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Brian's Race Report from Firebird East 03/06/05 Chandler, AZ
The 2005 race season is finally here! I don't know how, but CCS seems to always manage to have the first (and usually last) race of the year in rain conditions. This year would be no exception.
In 2004, I was a rookie racer competing in the amateur classes. In 2005, I was bumped up to the expert classes to compete with all of the experts and pro's who come to the races. I was very excited about this opportunity because I know it will eventually make me faster to race faster guys. In addition to being excited, I was anxious to see how I would stack up against the fast guys. What an eye opening! They are FAST!
Because it had been so long since I last rode, I decided to take Friday off and do the Team AZ trackday. That ended up being a good idea as I was a bit rusty. Not only that, but Friday was dry and sunny. I was the first to arrive as I was the only BSR rider who was going to do the full day on Friday. I got there before 8am and was riding all day. Tom arrived closer to lunch and rode. None of my other teammates rode on Friday. By the end of the day, I was in the 1.00 time range, and within 1/2 a second of my fast time. A good start to my season and weekend, although at the end of the day it started raining and I knew the rest of the weekend would be interesting.
On Saturday, I again got to the track early, but on little sleep as my wife and I just had our first born son. I haven't gotten good sleep in a long time. When we got there, it was pouring rain and very wet. I only had enough money to buy 2 sets of tires this weekend, and I had already put on a set of the new Michelin Power Race tires Friday (the tires are AWESOME). So, I talked with Dale at Racer's Edge (the Michelin distributor) and he recommended I buy a set of the street Power Sport tires. They would be decent in the rain and decent in the dry, but not great at either. At least I'd be able to ride in any conditions though. I sat out the entire morning because I had good practice the day before and didn't want to waste my tires if it happened to dry out. After lunch, it was dry again so I kept the Power Race tires from Friday on and did the 2 afternoon practice sessions. Kinda sucked only getting 2 sessions, especially since I was unable to match my Friday times. Forecast for Sunday was more rain, so I didn't change any tires Saturday and decided to wait and see what conditions were like race day.
On Saturday night, the CCS banquet was held and I had paid to go. Unfortunately, there are 3 freeway options to get from my side of town to the other side of town (i.e. the banquet). 2 of them were closed for construction and one ended up being shut down because of a bad fatality accident. I turned around and missed the banquet where my teammate Tom got 5 championship trophies and my friend Eric took the amateur overall title. Congrats guys.
First race - GTO - As luck would have it, by the time my first race came around, full slicks were the tire of choice because things had dried out quickly. I was still in my street tires, so I decided I'd have to take it easy the first race. All I remember well about this 25 minute race is that the 1/2 way flags came out and I felt ok. By the end of the race, I had been looking for checkered flags for 4-5 laps...I was TIRED! I am out of riding shape over the long winter break. I ended up getting a 5th place, which surprised me considering how bad I was riding and how fast the other experts are. Must have been a small grid.
Second race - Unlimited Superbike - My next race was supposed to be right after lunch, so I decided to change my tires back to the race tires I had done Friday and Saturday on. Not a perfect way to run tires on race day, but I'm on a limited budget. CCS then did something I kinda understand given the chance of rain, but they did a TERRIBLE job of informing people about it....they SKIPPED lunch!! The only way I heard about it was from my teammate who heard from another racer! They should have had people on megaphones up and down the pits with that news. I found out about my race starting in about 5 minutes as I heard first call. I was standing there in street clothes looking at my bike with no tires mounted! Luckily, we had a great pit crew and they were able to get my tires mounted in less than 5 minutes...just as 3rd call was made. I had to roll out with cold tires. Needless to say, the first 1 1/2 to 2 laps SUCKED as I had no confidence in my tires. By the time I had any confidence, I was way behind guys I should be running with. I was pissed at the way CCS had handled that situation, but glad I didn't crash. I finished in 5th place.
Third race - Heavyweight Superbike - This race was chaos. As I had been all day, I was gridded on the front row. I got another bad start, but I was only back about 4-5 riders coming up to turn 1 when I got hit from behind!! I felt someone slam into my back right side of my bike and my right foot. My bike bounced all over the place, but somehow I kept it upright. I immediately knew something was wrong with my bike as I couldn't rest my foot on the peg anymore...something was in the way. I heard the guy who hit me crash, so I wasn't surprised to see a red flag right away. When we stopped in the hot pit, I found out that my exhaust was slammed into my peg and sticking out. On initial assessment, it looked like the main damage was the exhaust hanger, so I bent that back into shape best I could while standing in the hot pit. Racers around me told me about what happened. I guess the guy who hit me tried to pass too many people coming into turn 1 on the start and WAY over cooked the entry speed. He was in a full vertical endo (front wheel down, rear wheel straight up) when he hit me and he just went over the handle bars. These experts bang more than amateurs do (happened a bunch this weekend). After a long red flag, we had a complete restart. This time I was pretty nervous going into turn 1, but made it through ok despite losing a ton of positions. I finished in 8th place, well off my pace (by 2 seconds) and well down the field. I was starting to feel either lucky or unlucky...I wasn't sure, I just knew my day was going weird.
Fourth race - Heavyweight SuperSport - By this time, I was pretty bummed about my performance as I was nowhere near my normal times. I don't know if it was mental from crashing/rear ending, or just lack of confidence or what. On this race, I was just glad nothing weird happened. I started feeling better as I lowered my times a little and got into a couple good battles with other riders. I finished in 9th place, although I'm not sure CCS got that right. I think I was higher in the grid (CCS messed up a TON of races this weekend with transponder issues). They came to me after the race and told me that my transponder had not hit once during the race, but they'd go ahead and score me visually.
Fifth race - Unlimited SuperSport - this was the last race of the day. Once again I got a bad start, but was able to stick on the back of the faster guys just in front of me. I kept Tom in my sights the whole race and was able to beat my friend Eric to the line by a bike length or less, finishing 8th. Once again, I didn't get any transponder hits, so let's hope CCS got it right visually. Their new transponder system doesn't seem to be a good buy.
All in all, this was a weird weekend and an interesting introduction to racing in the expert ranks. I'm anxious to get my head back in the game and see how I truly stack up against the fast guys. Running 2 seconds off my normal pace all weekend really wasn't fun.
I want to give a special thanks to my awesome teammates Tom, Pat and Mike, as well as to the guys who worked in our pits this weekend. Especially Rian, Ben and Tim. Without their help, none of us would have been able to race much this weekend. They got my tires mounted in less than 5 minutes, and they later had Tom's tires removed, new ones mounted, and re-installed on his bike in less than 10 minutes for a race!!! You can't beat having a great pit crew. We owe them big. Also, thanks to my teammates again. They always make it possible.
I also want to thank our new and continuing sponsors for 2005. We have a great lineup of support behind the team! Vesrah, Vortex, Motorex USA, Sidi, LP Team Privateer, Chicken Hawk, SpeedMoto, Desert Truss, VaporBlue, Savoca Construction, Sidi Boots and All out Graphics. I'd also like to thank Helmet Harbor for supporting the team with great pricing.
Brian Kirkland #34
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Sunday morning rolled around and it was still raining. I decided to
throw on the Michelin Power Sport tires I had bought the day before, and
got to doing that right away. Luckily, the guys at Michelin and in our
pits were good enough, that I got my tires mounted in time for the 1
morning practice. I didn't want the first time I rode on a race track in
the rain to be during a race. The session started sketchy as I about
high sided on the first turn on the going out lap. It got so sideways
that I was standing up on the pegs and my outside foot was not on the
peg anymore...I was at full lock on the bars, but somehow managed to
keep it upright. Ok...smoother. The rest of the session was a blast! It
took me a few laps to get comfortable, but eventually I was able to pass
everyone I saw, including Tom :-p With about 2 laps to go in the
session, I came up on a much slower rider at the end of the front
straight. I decided to pass him on the inside on the brakes.
Unfortunately, he started toward the apex VERY early and pushed me
inside more which took me right over a huge tar strip in the asphalt.
Since I was on the brakes at the time, the front end immediately tucked
and I found myself sliding on the wet ground. I landed on my left side,
but immediately slid over to my back so my back protector would take the
brunt. I then slid for over 50 yards watching my bike all the time...it
was sliding on it's left side. I remember thinking "don't flip, don't
flip, don't flip" as I watched my bike slide into the dirt/mud. Luckily,
my bike slid peacefully to a stop as did I. I hadn't hurt myself at all,
and after looking over my bike I found NO damage!! The clip-ons and
levers weren't even scratched up bad! The sliders had done their job
perfectly. After a little bath to get the mud out of the radiator and
engine, my bike was ready to go. On the bad side, I had bought a brand
new set of leathers on Thursday before the races (
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