Category: Racing

Three races at Summit Point this past weekend and each one of them were perfect.
After helping young Benjamin Smith with his suspension, he proceeding to then beat me in Thunderbike. I couldn’t have been happier finishing 2nd place to him. The two of us were able to put in a bunch of solid laps in the 1:19 range which is something I never thought I’d see.
The stacked 15 rider grid on the Ultralight Superbike grid had me assuming a 10th place was in store. 8 riders in the 1:19 lap times. Tommy Wilson and I went at it for the top spot. A slight bobble by him on the last lap allowed me to take the win, second of my racing life.
ULSBK Race Video ->https://youtu.be/4qBKfzoGcjg Check out B.j. Finnerty at the very end smile emoticon
The ASRA 3 hour Team Challenge was the highlight of the weekend. B.j. Finnerty and I were out to win and to close in for the championship. The race went absolutely perfect as my teammate did exactly what he needed to do, go fast for 49 laps. After my 45 laps and our flawlessly performed one pit stop, we would take the win by 14 seconds. This gave us our first win of the season and closing the points gap to 8.
Big thanks to Michael Faillace at MDM for the support. He refreshed the front end on the Team Challenge machine and it was spot on. That combined with the perfect Pirelli tires (SC2) allowing Will and I to put in 94 flawless laps. I was able to put in my fastest lap (and fastest of the GTL class, 1:21.0) on lap 90.
Congrats to Benjamin Loyle and Todd Alberico on their 3rd place finish in the Team Challenge.
Thank you to the entire LWT Racer crew, CCS Staff, MARRC Corner Workers, and Katie Overton for capturing the moments in second to non quality.

Hottest weekend of the year thus far and it made everyone hurt. Saturday was mostly uneventful as I only had one race which I finished 4th place in just beating Tommy to the line. The main event would be the Team Challenge on Sunday.

Will and I had a 1 stop strategy with myself doing the first hour or so with Will finishing it off. The heat would play a role and spoil this plan. I would start the race coming out of turn 1 in 2nd behind Mavros but I would pass him on the out side of turn 2. I held the lead for the first lap until Hanig on his Ducati came on by down the front straight. For the next 30 minutes Hanig and I would battle hard going back and forth countless times. After Hanig would make his first pit stop I realized I was not in good shape. My shoulders were tired, the air was hard to breath, but I had to last my stint. I pushed on and made it to the 50 minute mark before signaling to come in. We were the last team to make a pit stop putting us in a good position in class and over all. I realized I had pushed entirely way too hard and was exhausted. About 5 minutes after I got off the bike I started to feel better but that quickly took a turn for the worst. My entire body would succumb to a numbing sensation which would scare me quite a bit. Got a ride into the media center for the air conditioning but it wasn’t long in there that I realized that maybe some medical attention was needed. After arriving at the Medic Center it was very clear they had nothing there to help. I was having trouble putting 2 words together. Katie was kind enough to escort me to the ER where an IV was placed and I instantly felt better.

Will finished the race in the extreme heat getting us a 2nd place. We did not accomplish our 1 stop strategy but with Mavros getting a DNF we were right back in the points chase for the championship. Ben and Todd came in a close 3rd.

Missing from the photo…. Will is a bad dude.

Quick Replay. Car hit chicken cage, messed up bumper. Then turbo died and had to get rental.

Team Challenge – 3rd
GT Lights – 4th

Photo by: Ryan Nolan

Saturday – Rain, rain, rain, and more rain. All day. John was kind enough to let me take his bike out to get some points. I went for a “Sunday Ride” and finished both races in last. Many riders opted out of the race so decent points were scored.

Sunday……. Dry….. First up was Thunderbike. The race went well. I got the holeshot and had a small battle for couple laps with Hoffman and Ben Smith. We would all settle into a line and finish that way. Nothing exciting but nothing too boring. Came out with a 3rd.

Ultralight Superbike would be the race. Another holeshot (altho Ben got a slightly better jump off the line) and was able to lead the first 5 laps until Mcglade made his way past me by going up the inside of turn 5. He barely squeezed on by. We would fight it out to the end. By the end I mean to the line, and to the line I mean we finished .001 from each other. I got him by a hair and from my perspective it looked like enough to celebrate. The first win and it felt good.

Thanks to the LWT Racer crew for emotional support and beer.
Thanks to Michael Faillace at Metric Devil Moto for the support this season and the Pirelli tires.

Can never say enough about Zoran at www.TWFRacing.com. He has helped me every step of the way. Gifting me with advice, knowledge, parts, and criticism. The bike was 100% perfect thanks to every bit of help he has provided.

Thanks to Katie Overton for capturing the race.

Photo by Katie Overton

Those who don’t race like to ask why I do this. I think one of the reasons why I love this sport so much is that it is never ever easy. Nothing is ever simple when you come to the race track and I’m not sure if I ever want it to be so simplistic that it gets boring. It’s not that I love chasing a set up, but at times I do love the challenge. So much goes into making a motorbike work just perfect around the road course. There is so much to experiment with, it’s almost endless. This weekend was another adventure with the bike and the competition. Two major changes to the sprint bike. The front end and different size rear tire. One would work out and the other not so much. The endurance front end was placed on the sprint bike and it was absolutely perfect from the get go. I love everything about this front end. The back end got a smaller tire. Went from the 180/60 Pirelli (which is 190+ size) to the smaller 180/55. I was chasing set up with the back end all weekend. While it was very frustrating, it was also challenging and very informative. Dealing with chatter and unsettled rear under acceleration. I knew to be up front I would have to best my personal record sprint time by 2.5 seconds. While this was not accomplished I was able to set a personal best by 1 second turning a 1:20.724. The grids were 20+ which is outstanding. My shoulder injury from Blackhawk Farms did not really come into play while riding which was a huge relief. I was very happy about turning 1:20.XXX lap times but not so much about the gap from myself to the winner which was much smaller at NJMP.

ASRA Thunderbike – 8th
Thunderbke – 5th
Ultralight SBK – 6th

Photos by Ben Loyle

In our lives we will always run into two kinds of people. Those who move forward by over coming obstacles and those are stranded staring at road blocks. We have winners and losers, professors and students, and optimists and complainers (obviously this list can go on and on). With racing it is so easy to be one or the other. There are some I want to be and some I don’t want to be. Looking back at some earlier posts and thinking about comments or even how I’ve acted at the race track, there is one of those types of people I really don’t want to be. I don’t want to be a complainer. There is absolutely no reason to use an excuse for any short comings. It’s easy to complain, it’s harder to do something about it. If you always look at the grand scheme of things, there is no room for complaining. We are at the race track so that means it could be worse. With racing, it couldn’t be any easier to complain. My bike is slow, my suspension is off, my tires are shot, he raced dirty so I lost, etc. I am by no means an optimist so this all sounds a bit off for me to even be saying. So far this season there have been a few road blocks caused by my own misjudgment or being under prepared. Neither of those sit well.

Round #3 of the ASRA Team Challenge took us out to Blackhawk Farms Raceway in South Beloit, IL. We head out Friday morning and after the long 13 hour drive we arrive at the track around 8pm. We woke up in the morning to rain. I went out and did 2 laps on the wet tarmac just to know the lay out. Will went out next session for the entire session as track was started to dry out. After lunch the sun was out and I got 1 good dry practice session. Track was pretty easy to learn. Just before the Team Challenge was set to start it began to rain. The precipitation would cease before the start of the race. Everyone was out there on slicks so you can guess what was going to happen. First lap our competition, Ducati Depot, would crash going into turn 1. The race would restart with original grid positions. I played it safe for a few laps as the track was still very damp. Of course another red flag. Another team from outr class went down sending their bike into the bushes. This restart went better and no immediate crashes. As the track started to become completely dry in areas I was able to start putting in some decent laps. I got on the pit board that I had turned a 1:20 which is a decent time. So my brain says maybe it’s time to put in some flying laps and the instant I want to push the rear tire gives way. Coming around turn 2 the rear tire hits a damp patch and loses traction. It sends me into a high side which I save but have to go into the grass which is still soaking wet. The bike’s rear end swings around causing me to go down. I am sliding on my back watching the bike tumble. Get up, run to the bike, stand it up. There isn’t much damage other than the gas tank. Sadly, the gas tank mounts have broken off which stopped us from getting back into the race. If it weren’t for the gas tank mounts, we would have only needed to put on a new clutch lever and remount the tail section. We now know for next time to have the spare bike unloaded and ready to be stripped of it’s parts. I am deeply sorry for ruining the race for my teammate Will. We will be back and more prepared at Road America.

We are now 22 points down from Mavros/Starnes in the ASRA Team Challenge championship. This is racing and anything can and will happen.

There is one giant issue when settings goals and that is if you fail to reach them you leave the track feeling less accomplished. For awhile with racing I’ve never tried to set goals and just enjoy every second of the weekend no matter what happens. Whether that be bike set up, bike failure, bad lap times, or unable to fully partake in the drinking games in the evening. Instead this weekend goals were set and not met. Those were to hit a 1:30 lap time and get the new bike suspension closer to what I want.

The weekend started off Friday night arriving at New Jersey Motorsports Park around 8:30. John was kind enough to paint the new bike’s race skins so those needed mounted along with a some new throttle cables. Practice went decent but had some front end chatter. Both front and rear Pirelli tires are from the Roebling Road Team Challenge race and also endurance practice and sprint races at Carolina so they are beyond done. Mike at Metric Devil Motor slapped on a new SC2 front slick before race #1 but for some dumb reason I decided to stick with the old rear tire. Bumped up the pressure on the front tire from 32 to 35 psi and front chatter went away. First race was Thunderbike. Continuing my hole shot trend, grabbed it and lead the first couple laps before young gun Ben Smith and veteran Bart DeFrancesco would take the lead from me. Crossed the line in 3rd not far behind those two. Front end still not feeling the way I want it but the front tire looked perfect so decided not to touch a thing. Rear traction was an issue but hard to complain when I’m trying to get every last lap out of this thing. If you are going for race wins, you can’t cheap out on buying tires. My decision to cheap out and stick with the current rear rubber would haunt me.

Race 2 would be UL Superbike. Another hole shot and again lead the first couple laps before Ben Smith would get by me coming into Turn 1. Sadly the same lap he would tuck the front end and crash out of the race. Brian McGlade would then get by me with 2 laps to go and that is how we would finish. Bart was right next to me at the line so that 2nd place could have easily been a 3rd place.

Next we had ASRA qualifying. This basically turned into a mini race between George, Rapple and I. I think we may have forgot it was qualifying but non the less it was fun. I qualified 3rd for the ASRA Thunderbike race.

From Road Racing World

Next out were the ASRA ThunderBike competitors and the Suzuki SV 650 riders were out in force at NJMP. At the drop of the green flag it was a five-bike battle, with ASRA Team Challenge racer Sam Wiest in the lead followed by George Demetropolis, Bart DeFrancesco, Brian Rapple and Adrian Hackett. While Wiest held the point for the first four laps, the battle for second eventually pushed DeFrancesco to the front for the next three laps but when the checkered flag flew, it was first time ASRA winner Brian Rapple with the victory. The margin for Rapple over runner-up Adrian Hackett was a scant 0.072 seconds followed by DeFrancesco in third, Wiest in fourth and Demetropolis rounding out the top 5 just 0.903 seconds behind the winner.

Round two of the ASRA Team Challenge is here. Again the plan is to come out with a podium spot all while finishing the race. But first we have to make it through the other festivities. The weekend started on Thursday meeting John at his church to make the haul down to Kershaw, South Carolina. I opted out of Friday practice because you know, we’re talking about practice? I did some light work on the Team Challenge machine and the Superbike. Saturday morning would be my first session on the new superbike. While the motor was very strong the suspension was absolutely horrible. By far the worst set up Sv650 I had ever ridden. Made some drastic changes in the forks and it did help in P2 but it was still very far off. I raced the bike as is anyway. In both Ultralight Superbike and Thunderbike I nabbed the hole shot but with the bikes set up could not manage to run the pace. Finished 5th and 4th in those races. Days later I may have found out why the bike was so off, the preview owner or builder had installed lowering links.

Some Ultralight SBK action

The main focus was still the Team Challenge. Slapped some new Pirelli SC2 slicks and new Vesrah SRJL-XX brake pads on the endurance bike and Will went out for practice. Claimed the bike was perfect. So it’s time for the show.The grid was very light for the Team Challenge for our class, only 4 bikes. Team Mavros and Ducati Depot are in the show with their 1100 Ducati Hybrids so it was going to be a tough race to beat those guys. We fill the gas tank to the brim (6+ gallons) and head out for the race. I had not thrown a leg over the bike during the weekend until this point. During the warm up lap I felt something with the bike, something very very good. The motor was much stronger now then it was at Roebling. It was finally fully broken in and running silky smooth. The suspension was absolutely spot on. This is exactly how I wish the superbike would be. The flag dropped and once again my start was on point. I passed more than half the overall grid going into turn one exiting around 7th place (out of 20). Coming out of turn 5 onto the downhill straight Greg Melka on the Ducati passed me but when I saw him I knew I was ready to run his pace. The bike felt so unbelievable underneath me it almost felt easy to follow Greg. For a couple laps I was on his rear wheel doing 1:40 lap times which is over 3 seconds faster than my personal best at CMP. My best was a 1:40.701 which was the best lap time by any SV through the entire weekend. To make it feel even better (yea i’m gloating) this was done on pump 93 (the other top SV’s running MR12) with 6 gallons of gas in the tank.

We caught up to a middleweight machine and Greg manage to pass him and I got caught up. At this point I decided to back down the pace to a more acceptable level considering I still had to do 30 more laps. Around lap 22 I passed Greg back. But there’s a catch, he was sitting along the side of the track. This “pass” put us in the number one position. Around this time Seth Starnes had mounted the Mavros Ducati and was doing 2-3 seconds faster a lap than I was. I did 1:44’s for just about every single lap I was out there. There was a stretch of 15 or so laps where my right hand was very cramped and had to keep shaking it to help with the arm pump. It was a huge surprise that my lap times stayed as low as the 1:44’s considering those were my sprint times. I pitted in on lap 34. We had a near perfect pit stop and Will was on his way. Except for 1 or 2 laps he did 1:47’s for the remainder of the race. We crossed the line in second place. While it was great to get second place, it was basically handed to us with the DNF by Ducati Depot. We remain 2nd in points and Mavros extends his points lead by 5.

My teammate (Will Finnerty) and I made the decision late 2014 to compete in the entire 2015 ASRA Team Challenge series. The time has finally come to begin on this journey. First stop is Roebling Road Raceway which neither Will or I have ever been. So we made the trip down a day early to do a practice day. Along with Todd and Tony, we left Wednesday night to escape the snow. Arriving into beautiful Savannah on Thursday, we were greeted with amazing 80 degree weather. In 18 short hours we were at the race track Friday morning but not greeted by 80 degree weather. It was low 30’s like we had never left the north east. The cold winter had killed my battery so we had to jump the bike from Tony’s truck battery each session. Luckily Tony owns a Buell and having an extra source of juice to power up those thundering beast is a must. Eventually a new battery was purchased as we cannot have a dead battery for the Team Challenge.

Weather was looking up for Saturday and with the addition of Chai, Ben, and some other friends it was bound to be a good day. After noon it was 65 and sunny. First sprint up on the chopping block was Ultralight Superbike. This is always one of the best races and it started off great. First 4 laps was quite the battle and then the rear tire kept slipping. I knew the tire was in bad shape but couldn’t have been that bad. I decided to back off so I slipped from battling for 1st place back to 7th. Came back in and checked pressure…. yea.. I pulled the ultimate novice move. Didn’t check rear tire pressure. It was sitting at 45psi, about 23lbs too high. Time for redemption in Thunderbike. Horrible start and then it happened. I couldn’t downshift coming into turn 1. I was stuck in 6th gear and limped it through the race. I managed to catch 3rd place but crossed the line in 5th with 4th and 3rd within half a second.

The sprints weren’t the purpose of this weekend, it was all about the team challenge. So now I had to get to work sorting the clutch issue. Ripped the side cover off, took the plates, lathered them in oil, put them back in, and that pretty much seemed to fix the issue. Only question is why did it stop disengaging and would it make it through the team challenge race.

Bike makes it through practice no issues. So now it’s time for the show, 2 hour team challenge race. One of my main concerns before the race started was a slight issue with the overflow vent with the gas tank. It this came into play right away. I got a good start and passed quite a few middleweight machines. I had a few fantastic laps battling with Tommy Wilson who was riding an R6. I passed him around outside of turn 8 and felt his front wheel try to take my leg off. At this point I started to pay attention to the overflow. The long hose and over flow can quickly got filled up. I had to put in early on lap 13. We crimped the hose and sent Will on his way. Will was putting in some amazing laps and got us back in contention. We had lost 2 laps on the early pit stop. Then with absolute perfect timing as Will was pitting in the race got a red flag. This saved us from having to do another pit stop. 2nd row for the restart, I just put my head down and tried to do solid laps till the end and hope for a 3rd place. Turns out that red flag wasn’t the only lucky event to take place. The class leading Ducati ran into some mechanical issues and had to fall out of the race around lap 38. I got the good news that we had finished in 2nd. This was a big step in the right direction compared to last years disastrous first round at CMP. Congrats to my good friends Ben and Todd finishing third and Mike coming in 4th. Bike needs some adjustments but will be ready for CMP in a month.