Good morning fellow BMW riders and race fans. Our 2008 season kicked off at Daytona and went pretty great. My BMW Motorcycles of Atlanta-prepared racebikes were flawless as usual and making great power! I started the season opener instructing in the prestigious Team Hammer School and helping riders learn their way around Dayton Intl. Speedway. Our CCS sprint races were a good warm-up with top 5's and a win before the Natl. ASRA Pro Thunderbike race.
Former Boxer Cup competitor/European Superstock winner/World Endurance rider Englishman Richard Cooper came over to ride one of my R1200S's under the Morton's BMW flag. The Frederickburg, Va.-based dealership has been ultra-supportive over the past few seasons and wanted in on the fun, too. I knew Richard was looking to ride the BWM again and I knew I had another bike as a back-up there. So a few phone calls and prep work on the bike, and "Mini" Cooper was at Daytona with us with all covered! Cooper and Austrian racer Thomas Hintereiter were on hand to race with me for Team BMW Motorcycles of Atlanta in the Sun Trust MotoST series opener (Daytona 300).
Our MotoSt bike was my "B" bike from the '07 season just basically outfitted with a quick fill gas tank for faster pit stops and that's it. The bike was perfect and the rider line-up was dubbed a podium team for sure. Tragedy struck as Thomas was sent out for some seat time in a CCS sprint race, though. A four-bike crash exiting the chicane, caused by a chain coming off a Ducati 1098 that wrapped around the countershaft sprocket took Thomas with it. Thomas had nowhere to go and badly injured his hand. The Team BMW MCs of Atlanta's R1200S was destroyed in the crash also.
From there on the mood was somber. The Natl. ASRA Pro Thunderbike qualifying was coming up and we had to be ready. Cooper and I went out Boxer Cup-style and pulled each other around the track with big drafts. We went one-two on the front row, with Cooper 2nd and I managed a pole position out of it - until we went to the post-race scale and dyno inspection. At a certain weight I was allowed to make 108.3 RWHP on the ASRA dyno and, well, I made 108.4!!! "You have got to be kidding?!" I thought. So Mini Cooper went to the pole position and I was moved to 4th on the grip, still front row at least. Come race time, Richard and I checked out from the start. We were not separated by more than a few bike lengths for the whole race. Cooper would draft by me on the banking, I would outbrake him into one, then he would outbrake me into the T3 "Intl. Horseshoe". I tried every possible combination of draft and line on the banking I knew and always came up half a bike length short at the stripe.
Not until the second-to-last lap of the race did I miss a shift and that backed me up about 8 to 10 bike lengths. That was enough to get a major draft and run on him to the line, though. Starting the white flag lap, (last lap) I made sure he lead through the infield; I did not want to even have a chance of leading into the chicane on the last lap. Exiting the chicane for the final time, I rolled off and on the throttle quickly to give me that gap I needed for a good run on Cooper. It payed off and I was able to slingshot past him to the finish line for the win. The biked passed post-race tech no problem due to the added weight we put on the bike so we would not dyno over the limit (4lbs. per HP).
Ok, I have to go unload from this past weekend's races at JenningsGP (CCS SE), where I can say proudly I got my **lls back in the wet! It rained all weekend and we were able to pull off some podium finishes.... Will finish Daytona weekend and our "Cinderella story" MotoST finish, AMA Daytona 200, then Jennings this past weekend.
N8!
Finished up some logistics for this weekend and new changes for the rest of the season today. In a nutshell, Daytona was great. The MotoST race was put together by BMW MC of Atlanta. We decided to use my BMWXPLOR.com "B" bike as our platform. With the new rules for the spec fuel we had to use (lower octane than last year) and higher HP limits, we were already feeling the disadvantages. To our surprise, with the great mapping Zach is always able to build, we were within 1.5 HP of the legal limit with ZERO motorwork. The eight was also within a few lbs. of the legal weight limit. So, we were ready to go with "Mini" Cooper and Thomas Hintereiter. With Thomas's terrible injury and knowing how this all came together within 2 weeks of Daytona, we decided to use my stock street bike (BMW R1200S). So while I was racing the rest of the CCS races on Saturday, the team was taking all of the lights, license plate bracket, ABS, mirrors, and such off to make the bike close to being track-ready. With no pit stop practice, we headed into the MotoST hoping for the best. With a major weight disadvantage and the stock telelever arm that does not allow the bike to turn as quickly as the RT arms we fit to our racebikes, we worked hard. That payed off as we managed a podium finish on a stock BMW R1200S! Hats off to the BMW MC of Atlanta rookie crew!
From there, the Factory BMW German team came over to debut the new HP2Sport in the AMA Formula Extreme Daytona 200 opener. With some set-up and a few practices we all qualified very well, considering. The day of the 200 had a Weather.com description of "Hurricane force winds"... go figure! No big deal, as we all had to deal with it. The AMA kept pushing back the morning warm-up, thinking the 50+ mph gusts would calm. They didn't. Once we took to the track, we were having a handful with the wind on the banking. No worries, again we adapt. Well, nothing could help me other than going slower, which is not an option, for the gust that came into T3. Right at the lowest point of the corner (apex) a gust came in as I even thought about picking up the throttle. With the cool surface temps, SC3 rear (hard compound), the perfect gust as I opened it up for the drive off the corner.... well she just spun up the way she always does, but the wind unloaded the contact patch enough to really break it more loose than ever. As it reconnected the typical monor highside, not all the way over the bars, but staring into the oil coolers. I felt as if there was a moment of saving it, but as I looked up from my over the windshield Six Flags ride I saw the metal armco wall with no protection on front of it. I let go. The bike stayed up and just ghost rode almost to T4 and lofted peacefully on it right side and didn't even crack or scratch anything, due to falling in the grass. The initial impact shot a serious pain through my right hand. After a quick visit for Xrays but no MRI, I received a bunch of Novacain shots and hurried back for the warm-up lap. I almost missed the warm-up lap for the 200, due to not being able to get my glove on my hand. I rolled out and did the warm-up lap. I could not feel the brake lever and could not tell if I was all the way off the throttle a couple of times. I made the toughest decison of my life. I rolled onto pit lane and realized today was just not my day. Trying to be a hero could really hurt someone else, my bike, and myself. Pride hurt more than my hand. After the MRI I had a partial tear of a tendon in my right hand and ligament crap too, but as it has been healing I have been rebuilding the strength in it.
Alright, more laundry and stuff to get ready for CMP this weekend.
Cheers,
N8!
Former Boxer Cup competitor/European Superstock winner/World Endurance rider Englishman Richard Cooper came over to ride one of my R1200S's under the Morton's BMW flag. The Frederickburg, Va.-based dealership has been ultra-supportive over the past few seasons and wanted in on the fun, too. I knew Richard was looking to ride the BWM again and I knew I had another bike as a back-up there. So a few phone calls and prep work on the bike, and "Mini" Cooper was at Daytona with us with all covered! Cooper and Austrian racer Thomas Hintereiter were on hand to race with me for Team BMW Motorcycles of Atlanta in the Sun Trust MotoST series opener (Daytona 300).
Our MotoSt bike was my "B" bike from the '07 season just basically outfitted with a quick fill gas tank for faster pit stops and that's it. The bike was perfect and the rider line-up was dubbed a podium team for sure. Tragedy struck as Thomas was sent out for some seat time in a CCS sprint race, though. A four-bike crash exiting the chicane, caused by a chain coming off a Ducati 1098 that wrapped around the countershaft sprocket took Thomas with it. Thomas had nowhere to go and badly injured his hand. The Team BMW MCs of Atlanta's R1200S was destroyed in the crash also.
From there on the mood was somber. The Natl. ASRA Pro Thunderbike qualifying was coming up and we had to be ready. Cooper and I went out Boxer Cup-style and pulled each other around the track with big drafts. We went one-two on the front row, with Cooper 2nd and I managed a pole position out of it - until we went to the post-race scale and dyno inspection. At a certain weight I was allowed to make 108.3 RWHP on the ASRA dyno and, well, I made 108.4!!! "You have got to be kidding?!" I thought. So Mini Cooper went to the pole position and I was moved to 4th on the grip, still front row at least. Come race time, Richard and I checked out from the start. We were not separated by more than a few bike lengths for the whole race. Cooper would draft by me on the banking, I would outbrake him into one, then he would outbrake me into the T3 "Intl. Horseshoe". I tried every possible combination of draft and line on the banking I knew and always came up half a bike length short at the stripe.
Not until the second-to-last lap of the race did I miss a shift and that backed me up about 8 to 10 bike lengths. That was enough to get a major draft and run on him to the line, though. Starting the white flag lap, (last lap) I made sure he lead through the infield; I did not want to even have a chance of leading into the chicane on the last lap. Exiting the chicane for the final time, I rolled off and on the throttle quickly to give me that gap I needed for a good run on Cooper. It payed off and I was able to slingshot past him to the finish line for the win. The biked passed post-race tech no problem due to the added weight we put on the bike so we would not dyno over the limit (4lbs. per HP).
Ok, I have to go unload from this past weekend's races at JenningsGP (CCS SE), where I can say proudly I got my **lls back in the wet! It rained all weekend and we were able to pull off some podium finishes.... Will finish Daytona weekend and our "Cinderella story" MotoST finish, AMA Daytona 200, then Jennings this past weekend.
N8!
Finished up some logistics for this weekend and new changes for the rest of the season today. In a nutshell, Daytona was great. The MotoST race was put together by BMW MC of Atlanta. We decided to use my BMWXPLOR.com "B" bike as our platform. With the new rules for the spec fuel we had to use (lower octane than last year) and higher HP limits, we were already feeling the disadvantages. To our surprise, with the great mapping Zach is always able to build, we were within 1.5 HP of the legal limit with ZERO motorwork. The eight was also within a few lbs. of the legal weight limit. So, we were ready to go with "Mini" Cooper and Thomas Hintereiter. With Thomas's terrible injury and knowing how this all came together within 2 weeks of Daytona, we decided to use my stock street bike (BMW R1200S). So while I was racing the rest of the CCS races on Saturday, the team was taking all of the lights, license plate bracket, ABS, mirrors, and such off to make the bike close to being track-ready. With no pit stop practice, we headed into the MotoST hoping for the best. With a major weight disadvantage and the stock telelever arm that does not allow the bike to turn as quickly as the RT arms we fit to our racebikes, we worked hard. That payed off as we managed a podium finish on a stock BMW R1200S! Hats off to the BMW MC of Atlanta rookie crew!
From there, the Factory BMW German team came over to debut the new HP2Sport in the AMA Formula Extreme Daytona 200 opener. With some set-up and a few practices we all qualified very well, considering. The day of the 200 had a Weather.com description of "Hurricane force winds"... go figure! No big deal, as we all had to deal with it. The AMA kept pushing back the morning warm-up, thinking the 50+ mph gusts would calm. They didn't. Once we took to the track, we were having a handful with the wind on the banking. No worries, again we adapt. Well, nothing could help me other than going slower, which is not an option, for the gust that came into T3. Right at the lowest point of the corner (apex) a gust came in as I even thought about picking up the throttle. With the cool surface temps, SC3 rear (hard compound), the perfect gust as I opened it up for the drive off the corner.... well she just spun up the way she always does, but the wind unloaded the contact patch enough to really break it more loose than ever. As it reconnected the typical monor highside, not all the way over the bars, but staring into the oil coolers. I felt as if there was a moment of saving it, but as I looked up from my over the windshield Six Flags ride I saw the metal armco wall with no protection on front of it. I let go. The bike stayed up and just ghost rode almost to T4 and lofted peacefully on it right side and didn't even crack or scratch anything, due to falling in the grass. The initial impact shot a serious pain through my right hand. After a quick visit for Xrays but no MRI, I received a bunch of Novacain shots and hurried back for the warm-up lap. I almost missed the warm-up lap for the 200, due to not being able to get my glove on my hand. I rolled out and did the warm-up lap. I could not feel the brake lever and could not tell if I was all the way off the throttle a couple of times. I made the toughest decison of my life. I rolled onto pit lane and realized today was just not my day. Trying to be a hero could really hurt someone else, my bike, and myself. Pride hurt more than my hand. After the MRI I had a partial tear of a tendon in my right hand and ligament crap too, but as it has been healing I have been rebuilding the strength in it.
Alright, more laundry and stuff to get ready for CMP this weekend.
Cheers,
N8!
posted by nate_kern at 6:29 AM
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