Joined Jun 2007
2K Posts | 0+
i had the pleasure this weekend to ride with NESBA at BeaveRun in Wampum, PA. I've been to Beaver before, its a nice fast track and probably the closest to me as well.
In case you weren't in Western PA this weekend, it was crazy hot. Like boy band hot. mid-90's with a healthy dose of humidity. this meant the morning sessions weren't too bad, grip was easy to get as the track was pretty warm, which is good because my Dunlop 208GPAs are jusssst about done for, and take forever to heat up. It was so hot that day i easily drank a gallon of water on the track, and another half gallon when i got home...and was still dehydrated yesterday. After each session i would basically just peal my leathers off and wring out my shirt.
I'm usually pretty garbage in the morning, even more so for the first few laps of those sessions. These Dunflops have me paranoid about warming tires up, since they slip and slide all over the place. the day was plagued with crashes and red flags from them. I ride intermediate, so we go second. Advanced started the day off by dropping oil on the track before the first lap was even done. There goes that session. Next is the "I" group, and we get out there and get into about our 3rd lap...just as I'm starting to really give it my all, I'm chasing down what I think was a GSXR on the back straight when he goes into just about the worse tank slapper I've ever seen.
I'm sure you all have seen the YouTube video of the guy on an older GP bike hit the tankslapper where he comes off the bike, holds on, and is able to get back on again and save it....this was kinda like that....except he didn't save it. He went over the front of the handlebars, and luckily didn't get hit by the bike as they slid down the track. That session is over.
B group as similar problems, and we'd continue to see people drop over the day, usually because of cold tires. Which brings me to my only real grief with the day. I think of myself as a pretty quick rider, but like I said, I'm garbage until the track and my tires get heated up. I don't have tire warmers...I really want to get some, because I'm really missing out on track time because of it. So that being said, in these early laps, I'm getting passed by all sorts of idiots (not all of them good passes). I get the point of people wanting to make their way through traffic...but for instance, if i'm already up the *** of the control rider....is there really a point in passing me? you're not going to go anywhere any faster, and your likely to cause a wreak.
ok, rant off.
after lunch i had a good time chasing down a couple control riders and some other guys on the track. Of note, there was GSXR 1000 that had an amazing paintjob that I always found myself behind and chasing.
It would always be the case he'd pass me on the 2nd or 3rd lap while I was warming up, and then I'd spend the rest of the session looking for a clean pass. Over all track times between him and I were pretty close I'd imagine, I definitely had him in the corners, but man....did that thing pull on me in the straights. A couple times I was close enough to get a draught, and even then it was a snails crawl catching up to him. good fun, he said he'd have videos of it posted soon, so hopefully i can post them up.
the day got topped off when I was leaving the track, and one of the control riders comes out and gives me a waive before i leave, "hey you looked really good out there. good body position, good speed, work on your consistency and you'll be in for a bump to advanced". That put a big smile on my face since I've only been to Beaver once before I'm still getting myself sorted out there.
I've noticed big improvements since my last time there, especially on my exiting the last turn "the carousel". There's still room for improvement, I've got that lap-timer in the mail, it'll be cool to be able to set some actual benchmarks and see how the improvement goes.
so all in all, a good weekend. thought i'd share :cheers
-:banana
In case you weren't in Western PA this weekend, it was crazy hot. Like boy band hot. mid-90's with a healthy dose of humidity. this meant the morning sessions weren't too bad, grip was easy to get as the track was pretty warm, which is good because my Dunlop 208GPAs are jusssst about done for, and take forever to heat up. It was so hot that day i easily drank a gallon of water on the track, and another half gallon when i got home...and was still dehydrated yesterday. After each session i would basically just peal my leathers off and wring out my shirt.
I'm usually pretty garbage in the morning, even more so for the first few laps of those sessions. These Dunflops have me paranoid about warming tires up, since they slip and slide all over the place. the day was plagued with crashes and red flags from them. I ride intermediate, so we go second. Advanced started the day off by dropping oil on the track before the first lap was even done. There goes that session. Next is the "I" group, and we get out there and get into about our 3rd lap...just as I'm starting to really give it my all, I'm chasing down what I think was a GSXR on the back straight when he goes into just about the worse tank slapper I've ever seen.
I'm sure you all have seen the YouTube video of the guy on an older GP bike hit the tankslapper where he comes off the bike, holds on, and is able to get back on again and save it....this was kinda like that....except he didn't save it. He went over the front of the handlebars, and luckily didn't get hit by the bike as they slid down the track. That session is over.
B group as similar problems, and we'd continue to see people drop over the day, usually because of cold tires. Which brings me to my only real grief with the day. I think of myself as a pretty quick rider, but like I said, I'm garbage until the track and my tires get heated up. I don't have tire warmers...I really want to get some, because I'm really missing out on track time because of it. So that being said, in these early laps, I'm getting passed by all sorts of idiots (not all of them good passes). I get the point of people wanting to make their way through traffic...but for instance, if i'm already up the *** of the control rider....is there really a point in passing me? you're not going to go anywhere any faster, and your likely to cause a wreak.
ok, rant off.
after lunch i had a good time chasing down a couple control riders and some other guys on the track. Of note, there was GSXR 1000 that had an amazing paintjob that I always found myself behind and chasing.
It would always be the case he'd pass me on the 2nd or 3rd lap while I was warming up, and then I'd spend the rest of the session looking for a clean pass. Over all track times between him and I were pretty close I'd imagine, I definitely had him in the corners, but man....did that thing pull on me in the straights. A couple times I was close enough to get a draught, and even then it was a snails crawl catching up to him. good fun, he said he'd have videos of it posted soon, so hopefully i can post them up.
the day got topped off when I was leaving the track, and one of the control riders comes out and gives me a waive before i leave, "hey you looked really good out there. good body position, good speed, work on your consistency and you'll be in for a bump to advanced". That put a big smile on my face since I've only been to Beaver once before I'm still getting myself sorted out there.
I've noticed big improvements since my last time there, especially on my exiting the last turn "the carousel". There's still room for improvement, I've got that lap-timer in the mail, it'll be cool to be able to set some actual benchmarks and see how the improvement goes.
so all in all, a good weekend. thought i'd share :cheers
-:banana
