Count down until my 1st race weekend

[BigTuna]

Over the past two summers I have done well over 20 track days...so it is time to start racing, sooooo......

Next Friday I am go to NH and taking a class with www.penguinracing.com and finally getting my race license. Then on noon next Saturday @ New Hampshire International Raceway I will be entering my rookie race. I will probably enter 2 or 3 more races over the course of the weekend.

My bodywork is back at my buddy's shop getting repaired from a few crashes last summer. I also have to paint yellow number plates because I will be an amatuer.

www.weather.com is calling for showers, so I order some rain tires (just incase).......
Lets Race :-)

Jim

[Teddydog1]

Hey Jim, you'll have a blast! Rain tires and tire warmers will see you miles ahead of everyone else, and much more confident in the corners. It rained on us pretty heavily on Friday, but raceday Sat. was pretty good. John turned in some good times in the rookie race in the high 'teens. I'm only about 20 seconds behind him!:pissed: :bangwall: :D
The classic series kicks off 21-23 this month, so I'll see what the old RD can do. Besides, I didn't want to really push with a rented bike!

[AV8OR]

good luck Jim....KICK ASS!!!!!

[mike71]

Good Luck ;)

I think you'll love it :D

[gecko]

Originally posted by Teddydog1
It rained on us pretty heavily on Friday, but raceday Sat. was pretty good. John turned in some good times in the rookie race in the high 'teens. I'm only about 20 seconds behind him!:pissed: :bangwall: :D
The classic series kicks off 21-23 this month, so I'll see what the old RD can do. Besides, I didn't want to really push with a rented bike!
Hey Gerrit~

Yeah, we could have done without the rain for Friday's class. Thank goodness, however, mother nature decided to take a break for the rookie and regular races on Saturday! What a blast that was . . . I'm hooked!

I hope to see you up at Loudon on some race weekends . . . hey, are you heading up to Loudon for Alex Merrell's track day on June 2nd? If not you should, its a great time!!! We will all be there (there's another one scheduled September 8th).

Good luck on the RD in the classic series . . . I know you'll kick some ass! Keep us posted on how it goes either by posting here or shoot me an email and let me know how you are doing. Good luck!

John

[clarkie49]

Rock On Jim!

we will be there Sat/Sun in the garage next to Dunlop, if you need any help at all come see me.

cheers

Aaron

[BigTuna]

Clarkie

John (Gecko) and I will stop by and say hello. I will be racing my 600RR, not my Mille...I am so stoked to get up there.....

[Aprilia94]

Hey man, welcome to the racing fold. Good luck, don't forget to have fun. Don't be afraid to ask questions, we've all been there before.

[falco75]

You sound just like me , I just did my first race two week ago. One thing Is for sure , Trackdays are not racing but there the best experiance you can get up to racing. You will do fine.Your first start and your first entrance in turn one is something you will never forget.

[BigTuna]

i will be leaving the Mille home this weekend...here is my race prepped 600RR
i just got the bodywork painted at my buddy's auto shop...I just need some decals now :-)

[BigTuna]

another

[BigTuna]

last shot

[lunchbox]

Good luck man! I'll be waiting for a write up on monday.

[Teddydog1]

Damn, Jim, that bike looks sweet! You'll definitely kick ass this weekend. Saw some good wrecks into turn three, so be careful dammit!
I'll be doing the Classic series on 21-23, and then in June on the 12-13 I'll be doing some CCS racing, and then the Vintage Championships on Monday the 14th. Hopefully I can get up there for a few LRRS days in between the vintage stuff, just depends a lot on the work schedule.
The Seacoast crew had a sweet Mille Factory as well as the Green Goblin, worth checking out. Good luck, dude!

[BigTuna]

Originally posted by Teddydog1
Damn, Jim, that bike looks sweet! You'll definitely kick ass this weekend. Saw some good wrecks into turn three, so be careful dammit!
Good luck, dude!

You haven't seen anything until you have seen me late brake into three.....go into the tire wall, do a flip over the bar and land ass down square in the middle of a tire...best of allmy bike leaned upright against the tires.....

[gecko]

Originally posted by BigTuna
Bla, bla, bla.....
Damn . . . that looks like a fast bike . . . .

No, no, no . . . not the red one on the lift . . . .

The WHITE bike to the left in the background!!! :D

[BigTuna]

Originally posted by gecko
Damn . . . that looks like a fast bike . . . .

No, no, no . . . not the red one on the lift . . . .

The WHITE bike to the left in the background!!! :D

Ummmm, do you mean the one that I stuck a potato into the headers of after you left? :angel:

[BigTuna]

These are the races I plan on doing this weekend

Saturday
Rookie Race
Race #2 - HW Supersport
Race #11 - MW Superbike

Sunday
Race #3 - GTU
Race #5 - HW Superbike
Race #8 - MW Grand Prix

[gecko]

Here's the races I'll be registering for:

Saturday
HW Supersport

Sunday
GTO
HW Superbike
Formula 40

[Scooter]

Great pictures! Good looking bike. Let us know how it goes. The Am 600 classes can be a little bit dicey. Sounds like you have quite a bit of track time under your belt so it wont be all that new.

Practice a few starts. These can make or break you.

Just out of curiousity- how come all of the HW races and not MW races?

Have a blast!

[BigTuna]

Originally posted by Scooter


Practice a few starts. These can make or break you.

Just out of curiousity- how come all of the HW races and not MW races?

Have a blast!

Yeah, I have never had to do starts, I am a little nervous about that.

I figured I would give a few HW races a shot because the winning times for the MW and HW are fairly similar. There are fewer riders (as you said the 600 class can be dicey) in the HW class, so I figure I should do pretty well in that class.....

[Scooter]

Yeah I figured you had a strategy to the HW/MW thing. Less riders is always a good thing. The 1k's will eat your lunch on launch, so take a hard look at the grid and come up with a gameplan. Im assuming that you are going to be at the rear of the grid starting late in the season. You know what riders will break early, go wide, have weird lines, arent aggressive, etc. Find a few holes in the pack and aim for them. You will have to play catch up and do some hard braking for T1. Dont be scared to swing out and outside pass in T1- just do it after the point where the pile up would be at (like the second half of the turn or something). You will know real quick if anything bad is going to happen.

Dont get discouraged if the big bikes pull away a little bit in the first lap- big motor will give that. Dont mentally give up! Put your head down, calm down, focus on what you have learned so far and consistency will have you beating on their back door in about 2 laps.

Have fun

[BigTuna]

Scooter

Thanks for the heads up and advice.

fortunately at the amatuer level any liquid cooled inline 4 cannot be not greater than 775cc in the Heavy Weight Class....so most of the bikes in the HW are either gixxer 750, 999cc v-twins and 600s. I should be able to hold my own at loudon (fingers crossed). The front straight is short...the track is about (not exactly sure) 1.5 miles 12 turns... well suitedfor 600s

[Scooter]

Duh! Thats right! :bangwall:

I always get my classes mixed up. Damn they just need to stick to numbers. I hear Heavyweight and start thinking liter bikes. My bad- yeah- that would be a good class to be in. I always do this. I cant tell you how many times I have signed up for the MW class thinking that "Middle" means 750. :rolleyes:

I can never remember which one is which on GTU/GTO either. OK, promptly stop taking my advise or you will be doing some silly 2 hour endurance race made only for light twins or something. :D

Damn rules......

OK, so watch out for the twins!! And those new Gix750's aint no joke, either.

[Jet City Racer]

<Dont be scared to swing out and outside pass in T1- just do it after the point where the pile up would be at (like the second half of the turn or something). You will know real quick if anything bad is going to happen.>

Please don't go for broke your first time out. You will be surprised how much faster you go when it's for wood. I went 10 seconds a lap faster my first race than I did the day before.

Ride smart, watch the inside for pileups and stay within your limits until you are comfortable with the pace. Then get into YOUR rhythm and take it from there. Sure you are racing other bikes, but concentrate on the track and what you are doing. The other riders are just obsticles you have to overcome.

Good Luck and HAVE FUN!!!