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Race report from WERA race at VIR

Posted by Dave from ChickenHawk Racing

Thursday, 30 April 2009

Words by David Podalsky

Boxing and Motorcycle Racing have a few things in common. Right before you start Round 1/Race 1 you’re anxious waiting for the bell to ring and for things to get started. Starting Round 2/Race 2 is much different as you’ve had a chance to mix it up with your competitor(s) and know what you need to work on.

This is how I feel as we head into the next round of the WERA Mid-Atlantic series after racing at the season opener at Virginia Int’l Raceway.

I had 9 months since I turned a wheel in anger; last season I broke my ankle in June and somehow got adult Mononucleosis…..it was a fun summer.

Now armed with a new Ducati 1198S and on new Michelin rubber, the Power One line, we drove down to VIR with some sense of trepidation.

I never like to see lap times the first day of practice as getting comfortable and confident are the goals. Seeing less than desirable lap times doesn’t help me so I avoid using a lap timer the whole first day.

First impression was that the bike was fast; almost too powerful. I was getting the front end light with the bike trying to either wheelie or swap the bars as I got on the gas in the many esses that VIR has. I wasn’t getting confident or comfortable nearly as quickly as I was hoping.

The track was cold; the temps were in the high 30’s during the morning warm up and I skipped the first session on both days trying to stay warm in my hat and gloves. Temperatures came up to a reasonable mid 40’s for the second session and after finally working the tires enough to get them flexing and working they began to give me confidence. My braking got later and the corner entry speeds started to get faster as I began to trust the front Michelin.

I’d only raced at VIR once before and was still coming to terms with how to get through the course quickly. I knew I was so far off in terms of riding the course hard and pushing the bike that I made zero changes to the suspension or gearing so I could just concentrate on riding.

We did start to mess with the traction control a bit, which was interesting. The system is very smooth and not disruptive; what I mean is if the setting is on the most protective/invasive mode it will engage in every turn. When you get on the gas it is not abrupt it is just taking away power very seamlessly. It sort of feels like you are coming off the corner at 4,000 RPM instead of 6,000 RPM and there is no big torque available. As you get the bike on the fat part of the tire, it reduces the systems influence and it feels as if the motor has spun up to a higher RPM where the power comes on.

We started at the highest level and kept reducing it (there are 8 levels) until we were at level 3, but even then the system would reduce power coming off the corner hurting my drive. For a street bike the system is awesome and really smooth but since we were racing we turned the system off so I could just concentrate on getting the laps times down.

The grid had a lot of riders that I did not know and I figured I would just have to race my race. The Superbike race was first and we got a decent start but a little wheelie hurt me a bit getting to turn one. I folded in and began to chase the lead group. This was probably the first time I got along with VIR and started to enjoy racing it even though everyone I know seems to love it.

I found the easiest place for me to over-take was under braking at the end of the straight and I got by one rider each lap for the next 3 laps. I was a lonely 4th and could see 3rd place but couldn’t make up any time. The bike was hard to hustle through the slow esses before the bridge and the fast esses as you go up the hill. A few sections of the track had dips or waves in them and each time I would begin to accelerate hard the bike would want to wheelie or give the bars a quick swap as I stood the bike up.

I started to get over the front of the bike and short-shift to make it go away, but the short shifting was not helping me go any faster.

In the end I took 4th with 1st and 2nd going to two guys on Triumph 675s and third to another Ducati. Even though I have so much more power, VIR rewarded their light weight and ability to handle well through the twisties. It didn’t help that I couldn’t make use of my power advantage since the front end kept getting light.

The next race was the Superstock race and this one was a bit more exciting. We started the race behind a middleweight Superbike race and it wasn’t long till the Twins caught the slower 600 riders and both classes raced mixed together.

I mixed it up a bit with a guy on an SV1000 till he threw it away in front of me on top of the hill while trying to hold off another competitor on a Ducati. Both of us were working hard to get past some of the middleweight racers at that point as well.

Eventually I ended up third. Not a bad result, but I was still about 2 seconds off where I should be. Looking at the times of some of the 4 cylinder guys I could run with last year let me know that I need to pick-up the pace before the next race.

Two weeks to Summit Point. Check in for an update soon!!

Thanks to our Sponsors: Chicken Hawk Racing, Ducati NA, Michelin, Seacoast Sport Cycle, MarkBilt, Catalyst Bodies, Heroic Leathers, Speedy Moto, Ferodo, Shoei, Sidi Boots, DucShop, Ohlins.

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