AMA / Las Vegas Motor Speedway
09/30 - 10/03/98

Event Baseline Tech Info

Race Times / Results:

Notes:

Steve, fellow Willow racer and good friend Tony Silvera and I spent the first two sessions of the promoter practice on Thursday trying to find our way around the 18 turns of the Las Vegas track. The infield area was tough because it's completely flat and seeing the outside edge of the turns is impossible when you're cranked over. We talked about the race lines between sessions and pretty much had it figured out by the end of the day. Now we had to decide final gearing, brake markers, and of course, go faster.

Tony was already running his normal Willow Springs gearing on his GSX-R 600 of 15/47. Steve & I started out with our Sears Point gearing of 14/15. It was too short for the infield and tapped us out at redline on the front banking. We switched to 15/47 and ran with that for the weekend.

The air density was consistent with Willow, so we left the jetting alone. The suspension was fine. Most of the track was smooth except for the transitions on and off the banking. I just weighted the pegs through there and lived with the jolts.

My two toughest hurdles were carrying enough speed through the infield corners and shifting up through the gears coming through the sweepers to the banking. We run with a standard street shift pattern - leaned over so far to the left and shifting up I was sweating catching my toe on the track. The three fast sections of the track are fast! You have to get a screaming drive onto the banking sections or you get swallowed up.

Friday was the first day of the AMA event. We had four practice sessions and were clipping along at a decent pace, getting a little faster with each session. Steve started putting in better times than Tony & I, a trend that would continue through qualifying on Saturday.

Steve qualified 42nd for the 600 Supersport race with a 1.50.537 and 39th for the 750 SS race with a 1.48.847. I ran a 1.52.731 for 47th in 600 and 1.51.357 for 47th in the 750. Tony ran a 1.53.521 for 48th in the 600, a 1.53.158 for 52nd in the 750. The cut-off for both races was a max of 44 riders. Steve made the cut, Tony and I became instant pit crew.

Steve ran a good race in the 750 Supersport Saturday afternoon. The race was red-flagged on lap ten and had a six-lap restart. He finished in 29th place with a time of 1.49.826, only 7 seconds off of Nicky Hayden's winning time of 1.41.026. Steve put in another good effort in the 600 Supersport race Sunday morning, finishing 32nd. All the lap time printouts were gone by the time I made it up to the AMA tech booth so we don't have any 'official' lap times. Steve's on-board timer showed a best lap of 1.46.84. The best qualifying time for the 600 race was again Nicky Hayden's at 1.40.325.

Next round - WSMC action at Willow Springs October 16 - 18.

Bob.

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