TRACKDAYRIDERS.COM :: FASTTRAX Round #5 at Nelson Ledges 7/18/2010

Round # 5 was held at Nelson Ledges in Ohio.

For this round the riders were Tom and myself. Tom couldn't make practice on Saturday, so I decided to skip Saturday and just practice Sunday morning. Paul and I left Pittsburgh around 6:00am and arrived at the track around 8:00. It was another 90 degree day with hardly a could in the sky. Paul was sitting out this round so he took care of setting up the pit and working on the bike. During the riders meeting Todd had mentioned that a car blew a tranny and leaked oil from turn 4 all the way to the kink...nice. Fortunately, the car was off the race line and they did a great job cleaning up the mess. I went out for practice around 9:30 and did two 20 minute sessions. The bike felt good and there were no issues with the track surface (considering this is Nelson).

I pitted in and Paul began pulling off the old tires. I walked the spare wheels over to the Pirelli dealer to swap out for fresh rubber. I'm immediately told that they're out of 160 rears and the last one was sold to Bill Bloom...great. So, I head over to Quentin at Mize Mobile. He talked to me about several options and we finally settle on a set of Continental Race Attack's. We went with a soft front and endurance rear. Paul and I have lunch, then I pick up the tires and head back to the pit.

Paul and I measure the new tires to check for differences in ride height. It appears the Conti's are a bit steeper on the front, but not by much - we decide to just leave the bike alone. We set the pressure as Quentin recommended - 28 front and 25 rear (cold). Hot temps between 30 and 31.

Tom shows up sometime between 1:00 and 2:00 and unloads any gear he brought (gas tanks, pit board, etc). Around 2:30, Tom takes the bike out for endurance practice and rides for about 10-15 mins. He says the bike feels good (Awesome!) and had no issues with grip on the new tires.

Tom starts the race. Unfortunately, team MTS was still having issues with their endurance bike, so Todd and Sam go out for the mini-endurance on their own bikes. After the first lap, Jon Cowles from Team Empty Pockets goes down between turns 3 and 4 - apparently due to a violent head-shake. Jon is taken to the hospital with a broken collar bone, ribs and punctured lung. The race resumes about 15 minutes later and Tom starts again. We let him ride a full 30 minutes before pitting him in.

I take the bike out and immediately notice it feels a bit more "twitchy" in the front. I reach turn 4 and at mid-full lean, the bike feels solid. No issues through the carousel either. To me, tipping the bike in was a bit quicker than we were used to on the Pirelli's and I felt like I was correcting myself more often during turn-in. I pit in after 30 mins and Quentin stops by to ask how the tires are working. I told him what I felt and we decide that nothing is really wrong with the way the bike handles, but I'm just not accustomed to the new tires.

Tom and I each do two more sessions, cutting them down to 25 minutes each. We had no competition in lightweight, so we just took it easy and got used to the bike. We finished the race with 115 laps and took another 1st place. Hoping to have Team MTS (and a couple more teams) out there next round.