Willow Springs, Ca
11/15/96 - 11/17/96

Event Baseline Tech Info

Event Action Plan / Goals:

Friday 11/15/96 (Fastrack Riders Practice):

Steve couldn't make it this weekend, so I recruited my friend Ellen Noonkester to help keep it together. Ellen is about 5'5", 110 lbs (if that), but she toted & lifted with the best of them.

It was COLD and WINDY all day today. The wind started strong in the morning & kept building all day long. As I decided last month, the wind is as much a part of Willow as anything else - if you let the wind beat you, you're done. Given the conditions, I was OK with my lap times.

I worked on the three overall goals listed above - consistent lines, loose on the bars, and throttle control coming out of the turns. It all started coming together by the end of the day. My per-session lap times became more consistent.

T1 plagued me all day, though. I was slowing down way too much & moved my braking point all over the place. I was looking for a way to keep the speed up, but it wasn't until the end of the day that I started playing w/a whole new entrance scheme. Instead of popping up from behind the bubble & braking, I stayed low, put a light touch on the brakes, set up to turn & dived right in. I'll play w/this more tomorrow, as I slowed down much earlier than normal to gauge how this would work. The wind probably played a big factor in this too - there were times I couldn't get out of 4th gear coming down the front straight.

Looked for some kind of brake point reference for T3 - didn't find one - gotta find one. I tend to brake too early, especially when I'm running in hot.

Saturday 11/16/96 (WSMC Practice):

Saturday practices are normally 15 to 20 minutes per session, but for some reason we ran 10 minute sessions thru lunch, a 20 minute session and a 6 minute session after lunch. Don't ask me!

There was no wind to speak of until about 1:30, and even then it was pretty mild. I kept working on being consistent w/my lines.

Kept playing w/the T1 tactics that I started yesterday, but am still slowing down too early for the turn. I am able to get on the gas earlier, and am driving thru & out of the turn faster. Just gotta hold that throttle open a little longer!

I set a new lap time in the second session - 1.39.29 - hot damn! One goal down, one to go (finish in the top 10 tomorrow). Tony Silvra set a personal best of 1.28.99 during the same session.

Ran out of gas in the fourth session - gotta check the tank after every session! At least I didn't have to be trucked back to the pit. As I came around T4, the power dropped off and I nursed it back to the hot pit lane before it was totally gone. I felt like an idiot paddling the bike down the pits. Tony came to my rescue and pushed me back to the truck - Thanks Tony!

Practice starts - got my butt kicked off the line each time. I improved quite a bit over last month, maintaining the revs & shifting cleanly. Need to work on the launch & driving WFO all the way thru T1.

Sunday 10/20/96 (WSMC Race Day):

DNS - DNR - DNF

I woke up late Saturday night with that 'Oh shit, I'm gonna throw up' feeling in my mouth. And I did ........ and did .......... and did ........ Then the fever came. On went the thermals, then the sweats. Then came the body aches. Then the 1000lbs gorilla sat on my chest. I was messed up.

The Pit Bullette-in-training graduated the next morning, with honors. Ellen packed up all the gear, climbed behind the wheel of the truck and drove us back home. She'd never driven anything that big before, but she handled it fine - at least she said she did - I was out of it until Tuesday. I was worried that I'd come down with pnemonia, but I think it was just a severe bout of stomach flu. I couldn't eat anything for a couple of days, even water was a chore.

I will be taking December & January off from racing, so I didn't end my rookie season the way I'd hoped. I did break into the 1.3x's, didn't finish in the top 10 (11th is my best so far), but kept it on two wheels all year.

I want to thank everybody who helped me out this year, starting with the Aramel Racing team: Mom & Dad (Bob & Jeanne), James & Crystal Laszko (my brother, ace video man, and his wife), Bruce Comey, Suzy Langley, Chad Dawson, and Valarie Wixen. Special, couldn't have done it without you thanks go to Steve Laszko and Ellen 'Pit Bullette' Noonkester.

Thanks to my sponsors - Data Management Systems, TFBnet, and Viewpoint Photography. It would have been tough to handle the financials of racing without their support.

And thanks to my fellow racers, especially Robert Berlind (#514) and Tony Silvra (#556), who gave advice, help, and companionship. Keep the rubber side down, guys!

What's up for next year? The plan for the F2 is 49-state cams, a jet kit, Yosh race pipe, and anything else that Curt at Jordan Engineering suggests. I'll have him check over the tranny and see if my upshift problems with third and sixth are me or the bike. My skill level probably isn't up to using all the extra power over the entire track, but now is a good time to get the work done, and what the hell - there's always the straightaway!

I'd also like to put together another bike for Steve and get him out there each month too. Steve will be signing up for his '97 WSMC license when I renew mine and at least get his corner working out of the way.

We'll attend a few more classes in '97. Jason Pridmore has started one up, and Keith Code's California Superbike School runs at Willow too. I'm also considering a few dates with CCS and / or AFM to get some experience at the other tracks in the western US.

I'll be out at Willow for the December or January races to get my corner working duties completed and help out with the Viewpoint Photography booth. My next race will be WSMC's event in February.

Bob.

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