Greetings from my room at the Stateline
It's a good event, a nice sized turnout. This event gets bigger every year.
We pulled in yesterday at 1:30 or so and the closest trackside spot was probably a quarter mile from the the tech/registration/impound area. Second row was only fractionally closer. Third row didn't appear to me to have enough room for a truck/trailer setup. So a quarter mile away we parked.
Registration was only open for pre-entries, so we did that, it went quickly, and then got tech'ed, which was also painless. We were sipping Fat Tire well before 4:00. Denis cleared the salt about 5:00 though.
Rick at ERC wasn't open for business on Saturday, so we pushed the gas class bike down to him this morning, only to learn he wasn't going to open until 10:30. Pushed it all the way back. Rider's meeting was at 11:00, so shortly before that we just took the truck & trailer down to the fuel truck figuring we'd get fuel, attend the meeting, get in line, and go. But there was a long line to get fuel. We were in that line probably a couple hours.
So finally we get in line, and despite the separate course for the RWB's, we were in it most of the day. We finally got to go about 3:00.
We staged both bikes at the 2 mile (a 1350 M-PG bike and a 2000 MPS-PF bike). Sent the gas bike with my wife Susan riding, then the fuel bike with me onboard.
The gas bike has run 167ish multiple times, but she only managed 158. When I talked to her, she described lots and lots of wheelspin. Said it was in the limiter easily and moving around a lot.
On the fuel bike, well, it was a handful keeping it hooked up and going straight. Several times I had to back out of the throttle ever so gently just to keep control. Then I'd roll back into it until it scared me again. About halfway through the timed mile I had a big gust of wind that moved me over. I had to back out a bit and counter steer and give it some english and roll back in.
Anyway, I went through with a 203.8. I had a conservative tune in the bike and really had it set up for a 210ish speed. So the conditions didn't kill me all that much. I have to admit, though, I was a bit surprised by the conditions, after the all the talk about the course being fine. The pits are absolute mush. It's a mess. The drive between the boat ramp and the pits is rough and slow and much of it is wet. The course is smooth but there's just no bite.
So after we met up again at the 7 and got all loaded up, we had to make some decisions. Both of us actually qualified on our records, despite being well below the capabilities. Susan's class record was 146 something and my class is open.
But we were short on time, with a scheduled 5:00 shut down. Turning around the fuel bike is complicated and time consuming, it needs an oil change and refueling (nitro). The gas bike is relatively straightforward. So we talked about it on the way to impound and decided we'd run the gas bike only, and maybe park the fuel bike for a few days until the course improves.
We checked in at impound and then moved some ballast from the fuel bike over to the gas bike, hoping that'd help her get some more bite. I really didn't want to move to a taller gear, the bike was already a handful, I wanted to get it to hook up instead.
We got sent back to the 7 mile at about a quarter to five for backup passes. A storm was brewing in Wendover, we could see it, and it was getting windy. She returned into a 21mph head wind according to the time slip and could only muster 150. But the wheelspin was much better. Anyway, the average was 154, so we put it in the bank, pending a tear down which we'll do at the end of the event.
So we're going to screw around with the gas bike for a few days. It should go much faster. I'd like to get some good non-wind influenced data before deciding on a gear change or whatever. But there's much more in it.
Then if the course gets any better, maybe bring out the nitro bike again on Thursday or Friday, maybe even put some more juice to it.
I have lots of pics but no way to upload them. Long story.
I'll try to report in daily and give a little update if anyone is interested.
I didn't get a lot of other people's times because they're only read off periodically, but I did notice Jason turned a 223 on his first pass, and I believe that was unfaired. He must be hooking it up a lot better than me.