7-15-07: WERA Regional @ Jennings GP, FL
By: Tony Pavilonis #554
Saturday:
We had the first practice group and this was my first time at Jennings with the new 750. While I didn't make any suspension adjustments, the bike felt very loose and squirrelly right off the bat. I came in and checked to see if my rear tire pressure was low and found that in fact it was 37/38 PSI hot when it should have been around 33-34 PSI hot which was causing my bike to slide around. I dropped some pressure and went out for second practice.
I came in and took another tire pressure, 37 PSI hot again. WTF? No races on Saturday so not much I could do besides scratch my head and wonder what was going on and try to fix it for Sunday's races.
Sunday:
I skipped the first practice session in an attempt to save my tires, I made the mistake of trying to make my set of tires from Road Atlanta last the entire Jennings weekend in 100* heat.
I went out for second practice with some experimental tire pressures and they didn't work too well. I still had 37/38 PSI hot when I came in and it was still sliding.
Race #1 / A Superstock:
I grid up between #789 Chris Vanover on his super trick 2007 GSX-R 1000 and #155 Scott " The Lumber Jack" Unger on his R6, two fast dudes who happen to also be good friends of mine.
Green Flag waves and we drag race to T1.
I went into T1 in 2nd but was quickly passed by Andy on his R1 # 998.
I had a big 100 mph+ slide exiting T 14 ( last turn leading onto the straight away ) that sent me out of my seat and over the bars.
Somehow I saved it and kept me and the bike on the track.
After that, I started sliding all over the place and spinning up on almost every exit even more and before I knew it, I was starting to get passed one by one until I found myself back in 6th place where I finished.
Race #8: B Superstock (DNS)
I was sliding so bad in my first race that I opted to skip my 2nd race and try to save what was left of my tires for my last race of the day, Formula 1.
Race #12: Formula 1
On the grid with #789 Chris Vanover to my right and my Teammate #58 Michael Colom on my left.
Green Flag waves and we dash to T1 where I settle into 2nd behind #998 Andy Anderson. Shortly after that, Chris passes me on the outside going through T2 and while I try to stick with him, he gaps me after a couple laps. Somewhere around lap 5, I find myself in 3rd place and side by side with my Teammate at 140 mph+ going into T3 ....... I backed off and let him pass me as I was sure he would pass me eventually since I was off pace with my tires. Once past me, he slowly pulled away as I tried to just keep it on 2 wheels and salvage some points.
I held on to finish 4th.
I strayed from my routine of putting fresh tires on EVERY race weekend and I paid the price. I also found out rather quickly that I cannot get away with applying a gob of throttle on this 145+ hp bike like I could do with my old 115hp 636 ...... lessons learned.