For Fasttrax overall race results go to Fasttrax

For WERA overall race results go to WERA Homepage

Race Report #1 April 28, 2001

Fasttrax 3hr Nelson Ledges The first race of the 2001 season has finally arrived! Brett and I decided to run old faithful (the red SV) for the first 3 hour race this year. Everything was packed and ready to go to the track about three days early, so the only thing left to do was trailer the bikes and head out to Nelson Ledges. There was a race school in progress when we arrived so there would be ample practice time before the race. We registered and teched then got out on to the track. Weather was pretty cold and we were pretty rusty, but it seemed strange that we were only turning 1:27-1:28 laps. After my session out I decided to check the tire pressure (I thought Brett did)...45 PSI is a little high, so I adjusted it down to 32 front and rear, then proceded to click off some consistent 1:23 laps. Then, as it happened once last year (see "long day" report) the bike started missing on one cylinder. I was about to blow a gasket myself when we were tearing both bikes apart to try and find some spark on the front cylinder. As it turns out, I found one of the wires tied up front was shorting the coil, so we put it back together, and were ready to race with about 10 minutes to spare. This year we decided to enter the heavyweight class, which you can run anything you want really. Our rationale was that there are usually less competitors in the heavyweights, so maybe we could default into a trophy here and there. Our real priority is to get track time, so we are willing to take the shit we will inevitably get. There were 4 other competitors signed up in heavyweight, GSXR 600, Honda Ascot 500, Ninja 750, and Yamaha 1000 (27 teams in all). Brett started the race on row 2 and maintained a good pace for his session keeping us in 3rd place in class. The guy on the Ascot was in 2nd with the GSXR leading by a couple laps after my session and the end of the first hour. The second hour was a carbon copy, consistent laps (1:24 Brett, 1:25 Rob), but we were now listed in 2nd place on the same lap as the Ascot after 2 hours! I was waiting for Brett to arrive after he started off the third hour. I guessed that we were still in 2nd, but wasn't really sure. I saw the Ascot team pull into the pits, and with 30 minutes remaining, they fueled up, and had a hard time restarting the bike...then they were off. I knew we didn't need to fuel so it would be a quick stop for us. Brett entered a couple laps later and we switched quick and clean. I wasn't sure where the Ascot was, but I just put my head down and tried to keep running quick laps. I averaged around 1:22 for my final session and when I started looking for the checkered flag, I saw #53 Ascot in front of me. He was approaching traffic, so I gunned it toward turn 1. I waited until after the carousel, exited underneath him and out motored him down the back straight. I was surprised how long we had been on the same lap and how easy it was to get around him. He was, however, very fast for a 500cc single. After I was around him, I was intent on making some ground, but I was held up in traffic myself (I am still very uncomfortable passing off my usual line). I was afraid he was going to get me back, but two or three laps later, I saw the checkers flying...race over. 127 laps Second place in class 7th overall. CamCool Racing's first trophy!!

Race Report #2 May 26, 2001

First things first: Many thanks to our new team sponsor Ohio Superbike Racing in Uniontown, Ohio. Andy Raff is a rider and racer, and really supports his riders well. Call him at 330-966-1330, he will get whatever you need. Full dyno support, race goodies, or just aftermarket items. The race day looked gloomy...dark clouds weather reports called for much rain. We had a set of full rains and race slicks, we spent some of our sponsorship cash on intermediate rains (D207 race compound), and had them mounted, full rains mounted on the spare bike. As race time approached, it had yet to rain, and then miraculously, began to clear up. Good deal! I started the race this time, from the pole position. Six riders were registered in the heavyweight class: Yamaha 1000, Suzuki 750, 2 Suzuki 600's, Honda Ascot 500, and us. First lap, last in class. I caught the Ascot in a few laps, then settled down, and made the pass stick. I gained ground on him, then took off. My lap times had improved somewhat from the first race, but after brett and I had completed the first hour, we were in 5th place out of 6. The second hour improved our standing to 4th. I was slowed up by traffic, but Brett kept reeling off 1:19 laps. We were hoping for some good luck in the last hour, as one of our competitors had some mechanical problems. As it turned out we ended up pulling off another 2nd place finish in our class, 9th overall (out of 30). We steadily improved our lap times and averaged 1:23 for the entire race (down from (1:25 for previous race). We completed 129 laps, and still have a lot of room to improve. We are shooting for 135 laps as our goal for this year, and of course a 1st place finish in class. CamCool Racing currently sits in first place in the overall standings for the Heavyweight class!

Race Report #3 June 30, 2001

Race #3 is here, we have a sponsor and a points lead coming into this race. Funny thing: CamCool Racing had messed around with the airbox to improve throttle response, and once we dyno'd the bike, we found out that we were starving for air at the top end. It turns out that we picked up 17 hp at the wheel once it was fixed. I improved nearly 2 seconds/lap at a practice session following the change. My analysis of lap times and performance improvements gave me the indication that we could take a win in class, and perhaps a top 3 overall. The sky was threatening all day, but didn't start to rain until about 4 minutes before practice was to start. That shot down the idea of running both bikes during practice (Blue was mounted with slicks)There was some lightning as well, which prevented anything from happening until that stopped. Well, our race was due to start around 5pm, but didn't get under way until around 6pm. The rain had stopped, but the track wasn't completely dry. We were running 207gp's as our intermediate choice, and they seemed pretty good during practice. The wet areas of the track still gave me some caution, so lap times were still a little off. (around 1:21-22. Brett started this race, and around the 4th lap went down in turn 4. He said he started to slide the rear exiting and nearly saved it a couple times, but just couldn't bring it back. I looked around the track for him (riding a POS mountainbike in full leathers 90+ degrees). When I returned, Brett had rolled into the pits with the bike. He had some trouble getting back onto the track with the wet grass (he fell down again). There was currently a red flag due to other racers going down, so we went to work to get the bike back in shape. We swapped parts from Blue, and only missed the restart by a few minutes. We were down 8 laps on our nearest competitor, so we had to really motor. The rest of the race seemed pretty uneventful, except for Brett breaking into the 16's with a 1:16.99 lap. We did make up some time, but not enough. At the end of the race we were still 5 laps down on 4th place, and we ended up with a 5th in class, 13th overall with 93 laps total. Our points lead was gone now, as MIRG's team finished 3rd. We were only one point behind, though, and I know we can beat them! Stay tuned for Mid-Ohio next month.

Race Report #4 July 16&17, 2001

CamCool Racing at Mid-Ohio!!! Sprint Racing Monday July 16, 2001 Well, we don't get much opportunity to race a "real" track, so we decided to run the AMA/Fasttrax sprints as well as the endurance race at Mid-Ohio. We would enter the GT2 and Medium Twins classes. This would also be the first time Brett and I would be on track at the same time since our street schools. The day started off crappy for me, as I crashed on the 2nd lap of practice. My front brake locked up exiting the keyhole (too much fluid??). I had the bike fixed for the next session, but was pretty cautious. The first race came along and Brett took off. I lost sight of him pretty early, as he was battling for 2nd place. I was back around tenth at the time. Unfortunately, Brett traded paint with a couple guys in the keyhole and was bounced back to 6th. I managed to pick up the pace considerably, and passed a few riders for 8th place. Brett's best time of the race was around 1:50, mine, 1:49. Plenty of room to improve, but this is a new track for us. The second race of the day was better for both of us. Again, Brett took off. I kept him in sight for a couple laps, but he was really flying! Brett ended up in a battle for second, and made the pass with two laps remaining. I was dicing it up with a rider for 6th. I waited until the last lap, and passed him on the brakes at the end of the back straight. I was able to maintain the position until the end of the race. That was probably the most fun we have had racing! Endurance Race Tuesday July 17, 2001 We are ready to have some more fun today. We have no expectations coming into this race, but our plan was to ride consistently, and gather as many points as possible for this event, the return home and kick ass. Since this was only a 2 hour race, our pit strategy was for only one pit stop, each of us riding for one full hour. I started the race, and was in front of a couple heavyweights in class (superchicken and Ascot). There were 7 racers in our class, so I figured I was running in 5th the whole session. I settled into a comfortable pace, around 1:49/50 and just kept riding. An hour went by pretty quickly, and it was time to pit. We fueled up and sent Brett out. Brett was really flying now, turning a best time of 1:46! I took a look at the 1st hour results that were posted and realized that we were in 2nd place in our class, behind the points leading MIRG's team. While Brett was running, MIRG's slower rider was on track, and Brett was killing him! I saw Brett pass him 3 times during his session, so my thoughts of a win were really getting to me. The race was red-flagged after a turn-one mishap with about 25 minutes remaining. By the time the track was clear, the officials decided to call it complete. They just thought it would be a bad idea to have restart with only 5 minutes remaining. So it was done. MIRG's had dropped to 5th place, CamCool Racing 1st place in class!!! We ended up with 10th overall (40 participants). Mid-Ohio was very kind to us. We now earned our points lead back (13 ahead of MIRGS). Three races left, and we want VICTORY!!

Race Report #5 July 29, 2001

WERA SOLO20 Nelson Ledges Brett and I decided to give a try at another "sprint". WERA was holding a sportsmen round at Nelson Ledges, so we went out for the Saturday SOLO20 event. We had both bikes set and ready to go. Brett was running Red with RC30 bodywork, and I had the TZ fairing and a homemade belly pan. We were pretty intimidated by the looks of many of the guys around the pits, but we just decided to do the best we could. Well, the race ended up with class points leader Mike Diener taking off from the start, but Brett and I managed 2nd and 3rd, respectively! We were pretty stoked about the results, maybe we'll do this again!

Race Report #6 August 11, 2001

Fasttrax 3hr Nelson Ledges We needed some kind of miracle to beat MIRGS and get some points back on them. It was unlikely considering that they are straight up faster than us, but if luck fell in the right direction, who knows! Brett started the race and dipped quickly into the 16's. Red flag restart, then came in for a rider switch with a "best time" on the My-cron showing 1:16.81, I was pumped to beat it. I bested that time by posting a 1:16.68. My best time so far! Brett went back out after refueling, then a red flag. Brett once again beat my time by posting a 1:16.02...damn! Oh well, its best for the team. We switched one more time so I could wave at the corner workers! Not a bad day after all was said and done. We ended up 4th in class with 112 laps. MIRGS was first in class only 20 seconds in front of us! I ended up passing the HPR rider on the same lap as the checkered, so it didn't count. Close racing indeed!

Race Report #7 September 1, 2001

WERA SOLO20 Nelson Ledges Brett came out by himself for this event, as Rob was off to DC to see Molly. Pretty good outing for Brett as he finished 3rd in the Lightweight Novice SOLO20 behind Diener and Mike Scruggs. Great job!

Race Report #8 September 8, 2001

Fasttrax 3hr Nelson Ledges Not much to say. Brett started and was running some hot laps through traffic when a rider in from of him bumped another in turn 4. Brett looked to shoot the gap made by the two riders when one of the guys decided to look back at the mess he made. When he did that, he veered off line right in front of Brett. Brett hit his left ring-finger on the guy's pipe, and it peeled Brett right off the bike, breaking his finger pretty good. The motorcycle ghost-rid straight into the wall and really whacked the front end pretty hard. The forks were bent and the brake lines were leaking. We asked Bob if we could start the back-up bike, but he told us that we would have to pay another entry fee. Now we know that rule isn't correct, but at the time it's what he said. We were done for the day, 5 laps 8th in class no good for the points standings

Race Report #9 September 29, 2001

Fasttrax 4hr day/night Nelson Ledges Since Red was out of commision, we needed to get Blue ready to run for the 4hr day/night race. Mark Behlke from Ram Racewares had borrowed the blue bike to use as a mock-up for creating bodywork. In return he would make two sets of bodywork for our bikes. He had the bike for at least three weeks and delivered it to the track for Friday night practice complete with lights mounted. Well, they looked like lights, but I don't think anything would have been bright enough for me! John Lord (friend and sv racer) decided to run in Brett's place for the race, each of us running for two-one hour stints. John started because he wasn't comfortable running someone else's bike in the complete darkness. Overall, pretty scary running in the dark/fog at Nelson. We ended up with 161 laps, 3rd in class. 9th overall. That ended the 2001 season with CamCool ending in 2nd place in Heavyweight! 14 events, 8 podium, 2 crashes, 1 DNF