CCS / Buttonwillow Raceway Park
04/04 - 04/05/98

Event Baseline Tech Info

Race Times / Results:

Saturday Practice / Race - Notes:

Steve & I left for Buttonwillow on Friday morning about 10:00a and arrived at 3:00p. It rained most of the way up there and a lot during the races on Saturday.

Championship Cup Series (CCS) runs their race weekend differently than any other organization we've raced with. Races are run on both Saturday and Sunday afternoons, with most races staging two waves of Experts and Amateurs. They also run a  30-minute endurance series for light, middle, and heavyweight classes for both Experts and Amateurs.

Steve and I took advantage of all the practice sessions that were available to us on Saturday in hopes of making up for our results at this track in March. We took the first session easy, getting re-aquainted with the track. It was still wet from the overnight rains and was threatening more rain at any minute.

We had pre-entered for the weekend's races in March, but we were still surprised to find ourselves gridded in the #1 and #2 spots for every race. The first race was Middleweight Super Bike. It started raining as we were getting ready to go out for our warm-up lap. Oh Boy!

I got a great start and headed into T1 with two guys in front of me. I was determined to stay in there but went in way too hot for the wet surface. I lost the rear end as I got on the gas coming out of the corner, and the front end started to tuck. I chopped the throttle and the bike caught in a classic high-side, pitching me up over the tank. Looking off the track for a soft place to land, I got back on the gas and the bike came back under me and started sliding off to the left. I eased back the throttle and it straightened out and I was off to T2. I wish I could say I pulled off the recovery through skill and instinct, but it was a helluva lot of luck that saved my butt! Steve was behind me and protected my six so no one would T-bone me as I was slipping and sliding around. Everyone else backed off, which let me keep my lead until I got it back under control.

The first couple of laps were pretty dicey trying to keep the front and rear under control. The race was red-flagged after the second lap and we had a full restart. Steve and I did well in the restart and finished third and fifth.

Our second race of the day was the Middleweight GT2 Endurance. It wasn't raining when we lined up for the start and the track was pretty dry. That changed by the time the green flag flew. It started raining on some parts of the track, while others stayed dry. It was tough figuring out where it was dry and where it was wet, as it was pretty dark out there. Standing water was obvious, but in some parts you couldn't tell if it was raining unless the rain was smacking you in the faceshield.

I was stuck to Steve's rear as we came up and over T13 on the third or fourth lap. He lost it going over the hill and headed straight out into the muck at full speed. Thirty-foot sprays of mud, water, and grass shot up from both sides as he worked to control and slow the bike. He made it back on the track after loosing only a few places. Two laps later I screwed up my line going into the esses on T14 and took to the mud myself. I also managed to keep it upright, got back on the track, and kept going.

Steve and I fared better than a lot of the others, though. We were both losing the front coming up and over the rise on T13 the whole race and decided to back it off a bit through there. On the lap after getting the mid-way crossed flags, the four Experts in the lead and two Amateurs all went out coming over the rise in the single biggest crash I've ever seen. No one was seriously injured, but a lot of bikes were trashed and the red flag came out.

By some screwy CCS rule, though, the four leaders that crashed out and caused the red flag were credited with first through fourth place finishes. How someone can come in on the crash truck and win the race makes no sense to me, nor to most of the other competitors who all protested to the race officials. The results stood, though, and that was that.

Sunday Practice / Race - Notes:

Sunday morning broke dry and cold. Steve and I grabbed the first practice session and Steve went out for the second one while I started changing tires. I stopped long enough to take some lap times of Steve. His best was a 2.07. Not bad for the second time at the track.

We didn't have anyone trackside to take lap times during the races, so we had to rely on guestimates. Steve usually runs two seconds faster during a race than in practice, and I was running about one-to-two seconds slower than Steve. He probably ran in the 2.05's, which put me in the 2.06 to 2.07 range.

Our only race on Sunday was the Middleweight GP. I had my worst start of the weekend when I caught the side of my boot on the foot peg and screwed up my concentration trying to get it back on the peg. I was in sixth place coming into T1, finishing eighth overall. Steve finished sixth. It was the only dry race for us the whole weekend.

Steve continues to provide excellent results and I redeemed my March showing with all top-ten finishes. The third and fifth finishes in the Middleweight Super Bike added a couple of plaques for the trophy case and I finished in the money with a tenth place finish in the Middleweight GT2 Endurance race.

The only real hang-up I had all weekend, besides sliding around on wet pavement and still not getting T2 figured out, was the transition from trail-braking into some of the turns and getting back on the gas. I need to work on letting the brakes off slower and slowly getting on the gas to allow the bike to remain stable. I had problems in T3 in particular.

Next round - WSMC action at Willow Springs April 17 - 19.

Bob.

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