What a great day at the Beav! As always, it was great to see everyone – Clem, KCM, Lifttruck, Pat, Ian, Ryan, RJ, Pip, Scott, and probably some others I’m missing. It was the day before a WERA race so the fast guys crawled out of the woodwork for this one. I saw Sam Gaige’s trailer when I pulled in so I knew he’d be out there but during one of the early sessions I got passed by a guy with “Jensen” written on the back of his leathers. It was fast guy and current Beaver Run lap record holder ( 56.871) Robert Jensen. Not to mention a bunch of other fast riders that I’ve never heard of.
Did I mention how nice the weather was? It just doesn’t get any better than that. Sunny, low humidity, high of maybe 80 degrees. The forecast was pretty solid the whole time. I believe this was only the second track day all year where the weather was a slam dunk and I never worried about it.
I got geared up, did the riders meeting thing and then rolled down pit lane. I was the only guy waiting to go out when the light went green. I took a couple laps to get the tires warmed up and then started to pick up the pace. I had one Mid-Ohio day and one BVR day on my rear tire and it seemed to be sliding around a fair amount. My fastest lap for the first session was a 1:07.15 which was good for me for knocking the morning rust off. I can’t remember if I got to follow Clem at all that session, but we had a great time going back and forth pretty much all day. He gave me some pointers later in the day that helped me drop some time – Thanks Charlie!
The second session started the same way, I pulled up to the green light alone and made some open track laps but then I got into some traffic. Gaige passed me on the outside of turn #6 and then again going into #10 a few laps later.
I got behind a couple of guys on liter bikes that gave me fits for a couple sessions before I believe they dropped down to the Intermediate class. I set the guy on the ZX 10 up for pass going into turn #4 and spun the rear enough that I got flicked up and off the seat. That was enough to convince me it was time for a new rear tire. My fastest lap that session was a 1:06.27, my previous fastest lap at Beaver was a 1:06.62 so mission accomplished for the day.
In between sessions I took my spare rear wheel and a new Dunlop 208 GP to the tire vendor to have the tire changed. I still had the old 208 GP on the rim that I turned into a slick. Clem was checking it out and told me I should run the rear which he thought was a slick. I don’t think he believed me at first when I told him it was a worn out 208 and then I showed him where you could see a hint of where the tread had been. The tire guy got a kick out of that tire as well.
It was pretty cool to watch him change a tire on that Coats machine – I need me one of them! He also balanced the tire on a static balancer in about 1/10th of the time it takes me to do one. KCM pulled up on his T-Max while I was getting my tire changed. He asked the guy if he had anything for the T-Max and he said not with him, but apparently they make a Diablo in the right size. I’m guessing that’s what Ken will be running next.
I didn’t have time to change my rear wheel before the next session so I’d have to run my beat rear tire for one more. I believe this was the session that Charlie followed me out and I put in some good laps until I got behind the same dude on the ZX 10. I could not get past him and Charlie finally got tired of waiting, passed me, muscled him out of the way, and checked out. It took me another lap or two to finally get by him. My best lap of the session was a 1:06.34.
Unfortunately, I learned at lunch that RJ had low-sided in #10. The good news was that he was OK, but his bike was not rideable so he was done for the day. That sucked for RJ, but it could have been a lot worse. I changed my rear wheel so I’d have a fresh rear tire for the second half of the day.
The next session was fairly uneventful. The new rear felt noticeably better. I did have a guy check me up really hard going into #1 and I had the rear wheel moving all over the place while I was on the brakes to keep from hitting him. I followed him through the next few turns and tried to get a run on him going down the hill to #8. I didn’t get the pass made and pulled in behind him to follow him through #9 and possibly get him on the brakes going into #10. I should have known better as he checked up like mad for #9 and I had to go around the outside of him. I wasn’t planning on that, and he didn’t leave me a lot of room, but it worked out fine. I ran a 1:06.00 which was great, but wouldn’t it be nice to break into the 1:05’s? Charlie had followed me the whole session and said he thought I could make up some time in #2-#3 and into #9.
The next session was my best of the day. I tried to take Charlie’s advice and carry some more speed through turns #2 and #3. Although I didn’t necessarily “feel” like I was going a lot faster, at one point I did notice that my motor was revving higher in that section so I believe I made some progress. I ran nine laps down into the 1:05’s with the lowest being a 1:05.77.
I only got down into the 1:05’s twice in the second to last session of the day, but I did get a 1:05.55 which was my fastest lap of the day and fastest lap ever at Beaver. At one point I was following Clem when Jensen past me on the outside of turn #6 and then passed Clem on the outside of turn #8. I got past Clem on the front straight and Gaige passed me going into #1 – it was a bit fast out there! Toward the end of the session I was getting fatigued and pulled into the pits a lap early. I did not feel at all comfortable riding with those fast mofo’s unless I going as fast as I could go.
I went out for the last session, ran some decent laps, and pulled in early. The best I could do was a 1:06.36 as I was obviously spent. That was definitely one of my favorite track days of the year!
Pat and I were talking with the Apex-to-Apex guys after the day was over and found out that they will be running all of the remaining track days at Mid-Ohio this year. If yesterday was any indication, they run a pretty good track day!
5's, damn I'm slow 