mechanic. Everyone seemed to think it was cool. We thought it was funny.

After lunch, I head out on the track with Daryll and StevieB behind me. We are on the warmup lap when Daryll comes by me coming out of Turn F. Apparently he took StevieB's advice of stepping up his warm up lap and not going so slow. Anyways, I wasn't gonna let that shit slide. We come out onto the front straight and as we come into T1, Daryll either brakes or rolls off his throttle so I just tip in past him and dive into T1 and full throttle. As I'm headed up to the hill, I come up on another liter boy (parks in corners and rips on throttle every time he stands the bike up). This makes #4 liter boy and I'm really losing my patience with these guys. I try to come on the inside of him on F and he swoops across so I lose that chance. I know where I can get him next. As we come out of the hairpin setting up for the right hander, I go in deeper and trailbrake in taking the inside line as he runs wide. Sweet. Hammer down, no one in front of me. I come out onto the front straight and do a quick head check to see where Stevie is. Damn it, Stevie is passing me now. So I tuck in behind him and decide I'm going to try and keep up. We come flying into T1, 1 right after another. I catch him a bit out of the back sweeper but he pulls on me some coming into the uphill, off camber turn. We come into turn H, my favorite decreasing radius, downhill blind corner, Im dragging just about everything I can through that corner. Knee, toe, bike is damn near on its side. So much fun. Stevie is making a bit of a gap on me now. I don't think I have the strength to go after him. I turn some more laps by myself and before I decide to yank it in, as we come into turn 19, I bike comes by me, damn near ripping the paint off my bike. I was about to get upset about the closeness of the pass until I read the back of the leathers. I'll let Doug Chandler pass me like that. LOL I'm really starting to feel pooped so I decide to pit. Good news was, I had my best lap time of the day behind Mr. StevieB. 2:54:64. w00t!

I had gone over and talked to Dave Moss with Catalyst Systems to find out what sort of times are good out here. He said pretty much anything under 3 was running pretty fast. I asked what Chandler turns out there, and he said sub 2:30's. Holy hell, that's flying! Good to know that we were running pretty fast though. Especially for our first time on it.

Daryll and I were going to head out in the last session to play together but there was a red flag in the previous session and we were waiting on pre-grid when we decided to end the day on a good note. We headed back to the pits and packed up. Lance Keigwin stopped by to thanks us for coming down and we headed back to the hotel. We decided it was an order pizza, drink cheep beer in the hotel parking lot kind of night so we got back to the hotel and ordered a bunch of pizza and went to the store for beer. We sat in the middle of the parking lot and bench raced and reviewed the pictures Brandon had taken. Definitely an awesome way to end an AWESOME weekend!

We got up early on Monday to head back to Seattle since I had to get my front end torn apart and off to Barry Wressel to have fork extensions put on. We arrived safely back in Seattle, back to clouds and 60 degree temps. I already miss Reno!

I'm still on an adrenaline high from this weekend. I didn't think I could have more fun than I did in Thunderhill, but this track, with all the turns was just awesome. I can't wait to go back next year. I also learned that I need to change my throttle for shorter turn since it was killing me not being able to get to all my throttle and that I should not be allowed to work on my own bike anymore! Thanks to all my friends for making this another unforgettable trip! The more trips we do like this, the more I want to do them because they all kick ass!

It's going to be hard to go and race @ Pacific this weekend. 9 turns seems so boring now.

Thanks for reading. Sorry it was a mini-novel but there was a bunch to write about. Hope you enjoyed! Stay tuned for pictures from Studio819.

-Nico

NESBA Trackday Report - May 29th, 2006

Due to a last minute cancellation to the WMRRA races @ Spokane this weekend, I was able to attend the NESBA track day on Memorial Day. Now, yes, I would have rather been racing this weekend but hey, you take what you can get when it comes to the track sometimes. :)

I wake up Saturday morning to blue skies. Hooray, Seattle weather is not going to screw my track day. I'm loaded up and head out to the track. I had my buddy J's bike in my trailer, as he was attending his first track day ever! Way to go J!!

Getting setup at the track seems to be getting faster with each visit. Pits are quickly setup and bike is already ready to go, so I just chill out and make the rounds saying hi to friends and fellow racers. It was looking to be a good day.

I was expecting a busy day as I knew that B/I group were sold out and A sold out once WMRRA cancelled. I typically skip the first session in the morning and let everyone else warm up the track. I decided what the hell and headed out in the first session. It had been a few weeks since being on the bike and I might as well shake some things out. I'm coming out of T4 after lap 5 or 6 and I did a head check under my arm and see a front tire. Decide to continue on my line out of T4 and drive down the back straight. I'm expecting to see a bike on my left when I see Luke barely squeeze by on the right. He waves. My bad for drifting out on him. I make a point to find him after the session and apologize. Luke found me first to say sorry. I told him it was my bad. We're both all good.

While J was in the rider's meeting, I did the typical track n00b initiation. I wrote with silver sharpie on the side of his tires (chicken strips). "I'm slow", "I'm a pussy", "Chicken strips, Mmmmm", and "Bwak Bwak Bwak". :) What are friends for right?

I watched J head out in his first session and it was awesome to see him out there in B. Most know I pretty much bug all my friends that haven't been on the track to go. I think addicts should stick together. LOL

After I had come in from my 2nd session, I had someone approach me and say "Nico?". I turned around and said hi. He introduced himself, it was Briggs. I knew him from our work motorcycle forum and he knew me from my posts, but we had never met. It was nice to finally put a face to a name. He mentioned to me a line through T2 that he thought would be better for me to try. Hitting the 2nd apex late, squaring off and getting on the throttle early and driving hard down the hill. I told him I'd give it a try. I had been having trouble, fighting my bike in T2 and T6 especially, having to muscle the bike around.

I headed over to Barry Wressel and had him take a look at the bike. He was surprised to see my forks didn't have the 10mm extension on them after I had them redone for springs. He said it was important for GSXR's since they have short forks. He also wanted to play with the geometry, but we need to do the forks so we can properly set it up. I have him adjust the front sag as the guy in Thunderhill didn't do it right.

I head out after lunch and I'm FINALLY feeling good out there! I finally got back to 40's and a couple 39's. I was also getting passed like a spectator by Ross and a few of those other fast racers. God they make me seem slow. :) I was coming through the bus stop when I started to tuck the front. I'm thinking, "Shit, this is gonna suck". Somehow, it didn't go and caught. Whew! I see Luke Gaylor in the pits and tell him to stop making me look so slow. Luke's response. "Go faster than. Traction control is that thing you twist on the right". Thanks buddy! ;)

I talk to Briggs about some gear selection at various spots on the track and gives me very honest feedback.

I head out in the next session to try and apply some of it. Red flag comes out as we are coming into T2. This is the 2nd time we had a red flag on lap #1. Grr. Turns out a semi was turning around in T8. They release us and we go. I was definitely getting better at hitting the T2 mark, still needed some work though. I need to stop coasting in T3 and T5. *smacks self*

I head out in the 2nd to last session and notice Briggs in front of me. He looks behind at me as we come out of the bus stop so I figure he wants me to follow. I get on his tail and head around the track. As we come into T8, there's a red flag. Again?! This is the 1st lap again!!!. Someone highsided in the bus stop. They get it cleaned up quickly and we head back out. I get behind Briggs again. I can see he's trying to show me a few things. I stick on his rear tire and follow him around for a bit till he waves me in front and then I take off. Trying to apply what I just saw. Briggs sits back there for a few laps and then takes off with Luke, Ross, Wendl, and company.

After getting back into the pits, Briggs and I talked for a bit. Told me I looked pretty good but to stop coasting in T3 and T5. I know, I know. :)

All in all, it was a great day. I need to have my forks/geometry done before WMRRA and maybe I won't spend so much time fighting the bike. LOL

Thanks again to NESBA for another terrific event! Thanks to Briggs and Brian Lockhart for the race advice/stories. Congrats to J on his first track day incident free, and a developing track whore! :)

Next stop, Reno-Fernley Raceway! w00t!

- Nico

NESBA Trackday Report - April 22nd & 23rd, 2006

Woohoo! Time for the first NESBA weekend of the year. I've really been looking forward to the NESBA weekend for some time. It was going to be my time to get practice in @ Pacific Raceways. There was some work I needed to do after 1st WMRRA weekend and I was running 1:51's. Boooo!

Saturday morning arrives and I head out to Pacific and get there about 10 after 6. I wanted to arrive early since I knew we would have a big group out for Saturday. I setup my pit area and get bikes unloaded and everything in order while people trickle in. I talk to Brian Lockhart after the riders meeting and setup some time for us to work together. I'm running Intermediate group on Saturday because I wanted to work on some things and not get in the way of the really fast guys. Plus everyone else was running I that I was friends with.

I head out for the first session and take it easy. Track is cold so I just twiddled around the track. Things go smooth, bike feels awesome now that Eric Dorn @ EDR Performance has remapped my bike and got everything dialed in.

Head out on the 2nd session with Lockhart and we start picking up the pace. We trade spots back and forth and I correct a couple of things he points out while on the track. Best lap, 1:47. Sweet. Improvement. I really feel like Thunderhill helped me with my confidence. Lockhart tells me Im being much smoother, etc. Oh yeah, almost forgot. Found out that my gearing is WRONG for PR. 16/47 is way too low and I'm bouncing off the rev limiter in the chute. Gotta fix that. Try and get a hold of Zach but he didn't have anything in stock.

3rd session head out and work on T2/T3. I know I can take these corners better. I'm really starting to feel better: I feel more confident than ever. Starting to get a bit frustrated with not being able to take anyone on the inside of the corner because of the rules, but I understand the rules. I'd move up to A but I wanted to stay and hang out with everyone. Best time this session is a 1:46

4th session, the session after lunch, I head out with Daryll and a couple of the other guys and we start mixing it up. We come up behind a control rider that I kept showing a wheel to in T2 lap after lap but he wouldn't wave me by. Argh! I still was able to trim some time during that session and down to a 1:44. Wow, time is just disappearing!

5th session, I head out and plan on working on T8 and T9. These are two other corners I know I can do better in. I also wanted to make sure I kept good track of what my gear selection was. Did fairly well, shaving time slowly. Feeling more comfortable with my speeds. Oh yeah, this was the session where Castro passes me on the front straight as if I was parked on the grid. LOL. Damn he is fast. Anyways, come in @ 1:42

6th session, I head out with Lockhart again. This is so he can review me and I can move up to A session for the remainder of the day and more importantly tomorrow. We head out and start going at a pretty good pace. I keep coming down into T3 faster and braking a little deeper. It's feeling good. Lockhart is mixing in a little race simulation allowing me to try and adapt to a blocking line. 1:41. Sweet!!! Time just disappearing. I'm good to go for A group.

7th session, I just head out with everyone for one last play session. I'm not pushing that hard but having some fun. I'm tired so I pull in early. Pack up the trailer and head home to clean up. Then off to Marysville to hang out with some friends.

Saturday was so awesome. So many of my friends at the track and we were all out there having fun. Good to see everyone. I love track season!!

Sunday morning, I slack a little in the AM since I already have everything at the track I can take my time getting down there. Arrive at the track and bullshit with Wendy for a while she gets setup.

As we go to the riders meeting, I talk to Ross DeLong about 750 gearing since he runs a 750. He gives me some advice and I go and pick up a 17 from Rick Salmon @ SB Motorsports (I love this guy, he always has what you need!). I skip the first session and scramble to get everything changed out. Get everything setup and good to go.

2nd session, I finally can get out on the track. Still a little chilly so I take it easy getting things warmed up. I want to check and see how the gearing is now too. Everything looks/feels good. Sweet.

3rd session, I head out by myself. I jump out in the track 1st so I can get some open track ahead of me. I pick up right where I left off on Saturday. I'm cruising along, feeling good. Coming through T9, I feel on my game. Allister is out there and he helps me in a couple of spots.

After lunch, we head out for the 4th session. I get out there and I get behind a guy that is on a 750 as well. I keep coming close to getting him on the brakes into T2 but never can quite get it. A couple of laps in, I started to hit my knee through the bus stop. I always thought it was impossible despite seeing racers do it all the time. Lap 6 or so, I come up on Brian (#932) out of T7 and see him take the higher line through 8 so I think I can get him coming into T9. As he gets on the brakes into T9, I'm able to stick it in there and make the pass. A couple lap later, Brian is able to get me back on the inside of 7 since I setup for a pass I couldn't make. He took the same line as before through T8 so I'm able to duck under him again and stick it into T9. I come out of the bus stop and start the drive down the straight, as we come out of T1 I setup and see if I can make a pass on the 750 in front of me. This time, they brake a half second earlier because of the traffic. SWEET! My chance to stick the pass. I put it in there and I'm trailing hard into the corner. I start to run wide when I hit a bump and wash the front out and start my gymnastics career! Do some summersaults and land. I lay there for a second and realize I can still move my body. I jump up and over the tire wall quickly.

Get back into the pits and assess the damage. Small puncture to the radiator, upper fairing ripped apart, breakaway arm for fairing stay broken, left side ram air tube flattened, left side clip on snapped, left side rearset munched. Arai helmet is no good after that wreck since I smacked my head a couple times. Ooops. Sore tailbone as well. Oh well, shit happens.

I review the lap timer and that was by far my best session. I turned a personal best of 1:39:12. WOOOOHOOO!!! A full 12 seconds shaved from my race times 3 weeks ago.

I want to thank Brian Lockhart for all his help this weekend and all of my friends for making it such a good weekend on the track. So much fun out there. Hope to see you guys out there soon!

- Nico

Thunderhill Trackday Report - April 7th-10th, 2006

After giving advice to everyone on the Cyclone...

NO ONE FUCKING LISTENED

LOL

So on the trip down, at dinner Friday night, and in the riders meeting on Saturday morning; I told everyone the lesson I learned about the cyclone last year. You would think after crashing in the cyclone that people would listen.

So everyone, with the exception of Daryll and myself, proceeded to runoff the track. Fortunately, no one pitched their bike. Yay!

Now onto the Thunderhill trip report and pictures...

Friday morning we all meet up at my house about 645. Brian and I are dead tired as we didnt get to bed till after 2 (he had to go to Bellingham to get a fuel pump for his bike). Our first scheduled stop was for EDR in Portland. Deron needed to pick up a new sprocket for his bike and I needed to talk to Eric about dropping my bike off on the way back home and him getting it dialed in/remapped. We then meetup with a guy in Tigard so Richard can pick up his 1 piece suit. We finally arrive in Willows around 8pm. Get checked into the hotel and then head over to Casa Ramos for dinner. We made sure to thoroughly embarrass Daryll for his birthday.

Saturday morning arrives and we look outside and the pavement is drying from the rain over the night. Looks like its going to be a good day at the track. We arrive to the track around 7am and get setup under the covered pavilion. Go to registration and get our bikes tech'd. We finish up at the riders meeting and then head back to the pits to quickly get dressed so we can get out on the sighting laps. I was a bit apprehensive at this point considering I had about 8 laps of experience at Thunderhill before the Cyclone got me last year. :(

We all gear up and head out for the sighting laps. I go through the Cyclone really slow the first time. Rest of the sighting laps get a bit better but I only have one thing on my mind though. Go back into the pits and let the other groups get out there and run. I was running in the B- group (slowest) group because I wanted to beat my demon in the Cyclone. Dave from Catalyst Suspension was there and doing suspension adjustments. Since the WMRRA weekend was wet, I didn't have a chance to get my suspension really dialed. He checked my sag and it looked good. He then checked my rebound and looks at me and says "Wow. You're a braver man than I riding out there with this setup. I would have pulled in after a lap." . I finally feel comfortable out there on the session before lunch. My suspension feels 100 times better too. Hooray!

Henry shows up just before lunch to pick up his bike and to hang out with the guys for a while. Him and Brian were nice enough to run and get everyone lunch, it would have been GREAT if Keith would have told Richard, Daryll, Jared, and myself before we went and bought shit at the Thunderhill grill. . No Keith, we will not let you forget that.

I head out after lunch and grabbed Brians lap timer so I can gauge how well I'm doing. I really felt like I was tearing it up and going hard. Lap timer says best lap...2:31.59. Lame. Oh well, I have some work to do. By the end of the day I was down to 29's but getting more and more confident.

End of the day rolls around and we throw everything in the trailer and lock it up (leaving it there overnight). We head back to the hotel and clean up before heading out to Pat & Larry's dinner, scene of the infamous story "Stop looking at my daughter" from Thunderhill Trip '05. We arrive at the restaurant and they have to pull together some tables so we head into the bar. There is a really cute blonde that we notice on the way to the bar and I pointed her out to Brian, in which Brian replies. "No way, she's too thick". The rest of us look at each other and are like, wtf? As we walk towards our table, Daryll and I take the route that allows us to walk right in front of this girl (no, we have no shame. ). This girl is DEFINITELY NOT thick. Brain agrees that he needs to get his eyes checked. We have a nice dinner and Henry heads home and the rest of us head to pass out from a long day.

Sunday morning arrives and its wet outside and a little drizzle. Looking like its going to be a wet day. We get to the track and its no longer raining and they have the blower going around the track. Dave from Catalyst assures us the track will dry up in an hour if it doesn't rain. Deron and I want to get out there and ride so we throw our rain tires on and head out. Well its definitely almost dry at this point. Shit, I spent all this time swapping tires, I'm not coming in after 2 laps. I proceed to test the limits of my rain tires. Needless to say, I need new rain tires. I was feeling awesome out there. I definitely felt faster than Saturday and everyone in the pits said I was really tearing around at a pretty good clip. With help from my pit crew, Jared and Daryll, we quickly yank my rains off so I can get the DOT's on and run out in the B+ group. The lap traffic was getting to be a bitch in B-. Throw the lap timer on and head out. Come in. 19's!!! Nice improvement from yesterday. Definitely getting more confident and not even thinking about the Cyclone anymore. Oh yeah, almost forgot about the asshole that decides to hit me, yes, hit me as we are coming into T3. His bike hit my tail and he hit my shoulder. He was riding WAY out of control and faster than he could handle. Karma is a bitch dude, hope you enjoyed your tumble in T5.

We all head out to mix it up the next session since we are all running in the same group now. We are all going pretty well. I forgot Jared and Daryll were out for the first time that session so they disappeared behind us pretty quick. Towards the end of the session, I'm really start to feel awesome. I get pass Richard and off to chase down Brian. We are coming up the hill out of 8 and I see Brian take the slower bike on the left, so I decide to go right and try and take them both on the outside right before turn 9. Yes, I finally passed Brian! :) As Brian said later in the day "I had to look to the sky and see if hell was freezing over because Nico just passed me." . And no Brian, I won't let you live it down. . We come into turn 11 and the checkered flag comes out. Hooray! We all came into the pits and were really pumped up about that session.

After lunch, I head out with Keith and Deron. Deron quickly leaves us because he has tire warmers and Keith and I had to warm up our tires. Keith and I start going at a pretty good pace for a few laps. I was able to keep up until we hit traffic and then I got screwed for a couple corners. I hit 16's in that session. :woot. I know where I can shave more time and anxious to get out there and see what I can do next session. Right as they call the 5 min warning for our group, the rain starts to come. We have 2 sessions left and the rain is coming a little harder. We conclude even if it stops raining, the track wasn't going to dry out in time, especially with quite a few people packing up after lunch. We pack the trailers up and head back to the hotel to get cleaned up.

After cleaning up, we head out to the only restaurant we hadn't visited yet, Round Table. Brian proceeded to ask the cashier where we could go dancing that night, in which she just laughed at him. LOL. We eat a bunch of pizza, drink a bunch of beer, and do another session of "bench racing". We stop by the liquor store for refreshments before heading back to the hotel and watch Family Guy.

We are all home now, safe and sound. Everyone's bike is intact and still shiny. :)

I know some of the group has pictures/stories, so go ahead and post them up and share. If you need someone to host pics, send them to me.

Reno is in T-Minus 54 days.

 

Some pictures...




- Nico

Adrenaline Freaks Trackday Report - March 31st, 2006

First off, a big round of applause for Mario and Adrenaline Freaks for having a kick ass trackday program! Everything ran smoothly and was a great time.

So, after finally finishing the bike last night @ Midnight, I was able to get about 5 hours sleep before I had to get up and leave for the track.

Woke up this morning and say sunny skies!!! Arrived at the track and setup pits with Allister, Mitch, Richard, and Rachner. Everyone had some last minute shit to work on, so we gave each other all a hand in getting ready.

We all skipped the first session due to all the last minute crap we were doing and letting the track dryout. When the call for the 2nd session comes, I'm amped to get out on the track. I merge onto the track and start to take off out of the bus stop. HOLY SHIT does that front wheel come flying up. Wow. New gearing and new weight, what a difference. I was out for about 4 laps or so when it was reflagged with someone going into the air fence in Turn 8.

I go out on the next couple of sessions, working on getting comfortable on the bike again. New tires, new suspension, new weight, new gearing, shake off cobwebs.

The fourth session, I'm really starting to feel good, going pretty good around the track. Coming into T3 on lap 6, I hear some clicking sound coming from the bike. Get out of the race line, check for oil behind me, everything seems fine however, I think I need to exit and look at the bike. Mitch helps me out and we isolate it to the front sprocket. Pull off the color to find that the counternut has a broken piece off of it. Take a look at the nut is still sound. Just missing a piece. Well it appears that it broke because it was hitting the speed sensor.Go back out for another couple sessions and things feel better but I'm getting tired.

Last session, I head out with Allister, Richard, and James. I'm pooped though and pull off after 4 laps. Great day, a lot of fun, and DAMN it feels good to be on the bike again.

Great to see everyone out there. Brian, Richard, Allister, Mike, Steve, and Daniel.

- Nico