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WSMC Race 1: Willow Springs January
17-18 |
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Willow Springs is a deceptively difficult
nine-turn circuit aptly known as the “fastest track in the west”… we’ve
recorded 166mph on the front straight and 157mph in turn eight … all during
practice when we were still way off the pace!
We ventured to
southern California to this classic venue after our winter break to test our
skills and some new parts for our 1098 R. However, our weekend, as is
typical when experimenting with major changes, started out with some
challenges. First our tire
warmers decided to disappoint us.
Then our
quick-shifter cracked right in the beginning of our first race while we were
running in third place.
We scrambled to
install our spare lever just in time. We were entered in races #3, 5, 7 and 9
so we essentially had only a few minutes to refuel and warm up the tires
before the next race…for a total of 24 laps.
Overall, it was
a great experience for us as we worked out kinks in our equipment, got to
enjoy the laid-back atmosphere of WSMC racing and learned some new techniques
including turning while in a full “tuck”. The fierce winds that come with
triple-digit speeds in addition to the micro-climate of the desert threatened
to rip us off the bike if we even stuck out a knee. We even left with a
trophy (or two)!
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Battle of the Twins: 3rd Open Twins: 3rd Formula 40: 6th (DNF
due to mechanical) Open Superbike: 9th Fastest lap: 1:31.959, 97.9mph |
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WSMC Race 3: Willow Springs
March 14-15 |
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We were back
once again having missed the February round due to weather. Eric Wood from Woodcraft was very responsive to our
needs and supplied us with a new set of digital tire warmers which have since
worked flawlessly. Meanwhile, our friend Jeff Tigert had been cleaning up on
race wins and was leading the WSMC championship after three rounds! Tips from
Jeff (who is the current lap record holder in two classes) as well as Rich Oliver (who holds the lap record in 250 GP) helped us drop our
times by three seconds!
We were
privileged to have Shawn Higbee, just returning from a magnificent 5th
place showing in the Daytona 200, racing on a 1125cc Buell in
two of our races.
We used this race
weekend, along with a track day at Buttonwillow the weekend before, to form
our final tune-up prior to the AFM season kick-off next weekend. Stay tuned!
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Battle of the Twins: 4th
Open Twins: 6th Formula 40: 4th Open Superbike: 15th Fastest lap: 1:29.160, 100.9mph |
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Enjoy the ride! --Team JaS
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