Back up to Croix-en-Ternois, for the third ProClassic race weekend. This weekend included the first round of the ProClassic Endurance, which this year I had decided to give a miss, after my injury late last year.
I was planning however on doing both sets of other races, with the RG500 and the RD350.
The weekend started Friday afternoon with free practise, a part from gearing down the bikes, I had left the carburation as Nogaro, i.e. 240/250's on the RG and 370's on the RD.
The 350 was running OK, but one float valve was getting crap in it from the tank, luckily I had bought an inline filter, which I installed after the first practise, but I still needed to clean both pilot jets and float valves.
I really am finding that the bigger carbs give a fuller mid range, but the bike seems to rev out earlier, which is kind of strange.
I ran the 500 twice, and it was running too rich as expected, however I was reluctant to change the jets, as the weekend weather was supposed to be cooling down, especially on Sunday. I was using sprocket sizes 14/41 on the RG, which meant I was wheelying frequently, which was difficult to control, and I was a bit pissed off that I couldn't improve my times from last year. Neither on the 350 nor the 500. Probably should've down jetted. The 500 was still leaking some petroil mix, and I really am losing hope of finding a solution to this. At least it doesn't seem to affect the running of the bike.
I briefly had to fix a small water leak on the 350 (after running in the new piston), coming from the cylinder top water pipe. But other than that the bikes ran well all weekend.
The weather was mostly fine just with Saturday afternoon and evening where it rained, and a small amount of rain on Sunday morning - but more of that later.
I qualified for final B of the Superbikes, but as they run the classics with the superbikeB final, I got upgraded to the A final, which meant I started nearly at the back of the gid for Race 1. I got a reasonable start (I rev the nuts off it, and slide the clutch out - seems to work!), and managed to catch a couple of guys, mainly the slower GSXR 750s and a couple of CBR 600's, before the race was red flagged. I learnt later that someone had lost the brakes and piled straight through the gravel trap and hit the tyres (on an RC30). He was fortunately OK, but too shaken to race for the rest of the weekend. As we rode off the track it started to rain, and they postponed the race restart until later in the day as we were all on dry tyres.
In the meantime, the guy who had crashed was also supposed to take part in the endurance race, and low and behold his co-pilot came to ask me if I would take his place. They were racing a ZXR750 Kawasaki in the endurance, the following day, but if I wanted to participate I would need to qualify with a few laps on the ZXR 750. So I went straight out for the rest of qualifying for the endurance in the wet! First time on someone elses bike in the wet, with over 100 bhp at the rear wheel was interesting to say the least! Still I wobbled round, and got quicker towards the end of the session, as the track started to dry.
I just had time to put a couple more litres of fuel in the RG and I was out for a further 10 laps of Race 1. I started further up the grid, as I had passed some people and others had fallen (yes they let them restart!). The race was pretty good the bike was getting better a the ambient temperature was dropping. I still finished in a fairly lowly position, but I had a good race.
No sooner had I come in on the 500, than I was out for Race 1 of the classics (running with the slower Superbikes). In reality I think there was only 5 classic bikes and the rest of the grid was made up of superbikes, so despite my second row start I was quickly passed by all the big 4 strokes up towards the first hairpin. I spent the rest of the race playing catchup in the twisties, before getting blasted past on the long straight. I finished 2nd classic, and had a good time battling it out with a CBR 600.
Saturday evening we discussed strategy for the endurance and had a few beers. We had to borrow a fireman for fueling and we had no outside help other than Libby who would tell us what was happening on the track.
Sunday morning and the sky is blue, we have a new set of Michelin Power Cups on the bike, and we were ready to go. The race got off early at 9:20, I suited up after my co-pilot had started the race. Everything went to plan after he had run in the tyres (couple of slow laps), and he started to build speed, getting some reasonable lap times, he was pushing the 1:01 lap times, and consistently in the 1:02. My personal best previously had been a 1:03 on the RG, last year, so I was hoping I would let the team down on a strange bike. The first change over went well, I jumped on and went out, and tried to get up to speed.
The bike had an on board lap timer, so I was aware of my lap times gradually falling, until I was dipping into the occassional 1:02, but more consistently in the 1:03s. Still I was pretty pleased with completing my first 45 mins without any issues.
The second pit stop had some fuel spillage due to an over filled derrick, and a bike that was consuming less than expected, but Olivier was back out there in a flash. We were running in 9 place scratch out of 23 teams.
The bike is equipped with a catch tank which I was immediately worried had some of the pilt fuel in it, but as my co-pilot managed to complete his first few laps it didn't seem to be a problem :-)
We were still steadily running in 8th/9th position, until I took over for the 4th relay. Smooth change.
I never managed to get below 1:02, but I was getting more and more confident, until opening up at the begeinning of the straight, there was a tremendous noise. The bike still pulled and as it sounded like the exhaust I continued to the pit. We verified and most of the exhaust springs had dissappeared on the header, so it was seperating from the engine. The leaking header whilst noisy did not affect much the bike, so I went out again, only to be black flagged at my next time past. I had to do a STOP & GO because of speeding in the pit lane. arghhhhhhh!
We only had a few more laps to do and suddenly the heavens opened, initially the track stayed relatively dry, however it soon soaked up the water, and became slippery for the last 2 laps. I kept my cool, although a couple of others fell off, one team in front of us. So in the end we came across the line 7th Superbike team.
Congratulations to Olivier (and me) and thanks to Libby for her help!
Fortunately we had a lunch break before the second Superbike and Classic races.
The RG was out first, and we had a good race if somewhat quiet, some good action at the beginning as everyones pace settled. The bike was running really well, as the temperature had gone down to around 18 degrees centigrade, although still quite a hole in the acceleration. My tuning buddy suggested lowering the main jets by 10 points, and upping the needles by one slot. I might try this at Le Mans - our next venue. My best lap was 1:03.702
I really had a blast with the 350, in the second classic race. I was full of confidence, but got off the line poorly, I then had all the work to bite my way back up the rankings. Had a near miss with a colleague who was engaged in a (right hand) hairpin, who at the last moment swung out, whilst I was trying to go around the outside. Had a great battle with a VFR 750, who got fed up with me eventually, and pissed off. My final overtake was getting past a ZXR750 in the final laps. Had a great race, the RD sliding about all over the place - really nice, and so controllable. My best time was 1:04.711
The end result was a cup for 2nd place in the Classic category, although no points in the Superbike category!
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