MCRA Racing Promo Video

[csmith12]

@choneofakind found this video and alerted me.

Link to original page on YouTube.

I am found scared sh*tless on my lil ninjette @ 3:39 wearing my orange shirt. That pic was the mock race where I wheelied the start and got lapped by the race leader.



ahhh.... the good ole days.

[choneofakind]

I thought I recognized that suit!

[csmith12]

Oh snap!!! Leaving for the track in about 30 mins. Not sure why I am exited about riding in what is left of hurricane Isaac for 2 days. I am crazy like that hahahaha. Guess I will have to work on rain skills.

I will be riding the same track as the video above, Putnam Park in IN.

[csmith12]

Good news for Unregistered!

I just got a call and I have a free track day to give away at Putnam Park. For tomorrow Sept. 1st. This is a novice spot but if your faster you can get bumped.

I have a spare 42 and 44 suit if you don't have one but you will need boots and gloves.

Common Unregistered do it! Or first rider to pm me gets it FREE. See you at the track!

@choneofakind !!!!!

[csmith12]

Don't even worry about the bike prep, just get here. I can have your bike prepped in 30 minutes or less.

[csmith12]

@NDspd
@EsrTek
@nautica
@RiderOnTheStorm
@Kygirl

Any of you interested?

[csmith12]

Lol, that didn't take long... spot claimed.

[bfpower]

ARG, that sounds like fun.

[nautica]

Man that would've been awesome if I would've seen this earlier and didn't have a route planned!

[Kygirl]

I hate to have missed this! I'm even off work on the 1st! That's what I get for sleeping in... Lol. I hope you guys have a blast! Don't forget, WE NEED PICTURES when you return from the track. =)

[sharky nrk]

damn I sure missed out on that one, silly work keeping me off of ninjette. I am just an hour or so away from Silly Putty so I definately would have/still could have gone had I have seen this earlier.

[choneofakind]

Yeah sorry that's just too short notice. Else I would TOTALLY have been in, I'm heading home this afternoon so I actually could have gone.

Who ended up going?? Take lots of pictures!!

[ranma3030]

Originally Posted by csmith12

Good news for Unregistered!

I just got a call and I have a free track day to give away at Putnam Park. For tomorrow Sept. 1st. This is a novice spot but if your faster you can get bumped.

I have a spare 42 and 44 suit if you don't have one but you will need boots and gloves.

Common Unregistered do it! Or first rider to pm me gets it FREE. See you at the track!

@choneofakind !!!!!

Hey mate. I would of loved to go to the track. But I live in Australia man Thank though man. Was a little strange trolling the forum and seeing my name mentioned. Did I win something lol.

Peace.

[sharky nrk]

^^ FYI I have ridden with MCRA twice and both times have been pretty happy with their program for anyone that was curious about their days. I will be doing their race license/mock race next season when I have a bit more time to safety wire properly.

[EsrTek]

Thanks for the thought, I would've loved to go!!
Unfortunately, I was in Panama City, Fl for a funeral, just got home 10mins ago.
Plus, I don't have a full leather set yet, so I most likely won't be really be able to go until next spring.

[csmith12]

A local friend (ttam, not a member here) got the spot.

It was wet.... and slow. Aaron another local 250 rider in my pit, went down in the wet. He is fine, but the bike suffered a broken sight glass and some rash but we fixed it and he got to finish the rest of the time.

Will update more in the AM, so tired....

[choneofakind]

Well, even though it was wet, I'm glad you had a good time

I'll see ya out there next season.

[csmith12]

Still dead tired... here is a teaser.



Yea.... waiting to ride in the rain.

[choneofakind]

stiff leathers?

[csmith12]

Originally Posted by choneofakind

stiff leathers?

no... tight and properly fitting

[Vitamin-E]

Originally Posted by csmith12

A local friend (ttam, not a member here) got the spot.

It was wet.... and slow. Aaron another local 250 rider in my pit, went down in the wet. He is fine, but the bike suffered a broken sight glass and some rash but we fixed it and he got to finish the rest of the time.

Will update more in the AM, so tired....

DANG!!!!!!! That'll teach me to miss logging in to ninjette.org on a daily basis!!!! I MISSED A FREE TRACK DAY!!!!!!!!!!

Oh well. Are you going with us (MCRA) to Putnam on 9/8 and 9/9??

2 other ninja 250 riders and me are coming from Saint Louis and maybe one guy from KC...

[Vitamin-E]

Originally Posted by sharky nrk

^^ FYI I have ridden with MCRA twice and both times have been pretty happy with their program for anyone that was curious about their days. I will be doing their race license/mock race next season when I have a bit more time to safety wire properly.

Come on out when you're ready. Rules from bike prep are basically the same as CCS Super Sport classes with regards to safety. No rules on motors etc for now.

http://midwestcaferacing.com/wp-cont.../TDhandout.pdf

[csmith12]

Originally Posted by Vitamin-E

DANG!!!!!!! That'll teach me to miss logging in to ninjette.org on a daily basis!!!! I MISSED A FREE TRACK DAY!!!!!!!!!!

Oh well. Are you going with us (MCRA) to Putnam on 9/8 and 9/9??

2 other ninja 250 riders and me are coming from Saint Louis and maybe one guy from KC...

I wish.... Bad planning on my part. 2 track weekends in a row would kill my budget. Bummer too, because I normally do the Sept. MCRA weekend but swapped it out for the AFJ day as they are my local group.

Tell everyone I said hi and see them next season for some racing.

[csmith12]

Ok, one more teaser before I go to bed.



Yea he dragged knee through the puddle causing a spray.

[sharky nrk]

Originally Posted by csmith12

I wish.... Bad planning on my part. 2 track weekends in a row would kill my budget. Bummer too, because I normally do the Sept. MCRA weekend but swapped it out for the AFJ day as they are my local group.

Tell everyone I said hi and see them next season for some racing.

Assfault Junkies??? Started posting over there a bit before having to move for work. Haven't really been back on there since moving back to the midwest. Seemed like a pretty cool group of people though.

[sharky nrk]

Originally Posted by Vitamin-E

Come on out when you're ready. Rules from bike prep are basically the same as CCS Super Sport classes with regards to safety. No rules on motors etc for now.

http://midwestcaferacing.com/wp-cont.../TDhandout.pdf

I will be there Sunday, first shakedown day for my v7mw bike after a rollercoaster with it (long story but mostly about me getting screwed )

[NDspd]

So sorry man, life takes priority. I left to go to school and I didn't have to time to get on the internet. In reality you didn't give me much warning...

[csmith12]

Originally Posted by sharky nrk

Assfault Junkies??? Started posting over there a bit before having to move for work. Haven't really been back on there since moving back to the midwest. Seemed like a pretty cool group of people though.

Yea, those junkies. They are a good group people and there are quite a few really really talented riders with a sprinkle of racers. Some go really really fast on public streets though. But you won't find a better bunch to invade a track with. lol

Anyway here is a rundown of the two days;

Planning - Hints of things to come

The group AFJ rents Putnam Park, hosting their first ever track day. I buy my spot at the very last minute to get the discounted pricing. I have a 16ft flat trailer and start to get pm's asking for a haul up. So I plan on hauling 6 bikes behind my 98 Dodge Durango. 2 of the bikes being 250's!

I also find out that another group "LSB" has the track the very next day. So I snag up an A spot on their day with intentions of making some new friends.

Loading & On the way to Putnam - The trouble begins.....

I load my bike on the trailer and gear in the truck and wait for my wife to get home from work so we can leave. She arrives right on time and I finish loading her stuff.

[optional reading]
A bit of back story on the wife. She has never been to a track day and has no clue what to expect or the amount of "busyness" that is about to happen. Earlier in the week she had twisted up her ankle pretty good and was limping pretty good and couldn't walk very far without her ankle swelling up and experiencing pain. She has only seen races and is totally worried about seeing me ride for the first time. She has seen it through my pictures and videos.
[/optional reading]

1st stop is the AFJ race show to load 3 more bikes and misc. gear. That stop put me 20 mins behind schedule again but was within my "planned" buffer so fine enough.

2nd stop was at a friends how to pick of 2 more bikes. This is where spending so much time working on my bikes instead of my cages come back to bit me a bit. While making the 30 min drive to her house my Durango decides to overheat but I limp it to my stop just as the temp goes into the red. I open the hood and begin to load bikes while it cools.



Finally loaded, I put my focus back on the truck. Check the water and don't see any. So we grab a gallon of antifreeze and put it in. Still not full. Another gallon and still not full. Another 3/4 gallon and she is finally full and running cool again. It was 91 degrees, muggy and with a gimp foot my wife was not very happy with my handling of vehicle maintenance... errr I mean lack there of. She goes like this and I feel a bit in front of all my track friends. A quick check of every thing else and off we go. After loading all the bikes (1.5 hours of work and 3 broken straps) the only real issue with hauling was my trailer hates anything strapped to it. Needless to say, one of the straps broke while in route causing a bike to fall. 1 of 2 extra straps used.

Saturday Sept 1.
A good night of parking lot pimpin at the local Econolodge 10 or so miles from the track. Stayed up to late but didn't drink to much so aside of having to shake off the tired the morning started uneventful but rushed. Being rushed is my #1 pet peeve about doing a track day. So I elected to skip a sit down breakfast and just grab a bunch of breakfast bars and Little Debbie snake cakes to eat on the go to help get me back on schedule.

I arrive at the track in enough time to easily register and tech without rushing and begin to prep gear as they call out the I group. Over in the distance was a dark mass of clouds, a band of rain from hurricane Isaac. I ignore that as it wasn't raining and the I group was out there draggin some knee and putting down good lap times for the 1st session on a green and cold track. I couldn't hardly wait for my session to start. I heard the 5 min call, finish putting on my gear and start the bike. No sooner as pull out of the garage, it starts to rain. WTF... common it's like the gods did this to me on purpose. 1 wheel out of the garage and already getting wet, meh I say and hit the track anyway along with about 15 other riders.

The more we ride the more it rains and eventually the track is very slippery. This particular track seems to be more slippery than the street when wet so I take about 3 turns out of my front preload and 2lbs out of the rear and 1lb out of the front. This really helped in the braking zones but my r6 felt like a 250 nosediving but in the end, I thought it was a good choice seeing how I could outbrake just about everyone on DOT's going into turn 1. After a session or two I checked my zip tie on my front fork. about 4mm left of fork travel. hmmmm.... The bike felt good so I left it and tried to get the rear to hook up in the wet the rest of the morning sessions. I learned a lot about my tires, suspension adjustments for the wet and improved my own riding while slipping and sliding around just about every corner of the track. FYI - Power Cups suck in the wet. The tire guy had rains for $300 but jezzzz and out of my budget. Also the wife was nervous enough for the both of us watching me out there.

3 riders go down in front of me. I was able to adjust line to miss 2 but the one had me in the grass. I am so glad seeing these don't mess with my head and add +3 to my non target fixating skill.

12 more crashes later .... the morning sessions were over and time for lunch. We eat, relax and look at the radar as the rain is easing up.






After lunch the rain was over but track was still wet. The racers were all out on rains and mix in the DOT riders for a bit of added fun. This is what you will end up with. About 5 or 6 guys riding really fast and everyone else putting around at 45-50mph. I ended up getting passed REALLY close 2 times but held my ground easily. I have no issues bumpin' and rubbin' in the dry but in the wet is a little more spooky.




After all that riding the track was finally dry around 3pm. I pull out the pits and think, IT's GO FAST TIME! The rest of the day was like this;





Hellz yea!

My buddy riding a pregen (first time track rider) went down in the wet but after a bit of work, he got back out there and did great.



Sunday Sept 2.
Easy update here... it was a complete wash. Never even made it out on track. Rain sucks... and I missed my chance to buy a set of rain take offs for $50.

The ride home
The ride home was restful aside of an unplanned stop to restrap a bike because another strap broke. 2 of 2 extra straps used. The ratchet also broke so now my tail car had to go fetch another to get us going again.

We stopped to eat and that was a great 1.5 hour meal with friends chatting about the weekends events and planning for next time.

Unloading the bikes was easier than loading them but the monsoon of rain made it suck really bad. I hate wet feet and I had wet feet for about 6-7 hours.

All in all it was a great time despite the weather and 19 crashes (track record! lol). So many new track riders got a good does of skills those days and good friends made this trip awesome in spite of what was left of hurricane Isaac. And now we all can say we rode track in a hurricane. hahahahahahha

[krakatak]

Originally Posted by Vitamin-E

DANG!!!!!!! That'll teach me to miss logging in to ninjette.org on a daily basis!!!! I MISSED A FREE TRACK DAY!!!!!!!!!!

Oh well. Are you going with us (MCRA) to Putnam on 9/8 and 9/9??

2 other ninja 250 riders and me are coming from Saint Louis and maybe one guy from KC...

Can't wait to get back on the track! Hope the thunderstorms don't soak us the whole way there.

[krakatak]

I'm stuck at work for the next 4+ hours and all I want to do is get going to Putnam!

This is going to be the longest (3/4)day of work ever.

Torturous!!

[sharky nrk]

Yeah, I am packed full schedule wise all the way up until Sunday morning and I am getting a little anxious about having everything together and ready to go, but excited about getting back on the track after a couple months away.

[krakatak]

Originally Posted by sharky nrk

Yeah, I am packed full schedule wise all the way up until Sunday morning and I am getting a little anxious about having everything together and ready to go, but excited about getting back on the track after a couple months away.

Like Vitamin-E said, there will be at least 3 250's pitted together (mine's the rattlecan brightass orange #314). Make sure to come by once you're all set up.

[csmith12]

Man.... I wish I could go. Oct. 1st is coming for me. I got another FREE day in the works though. Hope it comes through.

Look for my buddy Gosh when you get there. Black gixxer 750 with junkie stickers on it. Tell him I said hurry up and get to the A group. hahahaha he will laugh.

ps.... go fast, take chances

[krakatak]

Originally Posted by csmith12

Man.... I wish I could go. Oct. 1st is coming for me. I got another FREE day in the works though. Hope it comes through.

Look for my buddy Gosh when you get there. Black gixxer 750 with junkie stickers on it. Tell him I said hurry up and get to the A group. hahahaha he will laugh.

ps.... go fast, take chances

You should come on over to Gateway in October. I haven't been on the track since it reopened and I'm looking forward to run the shorter track on the 250...seems to me that we won't get walked away from by the 600's quite as easily.

jk

[csmith12]

Cool, will see if I can get it on my calendar for next year. Gunna focus on racing more next year, I have done to many track days this year and gunna be off race pace bigtime.

[csmith12]

My best time at Putnam this year was a 1.22 and it takes mid teens to be in the hunt. Which sucks on my R6 because I pulled a 1.27 out of my a** on my 250 lol.

[krakatak]

Originally Posted by csmith12

Cool, will see if I can get it on my calendar for next year. Gunna focus on racing more next year, I have done to many track days this year and gunna be off race pace bigtime.

I was busy finishing school so the last track day I was at was Putnam last October. I've started exercising and whatnot to get back in shape, but I'm way short on seat time. I'm still thinking of entering one (or both) AM GT Lights races this weekend, but I want to get a few sessions under my belt to gauge my comfort level first.

[csmith12]

Do it! If you can and feel up to it I mean... They are fun and cheap enough.

$65 for GT/GTL
$50 for Sportsman

If your on a 250, the sportsman just gives you an extra 25 min session lol.

[sharky nrk]

Awesome meeting you guys at the track this weekend, I will have to get the 250 back out and race with you guys next time.

[csmith12]