Grattan Raceway

5/17-18

We left Thursday evening and arrived at the track around midnight. We awoke to see the track for the first time. Friday was only a practice day so I took advantage of all the track time I could get. There was a long straight with little run off room at the end.

Friday practice I mostly used my GSXR600 to conserve the tires I had on the SV650. On the first lap of the first session I took the GSXR over the 'jump' while on the front brakes!! WOW! The weight transferred to the front and I had the back tire 24" in the air doing an endo towards the grass. I saved it but I had to go to the pits to clean out my pants!!!! I caught my breath and went back out. During the day I improved my lap times greatly. I saw 140+ on the speedo before braking into turn one. But I still 3 - 4 seconds off competitive times. I am not as fast on the GSXR so I took the SV out for the last two practices to figure out gearing and shift points. I beat my times by 2 seconds and finished with a best of 1:30.88.

Saturday

Light Weight Solo 20:

I started in the 3rd row and got the hole shot. I was first into turn one. One of the locals made a pass in 3 so I was going to try to pace off of him. Many of them only race at Grattan and had a HUGE advantage. A few more of the locals got by and I settled in to run in 5th place where I eventually finished.

Sunday

Formula 2

I started on pole for this race and got a pretty good start. We raced to turn one only to be out braked by a FAST local. I tried to keep up but was not able to. I ran in second place for 6 laps when I was passed by another home track racer. By this point we were getting into lapped traffic and the home town guys had the advantage of passing lines. I fought to hold on to a fourth place finish out of 17 racers.

Heavy Weight Twins

I started on the pole for this race. Always go to the grid knowing if it is a one wave or a two wave start. I watched the board go sideways, green flag, I sat there. THIS IS ONE WAVE!!!!!!! While most of the field got the jump on me I was trying to catch them down the front straight after the start. I was angry at myself and it made me ride harder. It seemed like I was making passes in almost every turn. I started to catch up to the front and was in 3rd place. A few big bikes would pass me down the straight away but I could reel them in under HARD braking and make the pass back in turn one. I finished 3rd out of 11 racers

Light Weight Twins:

I started on the pole for this race as well. When I was taking my tire warmers off in the pits I realized the generator was not running. I had to start the race with cold tires. During the warm up lap I was going extra hard trying to get some temperature built up so the tires would stick in the first turn. GREEN FLAG! We take off, I short shift through the gears to stay in the low end power of the v-twin and brake for turn one. I feel the front start to loose grip so I don't trail brake into the corner and take a wide line. As I exit the turn very high 3 racers dive under me and take the lead. Into turn two I get passed by 2 more riders. I am now in 6th place and still on cold tires. I hold onto 6th for a couple of laps and then start to make my way towards the front. I make a few passes and am now behind a familiar rider. He is known for aggressive riding and I pick my pass carefully. I try a pass over the 'jump' but go wide and am passed back before the exit of the turn. At this point he knows I am right behind him and starts to ride over his head. Leaving black marks into turns he is near crashing trying to break away from me. I hold back and wait for his queue. At the entrance to turn 3 on the last lap he looses his turn in point and goes wide. This throws off the sequence of turns coming up. He is off line and I go under him into turn 4. He is now in attack mode to get the position back. NO LUCK. I got 3rd place out of 13 racers. He gets a DNF. I am not sure what happened to him.

In all the weekend was a success. I was not sure what would happen going to someone elses track. I finished ahead of all the regular WERA racers except for one guy in Formula 2. It was a long trip home Sunday night. We are packing to leave for Virginia Intl. Raceway on Wednesday. What a month!!!!

Jerry VanHorn
WERA 301

cya at the track........................